Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/679179
R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s Tu e s d a y, M a y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 1 0 2 about creating scrumptious, hearty snacks using the kind of authentic, iden- tifiable ingredients you would find in a farmer's pantry. Every snack is lovingly crafted from some combination of meats, grains and vegetables — all sourced on American Farms. This is not just a new food idea — it's a snack revolution! Farmer's Pantry is debuting two snack lines that truly push the boundaries of what snacks can be: Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps and Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks. Both snack lines are designed to feed a hungry nation, which is fast moving away from the traditional "3 meals a day" routine. "Americans are working longer hours and commuting more, so each snack is munchable, portable and totally delicious," said Josh Chaitovsky, Co- Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Farmer's Pantry. "Farmer's Pantry Snacks are very relevant for today's hard- working Americans, and they are also highly distinctive as no one else in the marketplace is offering these kinds of products. In fact, there are no other corn- bread crisps or meal snacks available to consumers." "Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps and Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks are truly the best thing since sliced bread," added Chaitovsky. "We believe that it's high-time for snacks to be wholesome, substantial, made from natural ingredi- ents and delicious. We also believe that to be truly sustainable, we must also pledge to give back to our American farmers and Americans in need by supporting impor- tant charitable organizations such as Veterans Farm, Farm Aid and The FamilyFarms Charities." Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps are made from 100 percent American farm-grown corn, and they're always baked, not fried. These are not tortilla Farmer's P antry (C o nt'd. fro m p. 1 ) chips. The company has transformed freshly baked cornbread or corn muffins into convenient, crunchy, mouthwater- ing crisps for a taste so delicious con- sumers will be instantly hooked! Cornbread Crisps come in three flavors: Original, Jalapeño and Honey-Butter. Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps are available in two sizes: six-ounce bags of regular size Cornbread Crisps and two- ounce bags of bite-sized Cornbread Crisps. Perfect for supermarkets, mass market retailers, airport stores and con- venience stores, Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps are available in 12 per case, and will retail in the $3.99 range for six-ounce bags, and under $2.00 for two-ounce bags. Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks are a true revolution in snacking. They were developed with proprietary natural spices and a proprietary slow cooking method for the beef, chicken and turkey, blended together with slow roasted, hearty and crunchy vegetables in an innovative double-pouched bag. Each meal snack is inspired by traditional American recipes such as: Herb Roasted Turkey with veggies, cranberries and stuffing; Flame Grilled Chicken with slow roasted corn; Garden Harvest Chicken with vegetables; and Mesquite BBQ Beef with roasted corn, and toma- toes. Every bite of Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks is not only satisfying for the fla- vor and crunch, but also for the fact that they provide a substantial serving of veggies and protein! Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks have a suggested retail price of $5.99, weigh 2.5-ounces, and are packed in an eight pack case. They are perfect for supermarkets, mass mar- ket retailers, airport stores and conven- ience stores. For more information go to www.farmers pantry.farm. Visit Farmers Pantry at the Sweets & Snacks Expo at booth #6402. SPECIALTY FOOD PRODUCER HIGH ON HEMP By Greg Gonzales When it comes to hemp-based foods, no company has been as close to the frontier as Manitoba Harvest. With its beginnings in the legalization of hemp in Canada, the company focuses on providing quality hemp foods and consumer education, and incorporates sustainability and forward thinking into its daily operations. After hemp foods helped him lose weight and gain energy as a teen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Mike Fata started Manitoba Hemp Alliance, a pro-hemp advocacy group that helped legalize hemp in Canada. Once the legis- lation passed in 1998, he and his partners began Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods, helping to open the doors to an entirely new market and set the standard for the industry. Manitoba Harvest products are all made from hemp hearts. These shelled hemp seeds have a somewhat nutty fla- vor, rich and creamy with a taste like sun- flower seeds or pine nuts, and the versa- tility of the food makes it an easy addi- tion to lax and rigorous diets, and every- where beyond and between. Manitoba Harvest raw hemp hearts and hemp oil can be added to cereals, ice cream and salads. And the hemp heart bars make a convenient and healthy snack for kids, commuters, hikers or anyone on the go. The bars come in chocolate, vanilla and apple-cinna- mon flavors to please multiple palates. Food sourcing can get difficult when finding a seller, with a lot of questions about qual- ity, contamination and farming practices, but Manitoba Harvest is the largest verti- cally integrated hemp foods producer. The company grows, manufactures and sells its own product lines, so it has con- trol over product quality from seed to shelf and is the largest hemp seed con- tractor worldwide. In 2012, the compa- ny's manufacturing facility received British Retail Consortium's Global Standards Certification, and the products are also certified organic, GMO-free and all-natural. The company is also a certified B Corporation, mean- ing Manitoba Harvest is held to higher standards of social and environmental perform- ance, along with transparency and accountability. The buzz around hemp- based foods has been about their dense nutritional value, along with taste. A sin- gle 30-gram serving provides 10 grams of plant protein, 10 grams of omegas and only three grams of carbohydrates. Hemp hearts also provide iron and vitamin E. Their high nutrition puts them in the superfoods category, even surpassing chia and flax. To learn more about Manitoba Harvest and hemp heart products, go to manitoba harvest.com or call 800.655.HEMP. BEEKMAN 1802 FARM PANTRY GOES ON BEYOND LOCAL By Lorrie Baumann It was 2008, and Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell had a problem, and it was a big one. In 2007, they'd fallen in love with, and then bought, the historic Beekman Mansion and its surrounding farmland in tiny Sharon Springs, New York, about 180 miles north of New York City, intending to use it as a weekend get- away spot. They could afford it then – Ridge was Martha Stewart Omnimedia's Vice President of Healthy Living, and Kilmer-Purcell was a well-paid advertis- ing executive. And then the Great Recession came for them, and both of them lost their jobs. What they had at that point was a farm with a mortgage; not a whole lot of experience in actual farming, although both had grown up in rural America and knew more than many Americans about the intimate connection between food and dirt; their educations; creativity; and the drive to make their situation work. "We were kind of thrust into making the farm work," Ridge said ruefully. Kilmer- Purcell wrote a book that details some of this, "The Bucolic Plague," which became a best-seller on the strength of making it all sound very jolly. They got some goats and started making goat milk soap along with a more experienced farmer that they call Farmer John. They invested the profits from their goat soap business into qualifying as a Grade A dairy, so that they could eventu- ally make and sell cheese. They grew pro- duce and took it to the farmers market. Then in 2012, they took some of their Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, named because the varietal was so delicious that it became known as a sure-fire seller that could help a farmer pay off the mortgage, and turned them into Mortgage Lifter Heirloom Tomato Sauce, and Beekman 1802 Farm Pantry was born. Early on, they dedicated up to 25 percent of the profits from the sauce to help other small farms, through their Mortgage Lifter Program, which assists small family farms with a viable, future-focused, growth-oriented business strategy. The project has raised more than $40,000 so far for small farms. Then Target picked up the sauce, and Ridge and Kilmer-Purcell took to their social media channels to ask people to buy it. It sold out within days. Around the same time, the partners entered and won Season 21 of "The Amazing Race," which enabled them to pay off their mortgage. Target asked for more product. Ridge, Kilmer-Purcell and Beekman 1802 Farm Pantry were on a roll. They were, however, still living in tiny, rural Sharon Springs, New York, among neighbors who didn't have a deal with Target and hadn't won "The Amazing Race." "We live in a very rural communi- ty, so we understood the struggles of small farms in our area," Ridge said. The obstacle between farmers and the grocery store's center aisles is the pro- cessing facility that turns seasonal pro- duce into shelf-stable products that can be offered for sale year-round. "The path for getting a product to the shelf is really convoluted," Ridge said. "Large manu- facturers source ingredients from lots of different places. They source ingredients in vats, and then process and package. We were looking at how to insert the small farm into that process and claim a portion of that $640 billion." Ridge and Kilmer-Purcell went look- ing for existing production facilities with available capacity. They had to be not too small, because Beekman 1802 Farm Pantry had to supply enough product to satisfy Target's demand for national distri- bution. But they also had to be not too big, because Ridge and Kilmer-Purcell never lost sight of their idea that this was about a mission to help their neighbors, and they wanted to do business with man- ufacturers that would share that mission. "We feel like there's a bigger mission to what we're trying to accomplish, and accomplishing that mission requires the neighbors," Ridge said. "We're trying to help support as many craftspeople and entrepreneurs and local economies as possible and to figure out how to get the small farmer greater representation in the middle aisles of the grocery store." Target launched 48 Beekman 1802 Farm Pantry products in November exclu- sively at 250 Super Target stores and 650 Target Pfresh stores nationwide. The prod- ucts rolled out to an additional 500 Target Pfresh stores in January. The range includes salsas, salad dressings, cooking sauces, condiments, baking mixes and seasoning blends. All products either con- tain ingredients sourced from small farms, are organic, GMO-free or a combination of the three. "We're still a small goat dairy in upstate New York. That's still our story and we're just really passionate about helping other small farms tell that story as well, Ridge said. "They're trying to save their own farms. We're also invested in telling that story. That story is our story. So many companies try to tell an all-natu- ral farming story."