Mr Beast, the world’s biggest YouTuber, has joined forces with two other social media phenomena – Logan Paul and KSI – to challenge Kraft Heinz’ long-loved kids brand Lunchables. Named Lunchly, the brand will offer a range of three different pre-packaged lunch boxes that contain:

• A 355ml bottle of Prime drink, the coconut water beverage with added electrolytes and BCAAs created by Logan Paul and KSI in 2022

• A miniature version of a Feastable chocolate bar, a brand created by Mr Beast in 2022

• One of three savoury options: deconstructed mini pizzas with cheese and pepperoni; a tray of nacho chips with two different dips; or a tub of wheat crackers, sliced turkey and sliced cheese.

The product is, in other words, a combination of the founders’ two existing food brands – both of which have built their success on social media – and a version of the savoury ‘build your own’ bites found in Kraft Heinz’ billion dollar annual sales Lunchables brand.

All of the three savoury options above can be found in the Lunchables range as well, but Lunchly claims to be a healthier option. It bases this on the fact that its products contain 8g-14g of sugar and 30-90 kcal less than the Lunchables equivalent, while providing 400mg of electrolytes when the Capri Sun drink found in a Lunchables box only contains 55mg. Lunchly’s nacho version is also higher in protein, providing 9g instead of Lunchables’ 7g, but the other two SKUs contain the same amount of protein or, in the case of the pizza, 2g less.

Lunchly has secured listings in Kroger and Albertsons as well as smaller retail chains across the US, mostly on the west coast and mid-west. It hopes to be in Walmart and Target by early 2025. At $3.99 (€3.58) per meal kit, it is priced the same as Lunchables’s kits.

Lunchly presents its products as “beyond-basic lunch kits designed by today’s internet icons”. Its marketing targets an audience that is possibly slightly older than that of Lunchables, but the target market is still clearly young people who follow the founders on social media.

With a combined followership of around 600 million across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, the three entrepreneurs have already created a lot of hype around the new brand. Lunchly’s first Instagram post, which was published one day ago at the time of writing, already has over 1 million likes. The brand’s TikTok channel, created just days ago, has over 10,000 followers despite not having published a single video yet.

Lunchly has entered a category that posted a 13% decline in unit-volume sales for the 52 weeks ended February 2024, according to Circana. The category’s dollar sales also declined, by 10%, meaning that higher prices couldn’t rescue its financial performance from a lessening interest in this type of product. Its key competitor Lunchables has been struggling for some time now, despite several attempts to revive the $1bn+ brand that has been going since the 1980s. Whether the power of social media will be enough to help Lunchly succeed remains to be seen. Social media may be powerful, but it is also infamous for creating fads and being changeable in a way that will undoubtedly become a challenge for Lunchly a few years, or even months, from now.