Cadootz! organic kids crackers

cadootz!

A shape to have fun with, ingredients to be proud of, and a new zany word that kids are going to be saying on repeat.

Today, cadootz, the new organic snack brand that prides itself on its simple, higher-quality ingredients, launches into its first retail account, entering all Target stores nationwide, cofounder and co-CEO Rachel Mansfield tells me.

In addition to its boxes of bite-sized Cheddar, Sea Salt and Ranch crackers, cadootz also introduces pre-portioned snack-packs, all of which are retail exclusive at Target for three months.

A cookbook author, recipe developer, content creator and mom of three, all of Mansfield’s small steps forward have led her to launching cadootz, sharing her first branded product with a handful of love to American families, many of whom are among the millions of fans and followers she has garnered over the past decade.

Mansfield began working in the CPG space at a time when social media began reshaping how products are marketed. Food blogs were still a stronger outlet to reach people than Instagram. She ended up getting fired from her job as her own food blog began taking off. While it wasn’t welcome at first, it gave her time to focus more deeply on it, and within 6 months was making more money creating recipes than at that old job.

“I realized I can do something I’m passionate about and make money doing it too,” she says.

She began to really embrace her newfound skills and began consulting brands on social media strategies at a time when these types of tactics were just starting to blossom. People weren’t understanding the value in it, but she was rightly confident that it would be a huge marketing tool soon, to say the least.

Her experience in working with these companies sparked her interest in investing in them more directly, partnering with her husband, Jordan Carpenter, who had experience investing, albeit in real estate. Their first investment was in Hu Chocolate, which later sold to Mondelez, leading them to create Grt Sht Ventures.

Although the couple has invested in more than a dozen better-for-you brands, they had been searching for one specific kids product for their portfolio, but were never able to find one that was everything they were looking for; they didn’t want to compromise.

“I was cringing at the stuff I was putting into our kids’ lunchboxes,” Mansfield says. “Empty calories, seed oils in everything, no protein for kids. I want my kids to have snacks that actually satisfy and fuel them for more than 20 minutes.”

Mansfield even has a homemade gluten-free cheddar cheese cracker recipe in her first cookbook, Just The Good Stuff.

But still, she wanted something more convenient so she didn’t have to make homemade crackers for her kids when they were craving a crunchy and salty snack. “Not everyone’s a trad wife,” she says. “I wanted this selfishly.”

Mansfield and Carpenter, also a cofounder and co-CEO, made the decision to move forward with building a CPG brand together from the ground up, and they called a friend, Kiva Dickinson, Managing Partner at Selva Ventures, who for years, told them he wanted to invest in a brand with Rachel at the steering wheel. Dickinson also had a baby daughter around the same time so he started to have an added layer of interest in this space.

Selva Ventures and Grt Sht Ventures ultimately raised more than $3 million to develop and launch cadootz. It’s the first brand incubated under Selva Ventures and Dickinson is also a cofounder of the company.

Three years of development led cadootz to launch online in January of 2026 in Cheddar, Sea Salt and Ranch flavors. They sold out that morning.

Cadootz does not contain any ‘natural flavors’. Instead, real seasonings like garlic powder, onion powder and rosemary extract are used to flavor the product. The Ranch flavor has a strong dill flavor–that’s because it uses real dill, which is a primary ingredient in real ranch dressing.

“People have this preset notion of what ranch should taste like because it’s defined by natural flavors,” Jordan explains. “When you use the real ingredients that are in homemade dressing, it's hard to compare the two.”

There are also no seed oils; cadootz is made with extra virgin olive oil. They are Certified Organic, contain 5g of protein per serving, nut-free for schools and gluten-free. Carpenter is gluten-free in his own diet, as is one of their sons, so making the product gluten-free was a priority.

Aside from ingredients, what really makes cadootz stand out from other crackers on the shelf is the way it playfully targets kids and families–starting with the name ‘cadootz’ itself. The name was inspired by playful nicknames they would often call their son, Cooper.

“It just rolled off my tongue one day,” Mansfield says. “We just kept saying it and it stuck. We wanted to invoke that lighthearted nature in kids when they’re having a snack that they love.”

And the shape of the crackers too is what’s really going to make kids remember cadootz, as the small boomerangs fit flush in a little kid’s hand.

“I want kids to smile. I want them to play,” she adds. “Kids like to play with their food whether you want them to or not.”

The geometric shapes not only also look like a big grin, but can be used to play with your food more and use them as little puzzle pieces together.

“As we continue to innovate into other snacks, hopefully we can also use that shape to be a brand identifier,” Carpenter says.

Over the past decade, Mansfield has garnered a strong community of millions who have grown into adulthood with her, having kids, and relying on her recipes for healthier but creative meals. She wanted to thank them by giving them direct access to cadootz when it first launched online.

While most brands don’t launch into retail straight into a mass chain like Target within six months of launching, Target wanted to make one of their biggest bets of the year with cadootz.

“We weren’t so fixated on where we launched,” Mansfield says. “It was more about which team is going to understand the vision.”

The Target buying team saw that vision for the first time at its Innovation Summit in 2025.

“We lead with merchandising authority to bring guests brands, products and flavors that are new, relevant and worth discovering. Cadootz is a great example of that,” John Conlin, Senior VP of Merchandising, Food & Beverage at Target, tells me. “It’s a distinctive, better-for-you snack with simple ingredients, kid-friendly flavors and the kind of fun, fresh energy we know our guests are looking for.”

Valued at more than $10 billion, the cracker category is a massive legacy category–from cheese crackers, kids crackers, salty ones to charcuterie-friendly–that many consumers purchase solely out of brand familiarity. Most demographics have some sort of relationship with this set. There has been some innovation in recent years, but cadootz still checks enough boxes that allows it to capitalize on a particular white space and garner loyal customers–kids and parents alike–that will be talking about it nostalgically when those kids become parents themselves.

Cadootz also falls on the heels of Target increasing its better-for-you brand selection by 30% this year, according to the retailer, working to strengthen itself as a leader in these types of products. More specifically, Target is prioritizing food & beverage brands that introduce protein to its shoppers in a variety of ways, in addition to providing solutions for families. Cadootz fits right in line with that intersection in the way it adds milk protein concentrate as its protein source into these multiple kid-friendly formats.

“We are so passionate about making sure that cadootz is a trusted snack company,” Carpenter says. “All of Rachel’s businesses have always revolved around bringing community together with food. Her true love language is feeding people.”