Is the Rebel Kitchen the Hells Angels of food?

The Rebel Kitchen is a brand new company (January 2014) sitting in UK and producing (more to come) coconut milk based drink, which are vegan and lactose free.

So, where is the Rebel side ? They actually claim they want to rebel against the fact that healthy and good food is always expensive, and enable everybody to acces it.

So, we have kind of fruit warriors claiming themselves as "rebel" and fighting for vegan and lactose free food. The mission is noble, the design appealing, but do they really pass together?

Food and clothes from Whataburger

That restaurants and fast foods sell their sauces or spices to use at home is not new anymore. That some of them are selling apparels and clothing because they are quite trendy can also be seen here and there.

But Whataburger (http://whataburger.com/) is going a step further with their "gift packet". Quotation : "Do you love ketchup on everything?  The Ketchup Lover's Bundle was made for you.  Includes: 20-ounce bottle of Fancy Ketchup,  T-Shirt, Mouse Pad and Reusable Grocery Bag. " 

Is it terribly trendy or awfully kitsch?

Bacon and ice cream to become a standard?

Some years ago, when Burger King offered Bacon Sundays in the USA, this was a kind of new unsaid rules that had been infringed...

In between, bacon had become a kind of hype, and it seems normal that 5 Guys is launching milk shake with bacon!

http://www.fiveguys.com/milkshakes

Funky Fish by Asda : who said fish was boring?

 

 

The UK supermarket chain ASDA redesigned its fish products, launching the "Funky Fish Kitchen". They did manage to get a fresh and funny design, which supports the product, without taking away the serious and trust of it.

Weel done!

To see the products, go to www.asda.com and search for "Funky Fish Kitchen".

How to use packaging to prevent spending a lot of money in R&D (True Fruits)...

Background :
Imagine that you are a smoothies producer, positionning your products on the "we say the truth" line, ie nothing hidden : fruits, that's all.

Fact :
One day, for one reason or another, you start to source your mint somewhere else, you find one, which is very tasty, and switch it in our recipes. The production starts, and, shock !, the product tastes perfectly, but has lost its green color.

Question :
What do we do?

Solution 1 :
I put all my R&D crew on the question, they need to find a solution by next monday, or we can not sell anyway.

Solution 2:
I put my R&D crew on the question, and, until they find out, I try to fix the problem somehow, fully aligned with my product image.

Answer : 
We could imagine that True Fruits recently went through this dillema, and here is their solution:

 It is basically explained that they have a new mint, which tastes perfect, but does not give the usual green, and the product looks like a soup. But it's good !


more info : http://www.true-fruits.com/

Mug Cake : how Dr Oetker speaks to French and German consumers.

Some years ago, Herta launched a ready to bake cake dough : open the pack, fill a cake mould, put in the oven and bake.

With its mug cake, Dr Oetker is increasing the preparation with one step (add milk) but offering a much more convenient and friendly use : mix the powder in a mug with milk in a mug, and put in the microwave.

Interestingly, the product looks totally different in Germany and France. On one hand, the German name is "Tasse Küchlein", which one could translate as "the small comfort cake in a cup" with a packaging emphasizing the cake, the aroma, the comfort food.The cake itself is not perfect, like a hand made one, as expected.

 On the other hand, the French one plays on the easy to use and speedy preparation (name is "gateau minute" = minute cake, strong microwave picture...), with a quite "industrial" packaging where the cake's picture looks like coming out from the Dr Oetker factory.

Let see how both countries respond to it !

Roo'bar : raw food to go

The Raw food trend is not new (it was the only possible diet before men managed to control fire, then reappeared around 1830) but gained some media lights in the last years.

Idea is quite simple : eat everything raw. But today, this is also comprising "process everything raw" ie without any energy. Raw foodist mainly produce their food home, as food products are hard to control in term of processing. So the apparition of Roo'bar (roo-bar.com/) is quite a good idea : certified raw bars with interesting ingredients. The company actually started in Bulgaria before to extend in Europa, targeting bio shops.