Weekly Roundup – Week of 11.14.2022
November 18, 2022
Today’s roundup features our top picks of this week’s food and beverage-related news stories – all curated by our team of strategists and food enthusiasts:
Are AR and VR Critical For Foodservice Success?
Scott Absher, CEO of the app-based company, ShiftPixy, thinks so. Absher tells The Food Institute, “Restaurant brands can adopt a native delivery strategy by converting their kitchens into distribution centers for online orders. When they combine these new capabilities with robust digital ordering, engagement, and loyalty systems, they create a new digital business atop their traditional operations.” Restaurants can leverage the unique digital environments they create within the Metaverse, interact with customers, and reward them for their engagement – which enhances traditional dining and online ordering experiences. With AR and VR technology, restaurants will also be able to elevate digital menus and make them come to life with virtual representation, videos, facts, and sourcing info. The possibilities seem truly out of this world. Read More.
Cultivated Chicken Makes History
The cultivated meat developer, UPSIDE Foods, announced it received FDA approval for its cell-based chicken alternative. However, in order to sell its cultivated chicken to consumers it needs USDA approval as well. That is not slowing down excitement for the company. Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of UPSIDE Foods, said in a statement, “We started UPSIDE amid a world full of skeptics, and today, we’ve made history again. … This milestone marks a major step towards a new era in meat production.” Not quite a year ago, UPSIDE opened a 53,000-square-foot facility that the company says will be able to produce 400,000 pounds of cell-based meat a year, claiming they could now be able to enter the restaurant industry. Cultivated meat is considered to be one promising solution to help rectify our growing food security issues. Learn More.
Private Label Brands Survive Inflation Setbacks
Store brands are stealing share from national brands at convenience stores. In fact, “private-label sales have outpaced that of national-brand products at c-stores over the first three quarters of 2022,” according to a report from IRI. Store brands account for 8.7% of sales at c-stores in spite of these items only representing 6% of the stocked product mix. This shift in purchase decisions is directly related to inflation and consumers trading down for lower-priced items. NielsonIQ reported that, on average, private label products can save consumers 14% over national brands. Even upper-income shoppers are buying store brands. According to IRI, these consumers purchased private-label brands 22% more in Q3 2022 than they did in the same quarter last year and increased basket dollar size by nearly 40%. Read On.
Stock Up On Holiday Favorites
It’s that time of year when seasonal flavors return to shelves. Festive favorites typically include pumpkin spice, peppermint, and gingerbread flavors. This season, a few notable brands are reenergizing their offerings with unique flavor fusions and bite-size alternatives. Planters, for example, is taking a nutty nuance to its mixes with limited-time flavors such as Holiday Nut Crunch, Winter Spiced Mix, and Festive Fancifuls Butter Cinnamon Pecans. Another snackable nut brand, Blue Diamond Almonds, has added both Snickerdoodle and Peppermint Cocoa varieties to its mix. Hudsonville Ice Cream and Little Debbie have partnered to create an ice cream inspired by Little Debbie’s Christmas Tree Cakes. And lastly, just in time for the holidays, Frito-Lay has introduced mini versions of its most popular snacks: Doritos, Cheetos, and SunChips. See The Full List Here.
For Your Enjoyment
Pop-Tarts is getting in the holiday spirit of gingerbread house making and spreading goodwill by giving one lucky fan $15,000 to put toward their mortgage. Participants need to build a Frosted Gingerbread Pop-Tarts dream house for a chance to win money toward their real dream house. To enter, fans should post a picture of their Pop-Tarts Gingerbread house on Instagram or Twitter with #GingerbreadPopTartEntry. Oh, and the brand is also relaunching its Frosted Gingerbread Pop-Tarts flavor as an added bonus. And, within the snack category, Doritos is disrupting the dip aisle with the release of Doritos Dips, available in two familiar flavors – Spicy Nacho and Cool Ranch Jalapeño. PepsiCo is excited about the opportunity for crossover category consumption. Not only will consumers be able to dip their favorite Frito-Lay snacks into these flavorful cups, the company also expects consumers to dip foods like wings, pizza, and veggies in them, too.
We’ll be skipping next week so we all can enjoy time with family and friends. No worries! We’re planning to share two weeks’ worth of our favorite industry-related stories on December 2.
