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GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2017 www.gourmetnews.com NATURALLY HEALTHY 1 6 Premium Brands Continued from PAGE 1 of General Mills, and it's currently register- ing "off-the-charts" growth with its Kale Chips and now its Beet Chips, said Beth Hackford, the company's Natural Foodser- vice Sales Manager. "People are looking for healthier snack options," she said. "We've been embraced [by the convenience chan- nel]. All different sizes of retailers have been coming by." She added that conven- ience stores are now looking to appeal to customers who read the backs of packages. Those include Millennial shoppers, who are now reaching the age at which they have small children, and consumer pack- aged goods companies like Rhythm Super- foods are ready and eager to step up to meet the needs of those customers with package sizes that suit their snacking habits at a price point that works for them. For in- stance, Rhythm Superfoods developed its new smaller grab-and-go bag particularly for sale at a friendlier price point. The new grab-and-go sizes retail for $2.49, with the Beet Chips packaged as a 0.6-ounce bag and the Kale Chips packaged with 0.75 ounce in the bag. Convenience stores are seeing traffic from customers who are familiar with the premium brand from their regular grocery stores, and they're just as willing to buy it in a convenience store, said Kelly Botten- field, the company's Senior Sales Manager for Retail. Both she and Hackford say that convenience store chains are coming to them asking for products be- cause they recognize the brand and are looking for healthier op- tions that will attract the cus- tomers they want, which definitely includes those Millen- nials who are stopping in for snacks that they can feel good about giving to their small chil- dren. Volpi brought its Roltini, mozzarella cheese and pro- sciutto rolls either with or with- out basil and, at 8-ounces, big enough to make a full meal serving or to slice for a party appetizer. Roltini Singles, which are snack-size portions, are offered in Moz- zarella and Spicy Salame, Moz- zarella and Pepper- oni and Mozzarella and Prosciutto va- rieties packaged in 12-count boxes. Aunt Butchies of Brooklyn was at the show to offer up a taste of New York for the freezer case with its Cheesecake Cones. In Brooklyn, Aunt Butchies is a bak- ery and restaurant named after the mother of Owner Frank Santo, who said that since his own child- hood nickname was "Stinky," which wasn't suitable for a restaurant, he borrowed his mother's fam- ily nickname instead. "It's an Italian family. Every- body has a nickname," he said. Aunt Butchies has been in business for 24 years, starting out as a bakery making cheese- cakes and carrot cakes before expanding into foodservice. "In the last couple of years, we started thinking about making things no one else was making," Santo said. The bakery tried out the Cheesecake Cone in its retail store, where it performed well, and is now looking to launch it nationally. The Cheesecake Cone is a unique product, like a cross between a can- noli, an ice cream cone and a cheesecake. The cone is an made from almonds, butter and sugar, and it's filled with New York- style cheesecake. It's packaged individually for sale from the freezer case, and it's de- signed to be eaten frozen. Each 4-ounce cone retails for $2.99 to $3.29. Family-owned Ozery Bakery, which started out as a Toronto, Canada, cafe and pita baker, brought its Morning Rounds ® to the show as well as snack compo- nents and crackers. The Muesli Morning Rounds Single-Serve complements the brand's top-selling full-size product line, Morning Rounds, a line of toastable fruit and grain breakfast buns, which in- cludes flavors such as Cranberry Or- ange, Apple Cin- namon, Cinnamon & Raisin and Date & Chia. The new item is conveniently packaged as a single serv- ing and contains five grams of protein per serving with no artificial preservatives or flavors. All Ozery Bakery products are free from genetically modified organisms, arti- ficial preservatives, colors and flavors and are prepared with whole grains. Old Croc, makers of Australian cheddar cheese, is dipping its toes into the conven- ience market with 3/4-ounce packages of its Sharp Cheddar wrapped for individual sale and branded as Croc Bites. Old Croc cheese is grass-fed and non-GMO, and Croc Bites are also packaged in eight-count bags. The single-serving packages retail for 79 to 99 cents. For the cheese case, Old Croc is intro- ducing bold flavored cheddars in 6 to 7- ounce cuts. The company swept the flavored cheese category at the 2017 U.S. Cheese Championships with best of class, second award and third award wins. The new flavors include Bacon & Jalapeno, Chipotle & Onion, Horseradish and Roasted Garlic & Herb. The 7-ounce cuts retail for $5.99. Old Croc is distributed in the U.S. by Trugman-Nash, LLC. Out on the show's main exhibit space, there were a few other familiar names that are very experienced at selling into the con- venience channel. Among them, KIND, which is moving into the breakfast space with a couple of product lines, including Pressed by KIND, which are bars that offer a full serving of fruit in two varieties: Dark Chocolate Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Banana. KIND is packaging them in 12-bar boxes for retail sale. KIND is also offering KIND Breakfast Protein bars, each of which offers 8 grams of protein in a 210-calorie serving of two bars. The KIND Breakfast Protein bars are offered in Crunchy Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate Nut, Dark Chocolate Cocoa and Almond Butter varieties, and they're pack- aged as eight two-bar packs. Loacker was exhibiting at the NACS Show for its fourth year, according to Loacker Vice President of Marketing and Deputy to the President Crystal Black-Davis. "We entered the convenience trade channel two years ago, and we entered with a bang in 7-Eleven," she said. Loacker has responded to the market with different formats and package sizes, but the cookies inside are still the same snacks fa- miliar to Fancy Food Show attendees. "To have a brand like Loacker enter into this trade class with a better-for-you indulgence option means that there's no question why we're per- forming as well as we are," Black-Davis said. She agrees that convenience stores are seeing more nutrition-conscious customers who will buy products made with high-qual- ity ingredients wherever they find them. "If you're going to snack, snack well," summa- rizes that philosophy, she said. Loacker's 37.5 gram Cocoa & Milk Rasp- berry Yoghurt Wafer packs and 4.4-ounce bags of Quadratini are both doing well in the con- venience channel because they're a better-for- you snack option, Black-Davis said. "We don't compromise on taste, so the indulgence factor is still very prevalent," she said, pointing to a new 54-gram chocolate bar, the Chocolate Creme Napolitaner, which includes hazelnuts as well as a wafer leaf inside each bar. "We offer a premium snack item, and we don't abandon our company DNA, which is the wafer." GN My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream Goes for the Grab My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream, a line of pop- pable and delicious frozen snacks, has moved beyond the freezer aisle and into the bakery and prepared meals sections of su- permarkets throughout the country. My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream is now available in its signature self-serve My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream Bars in select Wegmans, Safeway, Kroger, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Pavil- ions, Vons and other fine stores. My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream is made for the grab-and-go lifestyle. Handheld and portable, My/Mo has brought mochi ice cream to the masses and provides con- sumers bite-sized snacks to enjoy at any time. My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream's colorful and vibrant look and style appeals to the need for creating experi- ences and sharing "Insta- grammable" moments. "As we continue to fill the needs of hun- gry consumers, making mochi ice cream accessible throughout the shopping expe- rience was a natural progression for us," said Craig Berger, CEO of My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream. "Retailers are also enjoying this new revenue source as the supermarket landscape contin- ues to evolve." My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream is available na- tionwide in retail packs of six and in bulk through its signature self-serve My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream Bars. Made with a scoop of premium ice cream wrapped in pillowy, sweet rice dough, it offers a fun, portable, hand-held eating experience. Each bite- sized snack contains 110 calories and it is available in a variety of flavors including Sweet Mango, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cook- ies & Cream, Double Chocolate, Green Tea, Salted Caramel, Island Coffee, Vanilla Bean, and Ripe Strawberry. GN

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