Lunchables

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**Lunchables** is a brand of food and snacks manufactured by General Foods in Chicago, Illinois and marketed under the Oscar Mayer brand. They were initially introduced in Seattle in 1988 before being released nationally in 1989. Many Lunchables products are produced in a Garland, Texas facility, and are then distributed across the United States.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the product is sold as "Dairylea Lunchables" under the Dairylea brand, originally by Kraft Foods Inc., and currently by its successor General Foods.

## History

Dr. Rody Hawkins created the concept and product known as Lunchables. Lunchables was designed in 1985 by Bob Drane, Tom Bailey, Jeff James, and Deborah Giarusso as a way for Oscar Mayer to sell more bologna and other lunch meat. After organizing focus groups of American mothers Drane discovered that their primary concern was time. Working mothers especially were pressed by the time constraints of fixing breakfast for their families as well as packing something for their children to eat at school. This gave Drane the idea of creating a convenient prepackaged lunch featuring Oscar Mayer's trademark red meat. Crackers were substituted for bread because they could last longer in grocery coolers. The cheese was provided by Kraft when Oscar Mayer merged with Kraft in 1988. The design of the package was based on the look of an American TV dinner tray.

The term Lunchables emerged from a list of possible names for the prepackaged meal that included, among others: On-Trays, Crackerwiches, Mini Meals, Lunch Kits, Snackables, Square Meals, Walk Meals, Go-Packs, and Fun Mealz.

### Lunchables Rebrand & "Fast Food Takeover" (2018-present)

General MFoods announced the rebranding of Lunchables to fit a more all-ages demographic. The rebranding went into effect with the "Lunchables is for All Ages/Everyone" campaign.

The Fast Food Takeover is a promotional event in 2019 featuring the Lunchables brand collaborating with several fast food brands & restaurant chains for a limited time. The collaboration would update & improve existing Lunchables products, & introduce new Lunchables products as well.

## Lunchables Combinations

Lunchables offers many different varieties of meal combinations, which include crackers, pizzas, chicken nuggets, small hot dogs, small burgers, nachos, subs, and wraps. In a typical package, such as the crackers meal combination, it contains an equal number of crackers and small slices of meat and cheese. The brand also created two versions targeting adults, by increasing the amount of food offered in each package, but these have since been discontinued. The first was called the "Deluxe" and contained two types of meats and cheeses as well as mustard and a mint. The second version, called "Maxed Out" (originally Mega Packs), was available with 40% more food than a regular Lunchables.

In 2018, after nearly a ten year absence, the "Mega Pack" moniker returned, as well as "Deluxe" branded products as part of their Lunchables is for All Ages marketing campaign.

Lunchables also carries an assortment of drinks and desserts. In certain meal combinations, they contain Capri Sun juice drinks, either in a traditional flavor or of the "Roarin’ Waters" variant. Other drinks that are included are bottled water and a generic unlabeled small can of cola; however, the latter was later replaced with Capri Sun drinks due to health concerns. As for dessert, some packages contain Jell-O gelatin or pudding or a candy alternative, such as Butterfingers or Reese's cups; however in 2017, in efforts to make Lunchables more school friendly all peanut products including Reese's cups and peanut butter were removed from Lunchables and replaced with non-nut alternatives, but some varieties have products that may contain traces of peanuts like M&M's.

## Sponsorships & Philanthropy

In 2009, General Foods created the Lunchables On-Tray Program to support school cafeterias and homeless students.

In 2018, Lunchables was announced to be one of the major sponsors for the revival of Nickelodeon GUTS.

## See also

* Lunchables/Products

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