For years, children’s meals have followed a familiar formula: brightly coloured packaging, collectible toys and highly processed food designed to appeal to younger palates.
Now, eeetwell is attempting to challenge that formula from within.
The Malta-based healthy food brand recently launched the Yum Box, a new children’s meal concept available across all its outlets.
The initiative combines balanced meals with playful packaging and food-inspired toys, aiming to make healthier choices feel exciting rather than restrictive.
According to Valéry Vallée, head of creative and strategy at eeetwell, the project was born out of a growing concern about childhood eating habits in Malta, as well as the recognition that healthier food must compete within the realities of modern family life.
“We believe it is extremely important, because food habits start much earlier than people think,” Vallée explains. “In Malta, this is not a distant problem. The data is already alarming at a very young age: among children aged around five and above, roughly one in three is already overweight or obese.
That, says Vallée, means healthy eating is not something we should only start talking about when children become teenagers. The foundation is built much earlier.
Rather than positioning the Yum Box as a perfect solution, Vallée says the company wanted to focus on the power of repetition and familiarity in shaping long-term behaviour.
“We are not expecting one kids’ meal to solve childhood obesity, but we do believe that small habits, repeated often, help shape what children see as normal,” he says.
At the same time, he acknowledges the reality many parents face when trying to encourage healthier eating habits in children.
“Every parent knows how difficult modern food habits can be. Busy schedules, convenience, screens, snacks everywhere, and children naturally being drawn to the colourful fun options. We did not want to fight that reality. We wanted to work with it.”
That philosophy became central to the Yum Box concept.
Rather than removing the playful elements children already associate with kids’ meals, eeetwell made a conscious decision to retain them while fundamentally changing what was inside the box.
“The idea was to keep the things children already understand and enjoy: the box, the combo, the toy, the surprise. But inside, the food is built with a different mindset: better ingredients, more balance and a healthier direction,” he explains.
For Vallée, the initiative also reflects the wider identity of eeetwell as a brand focused on making healthy eating more accessible and less intimidating.
“We have always believed that healthy food should not feel complicated, boring or reserved only for adults, gym people or ‘perfect’ eaters. It should be colourful, tasty, convenient and part of everyday life. With the Yum Box, we are bringing that same idea to children and families.”
Importantly, he notes that education around food does not always need to look like a lesson.
“Sometimes it starts with a child opening a box, seeing colourful food, enjoying a balanced meal and associating that experience with something fun and positive.”
Ultimately, he says, that is the real goal: to help younger generations see healthier food as normal, familiar and enjoyable. Not as a punishment. Not as the ‘serious option’. Just food they can enjoy.
The meals themselves were developed with careful attention to both nutrition and familiarity.
The objective was never to create a restrictive ‘health food’ experience for children, but rather to offer recognisable favourites prepared in a more balanced and nutritious way.
“We did not want to create a ‘mini diet meal’. Children do not want that, and parents are not asking for that either. The goal was to create something familiar, tasty and exciting, while improving what is inside.”
One example is the Yum Box chicken burger made with fresh marinated chicken breast coated in panko breadcrumbs and oven-roasted without any additional oil, so children still get that crispy, enjoyable texture, but in a lighter way.
The development process itself was extensive, with eeetwell testing the concept over the course of a year through various public events and activations before officially launching the Yum Box earlier this month across all outlets in Malta.
“This was not created in a boardroom in one afternoon,” Vallée smiles. “Over the past year, we tested and adjusted the Yum Box through different events and activations. We watched what children picked first, what they ignored, what parents asked about, and what came back empty.”
He says that the feedback so far has been very positive.
“Kids are loving it, and parents are enjoying having an option that still feels fun, but with a lot more care behind it.”
One of the more distinctive aspects of the Yum Box is its decision to embrace toys and playful marketing − elements more commonly associated with fast-food chains than wellness-focused brands.
For Vallée, however, that decision was entirely intentional.
“Why? Because we have met children,” he jokes. “And anyone who has ever tried to convince a child to eat veggies knows that a toy can be a very strong negotiation tool.”
Behind the humour lies a broader observation about how children emotionally engage with food experiences.
“Kids love the full experience of a children’s meal: the box, the surprise, the toy, the feeling that it was made especially for them. For years, that experience has mostly belonged to junk food. We thought: why should fun only belong to fast food?”
The toys themselves were designed to reinforce positive associations with food through playful fruit and vegetable-inspired characters.
The initial launch includes plushies, walking toys themed around produce and optional reusable water bottles featuring the brand’s mascot.
“We wanted the toys to feel colourful, cute and connected to food in a positive way,” Vallée explains. “If a carrot can become a little character, or broccoli can become funny instead of scary, we are already moving in the right direction.”
He adds that eeetwell hopes to eventually collaborate with local creatives and producers to develop future collections with a stronger educational and community-focused identity.
Beyond the children’s meals, Vallée says eeetwell’s broader philosophy centres on encouraging families to think more consciously about food sourcing, preparation and sustainability.
“We prepare and cook our meat daily. We work with local producers where possible, and we use seasonal produce as much as we can. We stay away from the easy industrial shortcut: pre-cooked, frozen chicken breast cubes shipped from the other side of the world,” he explains.
Food should not feel disconnected from where we live. It should feel fresh, thoughtful, and made with care, he adds.
He openly acknowledges that this approach comes with higher operational costs, but says the company deliberately chose not to treat the Yum Box as a high-margin product.
Vallée believes the success of the Yum Box will depend on whether healthier food can become realistic and enjoyable for ordinary families rather than aspirational or exclusive.
“For families, healthier choices only work if they are realistic,” he says. “They need to be tasty, quick, affordable and fun enough that children actually want them. That is what we are trying to do with the Yum Box: help families make a better choice without making it feel like a compromise.”
