Summer Fancy Food: Glucose Control Callouts, Vevan Refreshes Branding
Food and beverage brands took over New York City this week for the annual Summer Fancy Food Show hosted by the Specialty Food Association. Here’s a first look at some of the new products, innovative brands and industry trends we’re tracking from the event.
Controlling Glucose Spikes
Blood sugar control is a hot topic in CPG, and now the conversation is moving onto the front-of-package.
Launched in 2021, 3 Farm Daughters is leveraging its high-fiber wheat to create gut-friendly pastas. The brand — a family business operated by sisters Annie, Mollie and Grace Sproule — started with pasta shapes like elbow, cavatappi, penne and rotini; at Fancy Food this week, it showcased its “straight” pastas like spaghetti, which now sport bold callouts on the packaging to its credentials of 9 grams of “high fiber” per serving.
After consumers shared that 3 Farm Daughters’ pastas helped them avoid spiking glucose levels, the company leaned deeper into this positioning by sponsoring a clinical study to test a body’s glucose response to the product, proving that they have lower glycemic levels than many other pasta brands.
Seeing how consumers are looking for prebiotic fiber products to invoke a GLP-1 response in the body, 3 Farm Daughters has focused its marketing efforts around the resistant starch and clean label attributes.
The brand has recently partnered with Food Network star Molly Yeh, whose husband is a neighboring farmer in East Grand Forks, Minn., on a co-branded orzo expected to launch next month. The “gut friendly” variety contains “24% more daily value of fiber than standard macaroni,” according to the product label.
New York-based high-fiber granola maker Sweet Deliverance is another brand calling out its low-glycemic credentials on the package. Founder Kelly Geary said she’s seeing growth from customers seeking glucose control for weight loss and diabetes as well as perimenopausal and menopausal women who are seeking clean label products with low to no sugar.
Vevan Refreshes Packaging, Reformulates Plant-Based Dairy
As the plant-based dairy category has “evolved,” vegan cheese brand Vevan Foods is taking “the biggest step” towards making its products more like dairy cheese by revamping both the formula and packaging, said Keith Schuman, a fourth-generation cheesemaker who leads parent company Schuman Cheese’s plant-based innovation team.
The reformulation of Vevan’s shreds, slices and UnCreamCheese replaced palm oil with coconut oil and pea protein, the latter of which pumps up the protein content closer to that of dairy cheese, Schuman said.
The company has also adopted a larger cut in its Shred varieties that bring a more “farmer’s cut” look to the products, Schuman said.
In terms of its new look, Vevan has kept its bold colors for most of its line with the exception of the Strawberries and Cream spread that sees pink replacing the previous red hue. The packaging has replaced its “100% Awesome” tagline with “100% Dairy-Free.”
Instead of label callouts printed on the window, the brand has made it easier to see the product. Vevan has also added a Non-GMO certification label to its packs.
Sprouts Farmers Market has been the brand’s biggest retail partner but Vevan is hoping it can line up more natural and conventional grocery channel chains with its new look.
Standout Startups in the ‘Debut District’
Among the 2,300 exhibiting companies were a selection of first-timers, startups and incubators in an area dubbed Debut District. Here’s a taste of the trends and products showcased in that section.
Baking with beans: Italian startup Loopini produces pizzas featuring a lupin bean-based crust, and Full of Beans markets a pancake and waffle mix crafted with fava beans. The products are positioned as higher in fiber and protein with fewer net carbs than traditional options.
Powered by protein: Projo sampled its instant coffee mix incorporating marine collagen, with 12 grams of protein per serving. Smearcase offers a collagen-boosted, first-of-its-kind “froco” (that is, frozen cottage cheese-based ice cream) with 40 grams of protein per pint.
Interesting twists on dessert: Freezcake is a brand of freeze-dried cheesecake bites available in six core flavors including Turtle and White Chocolate Raspberry as well as seasonal releases like Pumpkin and Eggnog. Pastazerts is a line of dessert ravioli featuring chocolate dough stuffed with sweet, creamy fillings.
Turning up the heat: Culinary staples presented at the event represent a variety of cuisines, with examples ranging from Djablo small-batch Filipino hot sauce and Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen vegan hot chili sambal to Pink Salt Thai spicy roasted chili jam and Cuatro Mamas spicy red chili crisp oil.
Inclusive hiring practices: Pi00a, a brand of Asian-inspired neapolitan pizzas, has created an accessible workplace for Deaf employees using American Sign Language. Plant-based dessert company Vesucre provides work opportunities to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
