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GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2019 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier News SUPPLIER NEWS 1 2 BRIEFS Innovation Continues to Drive 80-Year-Old White Coffee As the company plans all of its new con- cepts, its developers are leaning on a his- tory of innovation that includes licensing deals that pair White Coffee quality with names like Kahlua, Entenmann's, Jim Beam and the "Frozen" franchise as well as pioneering with the BioCup™, an envi- ronmentally-friendly way to package sin- gle-serve coffee. "We think that there are untapped opportunities," White said. "We think that people are looking for some- thing different that tastes great, that's well packaged. That could be sustainability, healthy eating, contemporary flavor pro- files or a combination of all those things. How you combine those can be unique. We use those standards for every product that we do." "I think people, more than ever before, are shopping not only with their taste buds but with their eyes, hearts and brains," he continued. "A truly successful product, be it coffee or chocolate, has to be something that can reach people at all those levels." For a truly successful product, the pack- age must not only include the product that's identified on the label, it must com- municate that it's wrapped around the val- ues that consumers bring to the marketplace, White said. "People have cer- tain aspirational goals when they buy something," he said. "They may want to feel that they're consuming food and bev- erages with certain qualities. They may want to send a message." Those growing consumer expectations are driving food producers, including White Coffee, to rise to meet them, and companies that can't or won't do that aren't going to be doing business with conscientious retailers for very long, White said. "We're in the business of hearing what people want. The market- place in general demands this.... When I started in this business 28 years ago, ven- dors didn't have to be as good. You made product — it was pretty good; it was packaged pretty good, and more often than not, it was okay," he said. "Now we have to sell really great stuff.... We sold really good stuff then. Now we have to sell really great stuff." GN DORVAL Introduces GNAW CHOCOLATE GNAW CHOCOLATE LTD. is the newest line to join the DORVAL portfolio. The GNAW CHOCOLATE bars are handcrafted in England in small batches and feature quirky, eye catching packaging, high quality ingredients sourced locally and from around the world and contain no artificial colors or flavors. Organic, Full Fat Yogurt from Bellwether Farms Bellwether Farms offers organic, full fat yogurt, made with milk from pastured Jersey cows. Jersey cows have more digestible A2 protein than the Holstein breed. This higher quality milk produces a richer, creamier yogurt, without straining, added thickeners or added cream. Bellwether Farms is introducing the yogurt as a four-pack of 3.75-ounce cups in plain, vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and spiced apple flavors. Champignon North America Launches Rougette Bonfire Grilling Cheeses Champignon North America has launched a summer season selection of specialty cheeses made just for the grill. Rougette Bonfire Grilling Cheeses, the latest cheese innovation from Käserei Champignon, are served hot, fresh off the grill and are perfect for sharing. The product line includes two types of cheese, made with all-natural ingredients: a mild and creamy soft-ripened cheese, which comes in two individually packed cheeses per unit; and a semi-soft cheese marinated in herbs, which comes in a convenient ready-to- grill pan. Holiday Baking Kits from The Invisible Chef The Invisible Chef introduced new cookie baking kits this past holiday season and will be expanding its baking mix collection with other seasonal and novelty baking kits launching throughout 2019. The cookie kits are specifically geared towards the fun tradition of a holiday cookie exchange where each guest brings a batch of delicious cookies to exchange with friends. The Cookie Exchange kits make four dozen cookies each and are offered in two flavors: Vanilla Sugar and Chocolate Peppermint. Each kit includes the cookie mix and holiday sprinkles. Nut Butter-Filled Cookies from SUZIE'S SUZIE'S Nut Butter-Filled Cookies, from the Good Groceries Company, now have a bold new look designed to stand out on grocery shelves. The cookies combine all the nutrient and mineral benefits from nut butters with a decadently delicious cookie, resulting in an exquisite snack experience. SUZIE'S has also launched Nut Butter Sandwich Cookies in five amazing flavor profiles: Oat & Honey with Peanut Butter, Oat & Cranberry with Almond Butter, Oat & Coconut with Cashew Butter, Shortbread with Cookie Butter and Shortbread with Hazelnut Butter. Once Again Nut Butter Spreads Integrity that to happen. "The company really cares about my family," she said. "They care about employees. They care about my voice." Over the years, the company's original old-fashioned peanut butter line has ex- pended to include a total of about 30 prod- ucts in about 80 SKUs comprising salted, unsalted, roasted, unroasted, stabilized and stir-style peanut butters as well as Almond, Hazelnut and Cashew Butters and Organic Seed Butter. The company acquired Dawes Hill Honey in 1992. Milk chocolate prod- ucts were launched in 2018. Each of the products bears the image of Rocky Raccoon on its label. Rocky Rac- coon was born as the company's mascot after a family of kit raccoons was found on the company's property in its early days. The company's employees cared for the raccoons until they were old enough to be released into the wild, and Rocky, named after a Beatles song, remains as a legacy of that time. The products are also gluten free, and all of the nut butters are cer- tified by the Non- GMO Project. This year, Once Again Nut Butter is launching white choco- late spreads at Natural Products Expo West. Like the company's Milk Chocolate Hazel- nut and Milk Choco- late Almond spreads, the White Chocolate Hazelnut and White Chocolate Almond spreads will be offered in 12-ounce glass jars retailing for $9.95. All of the products are distributed nationally. "We can't help it if you put it in your ice cream," Orr said. "It is so delicious that you can't stop eating it." GN BY LORRIE BAUMANN Once Again Nut Butter has produced its line of nut and seed butters and honeys since 1976, when the company was founded by husband and wife Jeremy Thaler and Connie Potter after a friend sug- gested that they use the barrel roaster in which they'd been making granola to roast nuts for peanut butter. From there, a local museum in Nunda, New York, asked them to make an old-fashioned peanut but- ter that included the peanut skins. Thayler liked the result so much that he figured he could sell it. That thought came naturally to the couple because they'd already been serial entrepreneurs, which is why they named their new peanut butter company "Once Again," ac- cording to Gael Orr, who is the Marketing, Communications and Public Relations Manager for what's now an employee-owned enterprise. "Once again, they were in business," she said. Thayler and Potter retired from the busi- ness in 2006, and it became 100 percent employee-owned at that time. Orr has worked for the company for the past 10 years and says she'll probably retire from Once Again Nut Butter when it's time for BY LORRIE BAUMANN White Coffee's newest coffee blend cele- brates the company's 80th anniversary, but even as the company celebrates its past, Ex- ecutive Vice President Jonathan White, a third-generation member of the family that started White Coffee in 1939, is looking forward to a future that builds on the com- pany's history of innovation. Fourscore Blend, a specialty, medium-roast blend, was greeted enthusiastically on its launch at the Winter Fancy Food Show, and the com- pany is planning to release several more new products, potentially including ready- to-drink options, over the course of 2019. "There are multiple concepts, and we're looking at both foodservice and retail ap- plications — that's for sure," White said. "If we proceed with a ready-to-drink product, we won't to come to market if it's another very-similar version of an already-available ready-to-drink product. It's got to have ex- cellent quality, value and really unique taste and characteristics. And we wouldn't bring it to the marketplace until we're ready to deliver all of that."

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