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SNACKING NEWS SAVORY SEE PAGES 12-14 n Fabrique Délices Debuts New Retail Packaging n Eliot's Adult Nut Butters Offer Bold Flavor www.snackingnews.com February 2018 Volume 2 • Issue 1 BY ROBIN MATHER The 2018 trends predictions from a variety of sources reveal a fascinating array of opinions about the issues that will drive your customers' purchases this year. "Clean" and "transparency" will con- tinue to be consumer buzzwords for 2018. Manufacturers are updating their packag- ing to look as clean as the ingredients in- side, and customers are increasingly seeking more knowledge about the foods they eat. They want to know how those foods are produced, so "non-GMO certi- fied," "fair trade certification," and details about animal welfare and sustainable pro- duction are helpful on labels. Making Transparency a Governing Principle EPIC Provisions takes clean and Making Rustic European-Style Cheeses in Fresh American Ways BY ROBIN MATHER For Ann Arbor, Michigan, resident Coco Vance, developing a passion for Ann Arbor's Zingerman's Creamery cheeses was almost a foregone conclusion. "I take classes at Zingerman's Bakeshop, which is just a few doors down from the Cream Top Shop," she said of the Creamery's retail shop. "My favorite thing there is the pimento cheese, and I buy it a few times a year." The Creamery is part of the Zingerman's family of businesses, all springing from the original Zingerman's Delicatessen Continued on Page 6 Country Archer Positions its Meat Snacks as Paleo Perfect BY ROBIN MATHER Stopping at a roadside stand on their way to the Grand Canyon in 1977, Eugene and Susan Kang discovered Celestino Mirar- chi's clean meat snacks, and the seed for Country Archer Jerky Co. was sown. Mirarchi's extra-lean jerky captivated the couple, and the three quickly became business partners. Based in Southern California, Country Archer says it's the fastest growing jerky brand in the United States. Its savory meat-based snacks are all gluten-free, and free from nitrites, MSG, soy, antibiotic and added hormones. The company chooses Continued on Page 9 Continued on Page 8 Continued on Page 7 BY ROBIN MATHER For Marshall Rader, a 2009 diagnosis of celiac disease meant more than the usual headaches as he tried to eat gluten-free while on the road. "I could be going anywhere from two days to two weeks abroad," he says. "The gluten-free market was in the Stone Age in that time. Finally, I found an acceptable gluten-free bar and used them to subsist while I was on the road. I was eating about four bars a day, and one day, I thought, 'I can do better than this.' I was wanting to use better ingredients." So Marshall, now the CEO of The GFB: The Gluten-Free Bar, persuaded his brother, Elliott, to join him as the Vice- President of Marketing in the company, founded about seven years ago in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of its newest prod- ucts is the Power Breakfast bar, a higher protein oatmeal product "in a cool new package," Marshall says. Its suggested re- tail price is $2.19 to $2.79. The company's other bars have sug- gested retail prices ranging from $1.99 to $2.49, and its Bites line, in larger packag- ing, has suggested retail prices of $4.99 to $5.49. "My dad, when I got home and told him about the diagnosis, said, 'that's not real.' Finally, after several years, he was tested and he has celiac disease, too. He'd been medicating for 40 years for skin issues, and once he stopped eating gluten, his skin issues cleared immediately. So there are four of us in the family, and only one of us can eat gluten." Elliott himself also was subsequently di- agnosed with celiac disease, Marshall Michigan Brothers Turn Health Issue into Business Success What Your Customers Want in 2018 SWEET SEE PAGES 16-18 n Superfood Credentials Butter Chocolate Introductions n Fruit is a Growing Inspiration at Salem Baking Company SWEET SHOTS: Bissinger's SEE PAGE 18 SUPPLEMENT: Special Diet Options SEE PAGE 19 SAVORY SHOTS: SuperSeedz SEE PAGE 14

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