Katie Thomson & Kendall Glynn: Pioneers in Infant Nutrition

Square Baby is the first and only baby food to offer 100% Daily Nutrition. Rooted in nutrition science, our organic meals and customized meal plans are tailored for every age and stage of development so parents can rest assured their baby is receiving 100% of their daily recommended servings of veggies, protein, whole grains, and fruit. Our Square Meals have 1/2 the sugar and twice the protein, fiber, and healthy fat as most pouches.

Square Baby offers meals ranging from smooth, simple purees for babies’ earliest bites to thicker, nutritionally balanced purees with various ingredients and adventurous flavors for palate development. We include meal options with various proteins, such as chicken bone broth and lentils, and options for early allergen introduction.

Square Baby’s subscription service is a 1-stop solution for infant nutrition. Organic purees are made fresh and then quickly frozen to lock in nutrients and freshness, and are delivered frozen to your doorstep every two weeks. 

Our Square Meal System™ is tailored to baby’s age and stage of development as well as their nutrition needs and preferences. With Square Baby, it’s never been easier for parents to give their baby balanced “Square Meals” with 100% of their daily recommended servings of f veggies, protein, whole grains and fruit.

And it’s fully customizable — whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, omnivore, looking to introduce allergens, or need extra iron, probiotics, or Omega-3’s — we got you. Our unique online filtering system helps you choose the perfect products for your baby. 

Katie: As a mom and dietitian, I felt the baby food industry was broken. For far too long, leading brands have prioritized profits over proper nutrition. They’ve taken shortcuts on quality and nutrition, ignored heavy metal reports, and knowingly misled parents with BS marketing. When I started feeding my babies over a decade ago, I was fed up with the sea of unbalanced, fruit-heavy meals that didn’t provide the nutrition, flavor, or texture we were seeking for our kiddos’ proper growth and development. 

Starting this company was gradual; my dream took nine years to launch. Doing the research, building the business model, designing and testing the Square Meal System of recipes, finding the perfect cofounder/partner, and raising funds. In retrospect, — worth the wait for all of the stars to align.

KENDALL: When Katie and I joined forces and launched Square Baby in 2018, I knew we could do better. Our little ones deserved more than what was offered in the market and parents deserve a break. As a Mom who labored over homemade baby food for my three kiddos, I knew we had to answer the demand and make a significant change in the childhood nutrition space. 

 And that’s why we created Square Baby. To upend the baby food industry and put nutrition science at the center of every decision. To solve every pain point we had when feeding our babies. To create a solution for parents so they don’t have to choose between nutrition, quality, freshness, and convenience. 

Initial reports uncovered the alarming levels of toxic heavy metals in several of the largest baby food manufacturers. A new report from CNN Health was recently released, shedding light on several more baby food manufacturers that confirmed lax testing standards and protocols, inadequate recall of products, and overall lack of transparency leading to dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in their baby food products. 

The CNN report found that several of the largest baby food manufacturers were testing individual ingredients instead of the whole product for toxic heavy metals. The results from individual ingredient testing were used to estimate the toxic heavy metal levels in their finished product. This led to inaccurate reporting of certain baby food products that were initially considered safe when they were exceeding the threshold of heavy metals. 

While the FDA has recently announced a new program called “Closer to Zero” to establish safe industry standards for toxic heavy metals in baby food, this program will not take effect immediately. It could take years before regulations are implemented for all four toxic elements. 

We are aware that there are naturally occurring heavy metals in the soil. To mitigate this and minimize risk and exposure to heavy metals, we have partnered with farms and suppliers in regions of the US known for lower levels of heavy metals.

As part of our quality control process, we perform ongoing heavy metal testing on our meals, utilizing a certified third-party lab (which works with Clean Label Project and deeply understands their standards). We have a more accurate test result by testing the finished product meal for each heavy metal. This is considered the best practice when testing for heavy metals in baby food products.  After third-party lab testing, we are proud winners of the Clean Label Project’s “Purity Award”.

The baby food market is ripe for innovation.  In the past (when our kids were babies), most of the options on the market were jars of homogenous, shelf-stable goo. We then began to see organic options come into the market, and the pouch format became the innovation in the space. These pouches created more of an issue from a nutritional perspective because they were applesauce-heavy, unbalanced nutritionally, and lacked protein, healthy fats, and vegetables. They also did not teach our kids to eat with a spoon. We had two choices: compromise, give our kids products we were unhappy with, or spend our time and energy making food at home. 

We are now seeing that parents unsatisfied with the shelf-stable and fruit-heavy options are demanding better. The category is evolving and growing, and it is ours to win.

Square Baby’s goal is to become the leader in infant and, eventually, family nutrition, providing nutritionally balanced solutions, incredibly delicious and super convenient.  A trusted partner in a family’s quest to live a healthier, more balanced life.

Our target customers are health-conscious parents and caregivers looking for fresh, organic, healthy meals and snacks without spending hours in the kitchen. They seek the best nutrition, including premium proteins like chicken bone broth, egg, and sustainably caught salmon (impossible to find in other fresh baby food brands) delivered to their doorstep. They also follow the research and recommendations on early allergen introduction and are asking for options like peanuts, almonds, soy, fish, shellfish, and milk- as recent research shows that introducing allergens early and often can help prevent food allergies from developing.

We are so excited about the growth and momentum happening at Square Baby! And we look forward to achieving some significant initiatives in the next 12 months. We continue to roll out meal options for our families and plan to grow our menu threefold in the coming months. And while we are laser-focused on our core direct-to-consumer business, we plan to work with strategic retailers to begin offering our products to customers in-store and online. We would also like to expand our product offering to provide nutritionally rich snacks and meals as our families grow. Our families continue to ask for toddler and kid-friendly foods!