How did “eating your vegetables” become synonymous with doing something you don’t want to do? No wonder 90% of kids say “ick”. We’re creating a new world where kids say YUM to fruits and vegetables. A world where they find wonder in natural food and discover what delicious means to them.
Igniting a food revolution through PLAY.
Welcome to Planet Murple, a world where exploring fruits and veggies is irresistibly fun! At Murple, we’re using play to ignite a food revolution.
Kids 4-9 years old use our app to embark on silly culinary challenges (designed by kids!) that push them to explore, taste, and appreciate real and natural food. A Murpling figurine “accompanies” kids on all their adventures. Planet Murple turns food exploration into a game, and transforms the grocery store, school cafeteria, and home kitchen into a playground.
The more kids play with their food, the more they’ll eat it. And these little bites can lead to a lifetime of healthy eating and cooking habits.
Our ambitions extend beyond this pilot. We’re building a whole Murple ecosystem around healthy eating. Imagine Murplings sitting on your supermarket shelf! Or Murplings teaching your kids to cook! We need more funds to become legally legit, refine our product, develop media, and build an audience. This is going to take a lot more resources, so any support helps.
You also get to be a part of making a direct impact on the health of kids.
One out of three kids in America are overweight or obese, and this epidemic is growing globally. Murple is here to tackle our food culture, to make real and natural food just as fun, accessible, and tasty as that processed stuff.
When kids love their fruits and veggies, they are healthier, happier, and better learners. You’re also supporting sales of fresh produce and saving parents countless headaches during dinnertime battles.
We are two UC Berkeley graduate students who connected last year over a passion: to redesign our broken food system starting with kids. Dave, a former elementary school teacher, was frustrated with watching his students dump their healthy school lunches into the garbage. Emily, an illustrator and business lady, saw HUGE opportunity in marketing produce to kids. The space just needs a dose of cuteness and creativity.
We spent the whole year exploring how to make healthy food fun for kids to get to where we are. Follow our journey on Facebook and Instagram!
Emily and Dave are many things: food lovers, adventurers, artists, teachers, and in many ways modern day “Peter Pans” who still love the imagination and creativity of kids. They are also passionate innovators.
Emily Yao has been a strategist in the tech sector at firms like IBM and SY Partners and is now an MBA student at UC Berkeley Haas. She focuses on human-centered design, culture change, and sustainability. Emily draws Murplings, manages Cat Executive, and also likes to play with her food.
Murple has been quite a journey. We’ve interviewed and tested our prototypes with over 75 kids, parents, and industry experts. We’ve attended toddler cooking classes, taken notes during Disneyland Rides, and strapped a Go-Pro on a five year old at the supermarket. We’ve donned business suits and pitched at social venture competitions. We’ve led a design-thinking challenge around food exploration with 2nd and 3rd graders.
While Emily and Dave are both graduating this Spring, we’re determined to continue Planet Murple. This venture has been the most rewarding experience during our time at UC Berkeley, and we couldn’t have pushed so far without the amazing support of our community. As we close out our final weeks here, this Indiegogo campaign feels like a new start: moving Murple beyond our classroom and out into the real world.