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News & Notes BRIEFS GOURMET NEWS APRIL 2020 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 6 Integrated Fresh Solutions Names Matt Christ VP, Business Development NFRA Report Shows Power of Frozen and Dairy Departments The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) has released its State of the Industry Report providing broad-based insights that show how the frozen and refrigerated foods categories attract shoppers, drive shopping trips, build shopping basket dollars and deliver sales. Today's frozen and dairy departments are clearly connecting with shoppers showing combined sales of $125 billion in the 52 weeks ending June 29, 2019. Nearly every U.S. household buys from the frozen and dairy departments annually, and the diverse appeal of these products crosses generational, multicultural and socio-economic demographics. NFRA's complete 400+ page 2019 State of the Industry Report is free to NFRA members as a benefit of membership. The NFRA 2019 State of the Industry Executive Summary is available to the public. Kroger Named Top Corporation for Women- Owned Businesses For the sixth consecutive year, The Kroger Co. has been named one of America's Top Corporations for Women's Business Enterprises by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council. The annual list honors corporations that have established a sustained commitment to the inclusion of women-owned businesses in their supply chains. Instacart Introduces New Virtual Community for Shoppers Instacart has launched Shop Talk, the new virtual community for Instacart shoppers. Shop Talk is a virtual community that brings shoppers and the company together, providing a space for open conversation, discussion, sharing, and learning. Within Shop Talk, shoppers will be able to discuss anything related to Instacart, whether they are new to the platform and want advice from more seasoned shoppers, have questions about how to address unique situations, or want to share their experiences with fellow shoppers. Along with discussion opportunities, shoppers can also leave direct feedback about the Shopper app. The ideas that receive enough upvotes from the community will be presented directly to the Instacart team on a quarterly basis for consideration to be incorporated into the Shopper app. KeHE Distributors & Northwest Grocers Ink Deal KeHE Distributors has been selected by Washington-based Northwest Grocers (NWG) as its primary distribution partner for natural, organic, and specialty products. More than 90 independent neighborhood grocery retailers across Oregon, Washington, Alaska and northern California make up the member-owned organization focused on supporting and growing independent grocery retailers. The four-year deal allows NWG members to leverage KeHE's national scale. Matt Christ has been promoted to the role of Vice President of Business Devel- opment for Integrated Fresh Solutions. In this new position, Christ will be respon- sible for the sales, growth and marketing of both Kool Logistics and Fresh-Link Produce. "Christ's dedication to our company and his continued efforts to grow our business and improve our customer relations has been invaluable," says Garry Rowe, IFS President and Chief Executive Officer. "His dedication to Kool and Fresh-Link, as well as his leadership throughout the company has made Christ instrumental in the suc- cess of the Integrated Fresh Solution's fam- ily of companies and the right fit for this new VP position." Coming from a background in trans- portation sales, Christ first joined Kool Lo- gistics in 2019 as the director of business development and helped to open a Kool Logistics office in Los Angeles, California. Kool has established itself as one of the pre- mier West Coast transportation providers, specifically dedicated to LTL and FTL pro- duce transportation. During this time, Christ grew to serve as a leader at Kool, helping to spearhead both local and na- tional programs. "I could not be happier or more excited with this opportunity! It will be great to in- troduce customers to the full extent of serv- ices that the Integrated Fresh Solution's family of companies have to offer," Christ said. New Jersey-based Integrated Fresh So- lutions is the parent company of Fresh- Link Produce, LLC, a produce sourcing company; and a third-party transporta- tion provider under the LLC, Kool Logis- tics. IFS handles all backroom activities for the two organizations, including ac- counting, leases, legal and human re- sources. GN vegetables rather than protein isolates that have been processed with preservatives, ad- ditives and fillers into something that sug- gests meat-like texture and flavor. "Consumers should not be told that fake foods are any better for you than real whole plant-based foods or the meat products they're re- placing," he said. "Our feeling at Saf- fron Road is that clean foods, plant- based or not – and certainly plant-based – should not contain highly-processed in- gredients with com- plex, alien names." While those ingredients are certified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as safe to consume, "safe" doesn't mean "healthy," Durrani insists. "The promotion of them being healthy or natural is not yet factually proven.... Everybody's spidey- sense around transparency should be on alert." Instead, Saffron Road is reaching into the culinary traditions of vegetarian cuisine and into frozen entrees that include meat but are made with transparently sourced, clean ingredients and traditional recipes. "Our vegetarian prod- ucts at Saffron Road have found a sweet spot for discerning consumers that are looking for a healthier vegetarian diet," Dur- rani said. "Our brand promise at Saffron Road is always to go that extra mile in terms of culinary ex- cellence and clean-label foods." The new Chickpea Masala is packed in a pouch and sold from the grocer's shelf. The meal serves two and is prepared by heating it for 60 seconds. "We use very high quality, premium-quality, authentically sourced in- gredients like non-GMO chickpeas," Dur- rani said. "Everything we do is made in small batches, not highly processed." The Chickpea Masala is so deli- cious that it has be- come the Saffron Road staff 's top choice for their own consumption, he said. The Delhi Pota- toes are a tradi- tional Indian vegetarian dish known as Aloo Mattar in India. Like the Chickpea Masala, it's ready in just 60 seconds and non-GMO verified. "It's like a comfort food. It's wonderful either for lunch or for dinner," Durrani said. "These are clean-label plant-based pro- tein foods that have been sourced from clean whole plant-based protein – and are made using the most traditional, au- thentic recipes." Saffron Road's new frozen entrees in- clude its recently launched Madras Curry with Meatballs in addition to the Thai Red Curry Chicken with Jasmine Rice; and Thai Basil Noodles with Grass-fed Beef. The company will also soon be introducing a Coconut Curry. "I think that's is going to do extremely well," Durrani said. Those new products will begin shipping to retail- ers in May. With the new Shawarma Chicken with Lentil Rice, Saffron Road is venturing into Middle Eastern cuisine, a decision that Durrani said was based on consumer inter- est in that cuisine. "It's a shawarma-style chicken with lentil rice. It's really amazing," he said. "That's going to be our debut into the Middle Eastern sector in terms of frozen entrees, so we're pretty excited about that." GN Saffron Road Continued from PAGE 1 enthusiasm for the plant-based meat alter- natives that have come onto the market over the past year or two, and according to Deloitte, a large number of companies are now investing heavily in acquiring and cre- ating new products and brands that will ap- peal to the surging consumer demand for plant-based products. Saffron Road Chief Executive Officer Adnan Durrani says that you can count him and Saffron Road out of the rush to create plant-based products designed to mimic meat and dairy. He points out that although the market for vegan and plant- based products is growing at a fast clip, those products still represent less than 1 percent of the frozen meals segment in the American market overall. Although the plant-based meals category grew by 6 per- cent last year – "a good number," Durrani admits, that still represents only $387 mil- lion in sales, compared to the $40 billion frozen meat entree market. "So it still is a drop in the bucket, and even if it grows 500 percent, it's still a drop in the bucket," he said. He suspects that the current market en- thusiasm for the plant-based meat alterna- tives that he calls "fake" may run into a ditch once consumers start asking more ques- tions about them. Durrani points out that the veg- etable-based meat substitutes are ac- tually made from protein compo- nents isolated from the vegeta- bles in which they originated, and he sus- pects that human beings will find that their nutrition is better served by eating whole

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