Connecting with Caregivers to Make Every Bite Count

September 1, 2021
TrendsRetail Industry Insights

Proper nutrition from birth to 24 months of age plays a foundational role in supporting a child’s ability to grow and meet developmental milestones, and for the first time ever, the 2020 – 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans now provides authoritative guidance for this age group. As parents and caregivers search for ways to put this guidance into practice, retail dietitians are perfectly positioned to supply practical nutrition tips and feeding advice to customers with turnkey nutrition communication tools from The Beef Checkoff. The Make Every Bite Count with Beef Retail Dietitian Activation Kit provides simple, evidence-based solutions with products found at your stores. Providing this cutting edge information can help you establish trust with shoppers, while increasing customer loyalty.  Below are some creative ways to use the toolkit materials to connect with shoppers looking for advice on feeding little ones:

• Baby’s first foods cooking class. Hold a cooking class, in-person or virtually, to discuss the important nutrients infants need, and which foods help make every bite count when starting solids. Section 3 of Make Every Bite Count Toolkit includes talking points to help address common feeding fears such as choking and allergy concerns. The toolkit also provides a visual progression of appropriately prepared beef for children at different developments stages. Post the Fabulous First Foods for Baby blog article (section 4 in the kit) on your website and promote the class to the expectant moms picking up prenatal vitamins at your pharmacies, while also leveraging social media.
• Conduct a store tour for expecting moms. During your stores’ baby week promotion, organize a virtual or in-store tour to highlight nutrient-rich foods that should be included in an infant’s diet. Discuss the growth milestones that indicate a baby is ready for solid foods and how to introduce new flavors and textures. Provide this Feeding Tips for Healthy Infant Growth handout and review the key nutrients needed to support healthy growth and development, along with important food sources for these nutrients. For example, beef is a great first food, providing essential nutrients like zinc, iron and high-quality protein.
• Develop a baby’s first foods list. Create a “dietitian’s choice” shopping list of first foods to purchase for babies and add it to your company’s e-commerce site. The list should populate directly to items that can be quickly added to a customer’s order.
• Invite new parents to an online party.  Offer quarterly online “new parent parties” to celebrate with customers and to answer questions they may have about first foods and feeding practices. Conduct a food demo on how to prepare your own baby food and share new baby food products from your store. Provide a small gift card to attendees and/or opportunities to win prizes.
• Create a series of recipe videos. Use videos to show shoppers how to transform a family recipe into a meal the whole family can safely enjoy. Explore these Beef in the Early Years Recipes to provide inspiration for family-friendly, nutrient-rich meals.
• Seek out partnerships with local pediatricians. Pediatric offices will welcome resources that help them provide credible nutrition solutions to their patients. Promote your store tours or classes, offer a first food shopping list with feeding tips and simple recipes. Don’t be shy to ask if an educational class and food demo could be held at their office on a regular basis. Provide participants with a small gift card or coupons to your stores.
• Connect with young parent groups. Local churches, for example, often have young parent or mom’s groups that meet on a regular basis. They are always seeking credible speakers, and nutrition and food guidance are very popular topics.

Visit Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. for an overview of the scientific research, resources, and family-friendly recipes, to help your customers make every bite count with beef.