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www.kitchenwarenews.com • SEPTEMBER 2019 • KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 17 Fine Chocolate Appeals to American Consumers Cont. on page 18 Cont. on page 18 Bitters Boom As Consumers Cocktail At Home BY LORRIE BAUMANN American producers of fine chocolates are working on plans to raise their profile and grow their industry – largely by making even better chocolate, according to Bill Guyton, Executive Director of the Fine Chocolate In- dustry Association (FCIA), a trade associa- tion with more than 350 members across the country. Those members include choco- latiers, people who make confectionery from chocolate that they obtain from processors, as well as chocolate makers, the people who make bean-to-bar confections. The fine chocolate that FCIA members want the rest of us to appreciate is different by a matter of degree from mass market chocolate, and the working definition devel- oped by the FCIA includes various attrib- utes: flavor, texture and appearance, a high percentage of cacao that's had minimal pro- cessing and that's ethically sourced. "If you buy your chocolate bar, and sugar is the first ingredient, followed by a long list of ingre- dients, it is not fine chocolate. Fine chocolate typically is high in cocoa content and low in sugar," Guyton said. The association's strategic plan in- cludes defining industry stan- dards for chocolate and developing a stronger supply chain for ethi- cal sourcing of cocoa and other ingredients that go into chocolate. "Over the next five years, we will work through partnerships in cocoa-growing countries to improve cocoa quality and provide a consistent supply to fine chocolate companies to use in their products. We also are working with our members to develop direct trade, which shortens the supply chain," Guyton said. A Love Affair with Chocolate Consumers buy chocolate because they love it, and while the percentage of them who buy fine chocolate exclusively or almost exclu- sively is just a small part of a very large mar- ket, those consumers will go where they need to go and pay what they need to pay to get the chocolate they're craving, according to Anne-Marie Roerink, Principal of 210 An- alytics, which recently surveyed consumers for the FCIA and for the National Confec- tioners Association to learn more about the market for fine chocolates. Overall, confectionery is the fourth-largest center store category across all retail chan- nels, with chocolate making up 60 percent of that, she said during a presentation at this year's Sweets and Snacks Expo. Chocolate is also a growing category, although it's been outpaced by other confectionery in conven- BY LORRIE BAUMANN With over 100 stores scattered across 27 states, IT'SUGAR, founded by Chief Execu- tive Officer Jeff Rubin in June 2006 with a store in front of Caesar's Palace Hotel, right on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jer- sey, IT'SUGAR has become the largest spe- cialty candy retailer in the world. IT'SUGAR shops are fantasies in which adults can recapture the fun of childhood while enjoying guilty pleasures spiced with a smidgeon of temptation. Chil- dren are welcome in the stores, but it's adults who are their targeted cus- tomers. "It's a much more mod- ern version of a tra- ditional candy shop," Rubin said. "We're creating a theater to immerse you in the humor, in the fun ex- perience of our store, so that you have a very entertaining time while you're in our store." IT'SUGAR stores, which range from 2,000 to 7,000 square feet in size, are in places where people congregate when they're look- ing for fun – mostly in resort areas or the kind of lifestyle centers that also include restaurants, bars and the- aters. Their lively music and colorful art and fixtures draw in passers-by who wander in looking for fun and stay to buy candy that's as much about humor as it is about sweetness. "We can ob- viously satisfy a sweet tooth, but more im- portantly, we were put on Earth to provide an irreverent escape from the mundane world," Rubin said. "We have created a store that makes you laugh, smile and enjoy your- self...When you've finished dinner at one of the enter- tainment vendors, you get hit with music and these funny products. You find yourself walking out with something you did- n't even know you needed." Customers are met just inside the front door with stacked tiers holding bowl after bowl of pick-and-mix candy on island fix- tures around the floor, and they're lured far- ther inside by shelves stacked with giant boxes of Nerds; "Saturday Night Live" con- Bottled Water You Taste Through Your Nose BY LORRIE BAUMANN SZENT is a new brand of bottled water with a twist ― a scent ring affixed to the neck of the bottle that's infused with natural oils carry the aroma of natural flavoring to the drinker's nose. What's actually inside the bottle is just water purified by reverse os- mosis ― all the flavor is in the scent ring. "What you're ingesting is the water," said Maddie Grandbois, SZENT's Chief Creative Officer and one of the three company co- Founders. "Your brain believes that you're getting a hit of flavor, but you're not ingest- ing any flavor, any artificial ingredients. We're not adding anything to our water." The company was launched in October of 2018 after four years' worth of research and development looking into ways that they might be able to disrupt the beverage category. "It took a group of people outside that industry to shake it up. We were able to think about the beverage category in a different way," Grandbois said. "We were looking for a product that had flavor, but we didn't want to compromise." While they wanted their beverage to have authentic flavor, the partners were dubious about the 'natural flavors,' they were finding on the market, which seemed somehow less than natural to them. Then they thought about the widely observed phenomenon that much of what we taste when we eat food ― perhaps as much as 75 percent to 90 percent, although around 80 percent is the figure most used ― actually derives from olfaction. Some neurophysiologists be- lieve it's possible that only about 5 percent of what we experience when we're eating is actually coming from our sense of taste. That being the case, SZENT's partners de- cided to capitalize on the phenomenon by supplying aroma rather than ingredients in their bottled water. The scented ring is in- fused with natural oils and remains around the bottle's neck after the cap is removed. "Every time you take a sip of water, we can channel that sensory experience by using the sense of smell," Grandbois said. "Any flavor you experience is coming through your nose." SZENT launched its product on Amazon in October, 2018 with still water in the bot- tles and scent rings with five flavors around their necks: Passionfruit, Tangerine, Tropi- cal, Pineapple and Mint. SZENT is currently offering the still water varieties in 20-ounce single-serve bottles packaged in a case of 12 that retails for $24. Single bottles retail at $2.25 apiece. "It's been really fun. It's a blessing and a curse to be first to market," Grandbois said. "It's really exciting, but you have to carry the weight of consumer edu- cation." KN BY GREG GONZALES Care for a top-shelf Manhattan with rose hip, or perhaps a combination of mushrooms, wasabi and seaweed? Mixologists and home bartenders alike are taking those twists on classics as they get more comfortable going beyond the basic aromatics and citrus bitters. Consumers and chefs are also taking bit- ters off the bar and into their kitchens. There are bitters for savory meat dishes, juices, baked goods, soda, sparkling wines ― any- thing that's possible with an extract. According to Genevieve Brazelton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Im- proper Goods, bitters are just at the begin- ning, and there's room to explore. Her Bitter House- wife Car- damom bitters won sofi gold and product of the year awards in 2018, along with a Good Food Award. Bitter Housewife also offers Orange, Grapefruit, Lime Coriander, Old-Fashioned Aromatic and Barrel-Aged Aromatic flavors, using American non-GMO whiskey with all citrus peeled in-house. They come in 3.4-ounce flasks at a $16 suggested retail price, or $18 for barrel-aged. Learn more at www.improp- ergoods.com. Erik Kozlik, CEO of Modern Bar Cart, calls bitters "liquid poetry," and says the only thing that stands between a consumer and great cocktails is knowledge and confidence. He hosts a podcast to help with those. His Embitterment Bitters brand features flavors inspired by places, including Japanese Bitters flavored with wasabi, seaweed, tea and mush- rooms, and curry bitters flavored with turmeric, saffron and fenu- greek. These bitters, part of the Heritage Col- lection, will be launching in a variety pack this month for a suggested retail price of $24.99, and $19.99 for single 4-ounce bot- tles. Email info@modernbarcart.com. For Chris Udouj and Jamie Vitlina, co- Founders of 11th Orchard Bitters, the rise of bitters has been an opportunity to add hyper-local flavors to cocktails. They forage every month for their ingredients to make flavors like White Pine, Spicy Rosehip, Birch Bark and the IT'SUGAR Sells Laughter. Also, Candy Cont. on page 18

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