Developing Future Generations of Foodies

Licensing is playing an ever-greater role in the children’s cooking activity kit segment, with a number of new licensed products coming on the market recently. They range from toy playsets to science kits to cooking kits for use in making real food. Some are available at retail and others through a subscription model.

Here is a sampling of current licensing activity in the space:

• Abacus Brands offers the MasterChef Junior virtual-reality cooking kit, under license from Banijay Brands. While cooking, children learn the science of food and other educational topics, along with culinary skills, food prep and pairings, flavor profiles, utensil choices, and plating techniques. The kit contains a 21-piece cooking kit and a 90-page recipe book, with step-by-step instructions delivered through virtual-reality content starring former MasterChef Junior winners and contestants.

• Kidstir has a new subscription baking kit tied to Daniel Tiger, licensed by Fred Rogers Productions and agent 9 Story Brands. The monthly deliveries help the youngest chefs learn lessons from Daniel Tiger while making age-appropriate treats. Each kit includes a booklet with codes to unlock associated videos on an augmented-reality app, allowing kids to watch how Daniel makes the recipe. Subscribers receive a Daniel Tiger apron and hat upon purchase. Kidstir also offers a licensed MasterChef Junior subscription kit that includes recipes, at-home challenges replicating features of the show, and a magazine. There are also monthly opportunities to enter contests and win prizes, including a chance to appear in a future kit.

• In KidZ holds a license from Sesame Workshop to sell Cookie Monster-themed cooking activity kits that introduce children to cuisines and traditions from around the world. The products include a recipe book featuring culturally inspired dishes tied to Sesame Street characters of different backgrounds, including Ji-Young’s kimbap, Grandpa ZZ’s mac ’n cheese, and Rosita’s corn muffins. Cookie Monster’s chocolate chip cookies are also included. In addition, there are food- and cooking-related games, puzzles, and picnic play pieces that allow kids to learn independently or alongside their parents as they cook or shop.

• Red Tool Box offers a Tasty Junior-branded kitchen activity kit, licensed by Buzzfeed. The four-in-one kit includes a toy oven, toaster, blender, and mixer, all battery operated, packaged with pretend food items. Each piece in the multipack is also sold separately, as are a microwave and waffle maker; themed kits for burgers and animal pancakes are available too. Links to Tasty Junior videos are included, allowing families to make real recipes while their children play along.

• Handstand Kitchen makes limited-edition Hello Kitty cooking kits, under license from Sanrio, that contain child-sized utensils for making real foods. Products have included the Hello Kitty Ultimate Baking Party Set, with 20 pieces from cookie cutters to spatulas, as well as kits to make cocoa bombs, bake shaped cookies, create cakes, and accomplish several more cooking activities. Some projects are themed to holidays including Halloween and Christmas. The company also sells individual Hello Kitty items such as aprons, towels, and spatulas, for both children and adults.

• I’m The Chef Too! recently signed a deal with Hasbro to develop subscription cooking kits based on the licensor’s Transformers, My Little Pony, Peppa Pig, and Candy Land brands. Examples of monthly projects include Candy Land candy bars, Peppa Pig Muddy Puddle cookie pies, Transformers EarthSpark treat pops, and My Little Pony parfaits. Subscriptions can be purchased for each property as well as in a bundle.

• Williams Sonoma offers an exclusive cookie cutter kit based on Nickelodeon’s The Tiny Chef Show. It contains six cookie cutters, 10 icing bags and four decorating tips, a coupler that allows a single bag to accommodate several tips, and a storage box. Unlike some of the other kits mentioned here, it does not include recipes or instructions on how to make or decorate the final product. The retailer—which has created cookie cutter and cooking project kits for other licensed character properties, including Disney and Peanuts—also sells Tiny Chef lunchboxes, aprons and towels, and spatulas.

Trends suggest that many families will continue to want to engage their children in cooking. Consumers are still making meals at home more post-pandemic than before, while going out to eat less often. And cooking shows on traditional TV channels, streaming platforms, and social media remain popular with all ages. At the same time, the children’s cooking kit category—including all of its various permutations—is becoming more crowded, creating more need for differentiation. These and other drivers suggest that there is still room for additional licensing deals in this sector, continuing the recent growth trajectory.