In a Fresh Stories blog post, Mary Ellen Burris, senior vice president, consumer affairs with Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets, announced the introduction of Wegmans Food You Feel Good About frozen Mac+Cheese Ravioli. According to Burris, Dan Mezzoprete, category merchant, Italian for Wegmans, was inspired to create the product on a hunch that many adults “secretly enjoy” boxed mac and cheese — a dish traditionally understood to be enjoyed only by kids.

After deciding to marry mac and cheese with ravioli, Mezzoprete worked with Phil Czapar, a quality assurance associate with Wegmans, to get the product’s flavor profile right, Burris wrote.

“He had trouble getting internal allies, but he took samples home, and his kids were loving it,” she wrote.

Mezzoprete then pitched the ravioli to Colleen Wegman, president of Wegmans, who suggested that he make it a Food You Feel Good About product — one that contains no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. He did, and the product began its trip to shelves.

“When we tasted it recently in our test kitchen, everyone was stunned by how good it was,” Burris wrote. “Filled with a creamy blend of ricotta, American and cheddar cheeses, it has so much flavor. The nutritionists around the table were enthusiastic too; they liked that it had 15 grams of protein and 25 percent of the daily value for calcium.”