Gourmet News • May 2020

NATURALLY HEALTHY:

UPDATE:

SUPPLEMENT:

Mother Raw

Everyday Indulgences

Sweets & Treats

SEE PAGE 13

SEE PAGE 15

SEE PAGE 19

GOURMET NEWS

®

T H E

VOLUME 85, NUMBER 5 MAY 2020 n $7.00

NEWS & NOTES n

Primera Technology Label Printer PAGE 6

RETAILER NEWS n

Ahold Delhaize USA Donates $10M Relief Package for Community Needs Amid Coronavirus Crisis PAGE 9

SUPPLIER NEWS n

The Crowds Like ‘Em Soft and Sweet PAGE 10

NATURALLY HEALTHY n

A California Twist on Indian Tradition PAGE 13

B U S I N E S S

N E W S P A P E R

PAGE 26

News..............................................6 Ad Index .......................................27

www.gourmetnews.com

T H E

G O U R M E T

I N D U S T R Y

Managing Conflict Through a Pandemic

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Supply-chain issues, strains on cash flow, social distancing, a sense of powerlessness, fear and sometimes grief have all combined to create an atmosphere of fear that can create conflict between your associates and guests.

Conflict management expert Susan Driscoll has some tips that can help you de-escalate the conflicts before they erupt into violence or destroy the trust between your store and your community that you’ve spent a career building.

Driscoll is the President of Crisis Prevention Institute, which over the past 40 years has been offering crisis management training for teachers, health care pro-

fessionals and others whose occupations involve a duty to care.

Over the past few years, she’s seen more retailers, including grocers, as well as librarians and casino managers who are looking for help managing difficult interpersonal conflicts with the members of the public that they serve. “The principles are universal,” she said.

“These are crazy times, and everyone is experiencing fear and anxiety and a stress at a level beyond what most people ever imagined.”

The Crisis Prevention Institute teaches that behavior is communication – that a customer who snaps abut an empty shelf may really be communicating frustration and anger that really had its source in something that’s been

happening to her outside your store. “When your cashier is encountering somebody who is acting out, really what that person is doing is communicating their distress, their fear, their anxiety, their frustration, their exhaustion,” Driscoll said. “Your cashiers in the stores are equally frustrated and afraid, and that’s how situations can escalate.”

Your cashier needs to know that she has a team behind her in that situation. “If you see someone who’s challenging a worker, figure out if there’s a way to intervene,” Driscoll said. “Find a way to call for help from your team.”

As you step up to help, your

Better Booch premium, small batch kombucha is based in downtown Los Angeles where company co-Founders Ashleigh and Trey Lockerbie brew their kombucha and can it in-house.

“We’re on a mission – we flavor using only loose-leaf tea, herbs, botanicals and adaptogens,” said Ashleigh, Better Booch’s Chief Marketing Officer. “It’s 100 percent tea-forward kombucha. We don’t use juices, powders, sugar

– anything like that – to flavor.”

Better Booch currently offers nine beverage flavors. The best seller is Morning Glory, which is black tea with marigold and peach. Ginger Boost is one of Ashleigh’s favorites. It’s made with rooibos tea and lemongrass with a ginger tea. Gold Pear is made with turmeric, tulsi, some basil, and a dash of black pepper to activate the turmeric.

“We’re about to launch two new flavors: Hola Horchata,

Ugly Carrots Taste Good Too

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

which is a take on the Mexican classic treat with cinnamon, jasmine and rice in an oolong tea base and Hibiscus Healer, with hibiscus flower, white tea, cranberry and blueberry,” she said.

“We’re really excited about the new additions to our line. We feel that they fill gaps in our current lineup in a really nice way. After all, who else is making a horchata kombucha? Just us!”

Brands built around the idea that good food shouldn’t be wasted are beginning to organize into a community that wants to destigmatize the ugly carrot and enhance esteem for spent grains. The Upcycled Food Association formed last year out of conversations among the owners of some of those brands, and they’re looking for fellow travelers who’ll join them in the organization.

“Brands have been upcycling for some time now, but everyone saw a need to get a clear definition of what it means to upcycle,” said Mike Oraschewsky, a Board Member of Upcycled Food Association and Chief Executive Officer of TBJ Gourmet, the creators of Bacon Jam. While there’s no formal definition of the term “upcycled food,” for Oraschewsky, the term means finding a better use of an ingredient that might otherwise simply be wasted.

“With Bacon Jam, it’s really easy, because everyone loves bacon,” he said. “The majority of bacon is sold in nice packages with slices all the same size, but that’s not the way a pork belly looks after smoking.” Ordinarily, the pieces cut off the pork belly because they don’t make neat slices might be tossed,” Oraschewsky said,

Continued on PAGE 14

Continued on PAGE 8

Meet Better Booch: Flavor-Forward Kombuchas for the Health-Conscious

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

HOT PRODUCTS

F O R

Continued on PAGE 9

Animal Welfare-Certified Poultry Choices for Busy Consumers

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Poultry producer Wayne Farms LLC is preparing to impress shoppers who bring their concerns about animal welfare with them to the grocery store. The company is now offering, with its NAKED TRUTH® Chicken brand, retail-packaged frozen prepared chicken products made from poultry raised to Global Animal Partnership Step2 standards.

The company also offers gourmet CHEF’S CRAFT® chicken, a line of fully-cooked chicken breast fillets for foodser-

vice applications. It’s a premium chicken line that’s raised with no antibiotics ever and fed a vegetar-

ian diet.

As the nation’s seventh-largest vertically integrated poultry producer, the company also offers fresh conventionally raised poultry, as well as no-antibiotics-ever and vegetarian-diet birds in addition to the N A K E D TRUTH retail and CHEF’S CRAFT foodservice lines at the premium end of the prepared foods continuum.

“We’re a market-driven company; we offer choices that our customers need,” said Megan Ernst, Senior Marketing Manager for Wayne Farms. “We believe that everyone deserves a place at the table. Therefore, we pride ourselves in offering customers choices that fit their needs. Not only do we have choices among the product mix, but we have choices among how the birds are raised.”

The company currently offers four products under its NAKED TRUTH brand: Grilled Chicken Continued on PAGE 14

4

FROM NEWS THE & NOTES EDITOR

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

GOURMET NEWS

®

FROM THE EDITOR

WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM PUBLISHER

Dear Friends: What’s going on around me has started to feel eerily familiar. Way back in the last century (And did I ever think to hear myself saying those words? No), I was working for a community newspaper in Winnemucca, Nevada, where my beat included the local gold-mining industry. All was well until a bunch of countries whose decisions hadn’t seemed to have anything to do with my life decided to get together and form the European Economic Community, which involved making a new set of rules about how they were going to manage their national treasuries. Since they no longer had to hold gold reserves to back national currencies, a lot of those countries abruptly started dumping gold onto the world market. The price dropped through the floor.

In a matter of weeks, the price of a troy ounce of gold dropped from more than $1,000 to under $200. Gold mines that had been profitable at anything over $400 an ounce suddenly became just giant holes in the ground. They started closing one after another. The same miners who’d called me occasionally to report violations of environmental regulations started calling to ask if I knew about any work.

Japan’s central bank was late to the golddumping party, but in a move that looked as if a treasury official there had suddenly decided that gold prices might have no real floor and perhaps he’d better sell his country’s reserves while they still had any value at all, Japan sold.

I got the news at around 6 a.m., and my first phone call when I got to my desk was to an economist at the University of Nevada who was my go-to any time I wanted to talk about money and gold-mining in the same sentence. He answered my question about the meaning of it all in the way that economics professors do; I wrote the story for that day’s front page, and the day went on.

A couple of weeks later, I saw a note that this economics professor would be speaking in Elko about the crisis that had overtaken the mining industry. I got in my pickup truck and drove the 120 miles east to hear what he had to say. Before a packed auditorium, he opened his talk with an anecdote about how he’d recently gotten a call from a reporter who’d wanted to ask him about the Central Bank of Japan. “You know you’re in trouble when a reporter from northern Nevada is taking an interest in Japan’s national monetary policies,” he said.

Heads turned in my direction. I nodded.

We all laughed, and the joke was better for

those who knew they were in on it ahead of the professor.

What makes me think about this story is that all of a sudden people who used to want to ask me about what to put on a cheese plate now want to talk to me about what’s happening in their grocery stores.

They’re not asking me about hand-made cheese; they’re asking me where I think they might be able to find vegetables. In the United States of America.

That’s the point that the economics professor was making from that podium all those years ago – you know you’re in trouble when people suddenly start asking questions that they never thought they had to ask before.

I am so sorry, my friends, that we will not be able to see each other in New York in June and that it will be even longer before I’ll feel safe again to hug my way across the exhibit hall the way I used to. I know from experience that trouble on this scale changes lives and disrupts communities.

But I also know from bitter experience that survival is possible.

Stay safe, everyone! It’s my dearest wish to meet you all again on the other side of this. GN — Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director

Kimberly Oser SENIOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Jules Denton-Card jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Lorrie Baumann editor@oser.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Anthony Socci anthony_s@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Jeanie Catron ART DIRECTOR

Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Jonathan Schieffer CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

Susan Stein CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSOCIATE

Rae Featherston CIRCULATION DIRECTOR

Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER

Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Heather Albrecht heather_a@oser.com PUBLISHING OFFICE

1877 N. Kolb Road P.O. Box 1056 Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES

Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300 MEMBER OF:

OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP FOUNDER

Lee M. Oser

Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and additional mailing office. Gourmet News (ISSN 1052-4630) is published monthly by Oser Communications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper.

Contributors are responsible for proper release of proprietary classified information. ©2020 by Oser Communications Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited.

Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months.

Back orders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card.

Gourmet News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and distribution channels of the specialty foods and hardgoods trade; paid subscriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 annually to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gourmet News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715.

6

NEWS & NOTES

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

News & Notes Primera Technology Label Printer Primera Technology is introducing the LX600 Color Label Printer, which is designed to produce short runs of highquality labels quickly and at a low cost per label. With its small footprint – the LX600 is one of Primera’s most compact printers, so it’s a good fit for applications where space is tight. Typical applications include product labels for specialty and gourmet foods as well as a variety of other uses for labels with a maximum width of 5 inches.

Compared to other similarly priced color label printers, the LX600 offers best-inclass print speed with a throughput of up to 4.5 inches per second, so it can print a 4-inch by 3-inch label with 50 percent coverage in less than six seconds. Print quality is exceptional too – horizontal banding is a common problem with many lower-cost desktop color label printers, but with the LX600, banding is virtually eliminated

even on the fastest print speed.

The LX600 uses interchangeable dye and pigment inks. With a simple change of cartridges, the LX600 can print with dye-based ink for brilliant color, or swap for a pigment ink cartridge for maximum durability against water and ultraviolet light. Both types of ink work interchangeably on the same printer, and Primera’s pigment ink selection has one of the broadest color ranges available on any desktop color label printer. The LX 600 uses an ultra-high capacity single CMY ink tank, so your inventory of ink is simplified, and cartridge changes are fast and easy.

Process black is dark and crisp, and it uses

no more ink than a separate black ink tank for printing the same amount of text or graphics. The cartridges include an integrated print head, which simplifies maintenance and dramatically lowers on-going operating costs. On a 4inch by 3-inch label with 50 percent coverage, the cost per label is around $0.03 each.

LX600 sells for $1,895.00 in the United States. It is available now on Primera’s online store at www.primera.com and through select North American authorized resellers and worldwide through Primera’s authorized distributors. For more information, dial 1.763.475.6676 in the U.S. and Latin America or email sales@primera.com. GN

Coronavirus Transforms Americans’ Grocery & Cooking Habits The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on Americans’ grocery shopping and cooking habits, according to a March 23 survey of more than 3,000 consumers by meal planning service eMeals.

Shoppers were unable to find 40 percent of the grocery items on their shopping list as the gravity of the COVID-19 outbreak sent them flocking to grocery stores to stock up on food from March 18-23. Respondents also reported a 55 percent increase in weekly shopping spend, cooking dinner at home six nights a week and surging online grocery use that has caused fulfillment delays because of the high demand.

“Shopping and cooking habits have clearly been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. Short supplies at grocery stores, restaurant closings, and the need to reduce the number of shopping trips to limit exposure are changing behavior, including prompting more consumers to use online grocery services for curbside pickup or home delivery,” said eMeals Chief Executive Officer Forrest Collier. “With 97 percent of respondents to our survey saying that they plan to continue using online grocery in the future despite order delays or cancellations, it’s likely that one of the lasting effects of this pandemic will be to accelerate the widespread adoption of online grocery.”

The survey also found that survey respondents were unable to find 40 percent

of the items on their shopping lists even after they’d visited an average of two grocery stores. Three-quarters of them reported difficulty finding chicken and other meats. Other hard-to-find items included bread, eggs and milk.

The average grocery spend for the week of March 18-23 was $253, up 55 percent over the typical grocery bill for survey respondents. Significantly, 13 percent spent $400 or more, while only 1 percent said their grocery bill is that high in a normal week.

About a third of the eMeals survey respondents elected to send their weekly shopping lists to online grocery pickup or delivery services rather than going to the grocery store. More than half opted for Walmart pickup or delivery, with Kroger

and Instacart ranking second and third, respectively, using shopping lists automatically generated by eMeals based on the subscriber’s weekly recipe selections. About 28 percent of them reported that they had encountered delays or cancellations as they tried to use online grocery services, stemming from an industry-wide explosion in online grocery use as consumers attempt to limit shopping trips during the coronavirus crisis.

About half of respondents who placed online orders had to wait two or more days for delivery rather than the usual sameday or next day fulfillment, reflecting insufficient staffing to meet the sudden surge in demand. Almost all of those who placed online orders planned to continue using online grocery in the future, despite experiencing delayed delivery times and limited availability of products.

About half of respondents picked up takeout meals from local restaurants, and 15 percent had restaurant meals delivered by a service like DoorDash or Grubhub on nights when they did not cook themselves, reflecting continuing dependence on restaurant-prepared food. GN

BRIEFS Jones Soda Appoints Jamie Colbourne as Interim CEO Jones Soda Co. has appointed Jamie Colbourne as interim Chief Executive Officer effective April 6, 2020. After eight years at the helm, Jennifer Cue has decided to step down from the position of CEO and spend more time with her family.

Cue will be available to assist Colbourne when needed and will remain on the company’s board of directors.

Colbourne is an accomplished executive with more than three decades of experience in growing profitable businesses. Most recently, he served as CEO and board member for JGC Foods, a holding company that specializes in the manufacturing and distribution of branded and co-packaged soups, sauces and entrees across North America.

Instacart Provides Employees with Health, Safety Kits Instacart is distributing free health and safety kits to all of its full-service shoppers as part of its commitment to keep its shopper community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instacart worked with third-party manufacturers as well as medical and infectious disease experts to source and develop the kits, which include face masks, hand sanitizer, and thermometers.

Dairy Farmers Asked to Dump Milk Wisconsin dairy farmrs were asked in April to dump fresh milk because of a slowed down market due to the coronavirus, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Dairy Farmers of America have agreed to pay for the milk that is being dumped, but may not be able to do so forever.

GrubMarket Acquires Boston Organics GrubMarket has acquired Boston Organics, an online farm-to-table grocery delivery service in Massachusetts. This is GrubMarket’s third farm-to-table grocery delivery acquisition in the past four months. Boston Organics will continue to operate from its headquarters, led by its current leadership team and founder, Jeff Barry.

Alcohol Sales Rise in March Sales of alcoholic beverages have risen 55 percent in the third week of March compared to the year prior, according to research from Nielsen. By category, sales of spirits rose 75 percent, wine sales increased 66 percent, and beer sales grew 34 percent.

8

NEWS & NOTES

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

SPINS Partners with Mercato to Bring Personalized Service to Grocery Shoppers SPINS®, which provides wellness-focused data and technology in the U.S., partners with Mercato, the online grocery e-commerce fulfillment platform for independently owned grocery and specialty food stores, to launch the largest product attribute-powered online grocery e-commerce solution for independently owned grocery and specialty food stores. This partnership arms retailers and brands with the new capability to respond to the consumer-driven world by marrying SPINS’ Product Intelligence Data and attributes with Mercato’s full-service ecommerce and home delivery experience.

By joining forces, SPINS and Mercato bring a full spectrum of health, wellness, diet and sustainability information directly

to consumers, setting a new standard for personalized online shopping, allowing them to browse and discover products via data-enabled search, filtering, recommendations and more throughout their entire customer journey in omni-channel environments. In a time of social distancing, it’s more important than ever that retailers of all sizes be equipped to service their customers both in and out of their physical locations with a personalized online fulfillment solution.

“This timely partnership with Mercato enables any retail partner to deliver the industry’s highest standard of personalized shopping, mobile convenience and delivery to their customers, reaching even greater

levels of engagement and loyalty,” said Tony Olson, Owner and Chief Executive Officer of SPINS. “During these unprecedented times, SPINS is committed to aggressively investing in new technologies and partnerships like Mercato that are driving measurable sales growth and increasing loyalty between brick and mortar retailers and their customers.”

Today, SPINS’ comprehensive and wellestablished data and analytics portfolio is embedded within many retailers’ category management, inventory selection, assortment management, consumer engagement and communication strategy. SPINS is moving quickly to invest in driving solutions to our retailer partners. By partnering with

Mercato, SPINS brings innovation and data into local shopping experiences, allowing lifestyle and dietary preferences of each shopper to be easily met not only in store, but online as the modern day demands.

“Mercato’s mission is to empower independent grocers with the necessary tools to provide fresh, local ingredients to their communities. Supporting sophisticated search technology and providing solutions for customers’ demanding and ever-changing health needs and diet preferences is a necessity in today’s online grocery shopping landscape. SPINS’ in-depth data and analytics expertise will be invaluable to our valued partners and their customers,” said Bobby Brannigan, CEO of Mercato. GN

Regatta Craft Mixers Sets Sail in Retail Channel Waters

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Regatta Craft Mixers has launched a retail line of premium cocktail mixers with a brand that already has customers behind the bars in 25 states across the country. The line, now packaged in carefully designed cans illustrating the brand’s aspirational appeal, has a following wind from consumers who favor clean ingredients and complex flavors, even when they’re indulging.

“Gone are the days, in my opinion, of people ordering generic cocktails with lowend mixers. The spirit game has elevated significantly in the last 10 years toward premium and premium-plus spirits. For the most part, the mixer side hasn’t evolved that much, and is just now catching up,” said Sam Zarou, Regatta Craft Mixer’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re looking to complement the trend on the spirit side by offering a premium experience to the consumer from start to finish.”

Ugly Carrots Continued from PAGE 1 but, “we rescue these end pieces and turn them into a value-added product, Bacon Jam.” Tossing bacon scraps into a bucket and then throwing them away or grinding them up for cat food is the kind of activity that’s responsible for the estimated 40 percent of American food that’s currently being wasted. “Reducing food waste is the number one solution to climate change, according to Project Drawdown,” said Turner Wyatt, Chief Executive Officer of the Upcycled Food Association. “Educating con-

When Stan Rottell founded Regatta Craft Mixers in 2006, he just wanted to make a classic Bermuda stone ginger beer, with a balanced flavor that was a little more citrus-forward than a spicier Jamaican-style ginger beer. He built a business around the beverage that’s now Regatta Craft Mixers’ Classic Bermuda Stone Ginger Beer, which has become popular with bartenders, especially those along the East Coast, for its small batch quality and natural ingredients. Zarou and his partners bought the thriving company in 2016 with the intention of expanding the product line and going deeper into the retail channel. To accomplish this, they would build on the market strength of consumers who had already been introduced to Regatta by their favorite bartenders and who were receptive to the idea that they could duplicate their restaurantquality experiences in their own homes.

Zarou’s first extension to the line was

Light Ginger Beer. It’s the same flavor as the brand’s flagship product except that it’s sweetened with organic blue agave rather than cane sugar. “Our Light Ginger Beer is 50 calories and 13 grams of sugar compared to 120 calories and 30 grams of sugar. It’s just incredible refreshment, but it’s also good for somebody that’s looking for a lighter-bodied, lighter-calorie, just overall lighter experience,” Zarou said.

Light Ginger Beer has been followed by Royal Oak Ginger Ale, Dry Citrus Sparkling Tonic and Pacific Sea Salt Club Soda. The Dry Citrus Sparkling Tonic brings out the botanicals of any gin and also pairs well with vodka, tequila or any rum. Royal Oak Ginger Ale is smooth and sweet with oak barrel and ginger flavors. It pairs well with bourbon as well as vodka, gin and tequila. Pacific Sea Salt Club Soda is a zero-calorie option with the balance of flavor and carbonation to make a great gin and soda or vodka and soda. All of the mixers are non-GMO. “The new line is resonating with its packaging and graphics, flavor profiles, and the Non-GMO Project verification,” Zarou said. “As consumers become more interested and educated on what’s inside the products they are drinking, I think

they will eventually demand that kind of transparency.”

Along with the retail launch comes the necessity of scaling up the enterprise to accommodate the new market. Zarou says the company is well prepared to do that without compromising product quality. The distribution network is in place, and marketing and sales are tooled up and ready. Ingredient suppliers are ready to deliver.

“It’s a very well capitalized business with a very smart board that is well resourced....This is not a spray-and-pray model. Everything we do has to make sense,” Zarou said. “We have secured the ability to produce at scale with favorable economics for the company for the foreseeable future.... We’re really focused on the best ingredients; we’re a premium craft mixer. The second we stop focusing on that, why do we exist? The ingredients are uncompromisable – it’s just never on the chopping block.”

For more information, visit www .regattacraftmixers.com. GN

sumers on the problem, and then connecting them with choices that contribute to the solution is our goal.”

The organization’s early members include a range of companies that make upcycled products or ingredients, and the group has grown to almost 60 members across three continents in its first few months since forming. Some of them, like Oraschewsky and the makers behind the Ugly Pickle Company, make artisanal products that add value to food that would otherwise be wasted. The Ugly Pickle Company is a San Francisco-area business that makes pickles from what the company’s founders call “cosmetically-challenged produce.” The Ugly

Pickle’s products include Bread ‘N Buttah, Dilly Carrots and Carrot Top Chimi, which are sold at San Francisco’s Ferry Building Farmers Market as well as at two local grocers. Comet Bio takes a more industrial approach by partnering with growers to rescue agricultural leftovers and convert them into ingredients for supplement, food and beverage companies worldwide. The hunger relief organization Philabundance, which is affiliated with Feeding America, is also a member. The organization rescues food in the Delaware Valley and distributes it to those who are hungry through a number of different programs. “There are distributors that are members. FoodMaven

is a great example, getting ugly produce to restaurants,” Oraschewsky said. “Produce is not going to make it to a grocer’s shelves because of something that’s superficial.”

Associate Memberships are also available to service providers, and other companies who support the upcycled food industry.

Many of those conversations are already happening at trade shows such as Natural Products Expo West and the Fancy Food Shows, Oraschewsky said. “Many member brands have been out there advocating for Upcycling on their own – now we are doing it with one stronger, unified voice.” he said.

For membership information, visit www.upcycledfood.org. GN

RETAILER NEWS

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

9

Retailer News BRIEFS Publix Rolls Out Contactless Payment Publix is now offering contactless payment in all of its stores in order to protect the health and well-being of its customers and associates.

Contactless payment can be made by placing a smartphone or contactless pay-enabled credit or debit card near a contactless-enabled device, rather than swiping or inserting a card into the PIN pad.

H-E-B Partners with Local Restaurants H-E-B is partnering with restaurants throughout Texas to bring ready-made meals to customers, according to the retailer. In San Antonio, H-EB is partnering with Max & Louie’s New York Diner and Rosario’s, in Houston, H-E-B stores will sell Dishes from Cherry Block and Underbelly Hospitality, and in Austin, H-E-B is working with Fresa’s Fried Chicken.

Alltown Fresh Donates Meals to Hospitals Fighting COVID-19 Massachusetts-based Alltown Fresh™, a fresh convenience market, has launched an ongoing program to donate fresh food for healthcare first responders in Massachusetts and Connecticut in support and gratitude of their hard work during the COVID-19 crisis. Through the brand’s One for One program, Alltown Fresh will provide weekly meals to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Massachusetts; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; and Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.

As part of the Global Partners LP family of brands, Alltown Fresh is the first fresh convenience market in America to offer fresh food choices, as well as gas/diesel, a cafe, bean-to-cup coffee, outdoor seating, groceries, craft beer (where permitted), Wi-Fi, pet relief areas, traditional snack options, and phone and electric car charging stations where possible.

Instacart Launches New Customer Product Features to Speed Service Instacart has launched two new product features designed to speed up service and unlock more delivery windows as demand for grocery delivery continues to surge in North America. The new features – “Fast & Flexible” and “Order Ahead” – increase delivery availability for customers across North America and provide more choice and convenience for customers who are moving their weekly grocery shop online.

As of the first week of April, the company saw overall customer order volume up by more than 300 percent year-over-year. Average customer basket size on Instacart is also up by more than 25 percent month-over-month as consumers across North America continued to stock up on staples and everyday essentials.

Ahold Delhaize USA Donates $10M Relief Package for Community Ahold Delhaize USA, the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast and fourth largest in the nation, with local brands including Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company and Hannaford, is offering a $10 million relief package to address critical needs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Serving our brands’ associates and communities is one of our greatest calls to action at Ahold Delhaize USA, and we take to heart our responsibility during this time of need,” said Kevin Holt, Chief Executive Officer of Ahold Delhaize USA. “We’re inspired by the selfless dedication of medical professionals and first responders, the acts of kindness and compassion across the globe, and the commitment from our own team to serve and feed their families, friends and neighbors.”

The funding includes $2 million for associate care funds: Lion’s Pride, Helping Hands and Take Care. These funds are for employees and their families in times of need. Another $3.5 million is new funding to feed and care for communities on the East Coast through local brand efforts with Stop & Shop and Food Lion giving an additional $1 million each and $500,000 each

by Giant Food, The GIANT Company and Hannaford.

Three million dollars, already infused through local brands, is providing local funding and in-kind product donations that include $1 million divided among the 13 regional food bank partners of Stop &

Shop in addition to other local food donations.

Food Lion has committed to a $3.1 million donation, with the majority being earmarked to feed those who are in need right now and to help its neighbors who are significantly impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The $3.1 million dollars includes a $500,000 donation to fund medical research at UNC Health: Scientists at UNC Health are working to develop promising treatments, protective vaccines and public health practices for COVID-19. Food Lion has also committed to a $500,000 donation for 5 million meals to community food bank partners to feed students, seniors and other neighbors in need, and a $100,000 donation to Feeding America and other local food donations.

Giant Food is providing $550,000 to Feeding America regional food banks, along with donations of food products and customer giveback opportunities to area food banks.

Those organizations inclue Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, Philabundance, Maryland Food Bank and Meals on Wheels Pennsylvania, and COVID-19 testing and mitigation efforts at five area children’s hospitals: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Penn State Children’s Hospital, Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Medical Center, and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Hannaford is contributing $250,000 to regional food banks to sup-

port efforts in critically impacted areas in five states, and a cash register community donation drive.

Another $1.5 million is going to provide pivotal funding to support medical research to create a vaccine and cure for COVID-19.

Of this, $500,000 will be donated to each of the leading efforts being conducted at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, and Boston Children’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard University Medical School.

Ahold Delhaize USA companies are providing further economic and financial support in the form of more than 20,000 employment opportunities. In addition, the brands have implemented stronger social distancing efforts including associate and customer education, store signage and plexi-shield protective barriers, among other initiatives. Also, Ahold Delhaize USA brands were among the first to offer dedicated shopping hours to seniors and others who are vulnerable, as well as offering enhanced benefits for associates.

Holt added, “Through our local brand efforts, we play a critical role in the food supply chain and are operating in regions greatly impacted by this crisis. Our COVID-19 relief package ensures we’re financially committing to critical needs, along with implementing continued social distancing measures and creating new employment opportunities when it is needed most.” GN

Managing Conflict

ting her out of the store and back to the other challenges of her life. Avoid getting into a power struggle. You can’t meet your guest’s every need, and challenging or exercising authority over another person can escalate the negative behaviors that you’re trying to discourage. Considering the options that you can offer shows that you’re willing to be flexible to help her meet her own needs.

Afterwards, remember that the emotional effects of a confrontation can continue after an obstreperous guest has left the store. Take a moment or two after the situation to debrief with the associates who were involved. Take that moment to let everyone calm and regain their composure.

Remember, too, that people respond to conflict differently, and while some are able to shrug off the emotional effects fairly easily, others may be more deeply affected, particularly as the stress of the pandemic continues. “I wish it was true that we could just deal with it,” Driscoll said. “I don’t think that’s true. Every person responds differently.”

After you get home after a confrontation,

either in your store or elsewhere, it’s a good idea to make a conscious effort to de-stress with whatever activity usually works for you, within the limits imposed by the pandemic, whether that’s by watching a favorite television program, getting in some calisthenics since you can’t go to the gym, taking a short walk in your neighborhood or playing a video game – “anything to get yourself to a place of calm and rationality,” Driscoll said.

Then, before you walk into the store the next day, it’s a good idea to sit in your car for a minute or two after you’ve stopped in the parking lot and just breathe deeply for a moment. Think about the shoppers that you’re about to face as people who are in particular distress right now.

For additional tips, you can also visit www.crisisprevention.com/ReduceConflict.

Once we’re past this immediate crisis, you may decide that you need additional training to help you deal with this issue, and the Crisis Prevention Institute offers that kind of training. You can learn more about that by visiting www.crisisprevention.com or calling 800.558.8976. GN

Continued from PAGE 1 first response should be to de-escalate by controlling your own emotions and behavior and to respond to your guest and your associate with empathy and support. It will help if you try to look at the person at the center of the conflict as a human being who’s in pain. Just remembering that will help you establish the empathetic tone of voice and body language that can help cool the emotional temperature and keep the situation from spiraling out of control.

“Controlling your behavior and your reaction can dramatically de-escalate a situation,” Driscoll said. “It requires a level of control and rational detachment – detach from your emotions and let your rational self take charge.”

Use that rational self to negotiate a solution for your guest, even if that just means reassuring your guest that you’re all in this situation together, and you’re trying to make her time in your store as easy as possible because you share her interest in get-

10

SUPPLIER NEWS

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

Supplier News The Crowds Like ‘Em Soft and Sweet

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Jeri Vasquez packages up her Kindred Caramels in colorful polka-dotted cellophane bags tied up with a ribbon bow, so that the melt-in-your-mouth caramels in a variety of gourmet flavors are ready to give as a gift. They don’t always last long enough for that to happen.

That gift packaging is a deliberate choice as well as a natural outcome of the products’ history, since they originated, as so many specialty products do, in the generous tradition of sharing home-made treats with friends at Christmas.

For Vasquez, the question of exactly which candy she’d make to share with her friends was one with an easy answer – she just made a batch of the traditional caramels from the recipe handed down to her by Miyako Kano, a friend of her mother’s. “It was something that as kids we all fought over,” she says. “As she got older, she stopped making them for our family, so I got the recipe.”

With the recipe in hand, she started experimenting with the ingredients to perfect the recipe for a caramel that was soft but not so sticky that dental work could be endangered by the chew and with a taste that amazed her friends. When she decided that she wanted to leave her career in the nonprofit world for a business of her own, her choice of a product to sell was just as natural – she reached for her caramel recipe once again, and she started selling the candies at local festivals and community events around her home in Silicon Valley, California. The drawback to all that is that her friends complain a little bit that they now have to pay for caramels that they

used to get for free, she said with a grin when I met her at the National Grocers Association Show in February, just as news of the coronavirus was really starting to invade our national consciousness.

Entrepreneurial spirit was in her genes – both her father and two sisters own businesses of their own. She had another advantage, which was that she’d learned some useful skills and even more useful attitudes working in the non-profit world. “You learn how to get outside your comfort zone and how to talk to people about money and how to do things as inexpensively as possible,” she said. “When you’re a nonprofit, and your whole business is run off people’s donations, you take everything you spend very seriously.”

But helpful as that all was, Vasquez was also conscious that there were other things that she was going to need to know and didn’t, so she recruited a friend who already owned a business as a partner to help guide her through her first year on her own. “That was a huge help,” she said. “It was great to have that person who’d been through the challenge of starting a business before.”

Kindred Caramels started out as Kindred Cooks in January of 2014. At that time, Vasquez’s vision was that she’d make and sell caramels, and the business would also act as a kind of incubator for others who wanted to start their own food businesses. Caramel sales took off too fast to allow that to happen, and instead of continuing to figure out how she could pivot her business in the direction of a training and incubation program, she turned her attention to developing new products, including a Caramel Apple Sandwich kit that wows the crowds at summer festivals. A Caramel Apple Sandwich is a twist on a caramel apple that involves

BRIEFS Hofmann Sausage Company Donates During COVID-19 Crisis Hofmann Sausage Company donated more than 1,000 pounds of sausage products to help meet local, Syracuse, New York, needs for food during the COVID-19 crisis. The donation was made to the Food Bank of Central New York, which serves 11 counties and an estimated 167,630 individuals, 29 percent of which are children.

Two Chicago Organizations Receive Nearly $100,000 from MadeGood Foods slicing an apple into two disks and sandwiching a slab of caramel between them.

With the kit, which retails for $8 and contains an apple and the caramel wrapped in Vasquez’s signature cellophane bag and a bow, it’s sort of the same kind of do-it-yourself craft as a s’more, except that it doesn’t call for either flames or a pointy stick.

She exercised even more creativity by developing new flavors for her caramels.

There are now 12 of those, with several that are unique to the company. “That’s been really fun to see how versatile this recipe is,” she said. “The best selling flavor is always Sea Salt. Spicy Hot Bacon and Lavender and Meyer Lemon are the two originals that are bestsellers.... I don’t know what these caramels can’t do.

The Spicy Hot Bacon Caramel shouldn’t be that good, but it is – it’s just crazy. I definitely did not know that caramel could do all this when I started my business.”

The company’s newest flavor is Cherry Amaretto, which is just preparing to launch.

They’re sold in polka dot cellophane bags that contain 4 ounces – about 20 pieces, which retail for a suggested price of $10. Kindred also offers 1-ounce squares that are generally sold next to the cash registers in specialty grocers, gift shops and wineries as an impulse buy for $2 to $2.50.

“The big thing about the caramel – the thing that makes it different is the texture – how soft it is,” she said. “These caramels just melt in your mouth, and they have the most amazing flavor.”

For more information, visit www .kindredcooks.com. GN

MadeGood®, which makes allergy-friendly and nutrient-rich granola snacks, has pledged nearly $100,000 in combined support to I Grow Chicago and Marillac St. Vincent, two Chicago, Illinois-area non-profit organizations providing essential services and relief programs to underserved neighborhoods throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation will go towards minimizing food insecurity concerns, as well as ensuring continued elder care and mental health support for Chicagoans in need.

Nature’s Path Donates to Local Charities Food banks, children dependent on school programs for food, care homes, and health care workers working long hours are just a few receiving support in the form of organic food donations from Nature’s Path. The company has already donated more than 80,000 pounds of food to support local charities, community groups and hospitals across North America. With the growing number of people losing their jobs or closing their businesses, Nature’s Path is committing to donate $2.5 million worth of food to support these charities and the heroes in these organizations helping others. Nature’s Path has a history of caring for the community. In the past 11 years, the company has donated more than $30 million worth of food to food banks and charities across North America.

Belcampo Meat Co. Appoints New Senior Vice President of Sales Belcampo, which produces hyper-sustainable organic, grass-fed and -finished, Certified Humane meats, broths and jerky, today announced that Heather Cooper has been appointed to its executive team as senior vice president of sales. Joining Belcampo from Kite Hill, Cooper brings more than 20 years of experience in the better-for-you consumer packaged goods industry to Belcampo, with expertise in scaling businesses and helping them expand broadly in a sustainable way.

Belcampo’s successful restaurant and butcher shop items expanded into retail in early 2019, quickly gaining consumer traction and loyalty, and becoming top performing SKUs in each category. Following this success, Belcampo is planning to expand into 250 retail locations in 2020 and over 1,000 in 2021. Today, Belcampo’s meats, broths and jerkies are available at select retailers on the West Coast, in its restaurants and butcheries in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York, N.Y.

SUPPLIER NEWS

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

11

Hip Chick Farms Alumni Settle into A Boring Life

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

The co-Founders of Hip Chick Farms have uprooted themselves from the California company they started in 2013 and embarked on a new venture that will specialize in snack products focused on wellness. A Boring Life, the new company started by Serafina Palandech and Jennifer Johnson, launched its first products last year and is now introducing nuts and fruits preserved in honey to the market.

“My family is from Montenegro, and when we go back there, we come back with jars of nuts and fruits in honey, which is a traditional way of preserving the produce for them,” said Palandech, who is Chief Executive Officer as well as co-Founder of A Boring Life.

“There’s nothing like that here.”

Their new product has already achieved retail distribution in specialty markets, where it’s being embraced

as a partner for cheese. “It’s unlike anything out there. Pour it over a piece of brie for a beautiful appetizer,” Palandech said, adding that consumers also enjoy the raw honey products at breakfast time.

The company’s name is a reference to Boring, Oregon, a community near Portland where the couple are now making their home after the sale of Hip Chicks Farms, which produced frozen chicken products. With that business behind them, Palandech and Johnson began thinking about how they’d start a new food business in the small Oregon town that offered the benefit of being near where Palandech’s family had been living for the past 15 years.

“I love creating companies. I love creating brands,” Palandech said.

“Jen [Johnson] is a chef, and she wanted to create snack products focused on wellness.”

Those first products, introduced last year, are packaged nuts with enough hemp extract in each blend to offer 25 mg of full-spectrum hemp extract per 1-ounce bag.

There are two snack blends: Roasted Almonds with a Hint of Lavender and Roasted Almonds, Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt. The lavender in the blend comes from their new home farm, where Palandech and Johnson grow about 1,000 lavender plants on a couple of acres. “It’s a very popular crop in the area because it grows so well in our little microclimate in Oregon,” Palandech said. “I’m good at making food and making brands. Farming, I don’t think is my expertise, but lavender is very forgiving.”

The newest product uses raw honey sourced from hives on their property along with honey raised on another 800 hives around Klackamas County, Oregon. Al-

monds and walnuts for the products come from a third-generation farmer in California, and most of the fruits are sourced from Oregon growers, Palandech said. “There is a thriving and supportive food and beverage industry here that we’ve been able to tap into, and I love being part of it,” she said.

The raw h o n e y products are packed in 7-ounce jars. Boring Bees combines the honey with figs, apricots, dried blueberries, walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews and pumpkin seeds. Hot Honey is raw honey with chiles and walnuts, and Lavender Honey is raw honey with dried lavender and almonds. The suggested retail price for each 7-ounce jar is $6.99.

Distribution for the honey products is through DPI. For more information, visit www.aboringlife.com. GN

12

SUPPLIER NEWS

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

Born in Louisiana, Enjoyed Across the Nation

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Swamp Pop was developed by a pair of Louisiana cousins who married the notion that the customers of their food truck enjoyed soft drinks made with real cane sugar to the creative instincts of a chef in touch with flavor. “Knowing the long history of sugar cane farming in Louisiana, the cousins were inspired to create their own flavors, honoring the amazing culinary history of south Louisiana and featuring real cane sugar from their home state,” said Chris Fontenot, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Our Life Foods, which acquired Swamp Pop, earlier this year in 2019.

That acquisition left John Petersen and Collin Cormier, those two cousins, free to pursue their interest in the food service end of their business while Our Life Foods took over the national distribution of the product they’d created. The launch for that national distribution had been intended to happen in March at Natural Products Expo West, but though the cancellation of that event put the kibosh on

the celebration, it hasn’t paused the product launch. “They’re ready to go,” Fontenot said.

Swamp Pop comes in six flavors: Ponchatoula Pop Rouge, Praline Cream Soda, File Root Beer, Noble Cane Cola, Jean Lafitte Ginger Ale and Satsuma Fizz. They’re all caffeine-free and made using pure Louisiana can sugar, natural flavors and colors.

Preservatives were eliminated from the recipe in April, so now the products are all natural.

The name “Swamp Pop” is a reference to the local dialect that dubs a soft drink as “pop” and to the music genre that goes by that name, a 1950s mashup of southern Louisiana cultural influences. “The name draws people in initially, but once they try it, without fail, people taste the dif-

ference without the over-carbonation that you get from other products on the market,” Fontenot said. “The cane sugar provides a long, clean finish.”

Swamp Pop appeals to consumers who value authenticity and has a strong follow-

ing in the Midwest and on both coasts of the U.S. as well as in Louisiana. “Part of the reason we acquired the brand was that we

were continually getting requests for where to find this product,” Fontenot said. “We ship quite a bit of product through our website, and people are paying up to $100 in shipping costs. People are willing to pay a premium to get this product.”

With the acquisition, Swamp Pop has become a part of the Our Life Foods portfolio that also includes A Cajun Life, which offers authentic Cajun seasoning blends, rubs for fish and chicken and mixes for jambalaya and red beans and rice – a current total of 12 products. “They are all packaged within about 20 minutes of my hometown,” Fontenot said. “They’re authentic Cajun products. We are producing near my hometown using ingredients that I grew up with.”

Swamp Pop will be introducing new flavors later this year, and A Cajun Life will be introducing a line of frozen entrees this year as well. For more information, visit www.acajunlife.com. GN

Laura’s Gourmet Granola Crushes Breakfast with Flavor

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

The half dozen or so varieties of Laura’s Gourmet granolas all have two things in common, in addition to their clean ingredient labels: they all contain oats as their foundation, and they all assert themselves with flavors that reflect the culinary aesthetic of their creator, Laura Briscoe.

Briscoe is the Founder and still the Executive Chef for Laura’s Gourmet, which she started in 2004 after attending Scottsdale Culinary Institute. She’d been training for a new career after fleeing from her former career in high-tech sales with the thought that she’d eventually use that training as a private events caterer.

She was well on her way in her new career, using her culinary training as well as her own creativity to dazzle clients and serving her friends with samples of her dishes.

Her friends raved about her granola and started urging her to think about selling it outside her catering gigs.

She packaged up some of her Vanilla Almond Crunch Granola in paper bags with labels she’d printed on her home computer and took it off to AJ’s Fine Foods, the gourmet banner of the Basha’s Inc. grocery chain, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb. Nothing happened at first, but Briscoe kept making her granola, serving it to catering clients and giving some of it to her friends, and they all kept telling her how great it was. Then

one day, while she was on her way to teach a cooking class, she ran into a group of Basha’s executives in her local AJ’s store.

They included Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eddie Basha, and Briscoe seized on the opportunity to pitch him on her product. “They started us on the shelf,” she said. “That’s all I ever wanted was AJ’s.”

Over the next few years, though, Briscoe started meeting other people who loved food and then turned out to love her food, most notably her granolas, and some of them worked for restaurant companies and some worked for specialty grocers. It wasn’t too much longer before she was making her living by making her granola. “There was never an intention,” she said. “I didn’t

wake up one morning and say, ‘I want to be in the granola business.’”

Her line has now expanded to include LocoCocoNut Crunch, CherryRific Crunch, AppleLicious Crunch and Honey Roasted Peanut Crunch in addition to the

original Vanilla Almond Crunch and Pumpkin Pecan, which is seasonal in the fall, and Sinful Cinnamon, which is the brand’s newest flavor. Vanilla Almond Crunch is still the company’s top seller, LocoCocoNut Crunch is doing very well in the food service channel, and AppleLicious is also a top seller. Honey Roasted Peanut Crunch is appealing to those who don’t like tree nuts. “I had a friend who would pick the almonds out of Vanilla Almond Crunch. I created Peanut so I didn’t have to watch my friend pick almonds out of his granola,” Briscoe said. “It’s peanut butter cookie meets peanut brittle and gets a conscience.”

CherryRific was Briscoe’s first vegan flavor – it’s made with dried tart cherries, agave sweetener (rather than honey) and some flaxseed to give it a bit of a nutty flavor. Sinful Cinnamon is a nut-free version of her granola that’s sweetened with agave to make it vegan as well.

“The agave changes everything,” Briscoe said. “With the agave, it’s the same amount of cinnamon, but you can taste it much more.”

The whole line is based on oats. “By definition, granola has oats. I’ve hung my hat on making a classic product that’s as elevated as I can,” Briscoe said. “Nothing weird, no fillers, nothing that ends with ‘ite.’”

A new facility that’s triple the size of her previous location has given Briscoe the capacity she needs to expand her distribution beyond Arizona, and Laura’s Gourmet Granola is finding its way into specialty mar-

kets in other areas. The products’ price point is prohibitive for mass-market stores, but it works well in specialty markets, Briscoe said. “We are an all-natural product that’s now kosher-certified Parve and dairyfree,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting it into somebody’s mouth and then they buy. Price point stops mattering when they taste it.”

Briscoe is now working on a chocolate flavor, and she’s experimenting with other options to appeal to those following a plant-based diet. “We want to do it in a way that you don’t eat it because it’s good for you, but you eat it because it’s delicious, and it just happens to be good for you,” she said. “I’d rather be in 30 well-picked stores than in 300 ‘Let’s hope it sticks’ locations.”

For more information, visit www.lauras gourmet.com. GN

NATURALLY HEALTHY

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

13

Naturally Healthy A California Twist on Indian Tradition

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Consumers who are familiar with India’s vegetarian cuisine are already familiar with paneer, the creamy fresh cheese that’s essential to dishes like palak paneer and matar paneer, but the paneer they’re finding in their markets is most likely not the authentically creamy product that Tarush and Jasleen Agarwal remembered from their childhoods. “We both grew up in India, and we grew up with how paneer is supposed to taste,” Tarush said. “It’s supposed to be very creamy with a nice, soft texture.”

The two are vegetarians now living in the United States and as they tried to maintain the culinary traditions most familiar to them, they were having trouble finding protein options other than tofu. That was particularly important to Jasleen, who had also adopted a keto diet, which emphasizes protein and fats rather than carbohydrates as the body’s fuel source. “There weren’t really any options out there,” Tarush said.

They decided to try making paneer. And in the organic way that foodies end up first sharing their creation with others and then

deciding that what they’re sharing is good ingredients. You understand what those inenough to sell, they did some testing in a gredients are – you can look at the back of San Francisco commercial kitchen and trythe label and read them.” ing the results out on consumers. “We The Sach Paneer cheese is made in Calistarted thinking about how to make our pafornia from organic, grass-fed milk, and it’s neer more ready to eat. We wanted to create something that people PHOTO CREDIT TANARAK PHOTOGRAPHY could just snack on. Our goal is to make paneer more accessible to people and that’s how we came up with the idea of flavoring it,” Tarush said. “We did over a hundred or so in-person pop-ups and demos, and we saw that consumers really liked the concept.”

The business Tarush and Jasleen started a year ago is called Sach Foods – “sach” means “honest” in Hindi. “We wanted it to be a reflection of what we stand for as a company,” Tarush said. “We realized that the paneer that was available in the market before we started was very offered in Original, Turmeric Twist and mass-produced, very industrial.... Our goal Spicy Habanero flavors. For the retail maris to really help consumers looking for nonket, it’s packaged in 6-ounce Cryovac packs meat protein options have a clean alternathat retail for $7.99 to $8.99. The cheese is tive. Everything has four or less also available to the foodservice channel in

5-pound blocks. “We are the original artisanal paneer company in the country.

Everything is made in small batches,” Tarush said, adding that, as far as he knows, Sach Paneer is also the only flavored paneer cheese on the American market.

“We think there’s a tremendous amount of potential in this category,” Tarush said.. He’s already partnered with independent retail stores in California’s Bay Area, he’s selling to Michelin-starred chefs in the Bay Area, and he’s talking to large retail chains, too. “It’s got a lot of different uses and verticals, especially for food businesses that are looking for new organic ingredients that are vegetarian,” Tarush said. “What we’ve been doing is showcasing the verticals that we have and finding partners with whom we can do something interesting and not just take the traditional approach.”

For more information, visit www .sachfoods.com. GN

New Dressings with Raw Flavor from Mother Earth

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Mother Raw had planned to introduce a pair of tahini-based dressings and marinades this year at Natural Products Expo West. The cancellation of the show in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic may have delayed the formal launch, but the products are fully developed and ready for production as soon as retailers place their orders.

Lemon Tahini is a zesty dressing, citrus-bright and offering the added nutritional benefit and vivid color of turmeric.

Made with premium, organic cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil as its only oil, this dressing is offered in a flavor that was selected by the brand’s consumers as the one they wanted to see next in the company’s line-up, said Mother Raw Chief Executive Officer Kristi Knowles. “Mother Raw stands out in the category because we

exclusively use cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, while other brands use highly processed oils like soybean and canola,” she added.

According to Zion Market Research, “Tahini is expected to witness a significant increase in demand in the years ahead, owing to the rising worldwide popularity of ethnic foods.” Its 2019 report indicated that tahini is favored for its perceived health benefits and for its prominence in a variety of Mediterranean cuisines and food products.

Turmeric has also been receiving significant interest from consumers over the past few years, since it’s commonly thought to have anti-inflammatory properties. It’s a major source of curcumin, which aids in the management of oxidative and inflammatory conditions, metabolic syndrome,

arthritis, anxiety, and hyperlipidemia, according to the National Institutes of Health and is also thought to aid in recovery from exercise-induced inflammation and soreness.

The second new product in Mother Raw’s current launch is Creamy Tahini – a little savory and a little sweet from a kiss of organic maple syrup. It’s a dressing that will add flavor to a grain bowl or a legumebased bowl or over pasta as well as on a green salad. “These new tahini dressings are extremely versatile and delicious,” Knowles said. “Like all of the other products in our line-up, we put as much importance on what goes into them as what doesn’t go into them,” Knowles said. Unlike most other commercially available salad dressings, they’re organic and made with premium natural ingredients, she added. “If you look at the ingredient decks [for other bottled salad dressings], there’s nothing akin to what you’d find in your own kitchen,” she said. “With so many of us choosing to make our own dressings at home, we set out to use only the good stuff.

The ingredients in our products are ones that you would find in your own kitchen

cupboard or refrigerator; ingredients you recognize and can pronounce.”

Both dressings are thickened and emulsified with hemp and chia seeds. “Most store-bought salad dressings are filled with artificial flavors, colors, refined sugars and harmful processed oils,” Knowles said.

“Our philosophy is to put good on good; It’s on our packaging. We believe that what you put on top of your veggies should be as healthy as your veggies. No compromise.”

The Mother Raw dressings are typically sold from the refrigerator section in the produce department. “We are refrigerated, which is where we firmly believe you should find your salad dressings,” Knowles said. “The products are all cold-blended, never heated, to make them as fresh as possible and to taste as fresh as possible.”

Mother Raw’s new Lemon Tahini and Creamy Tahini dressing and marinades are packaged in 8-ounce glass bottles that are 100 percent recyclable and retail for $4.99 to $5.99. For more information, visit www.motherraw.com. GN

14

NATURALLY HEALTHY

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

New Products from Atlantic Natural Foods Atlantic Natural Foods, LLC was planning to showcase new additions to its Loma Linda line of heat-and-eat Meal Solutions and Meal Starters – Butter Chick’n and Heartland Chili at this year’s Natural Products Expo West that wasn’t. Inspired by comfort foods, the Butter Chick’n and Heartland Chili Meal Solutions feature warming spices and are packed with flavor.

While the COVID-19 pandemic may have put a crimp in the launch plans, underlying market needs for convenience and affordability remain the same. Many plantbased protein options available today are priced at a premium, and therefore, aren’t necessarily a great fit for shoppers who want to try plant-based foods but also have a value mindset. The Loma Linda options offer an opportunity for them.

“We at Atlantic Natural Foods are de-

mocratizing plant-based eating by making it easier and more affordable than ever before. Loma Linda offers a delicious line of shelf-stable, plant proteinbased meals, developed in response to the growing demand for tasty and nutritious, plant-based foods which are also non-GMO and gluten free,” said Doug Hines, the Founder of Atlantic Natural Foods. “Our Plant-Based Protein Meal Solutions and Meal Starters are created to meet all consumers’ needs, no matter their taste preferences or budget.”

The Loma Linda meals can be prepared

in 60 seconds, appealing to shoppers who need convenience as well as value. Loma Linda is available online at Amazon and at over 20,000 natural retailers and traditional grocers, including Walmart, Costco, Target, Earth Fare, Food Lion, Harmons, Jewel, Redner’s, SaveMart, Sprouts, Wakefern and Woodman’s. As of this year, Loma Linda products are also available in the U.K., Australia and 17 other countries.

For more information, visit www .atlanticnaturalfoods.com or email sales@atlanticnaturalfoods.com. GN

Busy Consumers

rest and a limit on the amount of time a bird can be transported for processing.

Three of the four NAKED TRUTH products are gluten free, with the exception of the Waffle Flavored Chicken Bites, which are made with a breading that contains gluten.

“There are a lot of breaded chicken nuggets and tenders on the market. We were not trying to mimic any product that’s already available,” Ernst added. “Any of our unique items can be easily added to a quick meal at home that you feel good serving, not only to yourself, but to your family.”

The four products are offered from the grocer’s freezer case, including supermarkets like Whole Foods. They’re fully cooked and packaged in 12-ounce packages, except for the Flame Grilled Chicken Breast Fillets, which is packaged as two 5-ounce fillets.

“The packages are resealable, so if you don’t finish it in one meal, it can be resealed and popped back into the freezer,” Ernst said.

The CHEF’S CRAFT products for food-

service applications are unique in that the brand focuses on sous vide cooking, so that every chicken breast will be ten-

der and juicy every time. Wayne Farms offers multiple package sizes of 4- to 6ounce fillets, depending on the customer’s requirements, and conventionally raised, no-antibiotics-ever and vegetarian-diet, and GAP-certified options are available.

The fillets are flame-grilled before they’re vacuum-sealed into their sous vide pouches, so they have that smoky grilled flavor, as well as authentic grill marks along

with the juicy tenderness that results from the sous vide cooking.

They’re shipped either refrigerated or frozen, so that all that’s needed to prepare them for service is thawing, if they’re frozen, and then a few minutes of reheating if they’re to be served in a warm sandwich or atop a grain bowl. They can be served cold right out of the package if they’re going onto a salad. “This product was also designed to perform well in sandwiches,” Ernst added.

Other CHEF’s Craft products include the Chicken Breakfast Sausage, Maple Cinnamon Apple Breakfast and Dinner Sausage and the Andouille Chicken Sausage.

The CHEF’S CRAFT line is offered by a range of local and regional distributors and by Dot Foods. For more information, visit www.nakedtruthchicken.com or www.chefscraftgourmet.com, depending on the product line in which you’re interested. GN

sicians. “Touring isn’t the healthiest lifestyle – a lot of late nights and fast food. There aren’t a lot of healthy options around the country if you’re traveling a lot,” Ashleigh said. “We were looking to set up a more holistic, healthier life, so we researched ways to live sustainably and healthy in the long term. That’s how we found kombucha.”

After retiring from their touring in 2012, the pair founded Better Booch to start commercial production of the beverage they’d been brewing at home. “We started brewing in our kitchen, playing with different ways of flavoring it, and we were really surprised at how delicious it could be because what

was on shelves then wasn’t very innovative,” Ashleigh said. “We started bottling it and selling it at farmers markets.” On their first time out, they met a buyer from a local southern California grocery chain who picked it up immediately for his 12 stores.

“It kept growing from there!” she said. “It’s continued to be our passion and we really bootstrapped it for the first five years.”

Since then, the Lockerbies conducted a funding round to expand their canning line. With the new canning line, the company is transitioning its packaging away from the glass bottles into aluminum cans and will be introducing a four-pack of 12-

ounce cans in the third quarter of this year. Consumers are welcoming the change, and can sales are growing rapidly, according to Ashleigh. A 16-ounce can retails for $2.99.

Better Booch also just hired Jordan Schulman, an industry veteran, as its new Vice President of Sales, and the company is ready to extend distribution of its brand outside California. “We have a really great growth strategy with Jordan on board, and we’re really looking forward to what’s next,” Ashleigh said.

For more information, visit www.better booch.com, www.instagram.com/better booch or email info@getbetterbooch.com. GN

Continued from PAGE 1 Breast Chunks, Waffle Flavored Chicken Bites, Flame Grilled Chicken Breast Fillets and Oven Roasted Chicken Wings. They’re all natural and fully cooked, and the birds from which they were produced never received antibiotics and were fed a vegetarian diet, as well as being raised according to the GAP-2 standards that define space re-

quirements, natural light, daily darkness to give the birds the opportunity for proper

Better Booch Continued from PAGE 1 Each flavor is individually brewed in its own tank and the flavor descriptions refer to flavor notes as well as actual ingredients, so a kombucha that’s said to taste like blueberry or cranberry has those flavor notes, but there’s no actual fruit added! This keeps sugar levels low in the beverages. Each 8ounce serving – half the contents of the 16ounce can or bottle – contains only about 5g of sugar. It’s one of the lowest sugar contents on the market,” Ashleigh said. “We list flavor notes on the front of the bottle, but everything is done with teas, herbs and adaptogens.”

“One of our main goals is to be inviting to people who’ve never tried kombucha,” she added. “We’re trying to offer something refreshing and enjoyable to people who’ve never tried it so they can get to know all the benefits. Better Booch’s mission is to make the healthiest choice the obvious one. The idea is that if we can make something that tastes as great as it makes you feel, we’re on the right track.”

Ashleigh and Trey discovered kombucha while they were touring the country as mu-

SUPPLEMENT TO

MAY 2020

GOURMET NEWS

®

T H E

B U S I N E S S

N E W S P A P E R

F O R

T H E

everyday

G O U R M E T

indulgences

I N D U S T R Y

16

EVERYDAY INDULGENCES

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

A Coffee Solution for Sensitive Stomachs Tylers Coffee provides a healthier option to coffee blends that contain tannic acid and lipid acids that are bloomed during the roasting process. As the first organic, acid-free coffee, Tylers Coffee offers a solution for the more than 100 million individuals who have sensitive stomachs.

Tylers’ trade-secret roasting process doesn’t bloom the tannic and lipid acids in the coffee bean.

That roasting process means a higher level of natural caffeine in the company’s Regular Roast. Because the roaster is monitored by computer, every roast is exactly the same every time. Tylers’ Decaf Roast is decaffeinated through Swiss water decaffeination.

Tylers Coffee www.tylerscoffees.com

Sweet & Spicy Pretzel Nuggets from OMGPretzels With OMGPretzels’ Sweet & Spicy Pretzel Nuggets, an Old World pretzel recipe gets the gourmet treatment with fresh and zesty seasoning. These heritage Pennsylvania-made sourdough pretzel nuggets are rubbed in a secret tangy mix of bold and bright spices to make

a snack that offers the best of both Old and New Worlds in one delicious bite that’s both spicy hot and sugary sweet.

It’s one of five distinctive flavors from OMGPretzels.

OMGPretzels www.omgpretzels.com

Summer Solstice from Stonewall Kitchen Stonewall Kitchen’s newest Fine Home Keeping collection, Summer Solstice, encapsulates the enchanting essence of summer. Scented with orange zest and rose geranium essential oils, all have a light, sweet scent that’s fresh without being overpowering, conjuring the intoxicating floral aroma of a warm June night.

The line includes a plant-based hand soap, vitamin-rich hand lotion and pure soy wax candle. Customers will love the candle, which burns brightly and cleanly for up to 40 hours, as a way to enhance the evening ambiance of a summer porch or an outdoor table. The hand soap is made with Vitamin E and restores moisture while delivering a gentle yet invigorating clean. The hand lotion is light but packed with vitamins and soothing aloe to revitalize and replenish dehydrated skin.

Other collections in the Fine Home

Keeping line offer a range of alluring aromas to choose from. The Grapefruit Thyme products, for example, feature a lightly sweet citrus scent that’s perfect for use in the kitchen, while the Lavender Mint line is scented with lavender and spearmint, making it a relaxing and refreshing choice for use in a master bath or powder room.

These high-quality products are ideal for summer and are an excellent choice for keeping hands feeling soft, kitchens looking clean and homes smelling lovely.

Stonewall Kitchen 800.826.1752 www.stonewallkitchen.com

Kitchen Equipment from Prairie View Industries Prairie View Industries’ Retractable Prep Station folds to less than 6 inches when not in use and expands to provide a full 36-inch by 24-inch or 48-inch by 24-inch prep table when it’s needed. For a mobile catering unit that’s small enough to get through a door but that won’t limit your workspace, the Retractable Prep Station can go mobile with a caster kit upgrade.

Aluminum Retractable Shelving from Prairie View Industries uses only 4.5 inches when not in use and expands into a complete shelving unit with two or three

shelves when needed in a freezer or pantry.

With a full line of food service equipment products, Prairie View Industries has the solution you need in your kitchen.

Prairie View Industries 800.554.7267 www.pvifs.com

Mama’s Roasted Pepper Spreads Mama’s is a sofi Award-winning line of roasted pepper spreads and dips. They’re 100 percent all natural and made from only four ingredients: roasted peppers, roasted eggplant, sunflower oil and sea salt.

They’re gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, kosher and halal-certified, and they’ll complement a wide variety of food, adding a new dimension of flavor to meats, seafood, vegetables, sandwiches, dips and spreads. They’re a great alternative to pasta sauce.

Fresh, simple, and clean is the best way to sum up Mama’s. These products do not contain any artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

Max’s Imports 586.978.1121 www.maxsimports.com

Jake’s Nut Roasters Maple Almonds Jake’s Nut Roasters’ Maple Almonds are a fan favorite in the Jake’s Nut Roasters line of bold flavors. These high-quality California-grown almonds are dry roasted and seasoned to perfection using only the highest-quality ingredients. Jake’s Maple Almonds share the perfect amount of sweet maple with just a hint of sea salt, a great option for a light snack or everyday indulgence. The almonds are low in sugar, with only 3 grams per serving. Conveniently packaged in a 7-ounce can that fits into a car’s cup holder, they can be taken on the go.

Almonds are an essential plantbased protein snacking alternative providing numerous health benefits with key vitamins and minerals that should always be part of a healthy diet.

Jasper Specialty Foods 800.255.1641 www.jasperspecialtyfoods.com www.jakesnutroasters.com

CBD-Infused Olive Oil from Ariston Ariston Specialties’ CBD-Infused Olive Oil combines all natural and high-quality hemp derived CBD produced vin Connecticut with Ariston’s own production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from southwest Greece for this elixir. This oil combines the health benefits and flavors of both the nutty, earthy CBD oil and the grassy flavor profile of Ariston’s Koroneiki Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This combination is ideal for salads, savory dressings, and even

in homemade pestos. It also combines with Ariston’s Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and mustard to make an incredible salad dressing.

Ariston Specialties 860.263.8498 www.aristonspecialties.com

Livada All-Purpose Vegetable Seasoning Livada All-Purpose Vegetable Seasoning from Max’s Imports is 100 percent all natural and is made from a special blend of the finest dehydrated vegetables and freshly ground herbs and spices. Unlike other vegetable seasonings, Livada has no monosodium glutamate (MSG). It’s a healthy and great-tasting option to add to your favorite savory dishes. From soups

and stews to meats and rice, this seasoning adds a rich flavor to homecooked meals.

Max’s Imports 586.978.1121 www.maxsimports.com

18

EVERYDAY INDULGENCES

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

DeBrand’s Orange Cream DeBrand’s Orange Cream from the company’s popular Classic Collection offers a pure and luxurious orange cream surrounded by rich, dark chocolate. This decadent and refreshing combination of orange cream and dark chocolate make these chocolates the perfect treat for any spring or summertime celebration.

Orange Creams are available in bulk, to be beautifully displayed in a case, or as part of the coveted Classic Collection gift box assortment.

DeBrand’s Classic Collection is offered in several varieties so that it can be the perfect size and price-point for any occasion. This

Enstrom Almond Toffee Petites is DeBrand Fine Chocolate’s best-selling gourmet chocolate collection and is the ideal gift for people who appreciate both quality and tradition.

Timeless favorites in the collection include caramel variations, pure fruit creams bursting with wonderfully intense flavors and re-inspired traditional selections such as Gourmet PB&J, Toffee Crush and Vanilla Butter Cream. DeBrand offers a variety of options from impressive chocolate gifts to impulse items.

DeBrand Fine Chocolates 260.969.8331 www.debrand.com

Fall River Wild Rice: New Ways with America’s Native Grain Fall River Wild Rice brings a culinary gem to your store shelf. High in protein and fiber, nutty and with a striking visual appeal, wild rice is one of the healthiest grains available. This naturally cultivated wild rice is great in salads, soups and stirfries, but also works well in mixes for pancakes and muffins and even in chocolate and desserts.

The only cereal grain native to North America, wild rice is not even a rice at all.

It is the seed of Zizania plustris, a tall,

blooming water grass that prospers in the Great Lakes region, as well as in the fruitful valley in the shadows of the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies. Fall River Wild Rice is a small grower-owned cooperative in the Fall River Valley, a rural mountain valley nestled between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges.

Fall River Wild Rice 800.626.4366 www.fallriverwildrice.com

Good things come in small packages. Individually wrapped, buttery Enstrom Almond Toffee Petites are the gold standard for snacking. This all-natural, world-famous Almond Toffee is crafted from a blend of fresh California almonds, sweet cream butter and pure cane sugar, covered in a generous layer of rich chocolate to create a treat unlike any other.

From its humble, small-town beginnings, Enstrom Almond Toffee has become a world-class, internationally known confection. Every batch is still made in Grand Junction, Colorado, using Founder

Chet Enstrom’s original recipe dating back to 1960, lovingly handed down through four generations. Enstrom Almond Toffee is made with all-natural ingredients, and is certified gluten free and kosher for dairy.

Enstrom 800.252.5498 www.enstrom.com

Yamato Provides a Full Line of Scales for Foodservice Operators Since 1920, Yamato has been a leader in the weighing industry. The company manufactures and distributes high-quality, innovative solutions perfectly suited for the food industry. Yamato provides a full line of NTEP and NSF-approved scales to help foodservice operators maximize profits and reduce waste. Yamato’s receiving scales, including the DP-6700, DP-6900 and AW-300P, help kitchens verify incoming product weights and portion bulk products and meats into smaller, more manageable sizes.

Portion scales provide consistent volume and presentation. Yamato’s PPC300WP, PPC-200W, AW-WSM and AW-WLG digital scales, along with its SM(N) and CW(N) mechanical scales weigh each ingredient while preparing or plating food, so dishes are consistent.

Weighing ingredients, especially cheese, helps maximize profit margins.

Pizza restaurants appreciate how the foot tare on Yamato’s PB-200 and the handsfree tare of its AW-WPS are so easy to use.

Yamato’s BC-10 bar inventory scale and keg scale are popular in restaurants that serve alcohol. The BC-10 is a mechanical scale that weighs in fluid ounces. It allows a restaurant to know how much wine or liquor is used daily and helps offer accurate inventory numbers. The keg scale verifies if a half barrel of beer is full when it is received. It also measures how much beer is sold daily. Most importantly, though, it

eliminates waste. When a beer tap spits foam, it could be because of an empty keg. Improper CO2 mixture levels or a cooler’s temperature being too warm could also be the cause.

Looking at the weight on the scale immediately indicates if the keg is actually empty.

A restaurant operator’s choice of a mechanical or digital scale is largely a matter of personal preference, but there are reasons to choose one over the other. Mechanical scales require no power to operate, have no cords and are easy to move around.

They are not as susceptible as some digital scales can be to water damage. Air dashpots can be added to reduce the oscillation of the dial needle to provide faster weight readings.

Digital scales are generally considered to be more accurate and provide faster weight readings than mechanical scales, but they require power. They can be used to measure pounds, ounces, kilograms, grams, ounces, grams or pounds and ounces, offering more versatility. Some provide additional functions like checkweighing, grading and batching. Some offer a degree of water protection or can even be fully submersible in water.

The Yamato Commercial Division can assist you in selecting the correct scale model for your application.

Yamato Americas 262.236.0000 www.yamatoamericas.com

Fiorucci Introduces New Authentic Cheese Line Fiorucci is now introducing a line of authentic Italian cheeses in Aged Parmesan and Mild Provolone. The sweet, savory, 10-monthaged Parmesan adds a punch of flavor to nearly anything it’s added to. As a tableside topping or integral ingredient, its salty, nutty flavor provides delicious umami and depth. Aged for more than 60 days, Fioruccci Provolone is full of rich, mildly smoky, nutty flavor. Its firm body holds

up well against spicy, robust flavors, making it an ideal addition to a zesty appetizer tray or charcuterie board. Both products are gluten free, rBST free and an excellent source of calcium and protein. They are available in 8-ounce packages, and each unit contains about eight servings.

Fiorucci Foods www.fioruccifoods.com

SUPPLEMENT TO

MAY 2020

GOURMET NEWS

®

T H E

B U S I N E S S

N E W S P A P E R

F O R

sweets &

T H E

treats

G O U R M E T

I N D U S T R Y

22

SWEETS & TREATS

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

Hawaiian Host Introduces Pancoated Chocolate Collection Hawaiian Host® unveils its latest confection with a new line of pancoated chocolates. Taking its cue from the traditional style of chocolate making known as panning, pancoating is the brand’s artisanal method of coating macadamias. In this fashion, chocolate is slowly poured over the dryroasted nuts in a tumbling coating pan, then layer by delicious layer, a multi-textured bite-sized indulgence is created.

“The panning method gives us the chance to be more creative with our chocolate-covered macadamias; to enhance them

by adding layers of glaze, chocolate, other top-shelf ingredients and powder-dusted finishes – all evenly coated to produce the most delicious confections,” says Theresa Tuxhorn, Director of Global Marketing for Hawaiian Host.

The flavor lineup is tempting, to say the least. Think buttery macadamias enveloped in creamy dark or milk chocolate and then dusted with powdered sugar. Other decadent flavors include Honey Milk Chocolate, Sea Salt Toffee, Toasted Coconut, Kona Coffee and the ever-popular Matcha – this is just a taste of what to expect from Hawai-

Setton Farms Grows Industry with Innovative Pistachio Line Setton Farms has been producing America’s Best Tasting Pistachios for over 40 years. Its dedicated team takes a hands-on approach, attending to each detail of growing, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, packaging and marketing California pistachios all over the world. Setton Farms pistachios are simply in a class of their own, because of their great taste and superior quality.

The Setton family’s values are woven into everything they do, striving to innovate and exceed industry standards. With a strong commitment to regenerative agriculture, they have been able to employ sustainable practices throughout the entire process. Rain and processing water is captured in reservoirs and recycled back onto orchards. Green waste is converted into top-quality compost, enhancing the soil by increasing fertility and bio-activity. Pistachio shells are donated to the community for paving dirt roads, reducing air pollu-

tion. Solar energy naturally powers operations at the processing and satellite facilities. These and other efforts create a sustainability loop, allowing all previously unusable product from the process to be converted back into a valuable input.

The Setton family recently debuted a new line of Seasoned Pistachio Kernels.

They’ve done the work for pistachio lovers everywhere by removing the shells, dry roasting (no oil!), and seasoning the kernels through an exclusive process that maintains a superior freshfrom-the-orchard taste. Five varieties are currently available: Salt & Pepper, Garlic Onion, Chipotle BBQ, Chili Limón and Jalapeño.

Since its launch, the line of Seasoned Kernels has been winning acclaim from consumers and buyers. The Garlic Onion Seasoned Kernels won 1st Place in the Buyers Choice Award at the California Food Expo. Chosen from hundreds of entries, it

Warrell Creations Has You Covered Warrell Creations has you covered. Based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Warrell Creations is the private label and contract manufacturing division of The Warrell Corporation. Innovation is the driving strategy and key differentiator for Warrell in this competitive segment of the confectionery and snack industry supply chain, according to Marketing Manager Annette WarrellJones. “Warrell’s continued success is being driven by its ability to provide organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, clean label and low sugar snacks and confections for some of

the leading traditional and challenger brands in the marketplace,” she said. While providing better-for-you options has certainly been a growth vector for the company, its portfolio of indulgent, sweet and salty, and savory creations continues to be an important part of its product portfolio and manufacturing capabilities. Walking through the company's 200,000 square foot manufacturing plant, one will see nut clusters, glazed nuts, brittles and chocolate covered delicacies being made under the strictest quality conditions.

Sweet Nostalgia, Delicious New Innovation This year marks the 70th anniversary for Annabelle Candy Company, which is home to legendary candy bars, including AbbaZaba®, Rocky Road®, Big Hunk®, U-NO® and Look!®.

Annabelle’s is a third-generation family owned and operated candy manufacturer whose heritage candy bars deliver sweet

nostalgia to longtime customers while unique flavor innovations attract new generations of candy lovers.

Throughout the years, the original Rocky Road handmade marshmallow bar has expanded into a flavor family that includes Mint, Sea Salt and S’Mores flavors.

Annabelle’s recently launched a scrump-

ian Host’s latest line. The pancoated collection comes in 4-, 8- and 20ounce bags.

About Hawaiian Host What started as an attic experiment in his parents’ home on Maui grew into the beloved Hawaii-based confectionery brand that it is today. Founder Mamoru Takitani’s dream of creating a world-famous candy came true thanks to his pioneering spirit and enviable tenacity. Renowned for providing an authentic chocolate and macadamia nut experience, the iconic Hawaii company has been offering a variety of high-quality, delicious products since was given the top honor by the expo’s Retail Advisory Council, which encompasses a select group of retail buyers from Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Albertsons/Safeway, Bristol Farms and more. Additionally, this variety won the New Product Compe-

1927. Headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaiian Host spreads the spirit of the Islands throughout the globe via its wide assortment of premium chocolate and macadamia nut selections.

For more information, go to www.hawaiianhost.com or www.hawaiianhostgroup .com, call 808.842.7312 or email mjacinto@hawaiianhostgroup.com. Find the company on social media at www .facebook.com/hawaiianhostinc, www .instagram.com/hawaiianhostinc and www.twitter.com/hawaiianhostinc. GN

tition award at Kosherfest, the world’s largest and most attended Kosher-certified products trade show. This March, the Jalapeno Seasoned Kernels won the Clean Eating “Clean Choice Awards,” beating out hundreds of submissions in the Snack Cat-

egory.

The entire line of Setton Farms Seasoned Pistachio Kernels contains no artificial ingredients, are certified gluten free, certified by the Non-GMO Project, vegan and kosher. Retailers can display the 3-ounce resealable bags in a preloaded floor shipper with minimal foot space or individual varieties within a tear-away display case on shelf.

As a leader in the pistachio industry, the Setton Farms brand has single handedly expanded the pistachio value-add category with an extensive line of premium plant-based snacks that appeal to a wide audience.

Unique SKUs like Pistachio Chewy Bites, Dark Chocolate Pistachios and Premium Pistachio Blends help retailers reach more consumers who are looking for innovative protein-packed snacks.

For more information, contact Joseph Setton, Vice President of Domestic Sales by emailing Joseph.Setton@settonfarms.com or calling 631.543.8090. GN

At Warrell, new projects are developed in collaboration with existing and prospective customers and are brought to life through a structured Stage Gate Evaluation Process. These ideas are initiated from white spaces identified through market research as well as product profiles that form the foundation of a new idea. Then Warrell's Stage Gate Funnel ensures that new products are commercialized as efficiently as possible. This robust process allows Warrell to deliver gold standard quality and innovation at exceptional

speed-to-market.

With 55 years of experience, Warrell Creations has forged a go-to-market strategy that has labeled it as Your Partner of Choice® for private label and contract manufacturing solutions. A competitively advantaged quality management system, a breadth of manufacturing capabilities, a demonstrated willingness to invest and a team of dedicated project managers is capped with the company's cornerstone strength: We Innovate for You®. For more information, go to www.warrellcorp.com. GN

tious new S’Mores recipe that delivers a spot-on taste profile. Annabelle Candy Company President, Victor Moreno, described the new S’Mores recipe as being “even ‘S’Morsier’ thanks to a more prominent graham cracker layer and a burnt sugar flavor that perfectly mimics campfire goodness.”

The Abba-Zaba taffy brand will expand to include an ever-changing Mystery Flavor bar that will be available this summer.

When pressed for details, Moreno added, “We’re excited to launch our famously

stretchy taffy in an ever-changing flavor profile. While I can’t give away all the secrets, I can promise that it will be delicious.”

Annabelle’s is also planning a digital marketing campaign and new merchandise collection to correspond with the launch of the Abba-Zaba Mystery Flavor bar.

For more information, email info@annabellecandy.com, go to www.annabellecandy.com or call 510.783.2900. GN

24

SPECIAL FEATURE

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

mediterranean

traditions New Ciabatta Baker From Emile Henry

Delicate and flavorful Ciabatta, a rustic Italian bread with a crisp and a chewy crust and an airy, honeycomb-holed interior, is easy to make at home with the new Emile Henry Ciabatta baker. This ceramic baker is designed specially to achieve ciabatta’s unique crumb structure.

The magic offered by this new bread baker is in how it captures humidity. This pan creates the ideal environment for baking bread dough, transforming regular ovens into bread ovens. Cooks no longer need to add steam to a hot oven to get a good crust because the domed lid and ceramic walls trap the humidity released from the baking dough, resulting in fully expanded loaves with crackling exteriors. Made in France of Burgundy clay, this new baking mold makes two 14-inch long loaves at a time. Recipes are included, and it retails for $130. For more information, visit www.emilehenryusa.com.

Anolon Chrome Plated Manual Pasta Maker

This classically styled culinary tool is easy on the wallet and will inspire pasta-loving cooks to get creative in the kitchen. The durable steel construction ensures it will hold up, while the gleaming chrome plating is so attractive that it can live on a counter for added kitchen style. The smooth gear manual hand crank is easy to operate so cranking is a breeze, even for novices. This pasta maker easily attaches to any size table or counter, and there are seven different width settings, plus two separate cutters for the two most popular dishes—spaghetti and fettuccine. Suggested retail price is $39.99. For more information,visit www.anolon.com.

Duralex Picardie Tumblers

Duralex introduced its classic French Picardie tumbler in black at the 2019 International Home + Housewares Show. This black, 8-3/4 ounce beauty is called Soft Touch, and the outside of the glass is a smooth, matte black while the inside is a high-gloss, shiny black. The contrast in texture adds dimension to the glass and plays with the ambient light.

It’s a classic shape that can be held securely and is comfortable on the lip. Even though it’s made in France, Picardie is a wonderful choice in which to serve a red country wine to accompany a casual pizza or lasagna. For more information, visit www.duralexusa.com.

SPECIAL FEATURE

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

Anolon 2-Piece 10-inch Pizza Peel and Pizza Cutter, Teakwood

This duo tools set includes a 20x14-inch size tapered teak wood pizza peel and a durable, stainless steel blade pizza cutter with matching teakwood handle. The well-designed peel is ideal for slipping medium and large size pies into the oven with ease, and it can also double as a cheese and charcuterie board. The sharp cutter can tackle any toppings while maintaining a clean slice. The set retails for $69.99.

For more information, visit www.anolon.com.

Marcato Ravioli Stamps

Marcato offers a variety of ravioli stamps imported from Italy and in both round and square shapes as well as one flower shape. Made of brass and aluminum with wood handles, the stamps will easily imprint a decorative edge on pasta or other firm dough and are great for making springerle and shortbread cookies. They’re available exclusively through Harold Import Company. For more information, call 732.367.2800 or visit www.haroldimport.com.

Bialetti Moka Express

The Original Moka Express from Bialetti produces a rich, authentic espresso in just minutes. The aluminum pot features the brand’s distinctive eight-sided shape, which allows it to diffuse heat to enhance the aroma of the coffee. The Moka Express is Italy’s top-selling stovetop coffee maker and is available in one-, three-, six-, nineand 12-cup sizes as well as a six-cup size that’s red and a three-cup size that’s red and green. Retail prices range from $29.99 to $69.99. For more information, visit www.bialetti.us.

Hestan CopperBond Essential Pan

Hestan’s 3.5-quart CopperBond™ Essential Pan is perfect for simmering a ragu. It’s part of an ultra-premium collection that modernizes the look, function, durability and versatility of traditional copper pots and pans. Hestan also offers the original, ultra-premium NanoBond® with highly resilient molecular-titanium technology, and recently introduced, premium ProBond™ with one-ofa-kind cold forged stainless steel technology.

Not your grandma’s copper cookware, Hestan CopperBond distinguishes itself with a supremely elegant design that smartly combines gleaming copper with an innovative, wrap-around, magnetic stainless steel base for enhanced durability, induction use and easier cleaning. Completing CopperBond’s contemporary, jewel-like styling is a chic collar rim of highly polished stainless steel, and matching stainless steel lids, handles and fittings. For more information, visit www.hestanculinary.com.

25

26

HOT PRODUCTS

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

Hot Products Beanfields Vegan Cracklins

Beanfields has taken a snack food that’s trending among carnivores and delivered it to vegans and others seeking plant-based alternatives with its Vegan Cracklins. Packed with 3 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein, every guilt-free bite is gluten free, grain free, allergen free and kosher. The Vegan Cracklins are made of beans, cassava flour and chickpea protein and are available in Chile Limon, Spicy Nacho, Korean BBQ, Aged White Cheddar and Ranch.

Beanfields www.beanfields.com

Upton’s Naturals Updog

Complete with the classic hot dog “snap” when you bite into it, this 100 percent vegan frank delivers the taste and texture of a hot dog, but without the meat.

Made from wheat-gluten seitan and simple, quality ingredients, the product’s interior texture is just right, not too firm like some seitan links and not too soft like many soy-based veggie dogs. It’s seasoned with yellow mustard seed and onion powder, but what really sets it apart is the product’s innovative algaebased coating and unique curing process. Perfect for throwing on the grill, though you could also cook it on the stovetop, the Updog packs in a good source of protein (19 grams per serving), iron and potassium, plus is non-GMO certified, kosher certified, plantbased certified, and completely free of cholesterol, trans fat, added sugars and artificial flavors.

Upton’s Naturals www.uptonsnaturals.com

Chloe’s Offers New Plant-Based Frozen Treat

Chloe’s Oatmilk Pops are a deeper dive into decadence for a company best known for healthier frozen desserts that parents can feel good about giving to their children. The pops are a fresh and unique new way to enjoy the rich, smooth texture of oat milk in a one-of-a-kind treat that’s indulgent and satisfying. Chloe’s Oatmilk Pops are perfect for clean label seekers who still want a treat, as all three varieties are dairy free, plant-based, certified non-GMO, gluten free and made without the artificial ingredients found in many frozen novelties. Available now, Chloe’s Oatmilk Pops retail for $4.99 to $5.99.

Chloe’s www.chloesfruit.com

Snackable Cheese Bites from Wisconsin

Just the Cheese® is 100 percent Wisconsin cheese baked into bars and mini bites. They are naturally low in carbs, gluten-free and only 75 calories per bar. While most “cheese crisps” are air-dried, Just the Cheese is oven baked, caramelizing the cheese which results in a cheesier flavor and crunchier texture. Perfect for a portable snack on the go, which all ages will love. Just the Cheese is available as bars and as mini bites. The bars are available in Aged Cheddar, Grilled Cheese, Jalapeno Cheese and Mild Cheddar flavors.

Just the Cheese Minis are available in White Cheddar, Grilled Cheese, Jalapeno Cheese and Garlic & Chive flavors as well as Wisconsin Cheddar flavor, which was a first-place winner at the 2020 World Championship Cheese Contest.

Just the Cheese 800.367.1711

Sweet Black Garlic Miso Mayo

Slow, low heat for up to 90 days produces garlic cloves that are exotic black in color with a uniquely sweet, caramelized flavor and that are rich in antioxidants for Sweet Black Garlic Miso Mayo, which won a Good Food Award this year in the pantry category. Subtly sweet and savory, Sweet Black Garlic Miso Mayo is a premium condiment made with artisanal black garlic, and the newest addition to the So Good Food line of plant-based, vegan and Non-GMO Project verified condiments.

All Miso Mayo is Non-GMO Project verified and has been made in small batches since 1990, when So Good Food Owner Janet Smith and her So Good gourmet food truck first served the vegan condiments in Los Angeles.

So Good Food www.misomayo.com

Mr. Lee’s Noodles

Mr. Lee’s Noodles is making its launch into the American market this month. Four varieties offer freeze-dried proteins and vegetables, air-dried rice noodles and authentic Asian flavor. They include no palm oil and no hydrogenated fats.

Depending on the variety, the protein component is comprised of generous chunks of 100 percent chicken breast, cubed beef and whole shrimps. Just add hot water to a cup of Coconut Chicken Curry, Hong Kong StreetStyle Beef, Tai Chi Chicken or Zen Garden Vegetable soup that’s ready to eat in three minutes. Whole Foods is the launch partner for this introduction.

Mr. Lee’s Noodles www.mrleesnoodles.com

Shelf-Stable Gnocchi from Nocca

Nocca®, founded in 2018, has launched shelf-stable gnocchi into the American market. The gnocchi come in several flavors, including Truffle, Pesto and Original as well as Gluten Free and Whole Wheat varieties. The Truffle flavor is infused in truffles and porcini mushrooms; the Pesto flavor is made with basil and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. All varieties except the Pesto flavor are vegan. The potato-based Italian dumplings are packaged in 7-ounce bags that serve two people, and it’s ready two minutes after dropping into boiling water, or the gnocchi can be heated directly in sauce for an Italian meal that’s ready for the table in less time than it takes to make pre-packaged dried noodles.

Nocca www.nocca.co

Clean Beverage Highlights Watermelon Juice

Wonder Melon™ is made from 100 percent organic cold-pressed watermelon juice with no sugar, artificial ingredients or artificial colorings. This surprising newcomer to the beverage aisle contains a bounty of nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and it’s excellent for hydration. It comes in two exciting varieties.

Watermelon Cucumber Basil is a delightfully crisp concoction of real watermelon juice, lemon juice, apple juice, cucumber juice and basil, with only 80 calories per 8.45-ounce bottle. Watermelon Lemon Cayenne wakes up the taste buds with real watermelon juice, lemon juice, apple juice, and a dash of cayenne at just 100 calories per 8.45-ounce bottle.

Both varieties are packaged in glass bottles, and they’re non-GMO verified, certified fair trade, organic and kosher (parve). Packaged six bottles per case to retail for a suggested $3.99 per bottle.

KAYCO 718.369.4600 www.kayco.com

SMORGASBORD

GOURMET NEWS MAY 2020 www.gourmetnews.com

27

SMORGASBORD CrazyCap Portable Water Purifier

CrazyCap is a portable water purifier with a deep ultraviolet spectrum LED purification. The UV light water bottle makes water from any source completely safe to drink – perfect for hiking, traveling or a day at the office. Unlike other water filters that only trap microbes, the deep UV kills them completely, and its filter-less design requires no maintenance.

CrazyCap is available in a variety of colors and retails for $69.

CrazyCap www.thecrazycap.com

Luchador Bottle Openers

Kikkerland’s Luchador Bottle Openers were a winner at the Kikkerland Mexico Design Challenge in 2011 and a popular Kikkerland item. Kikkerland Design was founded in 1992 by Dutchman Jan van der Linde. Nearly 30 years later, Kikkerland Design produces an average of 300 new designs a year.

Kikkerland 212.678.2250 www.kikkerland.com

Piknik Stainless Steel Food Container

Introducing Piknik™, a revolutionary new stainless steel food container that allows for on-the-go transportation of hot or cold meals. It’s a superior patent-pending product that is stylish, thermally insulated and leak proof. It’s built to last for many, many years, if not a lifetime, so it will appeal to consumers seeking sustainability. The shallow bowl shape allows for a knife, fork, spoon or chopsticks to be used, supporting civilized and diverse cultural eating experiences. The suggested retail price is $60.

Piknik Company 877.22.4441 www.piknikcompany.com

StoreMaxx Inc. Introduces Hot Box

The Hot Box from StoreMaxx offers a means of heating a prepared meal any time and anywhere – without waiting in line to use the microwave oven in the office break room.

With the Hot Box, food is placed in an tray that goes into an outer tray that holds a Therma Pak™ chemical warmer.

The user adds 3 ounces of room temperature water into the outer tray that holds the Therma Pak and tops that with the inner tray holding the food. Within minutes, the Therma Pak heats the water to generate steam to heat the meal.

Hot Box is manufactured using the highest-grade recyclable BPA Free food-safe contact resins and looks from the outside like the kind of ordinary food storage container that a grocery shopper might find stacked next to the prepared food bar in the store. It’s affordable, recyclable and easy to use.

StoreMaxx Inc. www.storemaxx.net

Noir Cookware Collection

Zavor is launching its first line of cast aluminum cookware – The Noir Cookware Collection. Zavor’s Noir Cookware features a Whitford ceramic non-stick interior coating and tempered glass lids with a steam vent and a flat design for easy storage. What sets this cookware collection apart from the rest is the customizable color options for the long handle and short handle silicone grips. The Noir collection will come with all black handles for each piece that can be easily removed and replaced with one of Zavor’s initial color options for both handles and grips – chili pepper red, royal blue, butternut squash orange, sky blue and mint green. The removable handles allow skillets and pans to be placed in the dishwasher much more comfortably and provide a more compact storage solution. Removable long handles and silicone grips allow all the pieces in this collection to be placed in the oven up to 445 degrees Fahrenheit. The Noir Cookware Collection from Zavor will be available in late spring of 2020. Individual pieces retail from $39.95 to $199.95.

Zavor www.zavoramerica.com

ADVERTISER INDEX ADVERTISER

PAGE WEBSITE

PHONE

Busha Browne

18

www.bushabrowne.com

Enstrom Candies Inc.

28

www.enstrom.com

EU3

2

www.iconsofeuropeantaste.com

Gourmet International

17

www.gourmetint.com

Hawaii Host Group

20

www.hawaiianhost.com

Howard Products

16

www.howardproducts.com

800.266.9595

Jasper Specialty Foods

17

www.jackroasters.com

800.255.1641

Mauna Loa

21

www.maunaloa.com

Prairie View Industries

5

www.pvifs.com

800.554.7267

SalesMaker Carts

17

www.salesmakercarts.com

800.821.4140

San-J International

7

www.san-j.com

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella

22

www.settonfarms.com

Stonewall Kitchen

4, 11

www.stonewallkitchen.com

Yamato Corporation

3

www.yamatoamerica.com

George Foreman Contact Smokeless Grill

This full-feature contact smokeless grill is all sizzle, without the smoke. With vents engineered to induce natural airflow, experience full flavor with up to 85 percent less smoke. Enjoy up to three times faster cooking and removal of up to 50 percent of fat for quick and easy meal making. Easy to clean and store with dishwasher-safe, removable plates and drip tray. Vertical storage to fit any cabinet or counter space. Simply plug in to turn on. Its suggested retail price is $69.98.

George Foreman Cooking www.georgeforemancooking.com

Galanz 2-in-1 Stand Mixer & Blender

The Galanz 2-in-1 Stand Mixer & Blender combines two great food prep products in one unique design. The stand mixer features a large 6.3 qt. brushed stainless-steel mixing bowl and 600 watts of power to easily mix large batches of dough. With 10 speed settings and accessories like a flat beater, dough hook, wire whisk and pouring shield, it is ready to tackle the toughest of jobs. The blender portion of the product features a durable triton blending jar with 1.75L capacity. It has 1000 watts of power and five pre-programmed settings. The machine also features a digital display and easy to use control panel.

Galanz Americas 888.425.2692 www.galanz.com

Via Deco Placemats with Copper Nanoparticles

Clasica Import & Export, LLC is introducing Via Deco antibacterial faux leather placemats, featuring copper nanoparticles, to the U.S. market at The Inspired Home Show. The copper nanoparticles, which were recognized in 2008 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the only metal with antimicrobial properties, create an effective and natural barrier capable of eliminating 99 percent of viruses and bacteria, often within two hours or less.

Clasica Import & Export LLC www.viadecohome.com

800.875.555

888.326.5678