02/10/2009
Today, it’s tres chic to be a frugalista—and that extends to the food world, too. When McDonald's profits are soaring, you know the way to a consumer’s heart is to provide more bang for the buck.Datamonitor just issued a report titled “Recessionary Consumers & Product Choice: Implications for 2009,” in which they announce: “Confidence has been eroded and ...
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02/04/2009
Ah, the excitement of that new-administration smell. In my February Food Product Design editor’s page, written prior to the presidential inauguration (printed below), I suggested increased government oversight of food was on the way, particularly in labeling. But a particular, well-known incident regarding peanut butter has pushed food safety and plant inspections to the forefront. This ...
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01/27/2009
Some of the seismic shifts in our world over the last year or so have caused many consumers to rethink their purchasing habits, so food and beverage companies that want to remain competitive need to embrace change. Keena D. Lykins, a public relations senior account supervisor at Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications, volunteered to draw on some of her food-industry savvy to consider today’s ...
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01/21/2009
Ask the man or woman on the street what peanut-butter products they should be avoiding and the likely answer is “everything.” The latest recall for Salmonella-contaminated peanut-butter products is difficult enough for the food industry to follow without a concerted effort, let alone the average consumer.Is the FDA at fault for poor communication, or is it just the nature of a microbial ...
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01/14/2009
For years, foodservice has considered breakfast as the daypart with the most untapped opportunity. Along that line, Jamba Juice is joining Starbucks as purveyors of A.M. oatmeal. Here in the Midwest, in the midst of our second blizzard warning of the week, with a subzero wind-chill warning thrown in for good measure, it sounds like a fabulous concept. But as they say, will it play in Peoria? (That ...
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01/13/2009
Since 2009 trends seem to be on our collective minds, I’m posting an assortment of trends from various experts—originally seen in my January Food Product Design editor’s page, but in its entirety. (Unfortunately I’ve developed a tendency to suffer the writer’s curse of too many words and not enough pages.) Add these if you will to Bob Weeks’ prognostications. ...
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01/02/2009
Hope everyone has recovered from any latent New Year’s Eve immoderation that might have occurred in the alcoholic-beverage category. (I managed to refrain from wretched excess, other than one potion reminiscent of a drowned shot of cherry brandy in some pink, fizzy liquid that mysteriously appeared in my hand...any identification is welcome.) And in the spirit of the season, National Public Radio ...
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