In today’s newsletter:
What’s for Lunch? The sudden land rush for school lunch
Flavor Change: Why its time to think about new CPG flavors
CPG Social: What can we learn from the latest TikTok star?
The roots of innovation: Are you thinking about innovation wrong?
Tidbits: Quick links to fun food news
Did you miss the last newsletter? Find it here
Mom-Opticon
DoorDash announced that they were partnering with Jessica Biel to introduce bento-inspired school lunches through their delivery service. Consumers can order five, ready-made lunch options through the DoorDash app or DoorDash.com for $25 in total. With every purchase, DoorDash will donate five meals to the All Peoples Community Center, which helps children succeed at every stage of development. The Grab-and-Go Bento offer is available nationwide.
General Mills’ internal innovation group, G-Works, is testing a new brand called Yumble, a direct to consumer lunch kit service. The options allow parents and kids to customize their lunches with a variety of General Mills products, as well as partner brands. Consumers pick their ‘main’ then add on additional items. In addition to Annies, LaraBar, and Chex items, brands include Jack Link’s, Sun-Maid, Sensible Portions, Bumble Bee and many others.
So What? In the 18th century, philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham designed a unique prison. Instead of walkways and grids of cells, Bentham imagined a sphere with the cells covering the interior walls. Placed at the center would be a watch tower with guards. With this design and simple devices like binoculars, guards in the watch tower could see into every cell, but the prisoners could not see the guards. He called his prison concept the panopticon.
While Bentham never built the prison, the concept has pervaded our culture for hundreds of years. Philosophers (such as Michel Foucault) have equated our modern society (with social media and ubiquitous cameras) to a panopticon, where we are constantly being observed but never really knowing when and by whom. What this does to the human psyche, according to Foucault, is it makes us constantly watchful of our own actions. If others could be watching at any time, we start to carefully monitor our own actions accordingly. Perversely, we become our guards.
If you spend much time talking to parents, you realize that they live in their own version of a panopticon. Moms especially will tell you that they feel constantly judged by other parents for their actions when it comes to simple actions—like the type of lunch they pack for their kids. Something as simple as choosing a ‘junky’ ‘snack versus a ‘healthy’ snack can quickly reverberate around the mom-o-sphere and judgement will happen. Therefore, some moms carefully curate the lunches they give their kids, always with the thoughts of other parents in mind.
Which takes us back to these new initiatives from DoorDash and General Mills. I think these concepts are much needed and definitely have an audience. However, I think the winning concept will be the one that delivers the correct balance of functional convenience and social clout. On its face, DoorDash’s offering appears to lean into the latter with the allusion to bento boxes, however the only line between the Japanese culinary artform and these products appears to be a segmented box filled with packaged products. There is no stylized, beautified and kuwaii aspects here. General Mills nails convenience and some of its ‘cleaner’ brands will provide some credibility in the mom-opticon. However, the next step for both brands needs to be unique offerings that provide even more advanced kid and mom social cred.
Flavor Needs to be Disrupted
Post Holdings is launching frozen waffles inspired by their iconic Pebbles cereals. The new, buttermilk-based waffles come in Fruity and Cocoa varieties.
Trader Joe’s is introducing a new RTE cereal called Tiny Fruity Cuties. The corn and oat puffed cereal looks like most cereals on the market, but it claims to contain a unique mix of flavors. The company says, “Beyond this tasty texture, their sweet, citrusy flavor yields notes tangy tangerine with whiffs of lemongrass.”
Chobani has announced that they are adding a seasonal Pumpkin Spice variety to their Oatmilk line. The new Autumn flavor will join the other Pumpkin Spice products returning from Chobani, including Zero Sugar yogurt, coffee creamer, oat coffee creamer, Flip yogurt Pumpkin Crisp, and Greek yogurt Blended.
UK-company Naksha’s is widening their baking line with three new Middle Eastern-inspired Extraordinary Baking Kit additions. Products Milk Chocolate Blondies with Lebanese Tahini, Dark Chocolate Fondant with Turkish Coffee, and Sticky Toffee Pudding with Emirati Dates (available only in UAE). The first two products will be available in the UK starting at £10.49.
Entenmann's is expanding their Ready-To-Bake Cookie Dough line to four new varieties, including Glazed Donut Cookie, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Chocolate Brownie Cookie and Cinnamon Toffee Cookie. Each pack of dough creates 12 cookies.
So What? While there are some troublesome aspects to the processed food industry, overall, I believe the industrialization of the food chain has been a net positive for society. Food today is more affordable, safer and available to more people than ever before.
However, that doesn’t mean that the food industry shouldn’t seek change. Many of the manufacturing norms of food companies are predicated on technologies of scale that were implemented over a century ago. Beyond the serious nutritional concerns of some of these forms of industrialization, I’m starting to question the more mundane topic of flavor.
At the turn of the 20th century, companies were founded that took the contemporary technologies of the time and created mass-produced foods. These technologies were often harsh, exposing products to high temperatures to keep food safe for long-shelf life. However, these technologies also stripped foods of their taste which birthed the rise of auxiliary companies: flavor houses. These companies made heat stable, inexpensive, but delicious tasting flavors that form the base of our core culinary memories of packaged food.
The negative shadow of this processing past is that these flavor houses took the highly nuanced flavors of ingredients like vanilla or grape and simplified them down to a single chemical. This is why real vanilla and real grapes taste nothing like instant pudding and generic jelly. However, to be fair to flavor houses, many of them have extremely complex flavors in their libraries, but few make their way into everyday grocery items. Most big food companies have efficient sourcing programs that maximize the bang they get for their flavor-buying bucks. This means they often purchase one vanilla, one cinnamon, or one tomato flavor and use it across their portfolio. There is little budget for nuanced flavor in the CPG world.
However, I think that needs to change. New packaging, global flavors, and exciting partnerships can only take a brand so far. Your new Basque cheesecake with caramel drizzle may sound new and exciting, but it will fall flat if it utilizes the same vanilla, dairy and caramel flavors you’ve used in your last 10 SKUs.
With startups and private label still nipping at the heels of established CPG, the war is being fought on the battlefield of flavor. Another brand might be able to pull off a copycat that looks like your product, but the use of nuanced flavor can guarantee that it doesn’t taste like your product.
Learning from TikTok Stardom
Have you heard of Dylan Hollis? If you are in the food world, and especially the baked goods industry, you should have.
In 2019, Hollis (born and raised on the island of Bermuda) was attending college at the University of Wyoming studying music, when the pandemic hit. With classes cancelled, Hollis took up baking recipes from a few old cookbooks, and posted the results on TikTok. Even though he had no previous baking experience, his videos (now on YouTube as well) have quickly millions of followers and views based on his style (flamboyant, frantic, and witty) and humor (wholesome but occasionally off color).
As of last week, Hollis’ new cookbook, Baking Yesteryear was #1 on the bestseller list, easily beating some of the more established cookbook authors in the industry.
How can someone that didn’t know how to bake 2 years ago come to be the face of new food media? Well, I’ve been a fan of Dylan’s almost since his start (and I own his book) and I think there are several facets to his allure:
Embrace Niche Interests: Dylan tapped into a niche subculture of baking: vintage. While vintage clothing and vintage furniture have been hot for years, vintage baking was still the realm of church cookbooks. However, his videos targeted and amplified this area. Are there small, underdeveloped niches in the food world that CPG companies could focus on to spark a dedicated and passionate consumer base?
Celebrating Failure: Dylan’s rise wasn't just about showcasing success but also the failures and learning process along the way. Much of what he makes is horrible, and that is part of the charm. CPG companies could benefit from showing the 'behind-the-scenes' of their product development, embracing the work that goes into the final perfection.
Emphasize Vulnerability and True Self: Dylan is especially vocal about two things: that he is a non-baker and his sexuality (he’s come out as gay). By setting the stage with his authentic self, Dylan comes off as genuine and relatable. For CPG companies, vulnerability and openness is difficult to portray. However, in today’s social media landscape some form of vulnerability is a necessary element for true audience connection.
Innovation Must Have Roots
I gave a keynote presentation a few weeks ago. After the talk I got pulled into a conversation with a few execs from a company that were complaining that their innovation efforts had fallen flat. They explained how they had hired the best people, invested in modern systems and given their management wide latitude to ‘be innovative,’ but so far nothing had worked.
“When did you start these innovation changes?” I inquired.
“Six months ago,” came the exasperated response.
I think I know the problem.
One of the unspoken truths of innovation is that it really isn’t an idea process, it’s a planning and preparation process. I’ve found that the companies that are best at innovation aren’t the ones with crazy and erratic dreamers at the top, but those with thoughtful planners.
If you are going to start an innovation project, you must first spend the time preparing the groundwork. Everything must be staged correctly, scoped correctly and run correctly. Good ideas only come to people who’ve spent the time learning and experiencing the problem before they try to solve it. Nothing comes from pulling people into a conference room on Day One to ‘ideate.’
Innovation isn't a switch you can flip on at a moment's notice; it's a continuous operation that runs in the background. New ideas aren't conjured from thin air, but rather harvested from a tree planted deep within your company's foundation, its roots intertwining with every function. Spot a company with a thriving innovation culture, and you'll find the careful hands of strategic gardeners, nurturing the roots of creativity and growth.
TIDBITS
The CDC is reporting that up to 450,000 people have been bitten by ticks infecting them with ‘alpha-gal syndrome,’ making them extremely allergic to red meat
Can empty downtowns be turned around by turning offices into vertical farms?
When, on average, do people in every state eat dinner—check out the data.
Charming video of everyday Brits in the 1960’s trying flavored crisps for the first time
Cher Launches Her Own Gelato Company 'Cherlato'
The dirty secret behind ‘family recipes’
How did Kroger become the largest sushi seller in the US? (paywall)
Janet Yellen inadvertently eats hallucinogenic mushrooms at a Chinese state dinner
What is your emotional intelligence? Take the quiz