“Caring About Our Communities and Our Environment” – more than just a phrase, Whole Foods Market counts it as a core value and lives up to through several initiatives like its school nutrition-focused Whole Kids Foundation. Another interesting program at Whole Foods is its use of “foragers,” or regional scouts the company charges with seeking out and building new partnerships to keep shelves stocked with local high quality produce and products. 

For local San Diego restaurant Alchemy, the connection with Whole Foods Market regional forager Dwight Detter began at a meeting for San Diego’s Farm to School Taskforce.

“On this Farm to school task force there are all these players from around the San Diego area – farmers, restaurants, chefs, school nutrition and dietary nutrition people – It pretty much runs the whole gambit,” says Matt Thomas, managing partner at Alchemy. “[Co-managing partner Ron Troyano] and Dwight kept seeing each other at these task force meetings, and over this period they kind of built a relationship because we’re on the same page as far as trying to use local and sustainable ingredients in our restaurant items. So the two just kind of clicked, and Dwight was interested in what we did, so at one point we decided we were going to do a tasting menu for him. He loved the products, so he brought his store managers around and we did a tasting for them, and then we went around to each of the stores and did tastings for them as well for a product line we thought would be useful in the Whole Foods market.”

All that work was not for nothing: in mid-April, Whole Foods Market locations throughout San Diego County introduced exclusive Alchemy dishes to its prepared and specialty foods departments. 

The benefits for a local restaurant working with a national retail brand are legion, beginning with the ability to align yourself with a larger brand that shares your values. “First of all, just being associated with somebody on their caliber,” notes Thomas. “All of us in the restaurant – our executive chef, my business part Ron, and myself – we definitely have the same high regard for their business practices and their goal of trying to be 100 percent sustainable. They’re also against genetically modified ingredients. Things like that are things you can partner yourself with.”

Of course there is also the more simple benefit of having your products exposed to a much wider audience. “We can only showcase ourselves to the amount of people we can get in our restaurant, through our catering, and through our nutrition education,” says Thomas. “But with Whole Foods, having our vendor profile there and showcasing some of our items there, we just open ourselves up to a much larger amount of people. It’s nice to be able to have that option as well for being able to reach a larger audience.”

But the benefits are not all one-sided – a grocery chain like Whole Foods Market has a lot to gain by partnering with local suppliers and vendors. It’s a smart way to increase consumer interest on a local level, and to position yourself as a retailer with something unique to offer that consumers can’t get anywhere else. It’s also a great way to solidify your image in terms of community involvement and values. Aligning yourself with suppliers who are well known for their commitment to certain ideals and projects – like Alchemy, with its culinary education programs that fall well in line with Whole Foods Market’s core values – is a simple and direct way to show consumers that you stand behind your claims.

Alchemy made its debut with a handful of items like gluten-free black quinoa hush puppies, melitzana salata with grilled eggplant and feta cheese, and vegan kimchi prepared with local baby bok choy – but that’s only the beginning. Plans are already in the works to add additional sauces and more to the menu.

“It’s been a long process and we’re really kind of at that stage where it’s in and everything’s moving but we’re just at the ground level,” says Thomas. “But it’s been great and we’re just proud to be part of their local program.” 

On Wednesday, May 8, The Glenlivet launched Alpha.  Crafted in secret by Master Distiller Alan Winchester and limited to 3,350 bottles worldwide, the distillery chose to withhold cask information, tasting notes, and age.  They even chose a black bottle to keep the color a mystery (until opened and poured!).  The only information provided to consumers was the distillery name (obviously!), strength (a heady 50% Alc.), and price (USD $120 and £100 in the UK – which has raised a few eyebrows when there’s no age statement and no tasting notes).  The UK’s 650 bottle allocation promptly sold out, suggesting that £100 wasn’t too much for a wee gamble.

The point of the project, says the distillery, is “to encourage consumers to engage their senses and enjoy its distinct flavor.”  The hope is that serious whisky devotees as well as those just learning about the joys of the brown spirit will take the time to “explore and discover the unique flavors of Alpha and The Glenlivet range through look, smell, taste and feel.”  Supporting the enterprise is a series of weekly online challenges designed to engage the senses.

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Nikki Burgess, International Brand Director for The Glenlivet says:

 

The Glenlivet is famous for its smooth, full bodied flavor and with the launch of The Glenlivet Alpha we’re excited to be exploring this in an original way.  This is the first time anyone has launched a ‘blind’ whisky in this way and we are confident that this innovative campaign will excite whisky drinkers and help them to truly appreciate single malt and understand the flavors they taste in The Glenlivet’s award-winning range.

All will be revealed towards the end of June when Mr. Winchester broadcasts the answers on The Glenlivet’s distillery website and Facebook page.  In the meantime he says:

Flavor is a multi-sensory experience; one that combines the subtleties of sight and sensation in the mouth, in addition to taste and smell.  By withholding information on the casks used to create The Glenlivet Alpha and encouraging people to use their senses, I hope they will gain a greater appreciation of its particular flavor, and expand their understanding of the great complexity and depth of our unique single malt whisky.

The idea is an interesting one, to be sure, and a terrific way to have whisky drinkers (who quite often get stuck in their ways and return to their known bottlings time after time) reach outside of their comfort zone in order to revisit a distillery that they may have dismissed as much as a decade ago.  This also presents a way to reinvigorate a distillery’s offerings perhaps with an overall bump in alcohol content, a discontinuation of artificial coloring, or to embark upon a new cask management scheme. 

Daily Deal Media reports that Tesco’s new wine site, which operates through social commerce software BuyaPowa, offers a take on the online purchasing model that’s less Amazon and more Groupon, complete with perks for consumers who successfully pass along the savings to their friends.

A video from Tesco explaining the new site points to some of its benefits – prices on different wine offerings drop as more and more customers come together to buy them, and consumer interest can sway what types or labels of wine go on and off the market. In other words, Tesco asserts that the platform gives customers the power to control the market and help Tesco give them the value they want:

“This channel really puts customers in control – from determining the final price they pay, to telling us the products they’d like to see featured.” Now you know. But the point is well made.  This is social commerce for the empowered customer,” said Tom Daniell, Tesco director of digital and social, in a recent PR explanation.

Tesco is far from the first business to get involved in blending online wine sales with social media – in 2011 we reported on wine.com.br, a Brazilian online retailer that had launched an e-commerce shop through Facebook. But the more that companies jump on board with this business model,  the more choices consumers can have when it comes to determining supply and demand in the market of a product they love.

[SOURCE: Daily Deal Media]

According to its press release, Oscar Mayer is touting the new bacon dog as the first hot dog made with bacon meat available on the commercial market (we’ve seen similar bacon meat-based burgers and hot dogs at restaurants like Slater’s 50/50, but not so much in the lunchmeat aisle). It’s a smart business move that make so much sense we’re frankly shocked that it hasn’t been introduced before. After all, we all know Oscar Mayer has a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a, but the Kraft Foods Group brand has always offered a lot of other products including hot dogs and, well, bacon:

"No one knows bacon like Oscar Mayer," said Jared Baker, director of Oscar Mayer hot dogs. "We know Americans love bacon, and we know they love hot dogs, so it seemed like the perfect time for us to introduce our first hot dog made with bacon."

So that’s pretty exciting, but it’s not the only new product that Oscar Mayer has up its sleeve. (Bacon can’t hog all the glory, right?) The brand is also rolling out hardwood-smoked pork and beef Smokies sausages; what’s more, it’s also adding Chicken Breast Hot Dogs to its line of Selects, giving white meat fans some choice beyond the usual turkey dog alternative. But bacon is most likely the one that will be causing the most buzz among consumers at this summer’s cookouts.

[SOURCE: Sacramento Bee via Yahoo]

Every vegan’s worst nightmare has occurred.

On Thursday Whole Foods Inc. announced labels on its chicken salad and those on a vegan version were reversed at some of its stores in the Northeast.

The mislabeled salads – a curried chicken salad and a vegan curried “chick’n” salad – were sold in 15 stores in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, Whole Foods said. In some locations the salads were sold in the cold food bars where customers scoop food into containers, which are then weighed at the register.  In other locations the salads were in the prepared food sections behind glass.

According to Whole Foods, which is based in Austin, Texas, the salads were sold on Tuesday and Wednesday and have since been recalled. Fortunately, no illnesses have been reported.

The Food and Drug Administration said the vegan salad contains soy and the curried chicken salad contains egg. The FDA went on to say people who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to soy or eggs run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they eat the salads.

Whole Foods spokeswoman Libba Letton said some of the company’s bulk food comes pre-made from third-party vendors. The curried salads, both chicken and vegan, arrived with the wrong labels already on them and appropriate action has been taken. She went on to say the mix up was discovered by an employee in the prepared food section at one of its stores.

Whole Foods is known for selling a wide variety of organic products with about 330 stores in the U.S.

Reuters reports that Beam’s net income reached $114.5 million (in other words, 71 cents per share) in Q1 2013 – a major leap compared to $79.1 million (49 cents per share) at the same time last year – and a good deal of that had to do with Maker’s Mark. Now you might be asking: how could this happen? How could negative public relations translate to a major sales bump?

It’s pretty simple, actually. As Beam CEO Matt Shattock acknowledges, much like Twinkies fans clearing out shelves of Hostess snack cakes after the factories closed, Maker’s Mark fans caught wind of the impending formula change and stocked up on their favorite bourbon before it changed on them. Maker’s Mark may have reversed their decision, but that didn’t reverse the precautionary bourbon sales:   

Sales of Maker's Mark soared 44 percent after the company announced it would lower the alcohol content in its bourbon because of a limited supply of whiskey.

A consumer outcry led Beam to quickly reverse that decision, but not before die-hard fans stocked up.

"As you know, we heard our consumers loud and clear, responded quickly and maintained Maker's at 90 proof," said Beam Chief Executive Matt Shattock.

In the report Shattock also acknowledges that there is no way sales like this are sustainable, and the boost will most likely be offset by sales throughout the rest of the year. But no matter what happens over the course of 2013, Quarter One had a pretty good run.

[SOURCE: Reuters]

Gawker has video of the ad, now redacted from the Mountain Dew fan page, which portrays a heavily beaten and traumatized white woman asked to pick her attacker out of a lineup. The assailant is Mountain Dew-crazed Felicia the goat (that’s the joke!),but every other figure in that lineup is black and a walking "criminal" stereotype while the key players on the "lawful" side of the one-way mirror are white.

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That was enough for some to call the ad spot “arguably the most racist commercial in history”:  

[Dr. Boyce Watkins] writes on his website, "Of course, in the world of Mountain Dew, every single suspect is black. Not just regular black people, but the kinds of ratchety negroes you might find in the middle of any hip-hop minstrel show... Apparently, this is the kind of ad you put out if you want to appeal to the black male demographic."

Meanwhile, fans of the brand are expressing their disappointment. One marketing expert (and Dew aficionado) told Food Digital:

“I could only think ‘What was Mountain Dew thinking?!’ The commercial really made me lose respect for the brand. In the end though, the company is getting a lot of press for being controversial, which may have been their goal."

Is it the most racist commercial in history? Taking some of the darker corners of the past into consideration, that might have a touch of hyperbole. But it’s certainly awkward and tone-deaf all the same. So who’s to blame? Sure the ad was Tyler, the Creator’s idea, but let’s be real – the rapper and Odd Future leader didn’t get famous for being subtle and refined, but rather for being controversial and irreverent and off the wall. As Pitchfork notes, he tweeted “They Let My Stupid Ideas Come To Life, Thanks Dew!” when the brand began its work with him. If Mountain Dew wasn’t planning to make some waves, they probably should have had someone in the room during the ad planning process to buff out some of the edges and act as the voice of reason.

Of course, it’s just as likely that Mountain Dew marketing execs knew exactly what they were doing. But whether they did or didn’t, parent company PepsiCo has nonetheless pulled the plug on the venture and removed the video while issuing an apology to the press:

"We understand how this video could be perceived by some as offensive, and we apologize to those who were offended," the rep said. "We have removed the video from all Mountain Dew channels and have been informed that Tyler is removing it from his channels as well."

Hiring an indie artist can be a great idea and a perfect way to stay fresh and appeal to that coveted Millennial market – but when you contract an artist like Tyler, the Creator, who’s known for pushing the envelopeand other peoples’ buttons like it’s his job (because most of the time it is), you always run the risk of infuriating a portion of your fan base. It all comes down to whether your brand is willing to take that risk and the hit of bad press in order to get people talking. Maybe Mountain Dew thought that it was – but in hindsight, they probably could have done without it.

[SOURCE: Gawker]

Could the next big thing come in the form of food?

That’s the question many investors are pondering. In the last year, venture capitalists have funneled roughly $350 million into food projects and technology making food startups one of the hottest new trends. The main reason many VCs are interested in the food business is the colossal size of the industry.

Consumers spend approximately $1 trillion on food annually in the U.S. In the the UK, food is the largest manufacturing sector representing around 15 percent of the total manufacturing segment. On the other hand, many consider the food industry broken in terms of its impact on the environment, consumer health and animal rights. For these reasons, many investors are interested in food-related startups because they aim to reduce the toll on the environment and consumption habits of consumers.

“There are pretty significant environmental consequences and health issues associated with sodium or high-fructose corn syrup or eating too much red meat,” said Samir Kaul, a partner at Khosla Ventures which has invested in a half-dozen food startups. “I wouldn’t bet my money that Cargill or ConAgra are going to innovate here. I think it’s going to take startups to do that.”

In addition to consumer health and environment reasons, new startups are looking to utilize technology to change the way people buy, eat and invent food. Investors are eager to profit from the trend of people eating fewer processed products and more organic foods.

While many investors are optimistic about the food industry, others are not.

“I don’t see a multimillion-dollar business coming out of any of these companies,” said Susan Etlinger, an analyst with the Altimeter Group. “The majority of Americans will not likely be able to participate, they’re simply too expensive for them.”

Although investing in food startups is not for everyone, venture capital firms are helping to finance these innovative companies. Renowned investors like SV Angel, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, True Ventures and the Obvious Collection. In addition, Techie Bill Gates, Hollywood celebrity Matt Damon and pro football player Tom Brady have also joined the food revolution.

“The food category has been a hart nut to crack because it’s a perishable item,” said Mark Suster, an investor at GRP Partners. “The number one thing VCs are looking for are scalable and repeatable, high-margin businesses. You can create those in food, it’s just harder.”

Whether it’s finding a place to eat, sharing recommendations or ordering food online, investors are hungry to invest and transform the food industry.

[SOURCE: New York Times]

Culture Map Dallas reports that Whataburger has struck a partnership deal with grocery chain HEB to carry bottled versions of its mustard and ketchup, 16-oz and 20-oz respectively, with the centerpiece of its new retail condiment line being its one-of-a-kind (and normally limited time only) spicy ketchup.

But condiments aren’t the only truck Whataburger has up its retail sleeve: the fast food brand is also launching its own potato chip brand called, appropriately, Whatafries:

They are dubbing Whatafries a potato chip version of the their [sic] French fries, and they are crowing about the fact that they're made from real potatoes. Those will be sold in 7.4-ounce bags.

To celebrate the new endeavor, Whataburger is going a step further by taking its spicy ketchup from LTO to full-time item at all of its locations. While making a transition from limited to full time is always a risky decision with higher price point items – will customers continue to flock to them or will sales wane when the limited time novelty wears off? – but since consumers don’t have to pay a dime out of pocket for condiments this can only boost the brand’s appeal.

Likewise, moving into retail is a smart move for increasing profits by building brand loyalty within a whole new platform. Fans of Whataburger just might go out of their way to put their favorite spicy ketchup in their own refrigerator, and getting their name out there in a different way may inspire grocery shoppers to think about Whataburger when it comes time to make dinner plans. As long as retail sales go well, it’s a winning scenario for Whataburger any way you slice it.

[SOURCE: Culture Map Dallas]

Small business success takes more than just regularly updating QuickBooks and sending out Constant Contact newsletters. Businesses need to find ways to connect and engage with their audience to further build their customer base without spending all their capital in one place. Can your business find an impulse or add-on item that serves both the customers' needs and your own? Here are just a few reasons these tumblers are going to be a good move for Starbucks.

At $1, these are an easy sell. They're stackable, washable and you get a discount (at 10 cents per cup, it pays for itself in 10 uses) when you use it with a product you'll be buying again anyway. The staff doesn't even really have to pitch them and they fly off the shelves. There's no alienating or off-putting hard-sell happening. No one wants to be preached to, especially when they haven't had their morning caffeine fix. 

Starbucks customers don't need their product. They want it. That's an important distinction. Providing an opportunity for their customers to feel good about their spending habits (namely buying five dollar beverages) can go a long way in retaining customers. Plus, it's a great conversation starter. I haven't seen any advertising for the new tumblers (except at the Starbucks register), but I have had several positive conversations about them. That sort of grassroots, casual brand-building is as good as gold to a marketing department. Starbucks prides itself on having strong ethical commitments and real dedication to rewarding longtime customers with a loyalty program. This move reinforces those commitments and gives customers something to feel good about.

Beyond the brand and company as a whole, if these cups take off, it will be good for the stores. Employees interrupt their workflow less frequently to restock cups, less labor will be spend unpacking and storing paper goods and less money will be spent on purchasing and transporting paper goods.

Starbucks estimates that they serve around 4 billion beverages per year, globally. If they can reduce the number of disposable cups used even by a small percentage, that's a huge long-term reduction in garbage piling up in landfills. Additionally, the plastic cups are recyclable at the end of their life. In the future, look for the cups be composed of more and more post-consumer recycled materials to up the ante further on eco-friendliness.

If you've identified a similar product your business can sell that serves both your needs and those of your customers, why not take the next step? Banks are loosening the reins on small business loans nowadays, and there are financing options through the American Express Plum Card available to you. It just may be the feel-good branding campaign your business needs. 

This is anything but a sudden move. After six years and £1.2 billion spent on the effort of bringing its supermarket model to the United States, the fact is that Fresh & Easy still failed to turn a profit for Tesco. The Associated Press reports that Tesco executives in part blame poor timing for the grocery chain’s problems, as it entered the market just moments before the country’s economic crisis hit and rendered previous market research on consumer shopping habits obsolete:

"It's never easy to walk away from something," Tesco's chief executive, Philip Clarke, told the BBC. "The world is so different now from 2004 and 2005 when the research was originally taken. Who was shopping on a smartphone back then?"

Tesco stores similar to the Fresh & Easy model have done well in the UK, fitting in with the European grocery model of buying smaller portions of food on a more frequent basis. But their limited selection and focus on ready-made fresh meals just haven’t been able to compete with larger native grocery stores that better conform to the U.S. consumer habit of large shopping trips to stock up for the week ahead.

These problems were further stressed by shareholder pressure, and were ultimately punctuated by the departure of F&E CEO and President Tim Mason in December. With Mason gone, Tesco embarked on a “strategic review” of Fresh & Easy to weigh its options, and at the end of the day it seems to be in Tesco’s best interests to finally cut its losses before permanent damage was done to the Tesco brand as a whole.  

But this doesn’t necessarily mean the end of Fresh & Easy – Tesco is looking for a buyer who can take on the Fresh & Easy chain and turn it around into the thriving corner grocery shop chain it was meant to be. Clarke has already noted to the press that there is buyer interest, and this morning Fresh & Easy sent a notice to loyal customers expressing optimism about the future:

As many of you have heard or read today, our parent company Tesco updated on the future of Fresh & Easy.  While we don’t yet know who our new owner will ultimately be, Tesco has already received interest from a number of parties including groups looking to purchase Fresh & Easy as an operating business.  We appreciate all the support and love we’ve received from our loyal customers and even though our parent company plans to leave the US, we’re pleased to confirm there are no plans to close any portion of Fresh & Easy.

It’s still too early to tell what will ultimately become of the Fresh & Easy brand – but while its time with Tesco may be over, don’t count it out just yet.

[SOURCE: Associated Press via Yahoo; Fresh & Easy]

Associated Press reports that Starbucks is likely attempting to further push growth in its retail sector with these changes, which will go into effect next month:

The Seattle-based chain says 12-ounce bags of its whole and ground coffee will be $8.99, down from $9.99. The list price of its Seattle's Best coffee will also be slashed to $6.99 a bag, from $7.99. The new prices go into effect May 10.

One point that the AP notes is that the new list price is only a suggested price point – as always, retailers are completely free to charge whatever they’d like at their markets. Either way, the lowered price on Starbucks’ end means that retailers will be able to stock their shelves with Starbucks bagged coffee at a reduced rate. But the hope is that retailers will pass the savings along to consumers, generating good will all the way up the chain from the market to the brand itself.

While this price drop won’t be extended to Starbucks coffee shops themselves, it’s still a bonus for Starbucks brand loyalists who enjoy its coffees even at home or in the office. Between this and the new loyalty card benefits, Starbucks is well on its way to some healthy retail growth in 2013.

[SOURCE: Associated Press] 

Now Kraft Foods Group has announced that the Kool-Aid Man is about to undergo yet another transformation to stay fresh and hip with the kids of today. Kraft issued a press release today anticipating the launch of a major new ad campaign – “Smile. It’s Kool-Aid.” – focusing on the brand’s new sugar-free liquid drink mix that can be squeezed directly into water.

The new ad campaign, conceived by Saatchi & Saatchi New York and VSA Partners of Chicago, is hitting television, print, and online media and will highlight an updated version of the Kool-Aid Man that bids farewell to the kickin' rad sneakers and cool dude shades of our own childhood, favoring instead simpler design:

Kool-Aid Man, who has been the embodiment of the brand since he first appeared in an advertisement in 1954, has undergone a serious makeover with a brand new modern look and distinctive voice. Kool-Aid Man has gone back to his roots for his updated look, with an emphasis on his original pitcher-focused personification but playing up his undeniably fun personality. Previously a costumed character, the new lifelike Kool-Aid Man is technologically advanced, CGI-generated and more interactive and colorful than ever. In addition to his iconic tagline "Oh Yeah!" he will now have his own characteristic sound, expanded vocabulary and developed personality. And like any digitally-savvy celebrity, Kool-Aid Man will have his own personal Facebook page, launching on April 15, where he will interact directly with fans like never before.

We kind of feel like a digitally-savvy celebrity these days would actually have a hashtaggable Instagram or Twitter account. (Maybe even a Vine that’s nothing but the Kool-Aid Man crashing through various walls?) But we’re just being picky, and the campaign has the visuals covered with a Kool-Aid Man PhotoBomb app that will superimpose the Kool-Aid Man bursting into the frames of your photos so that you can hilariously post them to your own Instagram. That way it’s like you don’t just know Kool-Aid Man, but you and he are close personal friends who take goof-off pics together. According to Saatchi & Saatchi, that’s exactly what consumers want from their Kool-Aid advertising in this modern age:

"This is one of those fun projects we love to work on: Bring Kool-Aid Man back, better than ever," said Saatchi & Saatchi NY Chief Creative Officer Con Williamson. "When we set out to do that, when we really dug in, we discovered that there's a lot to love in the evolution of this iconic character. We wanted people to get to know him a bit more. Kool-Aid and Kool-Aid Man are undeniably fun and positively bold. We wanted that happiness to shine through in his personality and attitude."

As long as his new evolution retains his beloved bold attitude, this revamp will likely be a success like Chuck E. Cheese’s CGI makeover was before it. Kids may change, but they’ll always have a soft spot for kid food and the mascots that embody them.

[SOURCE: 4-Traders; IMAGE CREDIT: PR Newswire]

“I think there’s obviously a movement,” says Lisa Odenweller, owner and CEO of health and lifestyle website BEAMING. We’re seated in a corner nook at bBar, her Del Mar-based “superfood vitality bar” known for being the single largest non-grocery buyer of organic produce in San Diego. bBar makes no mystery of where that produce is going: while we sip a spicy pineapple-cucumber Skinny Elixir and munch on raw cookie-like protein bites packed with pepitas and coconut sugar, her energetic team is just ahead of us serving up green juices, sprouted almond milk smoothies, and raw soups to a never ending line of customers.

“Clearly we know juice is ‘in,’ and one of the reasons juice is in is because there’s no other way to get that much produce in your body than juicing – you get three pounds of produce in one 16oz glass, where you couldn’t possibly eat that much,” she explains. “We don’t get enough vegetables in our body, and why that matters is that plant-based diets alkalize our body. When we have an alkaline anti-inflammatory diet, disease can’t grow. Our society is acidic – what we eat, whether it’s wheat, sugar, dairy, stress, alcohol, all these things we incorporate every day throws us out of balance. What can help bring it back is meditation and a plant-based diet.

 “The new trend is that, if you’re going to have three pounds of produce in your juice, then going organic is really important because that’s a lot of pesticides and insecticides if you’re not,” she adds. It’s a difficult and expensive process – recipes can change from week to week as seasonal produce changes in ripeness and availability, and the kitchen at bBar stays open twenty hours a day just to press enough juice to meet consumer demand. Some of that process results in juice that’s more expensive than a bottle of mass market OJ at the supermarket, but Odenweller notes that customers are becoming more willing to pay for both the difference in quality and the convenience of not having to invest the time, money, and energy in a home juicer for similar results.  

“It is more difficult and it’s obviously more expensive, but people are saying: wait a minute, I have to make sure that what I’m putting in my body is clean and good,’” she says. “I think they’re seeing the difference. They feel the difference, they taste the difference, and they’re willing to pay for the experience.”

But while those juices are flying off the shelves, they are far from all that bBar has to offer. Those same shelves are also stocked with quinoa salads, fresh green salads, kale sandwich wraps and even healthy desserts – and that’s important, not just for consumer choice today but especially for the future.

“The way that it’s been marketed and the way companies have presented it, I believe, was short sighted,” says Odenweller. “I think they missed the bigger picture about long-term health.” Instead, she explains, too many companies have rushed to get in on the juice trend by appealing to consumers with sugar-packed juice cleanse alternatives that almost defeat the purpose of a juice-heavy diet altogether.

With every cresting trend comes the inevitable backlash and fade. When that happens, the businesses that stick around and stay successful beyond a small niche fan base will be the ones who have built a business plan beyond juice diets alone. Staple juice cleanse producer BluePrint has been making forays into the world of solid food, offering samples of its raw, vegan, gluten-free BluePrintBar snacks at the Natural Products Expo West. At bBar, the non-juice contingency plan has been built in from the very beginning.

“In my mind it’s not a fad – it’s about long term health and really recognizing that green juice has become something that you have every day because it’s balancing and alkalizing your body,” says Odenweller. “But it’s bigger than that – that’s one piece of a whole puzzle. We really try to give an experience that’s not just selling you a juice. We’re about an experience and incorporating juice into a lifestyle. If you’ll notice on our menu we’re always teaching you why you should care and what this is going to do for you. We do a tremendous amount of education online – we do blogs, we’re always posting on Facebook and always giving people more. Sometimes it’s about food, but sometimes it’s about living a happier life, because the name is Beaming, not Beaming Juice.”

 “I never wanted it to be about juice,” she adds. “I wanted it to be about the ingredients within, and that what you put in your body and the food and the drink is going to affect how we look, feel, and experience life.” 

India’s Financial Chronicle reports that Cadbury India has worked out exclusive partnerships with retailers throughout India to run promotional deals on Toblerone, allowing the retailers to sell the chocolate bars at 50 percent of its MSRP. The report details that, on this new pricing plan, 400-gram Toblerone bars will be reduced from Rs 430 to Rs 250 while the price of a 200-gram Toblerone will be slashed from Rs 250 down to Rs 150.

If consumers develop a suitable taste for the chocolates, this will be a venture that eventually pays for itself. But the report notes that it’s a risky move if, like a Groupon deal, the special pricing doesn’t manage to attract repeat business once the prices inevitably rise back up to their normal suggested retail price:

“This move would help the company in the short-term to garner sales volume. But it may be difficult to sustain this for long,” said Jagdeep Kapoor, chairman and managing director of Samsika Marketing Consultants.

But experts are saying that boosting consumer interest shouldn’t be a problem in India, where consumers are swiftly developing a preference for imported chocolate brands like Lindt and Ferrero Rocher:

Industry experts say Toblerone’s premium pricing strategy is because it is the only imported brand in Cadbury’s portfolio. The demand for premium chocolate category is growing on the back of increasing preference for international chocolates, added experts.

If Cadbury India is able to make Toblerone happen, it will be a boon not just for the brand, but for the Mondelēz International portfolio as a whole. Their plan is certainly aggressive, but it just might work.

[SOURCE: Financial Chronicle; IMAGE CREDIT: flickr.com/the-travelling-bum]

Whole Foods Market – Cattle Cam

With all of the controversy over labeling fraud and supply chain transparency lately, consumers have been more and more concerned about the veracity of their purchases. But don’t worry, Whole Foods Market has their consumers covered! Hot on the heels of their GMO labeling announcement, the retail brand is going one step further by outfitting each herd of its grass-fed cattle with a Cattle Cam so that you know what you see on the label is what you get. (Hint: it’s grass.)

Scope Mouthwash – Bacon

Real talk: we happen to think that bacon as a meme is getting a little bit played out. But obviously we aren’t the only ones. Scope mouthwash in particular is still totally down with the bacon, as evidenced by the video it released announcing its sizzling new flavor.

Tic Tac – New Pizza Flavor

Apparently meat breath was in the air this year, because breath freshener brand Tic Tac also got on board with a tweet showing off a peculiar new flavor of its own: Pizza.

Boston Pizza – The Pizza Burger

On the other end of the pizza spectrum, Canadian franchise Boston Pizza chose today of all days to launch an actual out-there new product that would be the stuff of April Fools’ pranks at other restaurants. While their videos leading up to the new launch may have been on the goofy side (Pizza Beer? Pizza Salad? Pizza Cake? Pizza Bread Pudding???) Boston Pizza insists that their new Pizza Burger is “no joke.” It looks pretty tasty to boot, if a little extreme.

Food Digital: How did Barbara’s Cookie Pies get started?

Barbara Schechter: I took the very bold step of starting my own business when I lost my marketing business of 35 years at the end of 2010. At my age and in this economy, finding that kind of work again was just not in the cards – it just wasn’t going to happen. Plus, I have always had the dream of owning my own business; I have a driving entrepreneurial spirit.

Basically I thought: if I started my own business, what is it I want to do? I always had a passion for baking, and I also asked myself: what do I bake really well? One thing I bake really well is butter cookies – I was trained by my grandmother and my mom, and my grandmother was trained by my great-grandmother on this recipe. For the holidays we would make cookies, give them away as gifts, and package them in holiday tins, and it was an annual ritual I had with my grandmother. I think of it with very fond memories, and through the years I had that in the back of my mind – that this butter cookie can be commercialized and that there’s probably a business in it. So when I was doing my soul searching in the area of baking, it was very clear that I should do something with this three-generation family butter cookie recipe.

That gave birth to the company Barbara’s Cookie Pies. We were experimenting with the dough saying: is it unique enough? What else can we do with it? We put it in a pie form, and it became clear that the dough was fabulous and it became a new concept, which we call a cookie pie. That got immediate traction, so for the first year we just sold the cookie pies on my website. Then what happened was that we showed our product at the Fancy Food Show in Washington, DC, and that opened up whole new range of opportunities.

So we started out with the cookie pies, which I think just resonated with the time. It’s very on trend, because hybrid is a very contemporary theme right now and it is a true hybrid. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that cookie pies become as popular as cupcakes.

FD: How big is your company at the moment?

BS: I am 100 percent the owner of the company, but I do have two women who do my fulfillment. I have a webmaster who does my website, I hire people to do social media for me, I have a photographer, and that’s basically it.

One of the things of owning your own business is that you don’t want to get too big too fast. Knowing the right time to hire more people – that’s the big challenge I have right now. I’m really on the brink of saying I’ve got to go to a larger facility.

I met a friend one day, a woman who has a successful basket business and buys my product, and she said: “you’re wearing too many hats, and the only advice I can give you is that you need to hire a second-in-command, a lieutenant who can do what you’re doing so that you can develop the future of the business and not be caught up in the details.”

I think that’s a real good learning [tool] for me: I need to get out of the fray of the daily details. So that’s my mission for the first half of the year. The business was on a good trajectory, one that was manageable for me. Then, literally within a couple of months after the Fancy Food Show, I picked up some big clients – I picked up 1-800-Baskets and Figi’s catalog. So that already accelerated my growth. Part of being a small business owner is to react to that growth and build smartly without overreaching – I don’t want to grow too fast. So that’s really where I am, and it’s very exciting – but I need to hire more people now. 

FD: What does your supply chain look like?

BS: I handle everything from ordering the components and the packaging, and the big challenge for me was that I needed a place to pack out and ship, because I am doing fulfillment for two large companies. So I rent space where I have freezers and I have all my wrapping and packing and taping materials, and we print out the labels and ship out of that fulfillment space. It’s me and two other women that currently handle everything, and I use them full time. But for holidays like now for Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, I have to hire more people just to respond to the orders.

It’s a real learning curve. Ideally I’d love to move the fulfillment and the baking to one facility, but everything takes money and capital. But that’s my goal: to be able to bake it, freeze it, and in the same building have my packing and fulfillment space.

FD: What challenges do you face as a small business? 

BS: When I started this business, I needed somebody to produce it for me. I reached out to local bakeries and large commercial bakeries, and you get a lot of ‘no’s initially because you’re a start-up. People don’t want to take the risk. So I said: okay, I’m not going to get discouraged, I’m just going to rent a commercial kitchen and make the cookie pies myself. Through that process I met someone who gave me the contact of a bakery in New Jersey – it’s a commercial bakery and he allows me to rent space from him and to use his workers. They’re trained bakers, so they know what they’re doing, and he’s been a wonderful partner. That’s how I landed on production.

We have capacity right now in that facility to do a thousand pies a day, and we’re in conversations of moving the operation to one of his larger baking facilities. What’s interesting is that I originally wanted a turnkey. But what became very apparent is that, because I’m very quality-oriented, I participate in every production. But now I’m at a point where I can just go for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning, and then go back at night and check what they’ve done.

FD: Where does your business stand today?

BS: My volume is coming from the two customers I have, and – I was talking to the women I have who do my fulfillment, saying look how busy we are with two customers. The reality is by next year I want to have two hundred! I didn’t start this to be a small business – I really want to be a big business.

The big challenge of what I have is to build my brand name and to get visibility and exposure about Barbara’s Cookie Pies and Barbara’s Gourmet Butter Cookies. But one of the things you quickly learn is you can’t stand still. I want to continue to build my business with the two most important customers that I have, and we’re working on new products, which is very exciting. At 1-800-Baskets, we’re now in conversation with supplying them with gift-wrap. I mentioned to you that last year I introduced my gourmet butter cookies, and I have caterers who asked if I could make cookie pies in sheets so that they can cut them to the size that they want and use them for catered affairs. I’m also looking at currently chocolate-dipped fruit and expanding into butter pound cakes. When you have your own business, you have to continually fuel it with new customers and offer existing customers new products – that much I know.

I also participate in the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the New Jersey Association of Women’s Business Owners (NJAWBO). It’s a yin yang thing: I want to help other woman business owners, and by the same token you always get something back. Women in particular, they reach back and they help you, and that has been the most rewarding part of starting this business for me – the connections and the colleagues and other small business owners who I’ve met along the way. I feel like at sixty I’ve given birth to a whole new network of friends. It’s been a new life for me.

FD: What have you learned from your experience?

BS: Having your own business, you have to have a thick skin and live persistence. You can’t give up, particularly when you’re getting started. I can now see the forest for the trees: I have an operation and it needs to be bigger and I know it can be smarter. But when you’re starting out, there are a lot of reasons to not get out of bed that day. You have to be so persistent, so hungry for your own success. How many “no”s did I have before? I couldn’t believe it, but you just have to dig deep inside and say: how do I get around this? I’m past that now, I have a great relationship with my commercial baker, I help him and he helps me, He’s happy for the business, and I’m happy to have his great staff, and it came about through many people saying no to me.

That’s my advice for people who want to do something on their own: It’s very rewarding, and I feel like I have been given a second life here. Somebody asked me – how do you feel about starting a business at sixty? Right now, I wish I had started it when I was thirty!

The Wall Street Journal reports that Nestle is specifically recalling its Kit Kat Chunky bars in the 48-gram size of the following flavors:

• Peanut Butter
• Hazelnut
• Chocolate Fudge
• Caramel

Though no pieces of plastic were found in them, Nestle is voluntarily recalling its Kit Kat Collection Giant Egg as well.

So far there have been seven separate reports of consumers finding plastic pieces in their chocolate bars in the UK. Nestle is taking the incident quite seriously:

"So far, we have not received any other similar complaints, but to avoid any risk whatsoever to our consumers, we have decided to voluntarily recall the entire production of these four Kit Kat Chunky varieties and Kit Kat Chunky Collection Giant Egg manufactured from September 2012," the company said in a statement.

In addition to the UK, Nestle SA is also recalling its Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bars in Germany, Switzerland, Malta, Austria, Singapore, the Philippines, and Canada where small quantities were also distributed.

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal; IMAGE CREDIT: flickr.com/renaissancechambara

Of course, just because a product is available on the market in general doesn’t mean you have to offer it in your market. Several grocery chains are taking just such a stand, pledging to customers that they will never stock the AquAdvantage salmon regardless of the FDA’s decision.

According to reports, grocery chains that have joined the Campaign for Genetically Engineered-Free Seafood include national brands like Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Whole Foods Market, along with several co-ops and regional chains such as Indiana and Ohio’s March Supermarkets and Seattle-based PCC Natural Markets. The movement suggests that consumers and those that serve them are not necessarily on the same page as the FDA in regards to genetic modification:

“While the FDA thinks the fish are ready for primetime, the massive response of retailers show that those that would actually eat the fish remain unconvinced,” George Leonard, a scientist with Ocean Conservancy who testified before Congress on the GMO salmon, tells TakePart.

“GE fish only advances if there is a market to buy it. Today's announcement of a huge number of seafood retailers stating their refusal to buy the fish shows that FDA approval won’t be the last word on this important debate about what consumers want their future fish to be,” he says.  

In the end it’s all about providing consumers with choice. If FDA approval does go through and AquaBounty Technologies is able to raise its AquAdvantage salmon commercially for the retail market, we have no doubt whatsoever that there will be plenty of grocery chains who won’t mind stocking their shelves with the genetically modified fish. What’s more – without mandated GMO labeling, no one at those chains will be under any obligation to differentiate AquAdvantage salmon from any other salmon on the shelf. By making a public pledge, retail outlets like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have effectively made a promise to their consumers who are concerned about GMOs that they will always have a place to go and make informed decisions about their purchases.

Even AquaBounty Technologies CEO Ronald L. Stotish agreed in the story that, while he believes that the AquAdvantage salmon is safe and healthy (as well he should if he is going to be CEO of the company), the aforementioned grocery chains have every right to not carry his product. If the GMO salmon’s own figurehead can show understanding, then really what other argument can be made?

[SOURCE: TakePart viaYahoo News; IMAGE CREDIT: flickr.com/paytonc]

Starbucks announced the new loyalty program update today at its annual meeting of shareholders, describing it as “the world’s first cross-channel, multi-brand loyalty program.” According to Starbucks Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman, who introduced the new concept, consumers will be able to earn a My Starbucks Rewards star for every purchase of Starbucks-branded packaged coffee at grocery locations. While the brand is starting with just bags of ground and whole bean coffee, they expect to extend the offer to other Starbucks products like its bottled Frappuccinos and VIA single-serve instant coffee packets by autumn of this year.

Redeeming points from these purchases isn’t the most straightforward process – USA Today notes that customers will have to go online to their My Starbucks Rewards account and enter a code to get their star. But the knowledge that each star is one step closer to a free drink or snack the next time they visit Starbucks can be some powerful motivation.

Starbucks isn’t stopping at its retail-side packaged coffee, either. At the shareholders meeting it was also announced that Starbucks is also extending its loyalty program to its other brands. Consumers will be able to swipe their rewards cards at all 300 Teavana retail stores starting in April, and we can only assume that the same will be true at Seattle’s Best Coffee locations in the very near future.

We’ve always held that Starbucks has one of the best loyalty programs in the retail game, and with 4.5 million active members as of October 2012 it’s clear that a lot of coffee drinkers agree – but there’s no question that the chain lost some of its consumer goodwill when it terminated some of its previous My Starbucks Rewards benefits like free milk upgrades and free flavor syrups in espresso drinks. This new promotion may not be quite the same as a shot of hazelnut syrup, but all the same it could do wonders as far as bringing some of that goodwill back. Starbucks projects that its number of rewards card users will hit 9 million by the end of its 2013 fiscal year, and if these new incentives are implemented smoothly that shouldn’t be a problem.

[IMAGE CREDIT: flickr.com/hyku]