I’m actually surprised that it took Jennifer Garner so long to get in on the celebrity lifestyle business. Her buddy Jessica Biel’s family restaurant venture isn’t going too well though so maybe she wanted to bide her time and find the perfect side project. Garner announced on Instagram earlier this week that she’s co-founded an organic baby food subscription service called Once Upon a Farm. (Am I an a-hole for rolling my eyes at that company name?) It seems like “co-founded” is being used loosely as Once Upon a Farm has existed since 2015 and Garner joined this year, but maybe it accurately describes her role. Here’s Garner’s announcement on Instagram.
That was really schmaltzy, especially the cute names she gave her co-founders. On the company’s website all of the people in this photo are listed as co-founders. Garner’s position is Chief Brand Officer with her role described as guiding “the company’s overall vision with a focus on brand voice, design, and activation.” I really dislike these subscription services, so many of them rely on recurring subscriptions while setting up barriers to cancelling the service and returning items. (See Kate Hudson’s Fabletics and to a lesser degree, Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company.) However it appears on Once Upon’s site that you can buy the products without subscribing, albeit at a higher price. Without a recurring subscription the baby food costs about $3 a pouch for 8 and has a $10 delivery fee. That’s about twice as much as you would pay for traditional baby food, not even counting the delivery costs, but it’s not astronomical I guess consider that this is all organic and farm to table, etc.
As for this career move by Garner, it’s smart. I question whether this company is profitable yet, but they just got a ton of free advertising for hiring Garner. Plus this aligns perfectly with her wholesome mom image. She’s not doing all the work of starting her own company or lifestyle business and is simply joining an existing company.
Also, this is why she joined Instagram two weeks ago right? It was probably written into her contract with this baby food company that she would do social marketing. So she just shared a few pics of her charity work (I’m being a cynic but good for her, she’s committed to her causes and she cares), one of her working out, and another video of her talking into the phone when she just got out of dental work and was still hopped up on anesthesia. How long did she hold on to this video of herself cry laughing about Hamilton, waiting for just the right moment to post it? She knew it would go viral and oh look, she has a new venture too. That’s Garner, always winning the PR war.
photos credit: WENN, Backgrid, Getty and Instagram/Jennifer Garner
Free publicity?
No, they probably gave her equity in exchange for her participation.
Yeah it may not cost the company anything in terms of payroll, but it certainly impacts the profits of the original shareholders.
Agree this is a good move for her. Gotta keep the money rolling in right? She isn’t really a viable money making A list actress any more – let’s be honest.
Gotta keep the money rolling in right? “She isn’t really a viable money making A list actress any more – let’s be honest”
I don’t think that matters to be honest. She made an absolute fortune from “Juno” with her “back end deal”. She also has “Alias” syndication money. She’s filthy rich even without this venture.
And their divorce settlement.
Forgot about Alias! I used to love that show!
No offense to her, but no thanks. That’s a ridiculous price and I can’t believe people would actually pay for that crap. I can’t stand the subscription services that are “in” now…good luck, I bet you’re going to need it lmao.
I agree with you. It is so easy to make your own baby food. All you need is blender or a small food processor. Made my own and made my grandchildren’s – my daughters made their children their baby food also. People these days only want convenience and will pay for it.
Every parent is different. What is easy for one may not be easy or possible for another. Anything that helps a new parent feel in control over what affects his/her family is good for said family.
No, it doesn’t make sense.
Yes it does.
Hi Jen!
Any sympathy I’d conjured up for her just went *poof*! That instagram! 7-levels of grating. My “aw shucks, golly gee, organic mommy!” quota has been filled for the day.
I feel like I need to go do “Fight Club” to shake it off.
Lol same same same! Style is a contagion. Lifestyle brands on Instagram are freaking epidemics.
Right!? And this instagram is peak. The nicknames! Mamas! Farm to table! Wait till you get to know us! The styling!
And no, Jennifer Garner, you do not love me!! Grrrrrr………
Man is she hard to take sometimes. So saccharine, and like a machine the way she orchestrates her wholesome, aw shucks mommy thing. And she just. won’t. stop. not. ever. I swear if she was a politicians wife she could get someone elected.
I know, I just…can’t take her. She’s too much.
I think I would go out of my mind if I were married to her; it’s not like she doesn’t know the wider world and she certainly has a previous marriage and her own antics.
Yeah, she is too much sometimes. I get a toothache just reading about her.
I threw up a lil bit in my mouth reading those cringeworthy nicknames,…I bet she wrote this while reciting the whole post in her utterly annoying baby voice.
“Co-founder” means something specific in silicon valley. It doesn’t even necessarily mean you co-founded the company! See Elon Musk and the drama over Tesla. So if she’s a co-founder, she’s a co-founder. Co-founder doesn’t mean CEO. Nothing suggests she isn’t.
see how ingrained sexism is?
what, dads don’t fracking feed their kids?
I’m just over it. How hard is it to speak to ALL people?!
This has always stuck in my craw, even though I know where it comes from. It blew my mind to see a couple of commercials recently where the father was fixing the lunch and burning the cookies or washing his daughter’s princess outfit.
Side observation: delivery services are exploding these days. A fad or a real change (like how Lyft/Uber destroyed cab companies)?
I like it. I think the company name is cute. I like more organic food options. Pouch fruit snacks are a staple in my house. I’d buy this before I bought Kate Hudson active wear or Jennifer Aniston perfume.
Also, I like the cute instagram posts. She seems nice and if nice is the energy she wants to put out into the world, I’m for it.
the company name is adorable! it’s an increasingly tough market, though, I would think. I have an 8-month-old and buy organic baby food. there are so many options out there now, even more than there were six years ago when my oldest was a baby. $2-$3 a pouch is a little too spendy, considering you can buy in bulk on amazon for a third of that price.
Why is she wearing a dress with the same pattern as the pillow on the couch?
Ha! I had to go back & look. You’re right! That is odd!
Trophy wives with more money than sense will happily shell out for what a pretty actress convinces them is best for their precious crotch fruit.
Bitter much? Jeesh. When my godson was born via a nightmare C-section she would have loved a company lime tnis because she also had a one and a half year old and would end up with infections/complications. Forget being able to blend tbe food, it would have been inconvenient to even keep fresh produce around. I think this delivery option also works well for parents with disabilities.
well, nobody is surprised. I said three months ago she’d go for something like a socially conscious kids clothing line, so it was close. .It wasn’t really difficult to imagine she’d go this way.
rather than dentist’s novocaine that looks more like a fresh out of the clinic upper lip filler session.
Not a surprising or bad move for her. With the former president of Annie’s attached, it could potentially have some success. But I just can’t with her hoakey IG captions … “Mamas”! Sanctimony at its finest. And the dentist video. No.
This woman is my idol! Seriously!! Always brings her “A” game. She is a master at PR.
Do you think the mask ever slips? Is she ever not nice? I guess I was thinking of Reese and her Southern Hospitality image and how it has slipped a bit over the years
I think when the divorce is finalized and she no longer has the ability to reel Ben back in, the mask will slip. She is the type that sues the press when she isn’t catering to them, so I don’t think she’s really at all someone who is able to keep it together all the time. I’m sure Ben has felt her wrath on more than one occasion.
Haha if anyone deserved to feel her wrath many times over I would imagine it was Ben. She has moved on well and is and will be just fine. I think she is actually thriving now she doesn’t have to take care of his issues any longer. Good on her. And no, Emma, I am still not Jen.
Everything that she’s put out on instagram is fairly obnoxious and trying too hard to be “cutesy” and “folksy.” I can see how someone would get sick of living with that 24/7 and bail.
Same here; she seems determined to be emotionally immature and determinedly like an ingenue.
She is building her brand. She is showing us her brand. She can be nice and still have a brand. She seems to be a good mom who has always spoken about healthy eating and caring for kids…her own and others. She has been talking to state and federal government committees for years to fund programs for poor kids.
So, why the hate? She does seem to walk the talk.
She told us she has bad days and nights in her vanity fair interview.
She is human but in her business she is her product. Shouldn’t the one we see be the most appealing? She doesn’t have to appeal to everyone but she does appeal to many.
Women can’t seem to give other women a break.
Hey Jen! Some people just don’t like you, what are you gonna do…
Seriously? Just because someone has a positive view of her and expresses it you so maturely assume it has to be Garner? Not everyone hates her, sorry to break it to you.
I think organic baby food is a bad idea due to the risk of e.Coli; when I was working in the produce department, buyers were warned that organic food still could have traces of E.Coli and therefore a ‘buyer beware’ label was attached in that particular section. So really, putting babies at risk for E.Coli is not a good move.
I made my baby food and found it easy but that isn’t always an option. If the babies like the food it will be a hit it isn’t difficult to understand the potential with this. Some babies are very picky, and when they like something, the parents are devotees forever. lol