As senior director at design and innovation firm IDEO, Meija Jacobs understands how brands work visually. But the journey toward building a brand, she said, begins with comprehending human needs — and by using the “superpower” of empathy to build products that matter. During a presentation at NOSH Live Winter 2019 in Santa Monica, Jacobs explained how IDEO uses design thinking to create “supercharged” brands.

With alternative rice brand RightRice, Keith Belling, the company’s founder and CEO (and snack brand Popchips’ co-founder and chairman) saw a fresh opportunity to shake up a center store staple. At NOSH Live Winter 2019, Belling shared tasty takeaways on moving from crunchy snacks to a better-for-you take on an ordinary pantry item — and seeing rapid first-year growth.

You can’t find a hotter buzzword than “plant-based” as a signifier for innovation in the meat and dairy categories — or in center store, as the following product launches indicate. Read on for three new traditional products that have been plantified.

From starting unique, disruptive brands to navigating the process of securing investment, day one of NOSH Live Winter 2019, held today in Santa Monica, California, provided fresh perspectives from industry leaders on finding a successful route to market in a rapidly changing food industry.

Plant-based rice alternative RightRice is giving back as it continues to grow. Keith Belling, the CEO of the three month old company, announced this week that he has donated 1% of the company’s equity to non-profit No Kid Hungry. At the same time, the brand also announced it has expanded into Kroger.

RightRice has a new partner in its mission to to revolutionize an age-old center store category. The brand, which offers consumers a substitute for rice, today announced a $5.5 million investment led by Strand Equity, as well as some high profile social “capital.”

The rice category is starting to stretch with even more ingredients trying to define the staple. Today Banza, which is known for its chickpea pastas, announced it will expand into the category with its own line of rice — the company’s first major new product since introducing a line of macaroni and cheese in 2016.

In 2007 snack innovator Keith Belling felt guilty eating potato chips and decided to do something about it. The result, which spawned a slew of imitators and helped revolutionize the snack set, was Popchips.