Hail M Cocktails

This week's #MondaySparks are all things Maeve Webster and I saw at the Winter Fancy Food Show a few weeks ago, organized by our 2025 Consumer Need States (menumatters2025trends.com). This is part 1! Give Consumers New Sensory Experiences - We saw tons of konjac jelly at the show, made from the Japanese root vegetable. There was drinkable konjac from Tastelli and snackable packs from EVERYDAZE and Pac Pac Snacks. - Still plenty of freeze-dried options, including Freezcake cheesecake and multiple chocolate bars topped with freeze-dried fruit like Wildwood Chocolate and Spring & Mulberry. - There were novel textural experiences in options like the Samonyu Salmon Biscuits and the extra-crunchy Philosopher Foods Gut Nuts that are dehydrated and fermented (shout out to Marie Molde, RD). - Numerous experiential foods, including Hail M Cocktails cocktail tea bags and the milkadamia oat milk flat pack sheets that you rehydrate (I had been curious to try them and they do indeed taste just like classic milkadamia milk). Give Consumers Bold Experiences: - So many bold condiments at the show. Molly Baz was speaking at the show and showing off her Ayoh Foods mayos in flavors like pickle and giardiniera (they really were tasty). Tari Peruvian hot sauces had new flavors that were super tasty, including smoky heat and tropical kick. - Plenty of sweet heat. Profanity Jam (Mary Brockmeyer) was one of my favorites from the show -- the passion fruit habanero jelly was so good. And Uncle Waithleys Beverage Company had a super tasty scotch bonnet small batch ginger beer. - There were numerous experiences that would be bold to U.S. consumers. The frozen fish head soup from BZT Food LLC featured an entire fish head in the frozen pack and it was absolutely delicious. Meanwhile, there was quail and quail eggs everywhere, including manukah honey and roast chestnut quail eggs from Oegg and bacon-wrapped quail from Manchester Farms. Give Consumers New Ways to Value: - As we often note, value isn't only about price for consumers -- quality is nearly as important. The whole show is full of gourmet and artisan products, of course, but notably there were a lot of Japanese fancy fruits, including fancy melons and strawberries. - Health is the third most important attribute when it comes to value for consumers and there were lots of healthy products. Two notable options: the mushroom milk teas from Healtheeusa in options like "performance booster" and "focus booster." And Protein Candy features 14g of protein per serving. - Convenience is the next most important "value" attribute to consumers, showing up in The Rice Stuff's microwavable rice bowls in flavors like Thai red curry and chicken mushroom. That's part one! Part two tomorrow. #cpg #fancyfoodshow #retail #gourmet #artisan #foodindustry #trends #candy #beverages #flavor

Great First Day at Winter Fancy Food Show! So Glad we are here - can’t wait to see what happens today! Specialty Food Association Julie Pryor #wefancy