Michael Senackerib previously worked at Kraft (now Mondelēz after spinning off its grocery business in 2012) prior to joining Campbell Soup Company as its CMO and Herr Foods as a member of its board directors. He created Farm & Oven along with Kay Allison, former CEO of The Energy Infuser (a consulting firm that helped mature brands, including Mondelēz and PepsiCo, grow organically).
Nutritional values
The company is now offering bakery bites that contain 40% of the recommended daily vegetable intake and one billion probiotics per pack. They are available in four flavors: beet dark chocolate, carrot cinnamon, pumpkin maple pecan, and zucchini lemon poppy seed.
“Farm & Oven is truly a personal passion for me inspired by my autistic daughter who wouldn’t let a vegetable cross her lips,” said Allison.
“I tried many things to get her to eat more vegetables and found that including them in a snack or meal she enjoyed was the answer,” she said. “I knew that if we created something that was delicious, healthy and had a soft, moist texture it would appeal not only to picky eaters but to anyone – kids and adults alike - looking for a convenient, nutritious snack.”
Senackerib pointed out that consumers are snacking more often and are focused on getting more vegetables into their diets.
“Seventy percent of people want to eat more vegetables and 74% experience discomfort with digestion, which is where we focused Farm & Oven – to deliver a product that tastes great and provides nearly half of the recommend daily vegetables, high fiber and probiotics,” he said
Growing e-commerce business
The entirely self-funded Farm & Oven is only available at farmandoven.com right now, according to the company.
“Our initial launch is focused on e-commerce because we believe that [this platform] is only going to grow significantly over the next few years,” Allison told BakeryandSnacks.
She said e-commerce has quite a few advantages for her healthy snacks company: “More and more people are buying food online, but it is certainly not maxed out yet. It is easier for a company whose intention is to scale.”
“We also want to be amazing in marketing our products. E-commerce has the ability to attract on a consumer-by-consumer basis,” Allison added.
For 2018, Farm & Oven has “ambitious goals for growth,” including entering non-traditional retail outlets, Allison added.