Bumblebee Food and The Broth Lab introduce a new category of children’s snacks blending wellness-focused ingredients with everyday convenience at Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival.
The UAE’s children’s food market is quietly undergoing a shift.
What was once defined by convenience snacks and sugar-led products is increasingly moving toward functional nutrition — where everyday food is designed not just to feed children, but to support development, immunity and long-term wellbeing.
That shift has now produced one of the more unusual innovations in the region’s food-tech space.
At the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival, two UAE-based health-focused food brands — Bumblebee Food and The Broth Lab — have signed a strategic partnership that introduces what they describe as the world’s first bone broth cookies designed specifically for children.
The product sits at the intersection of two growing trends: ancestral nutrition and functional snacking.
Bone broth, long associated with gut health and nutrient density due to its collagen, amino acids and mineral content, is typically consumed in liquid form. The new product reinterprets it into a child-friendly snack format, designed to make nutrient-rich ingredients more accessible in everyday diets.
The range includes flavours such as beetroot, banana, cheese crumbles and coconut, positioned as an alternative to conventional processed children’s snacks that are often high in refined sugars and additives.
At a broader level, the collaboration reflects how the UAE’s food innovation sector is increasingly aligning with public health priorities.
The initiative sits alongside national efforts focused on improving childhood nutrition, including reducing intake of trans fats and refined sugars and encouraging healthier dietary habits among families.
Qadreya Al Awadhi, Founder and CEO of Bumblebee Food, said the partnership is aimed at creating what she called a “farm-to-freezer” approach to children’s nutrition — combining convenience with nutrient density.
She added that the goal is not only to introduce a new product, but to build a category of functional snacks that support areas such as gut health, immune strength and cognitive development while still fitting into busy family routines.
The collaboration also reflects a broader shift in how children’s food is being positioned in the UAE market.
Rather than separating “healthy food” and “snacks” into two distinct categories, emerging brands are increasingly attempting to merge the two — creating products that meet nutritional expectations without removing familiarity or appeal for younger consumers.
The involvement of The Broth Lab brings a specialised focus on gut health-led nutrition, while Bumblebee Food contributes experience in developing child-friendly textures and formats, particularly within the organic and fresh food segment.
Together, the partnership represents a growing ecosystem of UAE-based food innovators who are moving beyond imported snack categories and toward locally developed functional food solutions.
More broadly, the launch also reflects the UAE’s positioning as a regional hub for food-tech experimentation, particularly in areas linked to health, sustainability and early-stage nutrition.
While the idea of bone broth cookies may appear unconventional, it sits within a wider global trend where food innovation is increasingly focused on nutrient density, ingredient transparency and functional benefits rather than traditional snack formats.
In that sense, the product is less about novelty and more about category disruption.
It signals a shift in how children’s food is being reimagined — not as a compromise between taste and health, but as a space where both are expected to coexist.
And in a market like the UAE, where health awareness, premium food consumption and innovation ecosystems are all expanding simultaneously, that convergence is becoming increasingly visible.
