Oser Communications Group

BY LORRIE BAUMANN Products like the Impossible Burger, which uses soy protein to mimic meat, have turned plant- based foods from a niche alterna- tive into an option that appeals to mainstream consumers, accord- ing to Jim Wisner, President of the Wisner Marketing Group, a consultant with more than 30 years of experience in the food and grocery industries who ad- dressed attendees of the Private Label Manufacturers Associa- tion's annual trade show in No- vember, 2019. He now tracks plant-based foods and the consumers who buy them. "This is only in the last six months that all this has happened," he said, noting that BY LORRIE BAUMANN The creators of Zoup! Good, Re- ally Good Broth have been in the soup business for 21 years. That's how long they've been serving soup to customers at Zoup! restaurants in the northern half of the U.S. and Ontario, Canada. The fast-casual restaurant chain offers a revolving menu of 12 soups a day along with salads, sandwiches and broth and grain bowls and is now serving 1 mil- lion bowls every two weeks. "We're face to face with our cus- tomers, and it is that perspective and related insights that caused us to get into the broth business," Zoup! Readies to Launch New Products Continued on PAGE 7 Continued on PAGE 9 Continued on PAGE 10 said Eric Ersher, Zoup!'s Founder. "We kept hearing that customers couldn't find a broth on super- market shelves that was good enough to drink." Those comments from customers prompted Zoup! to introduce its Good, Really Good ® Broth six years ago, start- ing with Beef and Chicken Bone Broth. Chicken Broth in both regular and low- sodium varieties and Veggie Broth were recently added to the line. They're packaged in glass jars and now sold by more than 7,000 gro- cery stores across the U.S. Sales are continuing to grow by double digits every year, Ersher said. "With our experience in the soup business, we have insights into consumer preferences that we are able to leverage and develop to- ward," he added. Those consumer preferences include desires for healthier food options with vibrant, bigger fla- vors and clean ingredient decks. The Good, Really Good Broths satisfy those desires and are pack- aged to differentiate them from other products on the soup aisle, according to Ersher. "We were the first to come out with broth in glass jars," he said. "We were first for a reason. We knew we had a differentiated product and needed it to stand out on shelves in a different way that IT'SUGAR Opens in American Dream Meat Alternatives Break into the Mainstream consumers can now find plant- based meat alternatives among the offerings at fast-food restau- rants around the country. "We had the opportunity to get involved a few years ago, right be- fore Beyond Meat got launched," he said. "Our assessment at that time was that it was going to be- come either a very large niche or kind of entry-level mainstream. It, quite frankly, has exceeded all that. People have gotten excited about this." Much of today's interest in the plant-based foods market is in meat alternatives rather than in other plant-based categories such as dairy alternatives, even though the dairy alternatives are still a substantially bigger category, Wis- ner said. Growing your own pro- tein has become a theme for many consumers who are seeing their plant-based choices in the context of the dietary regimes and the lifestyle that they've adopted. "That's kind of a shift, really," Wisner said. The market is currently grow- ing by double digits, and is now at about $4.5 billion, for the total U.S. plant-based market, accord- ing to the Good Food Institute, which reported data obtained by SPINS. Dollar sales of plant-based foods grew 11 percent in the past year (ending April 2019) and 31 percent over the past two years. The market for plant-based meats BY LORRIE BAUMANN After an initial market test through online sales in the U.S. last fall, BOS Brands launched its canned iced teas and tea bags at this year's Winter Fancy Food Show and will be rolling the products out to retailers this month. BOS Iced Tea, a lightly sweetened iced tea made from rooibos, launched first in Lemon, Peach, Lime & Ginger, Yuzu and Berry. Consumer testing revealed that consumers like the rooibos teas, but they also wanted op- tions without sugar and with Continued on PAGE 14 BOS Brands Debuts Red Rooibos Teas bubbles, so BOS Brands followed that initial launch in May, 2019 with BOS Sparkling Unsweetened Iced Tea, offered in White Peach & Elderflower, Blueberry & Jas- mine and Pineapple Coconut fla- vors. The teas capitalize on a grow- ing trend in favor of ready-to- drink iced teas and appeal to consumers who have an active lifestyle and are health-conscious. Those consumers are already fa- miliar with, and active consumers of, beverages such as kombucha, sparkling waters and other iced teas, whether that's black, green or white tea, according to Jeff Donaldson, Head of Marketing, USA for BOS Brands. "We get a lot of people who are iced tea drinkers who want something different or healthier or who are trying to stop consumption of other beverages, such as sugared sodas," he said. "Everybody knows of black, green or white tea, but hardly anyone knows about red tea. This is known as a red tea because of the red bush IT'SUGAR, known for its over- the-top sweets, giant candy, and absurdly wonderful sugar cre- ations, opened on Saturday, De- cember 14 in American Dream, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At three stories and over 22,000 square-feet, IT'SUGAR American Dream is the world's first department store of candy. The one-of-a-kind IT'SUGAR store greets visitors with a three- story Statue of Liberty replica covered in more than 1.5 million Jelly Belly beans, symbolizing the freedom to treat yourself. Once inside, customers can explore the first floor's centerpiece, an immer- sive lollipop garden filled with nearly 10,000 lollipops. More than 5,000 square feet of candy bins housing an endless variety of favorite sweets surround the gar- den. The second floor is home to dozens of branded shops, includ- ing Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, Nerds, Starburst, Reese's, Kellogg's, and more. Coming in spring 2020 to IT'SUGAR's third floor will be a new Oreo café con- cept called Oreo TWISTiD. Over- looking American Dream's entertainment atrium, Oreo TWISTiD will provide guests with a view of the DreamWorks Water VOLUME 85, NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2020 n $7.00 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES n Specialty Food Association Honors Industry Leaders PAGE 6 RETAILER NEWS n Local Focus Drives Sales for Chicago's Garden Gourmet PAGE 9 SUPPLIER NEWS n Rose Lemonade Inspired by the Old World PAGE 10 NATURALLY HEALTHY n New Options for Nutrition-Conscious Consumers PAGE 13 SUPPLEMENT n Sustainability PAGE 15 News ..............................................6 Ad Index .......................................22 Calendar.......................................22 G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y ® HOT PRODUCTS: Spread The Love Foods SEE PAGE 20 SUPPLEMENT: Sustainability SEE PAGE 15 NATURALLY HEALTHY: Bison Bites SEE PAGE 13

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