Target adds baby, toddler snacks to Good & Gather brand

Target is expanding Good & Gather, its signature food-and-beverage private-label brand, to include items for babies and toddlers, the retailer announced Monday.

Good & Gather Baby and Good & Gather Toddler products include a range of products, most under $5, and all made without artificial flavors, synthetic colors, artificial sweeteners and high-fructose corn syrup, Target said.

The baby line features several snacks, such as Teether Banana Strawberry Baked Rice Snack, Organic Pumpkin Carrot Spinach Baked Rice Snack, Organic Freeze-Dried Mixed Berry Yogurt Bites and Blueberry Baked Rice Snack.

Target’s new line of toddler foods includes Organic Beet Baby Biscuit, Strawberry & Beet Snack Bar, and Organic Apple, Strawberry, Beetroot with Chia Seeds Fruit and Veggie Bites, among others.

All of the items are now available in Target stores as well as online.

“For generations, parents have turned to Target to help them care for their children—and I’m excited that we’re building on that legacy in food and beverage with the launch of Good & Gather Baby and Good & Gather Toddler,” Rick Gomez, EVP and chief food and beverage officer for Target, said in a statement.

Private label has increasingly become a major focus for Minneapolis-based Target, especially as grocery prices have climbed.

Good & Gather, which debuted in September 2019, generated more than $3 billion in sales last year, the company said. It’s not only Target’s top private-label brand, it’s the retailer’s No. 1-selling food-and-beverage label. The brand now includes more than 2,500 products, spanning dairy, produce, snack foods, beverages, ready-made pastas, meats and more.

The brand also encompasses the Good & Gather Organic, Good & Gather Plant Based, Good & Gather Seasonal and Good & Gather Signature product lines.

Food-and-beverage sales were a rare bright spot for Target during its most-recent quarter. The retailer’s comparable sales dropped 5.4%, its first decline in six years, though sales of consumables rose in the low single digits, Target said last week.

The report prompted Target to lower its sales forecast for the rest of the year, as inflation-pressured consumers continue to limit discretionary purchases.