Starting off 2018 pretty much where we left 2017.. international flavors, millennials, food waste, technology, amazon..
We are doing more and more with flavors and spices, why aren’t more of them being grown here domestically?
(link to NPR the salt: Americans Love Spices. So Why Don’t We Grow Them?)
CaliBurger gets my attention again, this time they are using facial recognition to help you order and for their loyalty program. I need to go check this place out.
(link to Business Insider: This burger chain wants to replace cashiers with machines that analyze your face and know your order)
Dark chocolate and less processed chocolate is starting to get traction with the more health conscience consumers. It also seems to be catching on with some of the larger producers, which makes sense. A way for those big brands to get some of that market, as well as a differentiator. I am wondering if artisan chocolate will be the next targets for the big conglomerates, the way craft beer and specialty coffee has be going.
( link to Reuters: Chocolate makers innovate to entice health-conscious consumers)
Time to start catching up to what the millennials are looking for. Forbes lists a few things they think are on the horizon in grocery. One of them being more curbside pickup, but for center aisle items. People still will want to touch and see their fresh items like produce and proteins.
(link to Forbes: 4 Ways Your Grocery Store May Change In 2018)
Nothing to do about business, but caught my eye because I knew on Life & Thyme there’ll be a food take. The last paragraph hits so true I think.. slow down and live in the moment more. Mindful.
(link to Life & Thyme: Aloha State of Mind)
This article points out that with numerous tech startups becoming successes and people cashing out, there is a lot of money out there looking for things to invest in and it seems that coffee has been a choice for some of that money. The example is Blue Bottle (I believe tech guy Kevin Rose was an early investor) which Nestle recently acquired a major stake in. I am starting to think there are other categories, especially in the CPG space of food, that might do well with these investors.
(link to TechCrunch: The food revolution may have just needed a cup of Blue Bottle)
I have been seeing food waste becoming more of a topic lately and it is good to see that there are people and organizations out there trying to tackle it.
(link to Forbes: Former Co-CEO Of Whole Foods Becomes A FoodMaven)
Private labels and brands continue to take up market share. Kroger says that over 25% of their sales account for private brands and their own Simple Truth has 1400 products.
(link to Winsight Grocery Business: Kroger Expands Private Label Line)
We’ve known and talked about how Amazon will change things of the small local producers in Whole Foods, details and stories are starting to come out about the changes.
(link to Washington Post: Whole Foods places new limits on suppliers, upsetting some small vendors)
I’ve not heard of Caliburger but kind of amazing…and a sign of things to come. Maybe even allows you to have more of that ‘Aloha state of mind’ if you don’t have to go fumbling for your credit cards, ID’s, keys….
Another provocative posting John.