Kraft Mac and Cheese Schmear is a new product with a limited-edition flavor that will be available in stores this month as a result of a new partnership between Kraft Heinz and PopUp Bagels. The new product is a hybrid that unites the classic flavor of the Kraft Mac and Cheese with the usual cream cheese products of the PopUp Bagels that will last a week between the 9th and 15th of October, 2025.
The new schmear emphasizes the tendency of more and more branding in the food and beverage industry. Combining a well-known staple of the pantry with a rapidly expanding bagel chain, Kraft Heinz is appealing to a set of consumers who want to experience the familiar and the new in their foods. It will be sold in all the U.S. locations of PopUp Bagels.
Teamwork And Customer Intelligence
It is based on the idea of a so-called mac hack by Kraft Heinz where the consumer adds cream cheese to macaroni and cheese to make it extra yummy and rich. The company has recently conducted a study that showed that over one-third of consumers already mix the two products at home. The limited-time schmear is a prepared form of such practice.
In marketing the launch, Kraft Mac & Cheese will have a special pop up at the Penn Plaza store of PopUp Bagels in New York on October 10. The shoppers will get the free boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese and other brand activations that will be aimed at presenting the new schmear.
Limited-Time Availability
The product is available on PopUp Bagels website where fans can preorder the product at a time starting October 5. Social media will also help to promote the collaboration (Kraft Mac and Cheese and PopUp Bagels will suggest to the customers that they share their experiences).
The Kraft Mac & Cheese Schmear introduces one more flavor to the list of seasoned flavors that have become a pattern in the line-up of brands in the FMCG industry, based on their desire to interact with consumers. In the case of Kraft Heinz, it is an attempt to use iconic brand equity to reach new usage occasions. In the case of PopUp Bagels, it strengthens a paradigm that is based on fresh bagels, simple formats, and new schmear flavors.
Market Relevance
Kraft Heinz is now leveraging its scale to develop new product concepts and cross-brand alliances as it approaches greater global sales of over 26 billion dollars in 2024. Over the years, PopUp Bagels has established a business in Connecticut and is currently expanding across the country with the focus on minimalist and high-quality bagels and bold schmears. The partnership points at the ways in which established multinationals and smaller specialty brands are collaborating to produce short-run products that will attract consumers seeking new experiences.
The Kraft Mac and Cheese Schmear will be on sale within the promotion period and therefore it will be limited time offer aimed at bringing consumer traffic and social interaction. It is indicative of the overall FMCG shift to small-scale innovation to gauge market demand and then targeting it to larger retail outlets.
Kraft Mac & Cheese schmear is an example of the transformation of brand co-existence in the food industry where old flavors and new ideas are combined to attract consumers.
