Fancy Food Show: Elevated Convenience, Plant-based Charcuterie and New Brand Looks

The Winter Fancy Food Show kicked off on Sunday in Las Vegas with numerous new products on display that tap into consumer demand for culinary convenience ranging from premium frozen items and chef-crafted pantry staples. Exhibitors also showed off new brand identities, a variety of improved plant-based formulations and more.

Elevated Meets Easy

The freezer case has become a hotspot for specialty food brands, including Myles Comfort Foods, which sampled its frozen mac-and-cheese meals. Sobo Foods unveiled a collection of frozen plant-based dumplings, including Japanese-inspired Curry Potato, Chinese-inspired “Pork” & Chive and Korean-inspired Kimchi & Mushroom offerings.

Sunday Supper, a maker of frozen plant-based lasagnas, is launching Mozza Fritto, a dairy-free spin on breaded mozzarella sticks formulated with coconut oil, chickpea protein, potato protein and starches. The mozzarella-like sticks mark Sunday Supper’s first expansion beyond meals, into the snacks and appetizers space, which it believes could help generate trial with a wider range of consumers.

Gateaux Take & Bake Frozen Cakes is a freezer-to-oven line of desserts developed by a French-trained chef. The products include batter in an oven-safe paper pan and a packet of glaze or garnish.

Globally inspired condiments featured at the event included Malaysian curry blends, Afghan-style chutneys and Mexican taco seasonings. Billed as “the five-second chutney,” Chutnefy is a line of powdered mixes made with fresh, locally sourced produce and no added preservatives, additives or colors. Sach Foods introduced meal starter kits alongside new chutney and sauce offerings. The meals combine cubed organic paneer, a fresh cheese that doesn’t melt, with a sauce. The new SKUs are intended to complement the Indian food brand’s hero paneer products while providing ways for consumers to mix and match flavors for easy meals at home.

Consumer research released in November by the Specialty Food Association found breakfast is a growing meal for specialty food purchases. Several startups at the show exhibiting easy-to-prepare options included Heavenly Waffles, which produces a range of chef-developed, dry yogurt-based mixes that are prepared with carbonated water; Unwaffle, a brand of organic frozen waffles that are free of the top 14 food allergens and high in protein; and Oath Oats, a line of overnight oats founded by food influencer Yumna Jawad.

New Looks For Keto Krack’d, Whoa Dough, Sabatino Tartufi and Lolly’s

A number of brands showcased new looks on the show floor this week, and the reason behind each refreshed look varied just as much as the products themselves. Here’s a taste of what we saw:

Krack’d Snacks, formerly Keto Krack’d, executed a full rebrand that removed the diet claim from its name after numerous suggestions from buyers and industry experts, said founder William Kwak. The new moniker is intended to appeal to an audience beyond those following a keto diet. Previously the product was positioned toward a male audience with a solid black package, but Kwak said the vast majority of its consumers are women, and with the new iteration it adopted a gender-neutral color palette as well as food photography.

Lolly’s Frozen Grapes was also among those exhibiting new looks at the show. The brand also celebrated its relaunch after officially debuting in 2018. After slowing down during the pandemic, the company reorganized, purchased manufacturing equipment for its 3-SKU line of chocolate-covered frozen grapes, and adopted a new vibrant purple palette as it looks to win back previous retail accounts in the SoCal region.

Hot off its run in the Mondelēz CoLab class accelerator program, cookie dough snack bar Whoa Dough is introducing a new look that puts an image of its product front and center on pack. Founder and CEO Todd Goldstein explained that the concept of a cookie dough bar is still new to most consumers. During the accelerator, the brand’s CoLab mentors suggest showing the bar, and elevating the callout on the front of the pack, to help win over more consumers.

Lastly, century-old family-owned truffle company Sabatino Tartufi has rebranded to simply Sabatino, with tagline “The Truffle Family” placed above the new, shorter brand name. The update comes as the Umbria, Italy-based brand extends itself deeper into the U.S. market and hopes to appeal to a broader range of consumers. After expanding beyond black truffle oils and salts last year with products including boxed mac and cheese, risotto and crackers, it plans to build on that momentum this spring with a new line of black truffle marinara sauces launching at Whole Foods.

Plant-based Charcuterie Gets An Upgrade

Beyond the endless wheels of cheese and charcuterie boards, plant-based brands also showed off some new iterations of their staple items in attempts to bring them closer to their animal-based counterparts.

Prime Roots showcased its new partnership with charcuterie brand Three Little Pigs. The plant-based deli meat maker has created a new iteration of its koji-based Foie Gras using Three Little Pigs’ traditional pate making process. A spokesperson for the brand said the process results in a creamier texture for the co-branded products. Through the partnership, the products have also launched into foodservice, primarily in the hospitality space, under the charcuterie brand’s Fabrique Delices line.

Schuman Cheese plant-based cheese subsidiary Vevan also improved its take on plant-based with a new formula for its slices, shreds and spreads lines that now utilizes pea protein as its base instead of coconut oil, palm oil and starch. The new line uses traditional fermentation methods and, coupled with its new protein base, brings the product’s nutritional value closer in line with dairy-based cheese.

Julie Suntrup Joins CCD Innovation As Chief Strategy Officer

While walking the show floor we also caught up with CPG industry veteran Julie Suntrup, who earlier this month joined CCD Innovation as the product development and consultancy firm’s new Chief Strategy Officer after spending the past few years working in brand development in the cannabis space.

In her new role she aims to improve upon how the product development and design firm talks about its services and offerings, highlighting its Chef’s Council culinary development arm as one of its main value propositions. The firm was acquired by JPG Resources in September as JPG looked to expand its culinary-driven product development expertise. Suntrup noted that there are additional leadership changes ahead for CCDI, including the appointment of a new CEO that hails from JPG.