Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/1164240
Food Equipment News 4 3 Friday, February 8, 2019 WS: Forty years ago, we started out as Brass Smith, making custom brass beds. That quickly evolved into custom fabri- cation for hospitality. We made every- thing from luggage carts to bar rails – and of course, we made our share of those big, brass sneeze guards. We saw the problems associated with those cumber- some, welded guards and introduced ZGuard to the market. That changed everything. It's still the industry standard for style, quality and adjustability. FEN: What's the secret to still being a market leader after all these years? WS: We never stop innovating. Even though BSI is the industry standard, we still spend a lot of time and resources on developing new products or improving existing products. Our customers appre- ciate the fact that BSI will try to find solutions to problems that other compa- nies won't even attempt to address. Just as important as our great products, our customer service sets us apart. FEN: How does your customer service set you apart from other companies? WS: It feels like a cliché to say we have the best customer service, but we built our business on customer service. It's what fuels our growth. Every few years, we commission independent market research to see how we stack up – and we invariably come out on top for quality, innovation and customer service. As we BSI (Cont'd. from p. 1) enter our 40th year, BSI has committed to up our customer service even more. I think customers are going to be impressed with our new levels of service. FEN: Besides food guards, what other products does BSI offer? WS: BSI is known for quality food guards, but that's just the beginning. We have in-house stainless fabrication capa- bilities. We build everything from coun- ters and custom sinks to work tables, floor troughs and custom cold pans. We build custom refrigeration and custom heated merchandisers. We have a state- of-the-art millwork shop that can build pretty much anything you can think of. We even have in-house countertop fabri- cation. We made our own oven so we can form and bend solid surface material to create stunning counters and carts. We like to say, 'From guard to ground, BSI builds it beautifully.' Our booth at NAFEM is designed to showcase a wide range of products and capabilities that really does make us a one-stop shop. FEN: Will your magician be at the booth? WS: Of course. Some of our customers warned us that if the magician isn't at NAFEM, there might be a small riot. He's become a vital part of our booth. I hope everyone takes a minute to stop by and watch his act. He's very entertaining. Visit BSI at booth #4535. For more infor- mation, go to www.bsidesigns.com. Bitsy's Bakes a Better Snack for Kids By Lorrie Baumann Bitsy's is a brand built around the idea that kids' snacks can do more for them than just fill them up between meals – they can present opportunities to learn healthy eating habits, and they can even deliver affirmative messages. The company was founded by Maggie Patton and Alex Buckley, who were pursuing their careers in childhood education and wellness when it occurred to them that snacks could be a vehicle for vegetables that could be fun and flavorful and that kids would actually enjoy eating. "We created something for families with the idea of putting kids first," Patton said. "We spent a long time thinking about starting the company, making up recipes with vegetables.... When we wanted to create a brand, we wanted not just a cleaner kind of a snack, but some- thing that was the best in many ways, a bit more kind, a bit more allergen-friend- ly. The brand promise is 'Doing a little bit more' and the idea that the little bits add up." Parents themselves – Patton has a seven-year-old, a five-year-old and a two-year-old, while Buckley has an eight-year-old and a five-year-old – they knew that packaged snacks are a reality of parents' lives. They go into the school backpack, the lunch box that goes along to day care and into Mom's purse for weekend outings. "You can't always have something that's perish- able when you're on the go with kids," Patton said. "The reality is that we're not trying to be a substitute for fresh fruits or vegetables, we're trying to be the better choice when you're going to eat cookies or chips." The range of products they created includes three lines: Smart Crackers, Good Cookies and Smart Cookies. They're all made with nutritionally meaningful amounts of vegetables; they're U.S. Department of Agriculture- certified organic and non-GMO. They're also free of peanuts, tree nuts and eggs. A number of them are also vegan, although a few products contain dairy. "The veggie content is meaning- ful in terms of nutrition, although we don't want to encourage people to eat them instead of fresh fruits and vegeta- bles. We work very hard to put a very meaningful amount of vegetables in all our products while keeping them affordable," Patton said. "You're not just eating something that's flour and sugar here." Bitsy's Smart Crackers are smart in their ingredi- ents and they're smart in their shapes, which are based on tangrams, the clas- sic puzzle game. "You can make a horse out of them. You can make a rabbit out of them," Patton said. "We like playing with our food. We have always said that playing with your food is good." Flavors include Cheddar Chia Veggie, Garden Ranch, Sweet Maple Carrot and Cinnamon Sweet Potato Graham. They're packaged in a multi- pack box with five packs per box that retails for $4.99. Each pack inside is individually nutrition-labeled, and it's one serving. Bitsy's Smart Cookies are shaped like letters of the alphabet. "People like to spell out words with them," Patton said. They're offered in Sweet Potato Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Orange Beet and Gingerbread Zucchini Carrot flavors. They're sold in a resealable 5-ounce gus- set bag that retails for $4.99. Bitsy's Good Cookies is the newest addition to the line. These are round cookies stamped with inspirational messages that appeal to both children and adults. They are offered in the same flavors as the Smart Cookies. "These cookies have a message about the lexi- con that all of us want kids to have," Patton said. "'Believe,' 'Teamwork,' 'Make a wish,' 'Do great things,' 'Love,' 'Be a friend.' We went back to our network of teachers, put out a survey and asked kids to vote on dif- ferent phrases. Then we ana- lyzed that data across differ- ent age groups and deter- mined the ones that resonated with different age groups, the messages that resonated across the age groups." "Bitsy's is an organic family food brand that started with kids," she contin- ued. "It has broadened. We started very focused on just kids, but we realized that more age groups were eating our prod- ucts.... We had a huge part of our con- sumer base that were older eating our alphabet cookies. We wanted to stay true to brand and stay educational and playful and creative, but also have broad age- appeal." Bitsy's Good Cookies are packaged as a multipack of five snack packs that retails for $4.99. Each cookie within a package has a different saying. "You have a little bag of inspiration," Patton said. All of the products have national dis- tribution, including Whole Foods and Sprouts. The company is based in New York and Atlanta, Georgia. Choice Market Announces Disruptive Convenience Store Format with Autonomous Checkout Denver, Colorado-based Choice Market has announced plans for a disruptive, multi-modal convenience store format on the site of a former restaurant on Colfax Avenue. Choice combines the operating hours, store size, and transaction times of a traditional convenience store with the product selection of a natural grocery and fast casual restaurant. The new format, which will open during the second half of 2019, will include a 2,700 square foot Choice Market as well as fuel pumps, electric vehicle supercharging, bike share termi- nal, electric scooter charging stations, and solar collection on the canopy. Customers will have the option to skip the checkout process, order and pay ahead via the Choice Mobile App, or they can check out as they normally would at any other store. "There's nothing more valuable than our customer's time and we are really excited to offer this new format which allows them to combine several different shopping occasions in one stop, while providing them the option to skip the checkout process all together," said Mike Fogarty, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Choice Market. "If customers cannot make it to the store, we will deliv- er any of our products to their doorstep within 45 mins. That is true conven- ience." To enable the autonomous checkout, Choice has partnered with AVA Retail, which uses artificial intelligence, com- puter vision and internet of things to track customer's purchases within the store. This platform uses far less hard- ware and infrastructure than other com- petitors while still leveraging the power- ful Microsoft Azure cloud. "Real convenience is what Choice Market is doing using our technology – offering their customers a truly automat- ed experience," says AVA Chief Executive Officer Atul Hirpara. "Retail is undergoing a major transformation. With the power of AVA's technology, Choice Market is pioneering this transforma- tion!" Choice currently has one location open in downtown Denver and a second store which is under construction and will open in the second quarter of 2019 in south Denver. With the upcoming changes to liquor laws, Choice will also be one of the first companies in Colorado to offer delivery of prepared foods, gro- ceries, and full strength beer in one trans- action. To help facilitate this growth, Choice has hired industry veteran John Varsames as the Chief Operating Officer. Varsames has more than 30 years of experience with opening and operating natural gro- ceries, including leadership positions at Wild Oats, Whole Foods and Alfalfas. For this project, Choice has part- nered with local developer St. Charles Town Company, which has a long history of adaptive reuse and urban revitalization in the Denver area. "A contemporary, fresh, and local market will fill a huge void in this dense part of the city. It has been nearly two decades since we had Wild Oats next door to this site," said Charlie Woolley, Principal at St. Charles Town Company. "We are pleased to part- ner with Choice to bring fresh food and innovation to the neighborhood."