Bolthouse Farms Kids Smoothies: Strawberry meets Banana

Bolthouse Farms’ Kids Smoothies line features the company's take on the classic strawberry and banana smoothie. The product contains a variety of fruit purees and juices from concentrate, including apple, strawberry, pear, banana and acerola as well as coconut water (also from concentrate). It’s a natural product, which is a plus, and the beverage is thickened with pectin and colored with beet juice. Both additions are a nice change of pace from what you’ll find in competing products. As for the the taste of the mixture, it’s straightforward, but a bit too familiar as it pretty much tastes like every other strawberry banana smoothie out there. And like many other competing products, the banana and apple flavors are a bit too assertive. Packaging, which is a kid- and parent-friendly 6 oz. size, is ultimately how this product differentiates itself. While the small size is nice, the real estate on the label is a bit tight and the shape of the bottle, which is curved in the middle, doesn’t help for readability. From our perspective, making the text and graphics larger -- and having less of them -- would help. Overall, it’s a decent product, but it’s one that lacks meaningful innovation, especially being in a very crowded and mature space.