Her zeal for baby food can’t be bottled

Cracking the baby food market isn’t child’s play.

Dominated by industry behemoth Gerber Products Co., sales of food such as smashed peas and blended bananas for little eaters have been largely flat for several years.

The news is better for premium organic or natural offerings, including those from Los Angeles start-up Nummy Nums.

One of a handful of newborn businesses that offer frozen or refrigerated infant goodies such as mango vanilla puree and spiced lentil stew, the company is taking its first steps toward winning a share of the fast-growing premium baby-food market.

Sales of organic baby food hit $206 million in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available, up 12.2% from the year before, according to the Organic Trade Assn.

Finding shelf space for the frozen and refrigerated newcomers to the organic and natural baby-food category hasn’t been easy.

“The biggest challenge companies like mine are facing is the fact that we are not in a jar,” said Arlene Yanover, president of Nummy Nums. Yanover, an instructor at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, formerly was a sous-chef at the upscale Patina restaurant and a private chef for celebrities.

The mother of two launched the natural line last year with funds from a home equity loan. She is convinced that other parents eventually will agree that frozen baby food offers fresher flavor and better nutrition, texture and color than jarred food.

Yanover said she steered away from organic products, which must meet strict federal guidelines for ingredient sources. She believes that the definition of organic is a moving target and is confusing for consumers, and that demand for organic food in the future isn’t “going to be what it is today.”

Her research, which is backed by at least one industry report, from Mintel International Group, showed that although parents were interested in organic products, all-natural goods were more important to them.

To tempt parents and babies, Yanover has concocted six natural recipes, including orzo pasta with Bolognese sauce for older babies, sweet peas with potatoes and leek for the 9-month-old set and mango vanilla puree for babies just starting on solid food. Missing is the added sugar, salt and fillers of highly processed traditional baby food, she said.

The food is manufactured and hand-packed into six-cube trays by Village Green Foods Inc. of Irvine. An assortment of six boxes sells for $35.70 online at www.nummynums.com.

Like any proud parent, Yanover has grander plans for her creations, namely to see them on retailers’ shelves.

Yet she’s found herself in the classic entrepreneur’s problem when it comes to retail sales. Entrepreneurs need a distribution company if they want to supply more than a few stores. But distribution companies typically want a company to have established healthy sales at a number of stores and be working with a food broker who will tend to a product once it’s on the shelves.

Yanover said she was not yet able to afford a food broker. Her plan is to pitch her products directly to local buyers, starting with Whole Foods Market Inc. She met last week with a buyer for the Whole Foods Market at 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue in L.A., which is near her home.

Her business partner, chef Stuart Skversky, is working on Westside locations.

“You are always trying to nudge everybody because they all have their own agendas,” Yanover said. “So you just have to connect all the pieces for them.”

Solving the distribution puzzle was key to the success of another start-up in the fledgling frozen baby-food sector, Nurture Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y., which launched its HappyBaby line (www.happybabyfood.com) on Mother’s Day last year.

The mothers in its focus groups began to ask for the product at their local stores, which helped the company.

“If enough retailers want it, then you can get into a distributor,” said Jessica Rolph, co-founder and chief operating officer of the company.

Nurtured by funding from family and friends, and long hours by its founders, HappyBaby has exceeded its original sales projections, Rolph said. She declined to provide sales figures or projections.

“In the beginning, it was just so much of just grinding it out, one by one,” she said. “Then you look up from working so hard and all of a sudden say, ‘Wow! We’ve got the distribution and we are selling great in all these stores.’ ”

For now, Yanover’s company is still getting on its feet. Nummy Nums’ online sales are a modest $100 a month, despite the small buzz the category has generated.

The company has earned mentions in consumer and trade publications, some involving taste tests in which its products usually fared well.

A bright indicator for those chasing the premium market: Sales of baby food through natural-food stores, including Whole Foods, rose 64% since 2003, Mintel found.

Yanover plans to take it one store at a time, conserving cash as much as possible while parents and retailers thaw to the new frozen category.

“Part of really what makes a business succeed,” Yanover said, “is just how long can you bootstrap before your concept is finally getting some awareness.”

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cyndia.zwahlen@latimes.com