Katie Neal’s Post

Who doesn’t love fresh-baked goods? Apparently, a lot of people do. A recent Food Business News article said that fresh bakery had the highest retail perimeter sales growth last year at 6.7%. It’s one more reason our team developed Grande Durato for sweet baked goods. It retains just-baked freshness in cookies, cakes, muffins and more. Learn more in our article and reach out with questions or to request a sample. https://hubs.ly/Q02JsnHN0 #ingredientinnovation #wheyproteinconcentrate #bakeryindustry #foodindustry #foodtrends

Wonder why Vadapav is ₹20 and Pizza🍕 200+? 🤔 . . . Well, when you see both the items, vadapav has a bun while pizza uses a dough base - similar materials and both are baked 🧑🍳 . . When it comes to ingredients - vadapav has a fried potato patty while pizza has sauce, cheese, and some toppings. 🧀 . . Now, the toppings on pizza might be costly, but the quantity we have on pizza is hardly anything to charge it at 10X of vadapav... 🤷♀️   So, I see it’s not the ingredients or the making process alone... 🤔   It’s the **premium food snack perception** created by Pizza! 👑 The **perceived value** created by serving Pizza in restaurants and cafes, not on roadside by local vendors as in the case of vadapav. 🍽️   Also, the ads around pizza and showing it as a more indulgent and premium meal, the perceived value is high, and that’s why we are willing to pay a higher price. 💰   We see how greatly the **perception** is built in the eyes of the customer, and that helps us charge 10X? 🤔   Research has shown increased perceived value helps charge higher, leading to higher profit margins and improved sales Now, if I have to relate this to work, in a given office environment, the work done could be similar, the performance per se might not be that different, but the one who can create a higher perceived value progresses faster and also gets better paid. Increasing the perceived value can be a big differentiator, what do you think? #perception #career #professionaldevelopment #success

This is easily one of the best articles I've read in some time about the American fixation on beverages right now. It calls out some fascinating stats including the fact that at Starbucks, nearly 25% of customized beverages have at least THREE modifications. It's a far cry from the days when people were considered "high maintenance" for ordering salad dressing or condiments on the side. These days, consumers live in a world that feels more stressful so having small daily indulgences becomes a bigger priority. My personal favorite quote was the stay-at-home mom who refers to her Dutch Bros. purchases as her "emotional support beverages". Another woman talked about her daily Starbucks order (brown sugar shaken espresso with oat milk, a scoop of vanilla bean powder, a few pumps of vanilla syrup, cinnamon cold foam, and a lining of caramel syrup), which costs her $9.73. She orders one every day. As Americans have learned more about food and ingredients (no small thanks to The Food Network), more and more people have gotten creative with flavors. As such, food and beverages have created an outlet for self-expression and the beverage category specifically makes this a fun and easy way to truly build-your-own custom drink complete with flavors, colors, and textures. #beveragetrends #beveragemenu #customizeddrinks #custombeverage

One of the most compelling Easter food and beverage trends in recent memory is hot cross bun diversification.   White chocolate & raspberry, orange marmalade, lemon & blueberry and bramley apple & cinnamon are just a few examples of how classic flavours being used to elevate a British Easter favourite ✨   But retailers aren’t just focussing on the sweet, and Easter innovation is now delivering new and exciting savoury hot cross bun flavours.   Our focus this week has been on the marriage of two British staples…   Hot cross buns 🤝 cheese   Everyone is firmly aboard the hype train; this year, all major UK supermarkets have a cheesy hot cross bun offering on their shelves. They’re here, and they’re here to stay.   Product spotlight 💡   Last year we tested one of Marks and Spencer's cheesy Easter offerings – Extremely Cheesy Hot Cross Buns.   This product ranked 6th in Cosmopolitan’s Best Hot Cross Buns of 2024 list, but we think it deserves a bit more credit than that as the best Hot Cross Bun we’ve tested in our FoodFax programme since 2020 🏆   Not only did 4 in 5 testers think this concept was an ‘exciting new idea’, but it delivered on its promise, with 9 in 10 rating the buns’ taste and texture highly. In the end, 3 in 5 testers thought the product represented good value and registered intent to purchase it in the future.   Get down to M&S and try out these wonderful cheesy creations. Toast them, smother them in butter, use them as a burger bun or even... eat them with more cheese?? Stop it 😍 #foodandbeverage #insights #producttesting #easter #innovation

🥪📊 Hungry for some insights on Britain's favourite sandwiches? Hovis Ltd has just released findings from their latest poll, conducted by Perspectus Global in April 2024. 🥓🥬🍅 According to the survey, bacon paired with crisp lettuce and juicy tomato reigns as the ultimate sandwich combo, with 28% of Brits casting their vote in favour. Coming in hot at second place is the classic chicken salad (24%), closely followed by tuna mayo (also 24%) and a fish finger sandwich (24%). 🧀🥒🍳 The top ten also includes cheesy delights like cheese & pickle (22%), alongside classics like egg & cress (19%) and Coronation chicken (18%). 🌶 And let's not forget the condiments – 85% insist on real butter, while 41% are mayo enthusiasts. Plus, for those craving a bit of heat, 14% love to spice things up with hot sauce. 🍞 When it comes to bread, soft white is most popular (53%), followed by wholemeal (30%) and seeded (22%). 📱 In the social media age, sandwich pride is on the rise, with 31% proudly sharing their creations online. What's your go-to sandwich?! https://lnkd.in/ezPejwh4

This months NPD day theme was anything and everything! Our selection consisted of: - Eat Real + PROPER | WARP Snacks Tangy Chilli Popcorn, and Smoky & Sweet Paprika - Tesco Finest Sour Cream & Tangy Lime tortilla chips - FHIRST Living Soda Passionfruit - Kellanova Cheez-It Cheese & Chilli, and Sour Cream & Chive - Walkers Crisps UK Sensations Mature Cheddar and Chilli Chutney - Mr Filbert's Tom Yum Mochi Rice Bites - The Collective UK | B Corp™ Poppin' Choco Mixers - Ritter Sport Coffee Duo - Vieve Protein Water Strawberry & Rhubarb - Holy Moly | B-Corp™ Margherita Cheese Dip - Burton's Biscuit Company Jammy Dodgers Strawberry, and Blackcurrant & Apple - Lotus Bakeries Lotus Biscoff Milk Chocolate with Biscoff Cream - Bold Bean Co Smoky Chilli, and Rich Tomato Because our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, we didn't get around to trying the Bold Bean Co and The Collective Dairy products, however we have our sights set on trying these on another special day soon! As you can tell, we had quite a lot of products to try this time around. Very full bellies in the office, and we truly enjoyed them all. Our out and out winner is the Holy Moly Margherita Cheese dip. So very moreish! (and we're hoping to try the full trio of new dips, once Ocado have them back in stock) 😊 Honourable mentions include Tesco's Finest Sour Cream and Zingy Lime Tortillas, which paired perfectly with this months winner! We also though Vieve's Protein Water which was delicious. #npd #NewProductDevelopment #tesco #vieve #proper #fhirst #food #Proper #biscoff #holymoly

Costco’s apocalypse dinner kit will last for 25 years costs $80.00, selling like crazy. Manufactured by Readywise, a company that sells long-term survival food, the “Emergency Food Supply Variety Pack” contains a belly-bursting 150 servings of freeze-dried food (Pressure Luck mistakenly claims that it only has 132), including pasta alfredo, cheesy macaroni, teriyaki rice, creamy pasta and vegetables, potato pot pie, tomato basil soup with pasta, chicken noodle soup, brown sugar and maple multi-grain, and apple cinnamon cereal, Food & Wine magazine reported. To prepare, doomsday preppers simply need to add water to the vittles — which total 15,280 calories — and they’ll be hunky dory when disaster hits. Or, at the very least, they won’t die on an empty stomach. Best of all, this bunker banquet in a bucket runs only $99 and stays fresh for a staggering 25 years, according to its marketing. “This assortment isn’t just a temporary fix – it’s a long-term solution,” Costco writes on its site. “It’s a tangible expression of your dedication to ensuring you and your loved ones are cared for, no matter what lies ahead.” The company heartwarmingly adds: “But it’s not just about survival; it’s about maintaining a sense of normalcy, comfort and even enjoyment during challenging times.” https://lnkd.in/gqeQ_Fp7

I was sitting with a #client, today, we were discussing about #profitability. finally we reached to draw this #table. the question was, where can we find the most profitability item and how can we use it? before answering the question and solving it, I need to explain little about the case. the owner has a salad #restaurant shop. in the shop a bowl selection of 15 type of #salad #Ingredients and 8 type of sauces as combination of ( 2 base + 5 topping + 1 main + 1 sauce) exist. the price for the bowl is 10$. now let's move to the answer: if I'm going to use column as the salad category and row as three category of the #cost, cheap, medium, extensive, finally I will get this #table that it give us the area #high profitability and #low profitability per bowl. it means: in case I'm going to select all #low cost items I'll get the highest profit of the bowl, in case I'm going to select highest cost for my bowl I'll reach the lowest profit ( due to the price per bowl is fixed). I believe now every thing is clear. so our solution to increase the profitability came like this: ( there are alot of solution can be made but I'll mention selected of them): 1- teach the server how to select (or educate) bowl for the customer if the customer doesn't know what to buy. 2- promote some of selected bowl 3- create optional selection by the shop and put the optional in a menu as a book. 4- as it is a healthy food shop the details of the bowl that specifically shows the protein, carb and all the other composition can be created. 5- use the marketing to boost the optional menu or educating people to select. what do you think of other solution can be?

Where are your taste buds? An odd question for a Tuesday morning perhaps but I have been analysing sales from last week and made an observation. I have regularly mentioned how much our customers love tasting cheese and we sell a tremendous amount of it because they do. There are a number of varieties with universal appeal and others splitting the crowd. Truffle Trove for example is adored by some and loathed by others. I guess they either love Truffle or not, meaning you would think people are less likely to try, having an idea what the flavour will be. Not so, our customers often try it anyway and discover they still don't like it! Our best selling range last week was Pendragon Hot Chocolate flakes which received a fantastic reception culminating in selling out in an hour on our first day. Noteworthy however is that we didn't offer samples of any of the flavours! So why do people prefer to buy cheese having sampled it and why the names of the flavours alone on hot chocolate sell the product? My conclusion is that while they need to try a particular flavour of a cheese even when there are ingredients they are familiar with, when a line is called Rum and Salted caramel for example the, taste buds are set in motion immediately with an expectation of what the flavour is going to be. The general response on reading the packs being lots of oohs and aahs creating that emotional reaction that drives a purchase. I take from this that sometimes humans eat with their mouths and at other times with their eyes. I shall monitor this going forward and keep you posted! Now, where's that cheese? Snowdonia Cheese Company #giftstoday #giftswithpresence #shoppingevents #pendragondrinks

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐬? 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐳 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 I’m convinced that every global food producer has a wall in their office where every flavor their product has ever had is recorded. But even the English dictionary has a final page. So, what do you do when you’ve run out of flavors? This year’s marketing MVP award goes to the team at Heinz for their bold and creative answer: "Every Sauce." 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 "𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐞"? It’s exactly what it sounds like—a mix of 14 different sauces in one bottle! The full list includes Heinz Burger Sauce, Garlic Sauce, Aioli Sauce, Smokey Baconnaise, Sweet Chilli, Chip Sauce, Saucy Sauce, Mayoracha, Mayomust, Truffle Mayo, Garlic & Caramelised Onion Mayo, Curry, and Smokey Bacon Ketchup. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭? Maybe the next innovation from Heinz will be a sauce without any flavor at all—"𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉"! This bold move challenges the status quo in product innovation and reminds us that when you think you’ve exhausted all possibilities, there’s always room to break the rules and think differently. #branding #FMCG #Marketing #categorymanagemnt