NPR’s food blog The Salt recently reported on a pop-up restaurant in Washington, D.C., serving a menu devoted to insects. Sponsored by an exterminator and called the “Pestaurant,” the eatery features grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms, and ants. As it happens, we talked last year about whether eating bugs could be one […]
Food Safety Modernization Act Since the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law in 2011, the food industry has been faced with the prospect of greatly increased safety and transparency regulations. Today, those changes are still being rolled out—from much more frequent FDA inspections to stricter requirements for […]
At MarketPlace, we’re all about food, and for several of us that includes growing some ourselves. That means we have a more than passing familiarity with the old-fashioned seed catalog. These catalogs go back to the seventeenth century in Europe, with the first American version established in 1784. Since that […]
Food companies confront no more sensitive topic today than the debates over genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Consumers are deeply concerned, asking questions like “What are GMOs doing to our food supply,” “Are they dangerous,” and, whether they are or not, “Should they be labeled?” Many of us have strong opinions […]
As Brand Growth Partners to food + beverage, pet + animal, and health + wellness brands, we’ve worked with a lot of perishable products: milk, cookies, and sandwiches, to name a few, along with the colors and ingredients that go into them. But what we’d never marketed was the one […]
Going gluten-free isn’t new to us. As a food branding agency, staying apprised of food industry opportunities and challenges is part of the gig. So, when the chance to attend Gluten and Allergen Free Expo arose, our team was delighted to plan a trip dedicated to partaking in the gluten-free […]
Our food industry friends over at IFT posted a fantastic 2013 recap/aggregation of food industry trends in America. Here are a few tidbits that we’ve been discussing internally and with some of our clients recently about eating in America. Trend: What’s most important to Americans when selecting food? Taste (89% […]
As we look to the New Year, we look forward to new projects, new partnerships, and, of course, new food trends. Here’s a look at the food and beverage trends set to take center stage in 2014. 1) Donuts: Not only have these doughy delights taken 2013 by storm (move […]
Transparency. It’s what consumers have come to expect from the brands they buy, especially when it involves their food. From the geographic origin of ingredients to how – and by whom – they are grown and harvested, consumers expect more from their loaf of bread than simply to serve as […]
During the power outage that halted Super Bowl XLVII, one tweet made a bright impression, becoming one of the most retweeted messages of all time. The tweet itself: “Power out? No problem.” It was accompanied by an image of a dimly lit Oreo and the caption “You can still dunk […]
It seems that every few weeks, a little-known (often exotic) fruit or veggie is declared the next superfood. By moving so quickly from one proclaimed superfood to the next, we’re left to semi-seriously infer that the previous one failed to live up to its moniker and (innumerable) promises. This fact, however, […]
Our client IOI Loders Croklaan recently tasked us with the unveiling of their latest product, a line of colored and flavored shortenings called FuseRite™. Through solid communication and a strategic ingredients marketing plan, we established the following: Primary goals: Stress FuseRite’s versatility; clearly communicate that it makes the job of […]
