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![]() "The Pizza" Lunchly; pepperoni, cheese, "pizza crust" and tomato sauce. Includes a Feastables Milk Crunch bar (pictured below crust) and a bottle of Cherry Freeze Prime. | |
Product type | Snack |
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Owner | Lunchly LLC |
Country | USA, UK |
Introduced | September 16, 2024 |
Related brands | Prime, Feastables |
Registered as a trademark in | United States; May 16, 2024 [1] |
Ambassador(s) | KSI Logan Paul MrBeast |
Website | lunchly |
Lunchly (stylized in uppercase letters) is a brand of snack kits created and marketed by Lunchly LLC. The brand is promoted and founded as a joint venture between YouTubers Olajide "KSI" Olatunji, Logan Paul, and Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson. It is marketed as a healthier competitor to Kraft Heinz's Lunchables. The product line was announced on September 16, 2024.
Each box includes a Prime drink and a Feastables chocolate bar, each pre-existing popular products by the producer offered by the creators, along with three varieties including turkey with cheese and crackers, nachos with salsa and cheese, or pizza.
The product has been criticized by online personalities and health campaigners, and there have been reports of mold being found within the product.
The product was announced to the public by KSI, Logan Paul, and MrBeast as a collaboration on September 16, 2024, [2] [3] following other food and beverage products such as Prime, a range of energy and sports drinks by Olatunji and Paul, and Feastables, a brand of chocolate bars by Donaldson. Both products are sold in combination with Lunchly kits. Lunchly is intended as a "healthier" alternative to Kraft Heinz's Lunchables, and the website features a calorie and sugar comparison to that product on its website. [4] [2] [5]
At the time of Lunchly's release, Donaldson was in the midst of numerous controversies of his own. [6] [7] A number of social media experts speaking to Business Insider stated that Lunchly may benefit from the negative attention Donaldson was exposed to, while also noting that the launch may come across as a distraction. [8] Following Lunchly's negative reception online, Paul claimed that Lunchly's headquarters had received a bomb threat [9] from a caller based in London. [10]
Lunchly currently has three varieties of lunch kits, all of which are reinterpretations of Lunchables products.
Lunchly was criticized by a number of Internet personalities. YouTuber DanTDM expressed his disapproval of Lunchly, stating on Twitter: "This is selling crap to kids who don't know better than to trust the people who are selling it to them." [14] In response, KSI claimed that Lunchly's negative reception stemmed from a dislike that critics have for Paul, Donaldson, and himself. [15]
Forbes described the three packaged meals as "almost identical to existing offerings by Lunchables". [2] After the product's launch, The Mary Sue stated that Lunchly was likely intended to boost sales for Prime Hydration and Feastables. [16]
Reviewing the product in October, YouTuber Rosanna Pansino reported finding mold growing on the cheese in a packet of "The Pizza" style. [17] [18] [19] Following this, a number of social media users claimed to have likewise found mold in Lunchly packages. [20] The Food and Drug Administration confirmed that it received over ten complaints about Lunchly, with one consumer reporting an illness linked to the product. [21]
Doctor Mike, a family physician who releases educational health videos on YouTube, acknowledged that the product's sugar and saturated fat were slightly less than Lunchables, but estimated that a child would have to eat 2.7 Lunchly Turkey Stack 'Ems to achieve their recommended lunchtime calorie intake, and in doing so would consume close to their recommended daily intake of sodium. [22] [9] UK health campaigners voiced similar criticism of Lunchly. [23]