Weekly Roundup – Week of 2.7.2022
February 11, 2022
Each week, a cross-section of our strategists and food enthusiasts curate and share 5 topical and illuminating stories we enjoyed this week – here’s what we’ve learned:
Winter Fancy Food Show
More than 800 exhibiting companies featured new products at the Winter Fancy Food Show, held Feb. 6-8 in Las Vegas. Interestingly, kelp, cactus, and hemp are among the cutting-edge ingredients driving product development in the $170.4 billion specialty food industry. https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/20631-trends-spotted-at-the-winter-fancy-food-show
ClusterTuck Delivers
This ghost-kitchen startup has cracked the code of food delivery. ClusterTuck is a delivery-only restaurant that shuns apps like Grubhub and DoorDash by controlling everything from recipes to delivery. Here’s its 4-step road map to profitability. (Subscription necessary.) https://www.businessinsider.com/how-clustertruck-is-fixing-third-party-delivery-for-restaurants-2022-2
Bread Bowls and Baguette Rings
With the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day just one day apart this year, Panera is leveraging these two heavily marketed events with their own sparkling promotion. Starting on February 14, social media users can enter for a chance to win baguette-cut rings packaged in a customized ring box along with a year of free coffee through the chain’s Unlimited Sip Club coffee subscription service. https://www.foodandwine.com/news/panera-baguette-cut-diamond-rings-giveaway
Long Drink for the Win
Alcohol makers look to Finland’s national drink in search of the next hard seltzer. Long drink, born at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, has only been in the U.S. for a few years but it is attracting the attention of companies eager to offer American consumers more variety. https://www.fooddive.com/news/alcohol-makers-look-to-finlands-national-drink-in-search-of-the-next-hard/616774/
Find Your Match
DoorDash and Shake Shack launch chicken sandwich dating site – finding love in a hopeless place just got spicer, thanks to these two progressive brands. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/door-dash-teams-with-shake-shack-to-launch-a-dating-site-matches-get-a-free-chicken-sandwich-190646838.html
More to come next week!
