Some interesting articles this time caught my attention. A couple different instances of reusing byproducts which I think is good for all of us, but also shows the ingenuity that exists. I find an interest in new ways to use products or their byproducts – like being able to take waste from an ingredient and brewing it could produce a new beverage. Other topics here today include the uptick of private labeling and how retailers are leveraging their private lines. Also crickets.
In London they are taking the by product of brewing coffee, collecting used grounds from coffee shops and from instant coffee production facilities, and extracting the oils from the waste product to make a bio-fuel to run the city’s buses.
(link to engadget: London buses to be powered by coffee grounds)
Will plain label or private label take more market share? There are now not only products going into retailers that have generic or store brands, but now there are retail outlets that are only that, selling only their own branded food products and not any others.
(link to adweek: 5 Brands Shaking Up the Grocery Industry by Changing What We Choose to Eat and How We Buy Food)
Continuing the topic above about private labels, large retail chains are leveraging their own branded products. They are using private labels as a way to ‘hook’ customers into being loyal and returning regulars at a certain retail chain.
(link to LinkedIn: Squeezed by Private Labels, Big Food Brands Look to Startups)
Some good advice for what can be a touchy subject these days.
(link to NPR Code Switch: On The Hunt For ‘Authentic Ethnic Food’? Be Careful Who You Ask)
Walmart’s Culinary & Innovation Center is inventing some new foods. They are cultivating proprietary produce to be exclusive to their stores. Would these be considered GMO?
(link to NPR Planet Money (audio story): Walmart And Amazon’s Food Fight)
Energy bars made with cricket proteins. After getting a deal on Shark Tank, Chapul is now working with a major bar manufacturer to produce the bars, in 4 flavors, and are now in all 200+ Sprouts, the first major retailer to carry an insect protein product.
(link to CNBC – Shark Tank: Since ‘Shark Tank,’ this cricket protein bar has been ‘hopping off’ of shelves)
Harnessing the heat that is generated from large computing data centers makes total sense. I just wonder what they do in the summer.
(link to VOX: Amazon’s Seattle campus is using a data center next door as a furnace. It’s pretty neat)