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GOURMET NEWS APRIL 2017 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 5 HowGood Raises $4.2 Million Series A Financing HowGood, a leading consumer data com- pany and developer of the world's largest database of sustainable food and consumer products ratings, has closed a $4.2 million round of Series A financing, from investors FirstMark Capital, Contour Venture, Seri- ous Change LP, Great Oaks Venture, High Line Venture Partners and individual in- vestors Jake Lodwick and Joanne R. Wil- son. Humanity United, a foundation dedicated to bringing new approaches to global problems and advocate for labor rights, also joins the round. The funding will help grow the breadth and depth of product information available to consumers, including rollout into key vertical areas such as personal care and household items. In addition, HowGood will continue its growth trajectory among major supermarket chains nationwide. HowGood has developed the world's largest database of sustainable food rat- ings, including an in-store rating system that identifies industry leaders in the food system. HowGood is currently the only company that rigorously researches the goodness of food products based on mul- tiple metrics and highlights those ratings for consumers at the point of purchase. With more than 70 industry-specific indi- cators per food item, from ingredient sourcing to labor practices, the organiza- tion has rated more than 200,000 prod- ucts. "There is a fundamental trend towards sustainable consumer products," said Rick Heitzmann, Founder and Managing Direc- tor of FirstMark Capital. "The food and beverage industry is a $600 billion indus- try; 83 percent of Americans consider sus- tainability when buying food and 21st century customers are not only extremely focused on quality, but also how their food and consumer goods are produced. We continue to be impressed by HowGood for their proprietary data, technology, and commitment to building a sustainable food system. We believe they are uniquely posi- tioned to capture this market with a simple system that consumers cannot find else- where." HowGood recently announced a partner- ship with Giant Food of Landover, Mary- land, a division of the Ahold-Delhaize Company. While HowGood is already available in 27 states, this partnership brings the company's central mission to a new region. With this partnership, How- Good's simple, accessible rating system will reach more Americans, making it easier for consumers to identify authentic brands they can trust, and in turn, support an overall better food system. "We've spent the last few years honing not only our data but also educating con- sumers on why these ratings matter," said Alexander Gillett, CEO and founder of HowGood. "While many are concerned for the impact our food system makes on the planet, many shoppers get to the shelf and quickly realize there is rarely any informa- tion that evaluates food products based on sustainability. HowGood changes that. The funding allows us to not only expand our operations, but also serves as a testament to the range of businesses that value a sus- tainable food system." HowGood has rated more than 200,000 products, with only 5 percent of the in- dustry earning the highest rating. The in- store ratings can be found on the shelves of hundreds of stores across 26 states and are also accessible via iTunes and Google Play. GN Ice Cream: Food Retail's Private Label Playground Ice cream is among the largest supermarket food categories, one of only 10 with double digit billion dollar sales, according to mar- ket research publisher Packaged Facts in the report "Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts in the U.S., 9th Edition." Given the high standing of ice cream among the food categories in retail groceries, it isn't surprising that store brand/private label products are so prominent, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all frozen dessert sales, packaged and novelties combined, and as much as half the sales in the sherbet/sor- bet/water ice category. Another reason for re- tailers to want private label ice creams is that ice cream is an expensive category for retail stores, as it must be kept frozen, and a lot of space must be given over to the category in order to keep up with the plethora of ice cream brands and varieties that consumers want to choose among. Sales of private label frozen desserts have grown steadily over the last couple of decades. In recent years, about two/thirds of consumers have come to accept that pri- vate label frozen desserts are equal in qual- ity to name brand frozen desserts. This perception is based in reality, as private label frozen desserts have been on a steady rise in terms of quality over the past three decades. The starting point was the explosion in quality among branded frozen desserts marked by the expansion of super-pre- mium ice cream sales and a burst of activity in the premium category. Economy and regular ice creams lost ground as con- sumers started buying the super-premium options. As a result, private label frozen desserts, which accounted for a lot of the low-end activity, were being squeezed out of the market. Viewing the success of pre- mium products, retailers opted to get on the bandwagon, and the improvement of private label frozen desserts was underway. Unsurprisingly, frozen desserts weren't the only food category in which this trend was taking place. Across the board, private label products were being upgraded as con- sumers shifted from a purely lowest price approach to shopping to a price/value ap- proach which weighed significantly in the acceptance of the new, upgraded, private label products. Also becoming a factor in private label sales increases for frozen desserts and other foods was the expansion of upscale, specialty and natural food retail chains, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, which actively promote their store brands as top quality offerings as good as any branded products, with the same fla- vors that are trending as consumer fa- vorites, as for example with Whole Foods Caramel and Sea Salt "Authentic Italian" Gelato. Looking ahead, there are good reasons to believe that private label ice creams and other frozen desserts will continue to gain market share. Retailers are expanding their offerings with more organic and natural products as well as jumping on the clean label bandwagon with products positioned for their absence of artificial ingredients. And they are continuing to match the branded products in terms of popular fla- vor trends as they emerge, whether it's Peanut Butter and Jelly from Wegman's or Birthday Cake from HEB. GN

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