#WBD Blog

Tilda's new kids' meal range

Tilda, the UK’s number one rice brand, is unlocking new opportunities in kids’ food with the launch of Tilda Taste Travellers – a new range of veg-packed, nutritionally balanced, rice-based meals.

Tilda Taste Travellers features four internationally-inspired recipes – Mexican Rice Bowl, Japanese Katsu Curry Rice, Pesto & Pea Risotto, and Mild Thai Green Curry Rice. Suitable for toddlers and up, every pouch provides two of a child’s five-a-day, is a source of protein and fibre, and is low in salt.

“With Tilda Taste Travellers, we want to set a new standard for children’s mealtimes – combining taste, convenience and health to support busy families,” says Anna Beheshti, Head of Marketing at Tilda. “By developing the range with children’s dietitian Lucy Upton, we’re able to bring world flavours to children’s plates in a simple, convenient format that gives parents confidence in what they’re serving. And for retailers, it’s a strong opportunity to meet growing demand for quick, adventurous and healthy kids’ meal solutions.”

Lucy Upton, The Children’s Dietician, adds: “Busy parents are always looking for that balance between convenience and nutrition. That’s why prioritising nutrient-dense foods like beans and vegetables was key in the development of Tilda Taste Travellers, as was introducing little ones to exciting new flavours. It can be a supportive step in helping them enjoy a wider variety of family foods as they grow.”

Categories, like rice, can easily become commoditised, a spiralling race to the bottom in terms of price and quality. Not on Tilda’s watch! They understand the levers to pull to minimise this. Here are three things Tilda does – relentlessly – to keep them at number one, still relevant and always memorable. This innovation fits the model perfectly.

1. Equity. Doh! Brands that invest and support their brand salience do better than brands that don’t. Tilda has a great approach to balancing product and brand messaging. Constantly showing people that they deliver great, high quality, convenient, innovative, healthy etc. food solutions for the family, all wrapped in a consistent tone of voice and a mission to build a brand that is visibly high quality, sustainable and needs led. The double track of brand and product solution communication is key to this.
2. Quality; Tilda passionately believe that rice is not just ‘rice’, but a sophisticated range of variants and added value products that require specific care and expertise to deliver the best quality… time after time. This is delivered with authenticity. Quality is hard to leverage in a high-quality world, but it flabbergasts #WhatBrandsDo how many brands in potentially commoditised categories do so little to relentlessly talk about it. If you fail to treat your product as special, do not expect your consumers to.
3. Innovation. Tilda invests significantly in innovation. It is not seen as nice to do, the icing on the cake, it is a key brand building exercise. ‘Taste Travellers’ is another great new range off the production line. The attention to detail, the focus on quality and consumer needs it extemporary. Health is a table-stake, but they make sure they deliver it with credibility and endorsement. The range is distinctive, but accessible to a ‘mass’ audience… all carefully considered and delivered with great variants and strong packaging. It is immediately integrated into the brand family so supports equity building from day one.

Great work Tilda… Again.

Find out more about Tilda’s Taste Travellers