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It comes in three flavors: All About That Baste turkey jerky mix, Don't Go Bacon My Heart uncured bacon jerky mix and Carne Diem peppered beef jerky mix. Made By True's offerings haven't always been so extensive, though its three partners decided together that they didn't want to be just another jerky com- pany, said Evans. The trio Evans, who was a mutual fund wholesaler, Jess Thomas, who was a third-gener- ation cattle rancher and Kevin Hix, a former accountant quit their jobs in 2015 to start selling the jerky they'd been making together as friends. They had friends in the Bay Area's tech industry, and the com- pany got its start selling to compa- nies like Facebook, Twitter and Uber, where employees are pro- vided free snacks – one of those snacks being Made By True jerkies. Evans said the Trail Remix was the brand's first step outside of jerky, but bil- tong was their pet project. "We had heard about biltong for like, two, three years, people were telling us about it, they had gone to South Africa," he said. "But we did- n't know how to make it; nobody was mak- ing it here in the States, so what we did is, we took a trip, all three of us, to South Africa last summer. We spent about three weeks there, in Johannesburg, Kimberly which is kind of in the middle of the bush, but there were some cattle ranches there we went to and then finally Cape Town." Introduced by their South African invest- ment partner, 1K1V, they met with 20 dif- ferent biltong manufacturers, from small mom-and-pop operations to massive man- ufacturing facilities, in addition to spice blend companies and cattle ranches. From those beginnings, Made By True has seen success in the U.S. market, now available in 2,500 stores, and as of late Jan- uary, Sprouts markets. Through the retail shop, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and word of mouth, Evans said he expects the company to go even further this year. GN Retailer News BRIEFS GOURMET NEWS MAY 2019 www.gourmetnews.com RETAILER NEWS 1 0 Natural Grocers Purges Plastic At the end of March, Natural Grocers estimated that it had eliminated more than 300 million single-use plastic bags and was on track to reach $1 million in total donations to food banks associated with all 152 Natural Grocers stores. The chain has eliminated single-use plastic bags from its checkout lanes and donates five cents to local food banks each time a customer shops with a reusable bag. Rouxster's Cookhouse Opens Inside Two Mariano's Locations Rouxster's Cookhouse, a Nashville-style chicken and fish concept with an emphasis on fun comfort food and fresh ingredients operated by local chef John Meyer, has opened in Mariano's Bronzeville and Park Ridge stores in Chicago, Ill. The menu will include a range of sandwiches, turkey chili and freshly made chicken gumbo, along with sides such as smoked Gouda mac and cheese, potato salad and collard greens. Kroger and Nuro Launch Autonomous Delivery Service in Houston The Kroger Co. and Nuro have launched their autonomous grocery delivery service in Houston, Texas. In a transfer of the pilot test that began in Scottsdale, Arizona, in August 2018, the innovative service will be available through two Houston Kroger stores, reaching customers residing in four local zip codes. As in Scottsdale, the Houston service will operate with Nuro's self-driving Toyota Prius fleet and will introduce the next generation of the custom driverless vehicle later this year. Scottsdale customers and customers throughout the Houston area will continue to have access to delivery through Kroger's established service in those cities. Instacart Expands Alcohol Delivery Service Instacart has expanded its alcohol delivery service for customers across the U.S., making Instacart one of the largest online delivery and pickup marketplaces for alcohol in the U.S. As part of the expansion, Instacart customers in 14 states, as well as Washington, D.C., can now have alcohol delivered in as fast as an hour from national, regional and local grocers such as Albertsons, Kroger, Publix, Schnucks and Stater Bros., as well as wine and liquor specialty stores like BevMo!, Binny's Beverage Depot, and Total Wine & More in select locations. With this expansion, alcohol delivery via Instacart now reaches more than 40 million households across the U.S. and is available from nearly one-third of Instacart's more than 300 retail partners. Instacart alcohol delivery is available today in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Instacart will continue rolling out alcohol delivery to customers in more states as it is permitted. Made By True Finds Success with New Retail Front attract the health-conscious, active crowd that seeks out high-protein snacks. The Center for Generational Kinetics es- timated that 89 percent of Millennials con- sumed one or more better-for-you snacks in the past week, and Nielsen's Vice Presi- dent of Consumer Insights Jorday Rost said meat snacks are a fast-growing category, in large part be- cause Americans are try- ing to get more protein in their diets in what they perceive as a more natural vehicle than powders and bars. According to Fona International's September report on meat snacks, 20 percent of women re- ported eating meat snacks, as brands in this category have begun suc- cessfully marketing to women. Made By True is one of those companies. Its six fla- vors of jerky appeal to a wide audience, said Evans, including women and older women. "My mom, for instance, this [Black- berry Merlot] is her fa- vorite flavor," said Evans. "She's 70, she plays golf three days a week, and she brings our jerky to her women's golf group and they all love it." In addition to Blackberry Merlot, flavors include The Old Fashioned: Honey Bour- bon Brisket, The Sinsa: Korean BBQ, The OG: Original Peppered, The Sweet Heat: Thai Chili Mango and The Mountie: Maple Glazed Pepper. Older audiences are likely to enjoy the biltong and The Mountie, as the meat isn't tough like a lot of jerky. Along with its jerkies, Made By True offers a mix snack called Trail Remix. It's a combi- nation of jerky and trail mix, separated by a seal that keeps the meat fresh and peels apart when snackers want to mix them up. BY GREG GONZALES Retailers know that the best way to prove a product is to let customers try it them- selves. The people behind Made By True, the craft jerky brand, decided to try that themselves this year. They opened a store- front in their Bay Area office space this year, where the lobby was, so passersby can get a chance to try the product right there. Last year, Made By True launched its biltong snack, and its getting a lot of love. The idea behind the storefront, explained Partner James Evans, is to let people try the jerky before buying in stores, and to spread the word about their products. Sales are great at the store so far, he said, and it also serves as an education tool. The opening attracted more than 150 people to the store, where they sampled the brand's craft jerkies, its unique take on trail mix and its newest product, biltong. "Biltong is ingrained in the culture in South Africa. You can't really com- pare it to anything here in the States," said Evans. "There's always biltong served there's a joke that babies teethe on biltong there. It's that important." The air-dried meat snack is still relatively unknown in the U.S. It dif- fers from jerky because it air dries in a big, long strip, a cut from the round of the cow. In South Africa, it's sometimes sold in thicker slices, but Made By True's New Jersey facility shaves it into smaller pieces, which is how most people eat it. The result is a ten- der meat that's easy to chew and bite off. It comes in three flavors: Cape Town Classic, Little Bit of Spice and A Savory Ad- venture. As noted on the back of each package, Made By True biltong contains 16 grams of protein per ounce and a low sodium count at 200 milligrams per serving. That's be- cause it doesn't require as much salt to pre- serve as jerky, and vinegar helps preserve it as well, though the vinegar doesn't over- power other flavors. These health benefits Asian Food Markets Grows in New Jersey Asian Food Markets, a chain of grocery stores focusing on East Asian packaged, fresh and prepared food, has signed a lease for a 43,152-square-foot anchor space at Plainsboro Plaza Shopping Center in Plainsboro, New Jersey. The store is pro- jected to open in the next several months. Plainsboro Plaza, located at the intersection of Schalks Crossing and Scudders Mill Roads, is a 220,000-square-foot center currently an- chored by Planet Fitness, CVS and Lightbridge Academy. Asian Food Markets, which is relo- cating from a smaller Plainsboro store at Princeton Meadows Shopping Center where it has served the Plainsboro market for over 15 years, will occupy the property's anchor space that previously housed SuperFresh. Asian Food Markets was founded in 1992 with a single location in Edison, New Jersey, and has expanded throughout New Jersey. The company currently operates five locations in Jersey City, North Plainfield, Piscataway, Marlboro and Plainsboro. The chain is currently looking for addi- tional sites in northern New Jersey and New York City areas with a high concentration of Eastern and Central Asian residents, notes R.J. Brunelli Senior Sales Associate Pete Nicholson, who brokered the Plains- boro Plaza transaction on behalf of Asian Food Markets. R.J. Brunelli serves as exclu- sive leasing representative for the chain in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. GN

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