News You Can Use: Trends & New Products Found at Natural Products Expo East
October 23, 2008
We got a pleasant surprise in our e-mail today from Kelley Devaney, an enthusiastic foodie with industry experience, offering this look at last week's Natural Products Expo in Boston. There's good coverage of trends and new products, complete with links to manufacturers. So, take it away, Kelley!!
My first Natural Products Expo was in 1998, when I was considering joining The Organic Cow of Vermont, Inc. Back then I was single, in my thirties, and one of the exhibitors. This year I visited the show for the first time as an observer, as a forty-something with two young children and a husband. One thing that hasn't changed over the years is that it's still a show with heart- it's full of passionate people who work crazy hours because of a product or cause that they really believe in. It's not just a bunch of companies hawking their wares- they'll talk to you even if you don't have a Whole Foods Market badge. Some things that have changed over time besides its size include:
- It's a lot more mainstream- even chic: natural products and trends within natural products have broader impact in the population than ever before.
- Better taste: I used to be more skeptical about trying new products, especially anything gluten-free.
- The spread of "organic" across food and non-food categories. And the fact that you have to really read the organic ingredient labels: there's a lot of "organic crap" out there.
Although I was not able to visit every single booth, and I focused mainly on the food booths, following are some of the noteworthy trends and products I came across at last week's natural products show in Boston:
Big Ingredient/Marketing Concepts:
- Probiotics: While probiotics are not new to yogurt, these beneficial bacteria are now found in everything from condiments ( Zukay Live Foods http://www.zukaylive.com) to fruit drinks (Good Belly www.goodbelly.com ) to kefirs to the PHD Probiotic Enhanced Flavored Water Beverage (stores the cultures in the cap until you are ready to drink it!) www.massprobiotics.com.
- Omega 3: Especially the ingredient "chia" (more omega 3 than flaxseed, and does not need to be processed)-found in granola, energy bars & beverages.
- Drinkable Aloe Vera (most commonly used as a laxative)- I was skeptical, but I even enjoyed the little aloe particulates in the Alo brand line. www.alodrink.com
- Antioxidants-see "superfoods" below.
- Gluten free- continues to be hot.
- Honey products: From cosmetics to organic honey to drinks sweetened with honey.
- Things you add to a glass of water:
- Bevology makes 3 different natural tablets: "Immunity", "Burn (weight loss boost), "hydrate" (natural electrolyte replenishment). www.bevology.com
- Drink Mix Flavrz- concentrated drink mix sweetened mainly with agave- delicious www.organicflavrz.com
- Superfoods:
- "Heritage grains" are now the "everyday superfood": Kamut brand grain, Quinoa, Spelt etc.
- Interesting "Superfruits" products include:
- Black Currants: CurrantC offers a line of black currant nectars (twice the antioxidants of blueberries, 4x Vitamin C of oranges etc.)- sweetened with agave and delicious. www.thecurrantcompany.com
- Fruitceuticals offers dried cranberries infused with pomegranates or blueberries (super antioxidants), dried cranberries infused with cranberry seed oil (antioxidants plus omegas) omega 3-6-9 buzzberries (caffeinated dried blueberries. www.decasbotanical.com
- Zhena's Gypsy Tea has a line of five "superberry" green teas including: acai, cranberry, cacao, cherries, elderberries and promegranate. www.gypsytea.com
- Kopali Organics offers outstanding tasting premium snacks (such as Mulberries and Goldenberries) that are also healthy and directly support indigenous farmers around the world. I tasted many packaged fruit products and these were the best. www.kopaliorganics.com
Other Food Trends:
- Greek style yogurts & frozen yogurts- they were all good!
- Coconut milk yogurt & frozen desserts- for those avoiding dairy and soy. Not as yummy as dairy, but palatable.
Main dish offerings:
- Food by George's pizza (also gluten free). www.foodsbygeorge.com
- Stonewall Kitchen's family-size entrees (great comfort food). www.stonewallkitchen.com
- Kettle Cuisine's single serve frozen soups (also gluten free) (also this scribe's former employer). http://kettlecuisine.com/glutenfree.htm
Natural "salty" snacks:
- Corazonas- tortilla and potato chips with fruit sterols that also lower cholesterol. www.corazonas.com
- Cassava chips - 30% less fat than potato chips, rich in fiber & taste pretty good.
- Popchips- "healthier" but good tasting potato chips made using heat and pressure. www.popchips.com
- Food Should Taste Good's tasty line of chips (also gluten free). www.foodshouldtastegood.com
Outstanding Miscellaneous Products:
- FullyLoadedTea's Shameless Berries Fruit Tea (caffeine free whole fruit tea with Gojiberries, Blueberries & Seabuckthorn Berries)-I'm more of a coffee drinker but I actually craved it again after drinking it. www.fullyloadedtea.com
- Healthy Harvest Freshness Extenders- colorful plastic eggs that extend the life of vegetables and fruits for up to 3 months (like baking soda!), after which you feed the spent zeolite to your houseplants, and put in a new packet. www.oakridgeproductsinc.com
- E-Cloth by TADgreen- reusable microfiber cloth (each fiber is about 100x smaller than the human hair) that cleans with just water! www.e-cloth.com
In spite of these great finds, here are areas where I see opportunity for improvement:
- Kids' products:
- They like but don't need special, excess packaging and cartoon characters. Are we begging our children to eat the right things, or are we teaching them what is healthy and managing their choices?
- Aluminum water bottles with easy to drink spouts like Camelbak's. In kid and adult sizes.
- Reusable snack containers or bags that can fit inside crowded lunch boxes and backpacks.
- Better tasting non-tree nut alternatives to peanut butter.
- More allergy "free" products: Or more products without the top 8 allergens be manufactured carefully enough to make this claim.
- Non-bottled water consumption: To cut down on packaging and to encourage consumption of more healthy beverages, we need more drink concentrates.
Kelley Devaney is currently one of three partners for Eat, Drink Marketing, a marketing consulting group based northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. She has an MBA in Marketing from The Kellogg School of Management, and she has held marketing positions at the following companies: Sunbeam-Oster Household Products, Dunkin' Donuts, Inc., HP Hood (managing The Organic Cow of Vermont brand) and Kettle Cuisine, Inc. (makers of all natural soups made from scratch). She can be reached at
kelleydev@yahoo.com
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