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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 6 National Confectioners Association Honors Select Sweets as Most Innovative New Products at 2014 Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago During the 2014 Sweets & Snacks Expo, which took place May 20-22 in Chicago, the National Confectioners Association bestowed 45 Most Innovative New Prod- uct Award nominations to companies showcasing imaginative ideas, concepts and products in two of the fastest grow- ing categories in the marketplace: con- fectionery and snacks. Nominees for the Most Innovative New Product Awards were chosen by an expert panel that taste-tested more than 280 submissions. Retail and wholesale trade customers then electronically selected one winner in each of the nine categories. Winners of this year's awards included TABASCO Chocolate Bars in the Choco- late category, Jelly Belly Draft Beer Jelly Beans in the Non-chocolate category, Crunchy Coconut Chips' "Show Me the Honey" in the Sweet Snacks category, Slim Chips White Cheddar in the Salty Snacks category, Pop! Gourmet Sriracha Popcorn in the Savory Snacks category, Leaf Brands/Astro Pop, LLC in the Nov- elty/Licensed category, Vigneri Choco- late's Doodle Egg in the Seasonal category, Ripple Brands Collective's Bark Thins Dark Chocolate Toasted Coconuts in the Gourmet/Premium category and Project 7's Coconut Lime in the Gum & Mints category. In addition to the 2014 category winners, the National Confectioners Association also handed out its inaugural Best in Show prize to the product show attendees nomi- nated as the best-of-the-best at the Expo. That honor was given to The Hershey Company's York Minis, which both the panelists and attendees deemed most likely to succeed. Speaking about the drive for innovation, Joe Dutra, President and CEO of Kimmie Candy Company, whose Salted Caramel ChocoRocks were a nominee in the Choco- late category, explained, "Kimmie Candy's product innovation, like everyone's, starts out as an idea, a hunch or a vision. You hope the new product will meet market ac- ceptance, but you're not sure yet. The Most Innovative New Product Award nomina- tion we received from the leaders in the re- tail industry showed us that this product has real potential in the market. Small com- panies need this accolade as motivation to keep moving forward." "The Expo's new product awards pro- gram demonstrates not only the outstand- ing innovation candy and snack makers apply to product development, but also sin- cere understanding of today's consumer," said Phil Lempert, Food Trends Editor for NBC's TODAY Show and panel moderator. "The program is one of the fastest-growing, most popular ones of its kind across a wide variety of consumer products, with submis- sions up nearly 25 percent over last year." "Since the depth, breadth and diversity of overall panel feedback possesses decades of category experience, retail knowledge and consumer trends smarts, panel-se- lected products have all but a guarantee to become best sellers with shoppers in the coming year," Lempert added. The 2015 Most Innovative New Prod- uct Awards will be presented at next year's Sweets & Snacks Expo to be held in Chicago, May 19-21, 2015. For more information, visit www.sweetsand snacks.com. GN Franchising Continued from PAGE 1 enjoy back at home or the office," Scavone said. "Or they're planning an event and they're picking up their order … Our brand is based on creating a consistently happy customer experience. Everything I do is based on replicating 'happy' every single time. It needs to put a smile on their face." Before she launched Sweet Arleen's, Scavone had a 40-year career in the finan- cial services industry. "I'm more of a busi- ness person who's opened a bakery model than a baker who's opened a business," she said. "I always wanted to be in the kitchen. I'm from a big Italian family, and I always raised my kids with home-cooked meals." After a long career in banking and work- ing with businesses on a national scale, Scavone never considered that her own business launch would stay a small opera- tion for long. "It was always part of the plan to have a national footprint and to operate the business on that scale," she said. About two years ago, she decided that the fran- chise model offered her the right opportu- nity to grow her business. "We felt we could attract the most qualified entrepre- neurs and have actual owners [for] our business instead of just staff," she said. "I want to have owners who are not only emotionally engaged but also have a finan- cial investment." Sweet Arleen's generally attracts two kinds of potential franchisees: the transi- tional franchisee who is making a career change and the legacy franchisee who wants to provide a future income for signif- icant others or children. "They can't just hire their children to work with them if they're part of a large corporation, but if they own their own business, they can in- volve their chil- dren in it," she said. Desserts are a particularly hot category for the franchising con- cept, according to Steve Beagelman, CEO of SMB Franchise Advi- sors. Beagelman is a franchise con- sultant who helps e n t r e p r e n e u r s franchise their businesses. One new franchise in the dessert category that Beagelman pointed out as an example of this trend is HipPops, which offers frozen gelato on a stick from a mobile food truck. The family that started HipPops was making a living selling ice cream in malls for years before deciding that they wanted to take their business to more customers, Beagelman said. "They're going to go into the suburbs," he said. "People live in the suburbs and want to have all these prod- ucts offered to them." For the franchisee, franchising presents an opportunity for someone who wants to start a small business but does not know what to do or how to get started, Beagel- man said. He predicts that HipPops and other specialty retail franchises will do well in the upscale suburbs of major urban cen- ters, as the business model offers entrepre- neurs the opportunity to have their own businesses in their own communities but with the training and support of a parent company. "Especially in tough times, peo- ple look toward small business to maintain their own income," he said. "Specialty re- tailing is unique because it's not another burger place. It's something that's a little bit different." Franchising offers the franchisor a chance to expand an existing business be- yond what can be managed without huge amounts of capital and infrastructure. "When you have franchising, it allows you to open in different markets," Beagelman said. "It's hard to operate company-owned units. Not everybody is as well-funded as Chipotle." Franchising also offers those without a great deal of experience in retail an oppor- tunity to make their way into the business. For example, retail experience is not always necessary for a franchisee of the Oil & Vinegar retail company, but the passion for gourmet food is absolutely critical. "We look for food-crazy people who love to talk about recipes, how to use our products and talk about cooking and entertaining in general," said Matt Stermer, Presi- dent of Oil & Vinegar. All of the 15 Oil & Vinegar stores in the United States and the five U.S.-stores that are currently building out and expected to open before the end of the year are franchisee-owned. Oil & Vinegar, offers about 400 different SKUs in product categories ranging from condiments, dried herb mixes, sea salts, pasta and pasta sauces, hot sauces, chut- neys, spreads and jellies to appetizers such as stuffed olives. The company also offers a collection of kitchen accessories and Eu- ropean tabletop items, as well as the oils and vinegars that form the core of the busi- ness. "The wide assortment of products we offer provides our guests an extensive choice for entertaining at home or for gift occasions," said Stermer. "The gourmet gift proposition is a key component of our business model." The Oil & Vinegar franchise requires a total all-in investment in the range of $239,000 to $435,000, with most initial in- vestments averaging in the low $300,000s. The typical location has about 1,000 square feet and is often in an upscale mall or a lifestyle outdoor center, Stermer said. "Tourist traffic is not a requirement, but it helps with the model," he added. Stores in tourist-oriented locations often present shopping opportunities not available where the tourists live. Those customers end up purchasing again online afterward. Of course, the amount of money a prospective franchisee may have to invest in a new business varies, depending on the company. For Sweet Arleen's, an invest- ment in the high $200,000s, depending on real estate cost, translates into a Sweet Ar- leen's hub, which includes the front of the house and full kitchen, and acts as a bakery store, restaurant and distribution center from which additional storefronts (spokes) or a food truck can be supplied. Hubs range around 1,100 to 1,300 square feet and have the capacity to produce over 10,000 cup- cakes a week. Once a franchisee has a hub operation, that hub can distribute to a smaller spoke location that is a retail store- front only and costs only about a third of the cost of the hub location. "For a multi-unit operator, you can have more stores at a significantly reduced ac- quisition cost," Scavone said. "Typically, a multi-unit franchisee has been someone you think of as having a lot of capital. Our owners can add spokes and a food truck at any time." GN

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