Melbourne business Whole Kids rakes in $3.4m despite pandemic

The pandemic wiped out a whole lot of revenue overnight, but the Melbourne woman has now scored a deal with one of Australia’s most popular supermarkets.

When the pandemic hit and grounded travel overnight, Monica Meldrum saw $1 million of her business’ revenue disappear.

The mum-of-two had worked with Qantas for years supplying healthy children’s snacks from her business Whole Kids, but suddenly the airline was barely flying.

But she knew the business, which she had started back in 2005 with her now husband James, still had so much more to do in the space and set out securing deals with the team behind the hit song Baby Shark as well as Aldi.

The idea for Whole Kids came about when she travelled to Indonesia to help deliver an aid program in north Sumatra with the Department of Foreign Affairs. It made her “question my happiness and want I wanted from my career”.

With more than a dozen nieces and nephews between the couple, Mrs Meldrum decided she wanted to make a difference to children’s health and spent three years researching the market before betting their house deposit on it.

“Between James and I, we had 19 nieces and nephews and one had pretty severe food allergies. We had a discussion with their mum in terms of children’s food and found that it was overprocessed and marketed by big food companies as being healthy but it was full of addictives and fooling parents,” she told news.com.au.

“I met with a dietitian ... and organic growers and realised there was an opportunity to create a business that contributed directly to children’s health.”

Whole Kids co founders, James and Monica Meldrum with their children. Picture: Supplied

Desperate to see a change in the industry, they decided to try their luck at an organic expo in Sydney and were overwhelmed with 60 retailers placing orders.

Two years later Qantas approached them to pitch their business after receiving complaints about the high sugar offerings that saw kids “climbing the walls mid-flight”, Mrs Meldrum said.

“We were up against some of the biggest food brands in the world that were delivering purely at cost, but Qantas decided it was a good thing to support and provide parents with options,” she explained.

Whole Kids now has a range of 30 products for the six-month age group up until school aged children, which includes puffs, teething wafers and rusks, cookies, oatmeal, biscuits and fruit bars.

The mum and of a 7 and 11-year-old said Whole Kids ethos is about transparency with products containing just one to five ingredients, with the biscuits and bars which retail for around $5.50 being bestsellers.

Whole Kids will expand into Aldi Supermarkets in over 500 stores nationally from December.

“During Covid the airlines grounded and we reached out to Aldi and struck up a relationship with Whole Kids ... soft cereal biscuits to be ranged nationally,” she said.

“Its fantastic. It means we are now really a national brand as we are ranged in all retailers. The segment of customers that shop in Aldi will help our business grow. We are really on our way to scaling our business vision about creating happy, healthy children and becoming a leader in children’s health both in Australia and globally.”

The Whole Kids range. Picture: Supplied

It has also snagged a deal with global Korean sensation, Pinkfong, creators of the famously viral Baby Shark video, for exclusive licensed distribution of Whole Kids products in Korea.

Despite the approximate $1 million loss in revenue from the airlines, for the 2020/21 financial year, Whole Kids achieved a total revenue of $4.3 million, almost on par with the previous year of $4.4 million.

It has also experienced a 60 per cent year-on-year growth in Coles and 58 per cent in Woolworths making Whole Kids the fastest growing brand on shelves in the children’s snacking category, according to the brand.

“I think given Covid families are really looking at how they support kids immunity and health and that’s become a big focus – good nutrition and good quality ingredients to support that and maintain health and wellness,” Ms Meldrum said about the growth.

Currently, its developing 40 new products across seven categories, with focus groups with kids helping to see if they pass the test.

“We get some very good feedback and surprise feedback. There was a range of smoothies I was looking to develop and we thought blueberry and apple would be one of bestsellers but the kids didn’t like it,” she revealed.

“They picked beetroot and banana as they liked the colour and flavour. Their taste profiles are very different in their younger ages and often what food manufacturers do is overload snacks with sugar, flavours and colours when kid’s palates are so simple and don’t require it.”

One of the snacks the brand makes. Picture: Supplied

Forty new products have also been developed. Picture: Supplied

Whole Kids has launched a crowdfunding campaign via Birchal with a goal to raise $2 million to help with product development and increasing distribution into Malaysia, Hong Kong and the UAE, overhauling their website and looking at the direct to consumer channel.

In 2020, its crowd funding campaign raised over $1.2 million from almost 600 investors.

Mrs Meldrum said they have accepted a UN global contract to set a goal of becoming carbon neutral in the next 12 months, with a bigger focus on sustainability for the future.

It is also finalising a launch into before and after care school program, Kidsco, to deliver products to over 450 schoolchildren every day.