Fighting for Shelf Space
I’m still using my bag of goodies from the Fancy Food Show as a foot rest. I’ve got literature, free samples and branded pencils galore. The big question is, which of these new products will prove worthy of rising the ranks and lining the supermarket shelves? It’s not as simple as making some of grammy’s special sauce and slapping a label on the jar.
If you want to make sure you have a marketable food product ask yourself these questions before committing yourself to the fight for shelf space.
1. Does this product have a reason for being? Does it solve a problem, compete with a lesser product that is already on the market or make sense for a certain portion of the population? Figamajigs, fig based candy/snack bars satisfy a craving for sweet toothed weight watchers, while also being a kid-friendly alternative to empty calorie candy bars. Score one for them.
2. Do people know how to eat it? Unless you have a budget for consumer education, it helps to offer a product that people can understand. California Lavash offers a great flatbread alternative to wraps and tortillas that American’s have been eating for years. It’s an easy swap for a slight twist on the norm. Bingo.
3. Does it taste good? Sure, this one is subjective, but really, we don’t need another salad dressing on the shelves if it doesn’t knock our socks off. Same goes for energy drinks, sausages, snacks and pretty much anything else that fills your grocery cart. Experimenting with new current combinations of flavors like harissa and pepitas give Sahale Snacks the edge when it comes to new news in the nut category.
4. Are there others in the category? A few competetors are good, but a saturated market is not. If you stand alone in a category, it’s sometime difficult for consumers to figure you out. Too many competitors means that you may just be adding to the clutter. Specific messaging, positioning and stategic packaging can help out in this situation if your product is good enough.
Do you think you have what it takes? Then I say let the food fight begin!
Specialty Food Trends are in the Bag
Attending the SF Fancy Food Show isn’t all nibbling bon bons and gorging on exotic cheeses. There’s some serious business going on between those bites. An important show for anyone in the specialty food trade, distributors, retailers and importers get to decide what will be the next big thing in their markets. Based on my loot, here are a few trends that are brewing.
Mochi is the new gelato. These little rice noodle wrapped dumplings are here to stay. Look for flavors ranging from green tea to coconut to mango. My guess is that in the upcoming years you won’t have to look to far.
Salted sweets rule. A sprinkling of sea salt on chocolate or caramel is not new, but becoming more mainstream for sure.
Rethink yogurt.Extra rich Greek-style yogurt, sheeps milk, and goats milk yogurt are stepping up. Basic flavors like plain, vanilla or honey are so rich, they blow the old school artificially flavored varieties out of the water.
Chefs tricks can be purchased by the bottle.Wine reductions, fruit purees, stock concentrates used to differentiate the pros from home cooks. Now, with no additional skills, but a little extra cash, anyone can go from home chef to Top Chef in minutes.
Grain is going strong. We tasted grain based sausages that would make tofu dogs whimper. At another booth, we found polenta sticks and shelf stable pre-cooked oatmeal that will give kid-friendly menus some much needed variety.
What food trends do you expect to see in 09? I have a few more in my bag, but I’m making them last…
Analyzing the analysis
In the most recent isse of Cooking Light, editors explain that they are no longer reporting percentage of calories from fat in their recipes’ nutritional analysis. Reason being, that it’s the type of fat, not the amount of fat in a recipe that matters. Of course, that’s something the California Olive Industry has been saying all along.
As a recipe developer with an eye on nutrition, losing that percentage opens up the possibilties when it comes to creating great tasting foods. Expect to indulge in ingredients like olive oil, salmon, avocados and nuts, which can drive up calories from fat to a point that’s easily perceived as unhealthfully high to the untrained eye. Once again, sometimes what we don’t know really can’t hurt us.
Dinner in no Time
Trying to get dinner served by 6 is nothing new. The way we’re going about trying is another story. Applications that provide users with easy-to-follow recipes and shopping lists seem to be the latest rage.
Aviva Goldfarb’s Six O’clock Scramble provides a blog, RSS feed and weekly recipes for subscribers willing to pay $54.50 annually. Bust-a-meal keeps it clean and simple with customized recipes and shopping lists for busy homemakers for $1.99 per week.
For time-crunched moms with modest culinary skills, many say its a small price to pay to relieve supermarket stress. And you?