Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2019 www.gourmetnews.com NATURALLY HEALTHY 1 4 Wild Planet Foods, the leading provider of sustainable seafood, is expanding its line of ultra-premium wild tuna with the release of its new Skipjack Wild Tuna in Pure Olive Oil and Petite Tonno Wild Tuna in Pure Olive Oil. This is the company's first-ever Petite Tonno offering. Hand-packed in pure olive oil, these solid fillets of tuna can be served atop salad, in a favorite pasta dish or in a sand- wich for a flavor-packed treat. At 170 calo- ries per 3-ounce serving for the Petite Tonno and 200 calories per 3-ounce serv- ing for the Skipjack, these nutrient-rich items feature 22 grams and 20 grams of protein respectively. Both new products are gluten free and certified by the Non-GMO Project as well. The Skipjack Wild Tuna is sustainably pole and line caught near Cape Verde, and the Petite Tonno Wild Tuna is sourced in the same region by purse seine fishing vessels that do not use FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices). Both of these methods are in line with the best practices for sustain- ability recommended by a consensus of en- vironmental groups, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. Both products are available in 6.7-ounce glass jars with 1.5 servings per jar (drained). Each has a suggested retail price of $6.99. GN Wild Planet Foods Releases Tuna in Glass Jars Vegan Rob's Pioneers Snacks as Sensory Stimulus est dollar growth over the past year. Ehrlich has been thinking about the manifold benefits of snack foods and the psychology of crunch for more than 30 years. He founded the Pirate's Booty brand in 1986, left that behind in 2013 after the company was sold to B&G Foods, and im- mediately started thinking again about what drew consumers to the snack food aisles of their grocery and convenience stores and how he could make snacks that would capitalize on consumer desires for a little more crunch and flavor with a bit less salt and sugar and an ingredient deck that could wear a halo. As he looked around him at the world he saw almost 30 years after he'd begun build- ing a brand based on puffs made of corn, rice and cheese, Ehrlich had his feelers out – he prides himself on a unique talent for sensing trends and finding ways to act on those intuitions. Corn had lost favor since it had become ubiquitous in the American food chain, but Ehrlich thought he could find another grain that could be puffed and could be produced with less water and en- ergy than corn could claim. What's more, he could be nimble in a way that a big cor- poration committed to corn could not be. "We kind of had a feeling – the non-GMO, gluten free, plant-based craze was starting in 2012," he said. "To me, it's an everyday event to seek out new paths for food and nutrition." As he considered the spectrum of con- sumers who were driven by those concerns, he saw the vegans at one end, a small fringe group of consumers as sheer numbers went, but a group comprised of passionate advocates for causes with emotional reso- nance among their peers – people who'd re- spond to the appeal of snack foods with righteous ingredients, real flavors and the satisfaction and comfort of a crunch. Veg- anism still carried a bit of a stigma in those days, but Ehrlich thought the times would move past that, and attitudes would soften – he decided to brand his new snack line with a name and colorful packaging that wore the title with pride: Vegan Rob's, and sell it to consumers who fancied the idea of becoming a vegan – even if only until they'd reached the bottom of their bag of snack puffs. "We're not trying to be any- thing but transparent in our attempt to modernize the snack as a therapy tool, not just a frivolous meal replacement, but something that's much mre than that for consumers," Ehrlich said. "The big compa- nies don't seem to get it, but we do. When you buy a product, you're buying it for a reason. Sometimes it's to calm you, some- times to make you feel important. There's a sociology to consumerism." Ehrlich easily embraces the contradic- tions between lofty abstraction and the concrete realities of selling snack foods in a crowded conventional marketplace. He's now making his Vegan Rob's products in six plants in the U.S. and three in the U.K. and selling them around the world. Prod- ucts sold in the United States are made do- mestically with ingredients sourced in the U.S., while the U.K. plants make chips and puffs for sale in Britain, the European mar- ket and elsewhere. He's taken the brand from the co-ops and independent natural foods stores where he started out into mainstream channels with products like the 2019 sofi Award-winning Dragon Puffs, whose flavor starts smoky and spicy and finishes cool. "It takes you on a journey," Ehrlich said. "Once that cool is gone, you need another bite.... Smoky's hot now." His love of that kind of contradiction is evident, too, in the Burger Puffs he launched at this year's Sweets & Snacks Expo – it's a vegan puffed snack with the flavor of a "flame-broiled" fast food burger. "You can't get any more contradictory than saying 'vegan' and 'burger' on the same package. The flavor makes people think about burgers and the beach, gives the mind a chance to reflect on the memories," Ehrlich said. Burger Puffs came to the Summer Fancy Food Show this year along with Vegan Rob's newest products – canned sorghum potato crisps with probiotics and vegetable seasoning and a popcorn that also offers a vegan collagen derived from sea buckthorn. For the future, Ehrlich is planning to take the Vegan Rob's brand on beyond snack foods and into other lifestyle prod- ucts that share his philosophy of humanity, health and compassion. "We're looking at anything and everything. It's not just snacks that we're involved in, though they've made a nice platform. The bottom line is that we're fun. People are looking for fun these days and not just nutrition. "If you're grateful and humble, that's going to come back to you in so many ways, and that's what's missing in life," he said. "We try to do that here." GN BY LORRIE BAUMANN A snack can be more than just a small meal to stave off hunger when the mid-afternoon doldrums hit hard but there's still work to be done before dinner, says Robert Ehrlich, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Vegan Rob's, his brand of chips, puffs and popcorn, since 2013. Vegan Rob's snacks include Probiotic Dragon Puffs, Brussel Sprout Puffs, Probiotic Cauliflower Puffs, Turmeric Chips, Spinach & Matcha Kettle Chips and Vegan Pop. If the names sound more like "health food" than "junk food," well, that's not an accident. "We are posi- tioned in snack foods, which is the most visible product in any situation of retail and commerce. They're very affordable grab- and-go nutrition with no preparation nec- essary other than opening the bag," he said. "Most people buy snacks for stress and anxiety. They don't buy them because they're hungry. We're on the forefront of creating sensory snacks.... We're onto something huge here. It's a whole new frontier of creating sensory snacks to calm people's nerves and to center them – using techniques of meditation and superfood in- gredients to enhance their lives for the price of a non-GMO, gluten-free and kosher snack bag. You can finish off a bag and not feel guilty." Snack foods are currently among the top categories in retail sales of specialty foods, according to the 2019 State of the Specialty Food Industry report unveiled to the indus- try during the Summer Fancy Food Show. The report also noted that refrigerated and front plant-based meat alternatives were among the top 10 categories with the high- Premium ice cream maker Humphry Slo- combe has once again joined forces with "Top Chef" finalist Melissa King and Whole Foods Market to create a brand new flavor, and the company's first-ever plant-based pint. After much success with the innovative, dairy-free creations offered in its scoop shops, like Per- fectly Imperfect Berry Pie, Cherry Elderflower with Dark Chocolate, and Matcha Lin- gonberry, San Francisco-based Humphry Slo- combe is bringing out its newest creation, plant-based Almond Chocolate Crunch, in pints at Whole Foods Market. The sixth exclusive collaboration flavor from Humphry Slocombe and Whole Foods Market, Almond Chocolate Crunch is available now in more than 150 Whole Foods Market stores in the company's Southern Pacific (California, Arizona, Ne- vada, Texas, Hawaii), Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho), and Rocky Mountains (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico) regions. The specialty flavor is also avail- able in Humphry Slocombe's four Bay Area scoop shops, with pint packages launching for nationwide delivery via Goldbelly. "This isn't pretending to be 'ice cream.' It's its own thing and it's dang good," said Jake Godby, co-Founder and Chef, Humphry Slocombe. Almond Chocolate Crunch is inspired by an almond butter cup, according to Melissa King, a "Top Chef" finalist and Whole Foods Market Chef Ambassador. Almond Chocolate Crunch is made with a dairy-free almond base accented with warm spices, while chocolate flakes and candied almond pieces give it a satisfying crunch. Complex and layered, it tastes like a candy bar for grown-ups. Almond Chocolate Crunch is the latest creative concoction in Humphry Slocombe and Chef Melissa King's popular series of pints launched exclusively at Whole Foods Market. Past flavors include Mango Mojito, Hong Kong Milk Tea, Golden Milk & Gingerbread, Yuzu Cream, and Coconut & Shoyu Caramel. "Humphry Slocombe launched their first-ever packaged pint with Whole Foods Market, so we're delighted that that they're launching their first-ever packaged plant- based pint with us, too," said Patrick Wyman, Local Forager at Whole Foods Market. "We are excited to bring our guests another innovative ice cream creation, es- pecially one that is plant-based." GN Humphry Slocombe Debuts Plant-Based Pints

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