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GOURMET NEWS SEPTEMBER 2018 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLIER NEWS 2 1 BY LORRIE BAUMANN 34 Degrees has introduced Sweet Crisps as an extension of its line of wafer-thin savory crackers that pair well with cheeses. The new Sweet Crisps will pair even better with certain cheeses than the more savory flavors, according to 34 Degrees President and Founder Craig Lieberman. "Our savory crisps are definitely designed to be used with cheese, and the sweet crisps in bags will work either by themselves, in a lunch bag or with ice cream and tea or coffee," he said. Lieberman originally discovered these wafer-thin crackers in 2003 in Australia, while he was looking for products that paired well with cheeses. "I was focusing on cheese boards and looking for condiments and ac- companiments to the cheese boards," he said. "One of the products that I discovered were these unique thin wafers. They were the best thing that I discovered to highlight the cheese. Unlike the crackers that I grew up with in the U.S., they really complemented A Sweet Spin on a Crunchy Cracker what you paired with them. They didn't dis- tract or get in the way of the cheese." Lieberman loved doing business import- ing products from Australia into the U.S. so much that he named his company 34 De- grees after the latitude of the city of Sydney, Australia, but by 2007, he had decided that as much as he loved the Crisps he was ob- taining from Australia, importing the crack- ers into the U.S. didn't make financial sense. The answer to that problem was to make the crackers himself in the U.S., he decided. Over the next six months, he phased out his importing business. "It made me sad, be- cause I loved them [the products he'd been importing into the U.S.], but making the product in the U.S. made more sense than trying to import perishable products from 7,000 miles away," he said. He launched his new line of American- made Crisps with four savory flavors, ex- panding the line to 10 flavors since then. The Crisps are generally sold in the deli depart- ment next to the cheeses and dips their fla- vors are intended to complement. "They're sold from the deli so that they're located next to the products that they work with; how- ever, we're excited to potentially bring the Sweet Crisps in bags to new areas of the store and to new channels," Lieberman said. "We have flavors of profiles that we developed specifically to go with specific cheeses.... and now we have sweet flavor profiles to appeal to specific snacking occasions." Consumers then told Lieberman that they were interested in Crisps that could stand on their own as a snack, so 34 De- grees launched its first Sweet Crisps line in Chocolate and Vanilla flavors in boxes in the summer of 2016. "The irony of all this was that I did not start my company to be a cracker company," Lieberman said. "I was just following the consumers and what they wanted from me." In early 2017, the company launched two new flavors, Cinnamon and Sweet Lemon, and then at this year's Summer Fancy Food Show, the Sweet Crisps were relaunched in new packaging to appeal to the snacking consumer. "People loved our Sweet Crisps, but they wanted a more user-friendly pack- age. The package is designed to protect them," Lieberman said. "Our cracker is re- ally thin and light, but it has surprising strength from its ingredients, so it holds up well in the stand-up pouch." Like the other 34 Degrees Crisps, they're made with high-quality ingredients and no artificial flavors. The Denver, Colorado- based company donates 1 percent of all the Crisps they make to charitable organizations that feed the hungry. "The more you snack, the more we give back," Lieberman said. 34 Degrees Sweet Crisps are now avail- able in four flavors – Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon and Sweet Lemon – in 4-ounce pouches that retail for $3.49 to $4.49 and in a 16-ounce club size that retails for $6.99 to $7.99. GN Swerve ® , a sugar replacement brand, is launching five premium, carb-conscious products including Brown Swerve, a zero calorie brown sugar substitute, and the new line of Swerve Sweets™ featuring Choco- late Cake Mix, Vanilla Cake Mix, Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, and Pancake & Waffle Mix. Swerve is a New Orleans, Louisiana- Swerve Introduces Carb-Conscious Dessert Mixes based company that has been helping peo- ple swerve away from sugar with its natu- ral, zero-calorie sugar replacement. With these new products, Swerve continues to lead the way toward a sweeter, healthier life for those who want their cake and balanced blood sugar too. Swerve products are gluten free, grain free, and non-GMO verified. Each bake mix is sweetened with Swerve, a delicious blend of erythritol (made by fermenting glucose), oligosaccharides (fancy name for prebiotic fibers) and natural flavor. As a result, the Vanilla Cake, Chocolate Cake, and Pancake & Waffle Mixes contain zero added sugar, and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix con- tains only two grams of added sugar from the organic semi-sweet chocolate chips. Brown Swerve is a delicious natural sweet- ener that measures cup-for-cup just like brown sugar – without the bitter aftertaste or digestive discomfort of other sweeteners. It's perfect for baking, cooking and sweet- ening your favorite foods and beverages. GN

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