Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2016 www.gourmetnews.com Naturally Healthy NATURALLY HEALTHY 1 3 Barbara's Unveils Fresh Packaging and New Name for Granola Product Line: Better Than Granola Barbara's, the company behind Puffins ce- reals, Snackimals cereals and cookies and more, has unveiled a fresh, new look and name for its former Better Granola line, now called Better Than Granola. The change was inspired by overwhelming con- sumer feedback that Barbara's granola blend offers more than a tradi- tional granola, both in exceptional taste and nutritional benefits. While the new name re- flects a seemingly small change, the impact speaks largely to the line's key differentia- tors, including its stead- fast commitment to creating great-tasting products without com- promising ingredients that appeal to the tastes of both parents and children. The revamped Better Than Granola package design celebrates the rustic na- ture of the product's ancient grains and clean ingredients, with the new Better Than Granola name spotlighted front and center in a classic, sophisticated font that speaks to the simplicity of the naturally wholesome product. Barbara's Better Than Granola will make its debut in stores na- tionwide June 2016 with a suggested retail price of $5.99. "At Barbara's, we're committed to listening to our customers, and recent consumer re- search revealed that our core consumers were experiencing our gra- nola line as uniquely su- perior in both taste and nutritional value to tra- ditional granolas," said Tim Kenney, Director of Marketing at Barbara's. "Our aim with the new name and packaging refresh is to better communicate the authentic taste and nu- tritional cleanliness that Barbara's Better Than Granola has over traditional blends—as it has a larger serving size, is packed with protein, is lower in sugar and fat, and still delivers a delicious, crunchy flavor." The refreshed packaging vividly dis- plays each of the re- spective Better Than Granola flavors – Oats & Honey and Dark Chocolate Cran- berry – overflowing in canning jars. To ele- vate awareness about the ingredients found within Better Than Granola, the front of each box prominently displays each flavor's attributes, noting that Better Than Granola is Non-GMO Project Verified and high in fiber, among other nutritional aspects. With a larger serving size than many other granolas, Barbara's Better Than Granola is a satisfying blend of toasted oat clusters and puffs, almonds, and an- cient grains and seeds such as quinoa and flax seeds, and boasts 9-10 grams of soy-free protein and 6 grams of fiber per serving. The protein-packed Oats & Honey and Dark Chocolate Cranberry flavors both feature a unique proprietary recipe containing less fat and sugar and more protein than other leading gra- nolas. Barbara's Better Than Granola is Non- GMO Project Verified and is packed with 28-30 grams of whole grains and more than 200 mil- ligrams of ALA omega 3s in every two-thirds-cup serving. It is great eaten alone as a snack, with milk, or as a topping on yogurt, smoothie bowls, oatmeal, frozen yogurt and more. For more information about Better Than Granola and other Barbara's prod- ucts, visit the Barbara's website at www.barbaras.com. GN Boulder Organic! Souping It Up in Colorado BY LORRIE BAUMANN Boulder Organic Foods is a fast-growing maker of fresh soups that are sold out of grocers' refrigerated cases. "We started here locally in Boulder [Colorado] in a handful of stores, and today we're in more than 2,000 stores nationwide in pretty much every major market in the country," said CEO Greg Powers. "We are a dedicated or- ganic, gluten free and non-GMO company. Everything we produce reflects those three at- tributes." The company was started just seven years ago by Kate Brown, a single mom who was look- ing for healthier fresh soup op- tions. She made several shop- ping trips to local stores looking for a gluten-free soup brand that would meet her own dietary needs and that would also meet her goals for the food she wanted to give her daughter. When she didn't find any, she decided to make her own. After she began serving her soups to friends and family, one of those friends re- ferred her products to the local Whole Foods store, which asked her to make the soup for sale there. At that point, she put together a business plan and spent a year or two coming up with recipes for commer- cial quantities of her soups and launched her new food business in early 2009. Pow- ers joined the com- pany sev- eral months later. "I joined her having a background in business, and be- tween the two of us, with her passion and talent for c o o k i n g and her skills at coming up with new recipes, and my background in business, we built this company," he said. "We've doubled our size every year since we began. It's fast growth, but it's also thoughtful growth. We've been very sure to keep the same quality, working with many of the same suppliers we worked with when we started years ago." Today, the company makes eight to 12 different soups at any given time – a core set that includes Roasted Tomato Basil, Garden Minestrone, Potato Leek, Red Lentil Dahl and Golden Quinoa and Kale soups, along with a rotating list of seasonal offerings in its SQF level 3 plant in Boulder, Colorado. Three new soups – Tomato Bisque, Broccoli Cheddar and Bacon Potato Corn Chowder – are launch- ing early this month in Target stores. Boulder Organic! packages most of its soups in 24-ounce containers. The serving size is identified as eight ounces, which works when it's served as a side dish, but most people will want a bit more than that if they're eating it as an entree, so in prac- tice, most consumers will regard the 24- ounce container as enough to feed two people, Powers said. For club stores, the 24-ounce containers are bundled into a 2- pack, and Target carries a 16-ounce con- tainer. While some of the Boulder Organic! soups are mostly vegetables with chicken stock in the base, many are vegetarian and a few include animal protein along with the vegetables. The heavy emphasis on vegeta- bles in the ingredient deck is partly a re- sponse to the local market in Boulder, Powers said. "We have a very active veg- etarian community in Boulder. For our little market, it was a good fit. It was a good way to start the company and produce products that would fit with our community." The company maintains its commitment to being a socially responsible woman- owned business, and 2 percent of its pro- duction is donated to a local food bank. "We try to treat all of our employees fairly and we have a very flat organizational structure," Powers said. Employees are paid a living wage, and the company's op- erations are zero waste, with everything that isn't used up being composted or recy- cled. "We're constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental footprint fur- ther," Powers said. "We also take food safety very seriously." GN

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