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Restaurant Daily News 5 1 Tuesday, May 21, 2019 Blue Moose Launches Snack-Size Hummus Packs Blue Moose has just launched two new product lines in snack sizes: its Organic On The Go Hummus Snack Pack and Organic Moose Minis 100 Calorie Single Serve Cups. "With the shift in trends towards snacking, we're filling a void in the mar- ketplace to ensure our customers don't have to sacrifice convenience for quality or taste," said Tenley Satre, President of Blue Moose. "We're thrilled to be able to deliver nutrient dense organic snacks that you can truly feel good about." Organic On The Go Hummus Snack Packs buck the status quo by pairing its hummus with organic carrot sticks rather than pretzels or chips. The nutrient- packed dehydrated carrot sticks are made by Rhythm Superfoods. With 150 calo- ries, 5g protein and 0g added sugar per container, this snack delivers real nutri- tion. Available in three flavors: Original, Roasted Red Pepper and Lemon Turmeric. Organic Moose Minis 100 Calorie Single Serve Cups are convenient grab- and-go containers of creamy hummus for consumers to pair with their own dippers. Available in three flavors: Original, Roasted Red Pepper and Lemon Turmeric. As with all products in Blue Moose's hummus portfolio, the new snacks are certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project. They're also certified gluten free, and they're vegan and con- tain no preservatives. The new snack lines launched at the Winter Fancy Food Show, and Blue Moose has already started shipping the products. Maple Stream from Coombs Family Farms Delivers Mess-free Flavor Coombs Family Farms, a seventh gener- ation producer and packer of pure and organic maple, presents Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream™, the first spray- able maple syrup. At the push of a button, Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream dispenses just the right amount of organic Grade A maple syrup, with its amber color and rich taste. Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream is great for families and comes in a convenient, eco-friendly format. "Kids love maple, and there's some- thing inherently wholesome about a New England tradition and real sweetener," says Arnold Coombs, seventh generation Sugarmaker. "Parents are wanting con- venience, but they also want unrefined sugars and none of the fake stuff." For more than seven genera- tions, Coombs Family Farms has been making pure, organic maple in New England. Coombs Family Farms sources additional maple from over 3,000 small family farms in the U.S. that share its commit- ment to quality, environment stew- ardship and sustainable forestry management. Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream comes in a 7-ounce recycla- ble can that streams out mess-free, portion-controlled, organic maple syrup. The syrup contains no flam- mable propellants. Maple Stream is available nationwide in groceries and retailers with a suggested retail price of $7.99. Like all Coombs Family Farms organic maple products, Maple Stream is certified organic. In addi- tion to being free of toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and GMOs, Coombs Family Farms organic maple syrup is produced with sus- tainable forestry practices. Lillie's Q Adds Zero-Sugar Carolina Barbeque Sauce to Lineup of Artisan Sauces Lillie's Q, purveyors of authentic Southern barbeque, has launched its popular Carolina Barbeque Sauce in a zero-sugar variety. Recognizing the increased demand for low or no-sugar eating options, Lillie's Q creator and Chef Charlie Mckenna has eliminated sugar from his tangy Western Carolina style sauce, without sacrificing taste. The new Carolina Zero Sugar Barbeque Sauce is sweetened only with sucralose, combined with the iconic flavors of Western Carolina barbeque traditions like apple, lime and other secret family ingredients. According to Mintel, 33 percent of American adults are limiting sugar more than they did last year, citing future health concerns and weight loss as key motivators. Additional consumer research by Lillie's Q unveiled that nearly 40 percent of consumers are fol- lowing a carb-restricted diet, and almost one-quarter follow the ketogenic diet, the extremely low-carb and high-fat diet designed to burn fat for energy. Mintel's "Sugar and Alternative Sweeteners Report" cites that 22 percent of American adults are buying items specifically labeled low/no/reduced sugar more than they did last year, with 19 percent claiming that high levels of sugar have caused them to stop buying a savory food product, such as a cooking sauce. Data by Lillie's Q reinforces these sentiments, with consumers select- ing taste, sugar content, protein content and then the presence of carbohydrates as the most important attributes in packaged foods, respectively. "It's simply not true that bar- becue can't be healthy," said Lillie's Q Founder and Chef Charlie Mckenna. "Grilling and smoking meat naturally brings out the natural flavors of the pro- tein and fat, while tried-and-true Southern spices and flavors enhance that. We design every product so that it complements and adds to the flavor of the food, rather than covering it up – which is often the culprit of unneces- sary calories and sugar in packaged foods." Labeled #40 on the bottle, the fla- vor was inspired by Charlie's regular pilgrimages on Route 40 from the barbe- cue havens of Memphis eastward to Shelby, Greensboro and Asheville, North Carolina. Here he learned the nuances of North Carolina's "sauce divide," where a slightly sweeter tomato-based vinegar sauce is favored westward of Raleigh-Durham, which made its way into his Carolina vari- ety. The Zero-Sugar sauce is available online in the Lillie's Q store, in Lillie's Q restau- rants as a sauce option and will roll into retailers throughout the year, in addition to making its way into lighter Lillie's Q restaurant side dishes. The brand is the fastest growing premium barbecue sauce in America and is rapidly growing its retail presence to stores, including national roll outs at Sprouts and Whole Foods, and recent regional additions such as Target, Albertson's, Safeway, Kroger, Wegman's and Fresh Thyme. For more information, visit www .lilliesq.com. Sleepers Offers a Taste of California By Lorrie Baumann On the eve of 2008's financial meltdown, Mark Sleeper was a mortgage banker in the commercial real estate market. His wife, Christina, was getting gigs as a tel- evision actor, mostly for commercials, and the couple was raising a teenage daughter. Then came the financial melt- down that started them looking around for other options. Among their assets were Mark's pre- vious experience as a manager in a four- star hotel and Christina's background in catering and event planning. "We had always been very mindful in health and what we eat," Christina said. The couple also had a recipe for a seasoning mix that they'd been making and giving away, especially at the holi- day season, since 1990. "My husband said, 'What if we tried to sell it?'" Christina said. "We didn't have the cush- ion of finance, the ability to get a loan. We just decided, let's do it anyway." They packaged up their seasoning mix, labeled it Sleepers Magic Rub, and launched a website. "It sounded like a fun little play. We launched the website in 2009, and we've been growing ever since," Christina said. "I can see now, from 10 years ahead, that the instinct to start the company was a way to signal a whole new evolution in gourmet and arti- sanal food. When we started in 2008, nobody had websites. The industry was dominated by bigger companies and big- ger players." "All of these things that we're seeing now, with the palates of everyone really expanding and flavors coming into the arena that are much more diverse than they were 10 years ago," she continued. "I feel like we kind of caught a little break – it didn't do much for us, but we caught a little break coming into the gourmet food business when we did because we brought an understanding of diverse palates." Since those early days as Sleepers Magic Rub, the couple's flagship product has become The Original, and the com- pany has gone from being known as Sleepers Gourmet to Sleepers. "It's our name – it's not anything associated with sleeping – it's just Sleepers people," Christina said. The product line has also expanded with the addition of more seasoning blends – there are now eight in the line – along with jams, salts and teas. "Our jams have really taken off," Christina said. "There is a really distinct flavor – things just taste so fresh. It really is fresh; it's fresh from the farm." Sleepers' signature jam is Jalapeno Madness, which is made from fresh California jalapeno. "We can't seem to keep it in stock. It is probably our num- ber one-selling jam all year long," Christina said. "This one is pure jalapeno, which appeals to the much more adventurous palates that we're see- ing in the younger consumers who have become our customers. They want things to be bold." The Sleepers seasoning mixes are sold in 2.5-ounce glass bottles that retail for $10. "That price point is a nice bottle for most home kitchens," Christina said. "All of the seasonings are also available in bulk." Only one of the seasonings includes any sugar at all, and that's pure cane sugar. Two of them are salt free, and the others have low salt content. "Customers say the flavor comes through like nothing else, and it's because salt is not our number-one ingredient – the peppers are the number-one ingredient," Christina said. "It really enhances the fla- vors of the meats, vegetables and fish with- out overpowering it. We want our cus- tomers to have a wonderful home-cooked meal experience without the stress." Sleepers jams, marmalades and but- ters are sold in jars of roughly 7 ounces that retail for $12. Distribution is from Los Angeles, California, where the com- pany is based, and shipping is available to all 50 states and Canada. For more information, visit www.sleepers gourmet.com.