Freddie’s Farm products have officially hit Aldi shelves after beating out hundreds of other competitors on Channel 4’s latest episode of the TV show ‘Aldi’s Next Big Thing’.
The healthy confectionary brand offers fruit and veg snacks for kids made with only British produce, sourced predominantly from their own orchards and fields in Kent.
The theme of the episode for the show based around the German discounter was ‘Healthy and Wholesome’ and saw this locally sourced fruit snack range win a place in Aldi stores nationwide.
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Available in boxes of 5 x 20g packs with an RRP of £2.29, Freddie’s Farm provides children’s snacks “with a difference”.
Wrapped in paper packaging and using only fresh fruit & veg (never concentrates or purees), the items feature no added sugar and benefit from a special patented process which results in lower ‘free’ sugars than any other kid’s fruit snacks on the market.
Hosted by Anita Rani, of Countryfile, and Chris Bavin, of Britain’s Best Home Cook, hopeful food and drink suppliers compete for a space on Aldi’s shelves, before Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi UK, decides on the winner.
The discount supermarket has a very rigorous criteria for its healthy and wholesome category and Charlie and Laurie Fermor impressed the judges from the start with the taste of their snacks, paper packaging, and health credentials.
With everything grown, dried and packed within metres of the couple’s home, the carbon footprint also appealed to Aldi, which has tough sustainability targets and has been a carbon neutral business since 2019.
However, to secure the contract the small business had to scale up significantly to meet the order of almost 400,000 packs – more than 10 times bigger than their previous biggest order.
“When Freddie [now 6] was little, we didn’t like the snacks that were out there in the market, so we came up with Freddie’s Farm,” co-founder of Freddie’s Farm Laurie Fermor explained.
“The drying process has been perfected over a long time so it’s quite special. We try to keep the flavours you get in raw fruit and veg.
“As a result, we have lower free sugars, which help prevent kids getting sugar highs and crashes, which we certainly like to avoid with our two [children] at all costs.”
Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, said: “It’s a fantastic product. It just ticks every single box. It’s made in Britain by British farmers, using British produce. It’s a healthy snack that I’d be happy to give to my children.”
The news comes as Aldi is struggling to deliver on its sustainability commitment of making all own-label packaging recyclable by the end of 2022.
