Cookie Cutter: Erin Fetherston Designs For LU

Some early buzz from Teen Vogue for LU's Erin Fetherston tin.

Kellogg's Apple Jacks caught up in New Jersey corruption probe

BrandFreak

MillerCoors Tests a Draft-Beer Box for the Fridge

MillerCoors, the second-largest U.S. brewer by revenue, has begun testing the 1.5-gallon "Home Draft" for its biggest brands -- Miller Lite and Coors Light -- in about a half-dozen cities, including Dallas, Phoenix and San Diego. The boxed product, which is designed to fit into refrigerators for drinkers to consume periodically, rather than for one-time party use, comes amid packaging overhauls by the U.S. units of Heineken NV and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV.

"In this economy, we are seeing an increase in packaging innovation" in consumer-goods industries, said Kara Gruver, head of the North America consumer-products practice at consulting firm Bain & Co. "In many cases, it can be less costly [than creating a new product] and a very effective form of innovation."

Wall Street Journal

VOTE NOW!

You (and the thousands of friends you forward this link on to) could help Cincinnati's own Findlay Market win $5,000! Vote now...

Care 2 help out Findlay Market?

Organic Foods Get on Private-Label Wagon

Low cost organics in PL clothing, now gaining steam:

For years, the organic-foods segment logged annual sales gains of 20%-plus, but that growth has slowed. Sales of natural and organic grocery products rose 4.6%, to $18.3 billion, for the 52 weeks ended June 13 from a year earlier, according to SPINS Inc., a market researcher.

Slowing demand has pushed even reluctant name-branded organic food companies to offer private-label products. Frontier Natural Products Co-Op, which produces organic spices, teas and oils, began selling private-label products last year as retailer requests piled up.

Wall Street Journal

It’s the new real thing from Coke – fizzy milk

Going under the name Vio, Coca-Cola has begun test-marketing the carbonated drink at natural food stores and delis in New York It sells for about £1.50 a bottle, no chilling required. One of Coke’s copywriters claims it tastes “like a birthday party for a polar bear”.

It comes in four “natural” flavours — peach mango, berry, citrus and tropical colada — and could even be marketed as a healthy nutritional drink. But it has 26g of sugar a bottle, on a par with other non-diet Coca-Cola products, and 1.5g of fat.

Times Online

Hershey's Push Into High-End Chocolate Is Bittersweet

Bad timing contributes to Hershey's continued struggles to play in the premium chocolate segment:

Hershey said Thursday that it will no longer be marketing the Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) brand of premium chocolate and is also winding down its high-end Cacao Reserve line. Sales of pricier chocolate have slowed as consumers have tightened their belts and retailers have been reluctant to give up shelf space to lower- performing products.

Before the recession began, Hershey's sales suffered because consumers had been turning toward pricier chocolates, an area that Hershey had been slow to get into. Privately held Mars Inc. and specialty chocolate brands gained share. That pushed Hershey to begin marketing more expensive chocolates. In mid-2007 it announced a pact with Starbucks to develop and market a premium line.

But that new line was badly timed because the economy started slowing soon after. Consumers slashed spending last year and early this year, turning away from most extravagances, including pricey chocolate. "The timing of the launch of the Starbucks proposition, frankly, we just missed the window," said Hershey Chief Executive David West during a Thursday conference call. "Our partner obviously had some other business challenges and the consumer at that price point wasn't sustainable."

Money.CNN

A New Site To Check Out

Check out Eat Me Daily, a blog that our friend Kaz found on the interweb.


Image from post on Hellman's Eat Local Campaign


A bit from their "Introduction" Section

Might as well start with a mission statement.

Eat Me Daily is a critical (and cynical) take on food, media, and culture, comprised of:

• Commentary and criticism—not mean-spirited, but with teeth;
• Aggregation of links deemed important, irreverent, redeeming, absurd, or plainly awesome;
• And occasional features of the grown-up, long-format kind.

Keeping it simple and comment-free for now.

A quick note: The name, Eat Me Daily, to some, may suggest something obscene. Get your head out of the gutter.

A secondary quick note: This is not a site for self-proposed "foodies," and probably not a site for your mom (unless your mom is awesome).

Here goes Eat Me Daily. Let's see if we can keep this up.

Wow. . .

Check out this blog that Tina S. pointed out - this guys loves eating stuff that is CRAZEEE in his "Steve Don't Eat That" posts.

KAM v SAM III & IV

Kool-Aid Man's take down of Soda Man continues. These spots focus on his 'sweet'-ness. Notice how he is becoming a bit more of a cheeky, knowing character, while still retaining his charm and innocence.

Fancy Fast Food

Need a way to fool a date into thinking you can cook?
Try Fancy Fast Food recipes.

Turn this:


Into This:


Try it @ Fancy Fast Food

No Comment

Check It

'Food, Inc.' gets boost from Chipotle

'Food, Inc.' gets boost from Chipotle

Shared via AddThis

Absolut-ly Nothing

Absolut is conducting a new marketing campaign in the UK where it will essentially go “naked” on shelves. Complete with a new website, www.absolut.co.uk/nolabel, the bottles will go without a label for a limited time in a stance against prejudice. "Absolut seeks to stimulate discussion around visionary and alternative views of the world that we hope will be inspirational for our target audience. Through this new bottle we are encouraging people to think twice about prejudice," said Mark Hamilton, head of marketing for vodkas at Pernod Ricard UK. We think this is an interesting campaign but would it ever work in the U.S.?

Originally from Wine & Spirits Daily

Haute Dawg

Not sure if you've realized it but Hot Dogs are "In." That easy to use, grill standby is now the hip meal. Don't believe me . . . Check out Bon Appetit

So, in order to see what all the fuss is about we had our own little Haute Dawg party. Check out some of our creations . . .













Chilean Haute Dog

Thai Haute Dawg
Ski's Haute Brown Haute Dog

A Little Bit of This, a Littel Bit of That Haute Dawg
Volker's West Sider Haute Dawg
The Mediterranean Haute Dawg

Hershey kisses Web unit goodbye

Cue sadtrombone.com:

"Hershey's is making the strategic decision to exit the online retail business," said Hershey spokesman Kirk Saville. "The current business model is not sustainable."

Chicago Tribune

Private Label Programs Take Off

According to The NPD Group's "Private Label Perceptions, Usage Patterns and Intentions," 24 percent of all food and beverages served in American homes last year were store brands, up from 18 percent in 1999. Today, 97 percent of all households consume private label foods on a regular basis.

"There is no question that private label foods have become an integral part of American life," said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at NPD and author of "Eating Patterns in America." He added: "Furthermore, we do not hide private label foods as an ingredient or as an additive to another dish. Today over half of all store brand food eatings are the end dish."

BrandWeek

Pringles facing crunch time

Will it stay or will it go?:

Procter & Gamble Co. has unleashed the four-decade-old snack in a barrage of new flavors, shapes and sizes with new marketing even as speculation grows that Pringles could be among the next P&G brands to be sold or spun off.

"More and more, we're hearing from Procter & Gamble that the food business doesn't fit in with the rest of their portfolio," said Ali Dibadj, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, which hosted P&G officials at a New York conference in late May.

Associated Press

RIP, Oscar Meyer

But the wiener-mobile will live on.

Oscar Mayer, the man who owned the legendary hot dog and other meat products plant, has died.

Oscar Mayer was 95 and was the third owner of the company which eventually was sold and is a division of Kraft.

Oscar Mayer gave his bologna a first name. Oscar Mayer gave his bologna a last name.

examiner.com

Earthbound Farm, Naked Juice to use 100% recycled plastic

Serious eco-friendly packaging from two major manufacturers:

Earthbound Farm, the nation's largest grower of organic produce, will unveil plans to use only 100% post-consumer plastic — recycled materials previously used by consumers — for all of its familiar clamshell packages.

Naked Juice, the natural juice brand PepsiCo bought in 2007, will unveil plans to do the same for its bottles. Industry lingo for this environmentally friendly plastic is PCR PET — post-consumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate.

USA Today

Slurpee Madness - AND IT'S FREEEEEE

Every July 11, 7-Eleven stores across the country celebrate their birthday by giving away free Slurpees. This year the convenience store chain turns 82, and about 5 million icy beverages will be handed out at participating locations.

Read More at Pop Candy

Crust Is a Canvas for Pizza’s New Wave

First burgers, now pizza:

The flashiest restaurateurs want in on pizza; so do some of the most classically trained, critically acclaimed chefs. Stephen Starr, the owner of Buddakan and an owner of Morimoto, two of the grandest and gaudiest Asian restaurants in downtown Manhattan, has lately spent much of his time in New York eating his way through the city’s older and newer pizza parlors, on a gut-busting mission to figure out what works best and how to replicate it in Philadelphia, his base.

Pizza is the latest fascination of David Myers, a celebrated Los Angeles chef who has turned from progressive cuisine at Sona to mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes at Pizzeria Ortica, which he opened early this year in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Pizza is the obsession of Mathieu Palombino, who once ran the kitchen at BLT Fish, an expensive Manhattan restaurant, but now steers Motorino, a modern pizza parlor in Williamsburg, that opened late last year. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, too, has gotten into the act. He’s an investor in Co., the Chelsea pizza place whose debut in January attracted the sort of food-world buzz once reserved for fussier fare.

New York Times

Study: Thriftier, Healthier Consumers Dining In More

A new study reports that two out of three consumers (67%) "strongly agree" that they try to prepare healthy meals, reports Supermarketguru.com, which conducted the benchmarking research on behalf of ConAgra Foods. And only 23% say that eating healthfully costs more, down from 30% in January.

MediaPost

La mexicana . . . MMMMMMM

Went to La Mexicana for lunch. Very tasty. I would have to say the best burrito I've had in this city. Hands down beats the pants off of Chipotle. I recommend 1) the flag burrito


2) watching your kids (the middle sign says "Please Control Your Children. No standing on Seats. Thank You"

Cheeseburger in a Can

Going Camping? Perhaps you want a Cheeseburger in a Can.

Here's what they catalog said it would look like

See what it really looks like.

Thanks David F.

Please, Please Come Back

Check out this list of 19 Foods/Beverages that the AV Club wishes would come back on the market.

Gatorade Gum Or Cookies and Mint Hershey's anyone?

Downtown Oceanaire closes | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Downtown Oceanaire closes | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Posted using ShareThis

Some Gardening Tips

As many people are turning to gardening to put fresh vegetables on their table and keep a little cash in their pockets various blogs are helping these gardeners with tips, techniques, and insight.

Just ran across this one - Garden Rant

Bourbon shortage hits Knob Hill | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Bourbon shortage hits Knob Hill | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Posted using ShareThis

Zoning board sides with BarBe Q | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Zoning board sides with BarBe Q | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Posted using ShareThis

Four Guys (and a co-op) at Five Guys

We finally got there. Two weeks after the long awaited opening, the IGT squad finally found ourselves all in the same city long enough to try the new Five Guys Burger and Fries in Clifton. Life is tough. Because we all appreciate mega-numbers and lists, we thought we'd give you the top 5 reasons we loved Five Guys Burgers:

#2. Seemingly bottom less fries. They fill a "small" carton full of fries and then for good luck, dump another shovel full into the bag.

#3. We found yet another reason to go back to a college campus.

#4. Free peanuts

#5. A freaking delicious burger, with over 16 "FREE" toppings to choose from for a grand total of...wait for it...250,000 possible ways to order your burger.

A New Endeavor From a Local Flavor:

Per the Cincinnati Enquirer:

The Cincinnati-based company (Scripps), which owns a high-flying roster of household cable companies and Web sites, hopes that its latest media foray at www.Food2.com will find plenty of 21- to 35-year-old fans.

Launched May 1, the site takes an irreverent, pop culture approach to food but unlike other network shows, this one is attempting to capture flavors of cooking on Web video and through cyber-social interaction with readers.

Check out the full article here.

Ski v. Trapeze

When on business travel in Canada it is assumed you will take some time to perfect your trapeze skills. At least this is the thinking of one Mike Skrzelowski, whose threats of quitting and running away with the circus now have more bite.

Check out his fairly impressive skills below. No swinger jokes, please.

Check out this Pringles Banner Ad created by Bridge.

"It's also kind of neat that clicking on it repeatedly reveals a little story within the ad, an innovation that earned it a gold Cyber Lion at Cannes last week."

via Rick P via AdFreak

The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts

NY Times takes on the perfect burger:

By most accounts, the burger’s upward journey began eight years ago, when Daniel Boulud stuffed ground sirloin with truffles, braised short ribs and foie gras at his DB Bistro Moderne in Manhattan. A few weeks ago, Mr. Boulud brought things full circle, opening a burger bar on the Bowery called DBGB Kitchen and Bar.

While some chefs have groused quietly about the insatiable demand for burgers, most are philosophical. “All chefs can be frustrated by the buying public sometimes,” said Clark Frasier, a chef with restaurants in Massachusetts and Maine. “In this economy I’m happy to sell anything they want to eat.”

All this high-powered attention has produced some new ways of thinking about and cooking burgers. Interviews with 30 chefs provided dozens of lessons for the home cook that aren’t terribly difficult and don’t cost much money. And it all yielded the ideal burger.

New York Times

Keller's: Dallas TX

The IGT team took advantage of their amazing multi-tasking skills by mixing blogging pleasure with work travels. This week took us to Dallas, TX where some quick googling and a friendly recommendation (thanks to loyal reader Grant for the tip) led us to the famous Keller's Drive-In burger joint. The key statistics and ever-important pictures:

Travel time from hotel: 105 minutes (GPS failure)
Restaurants that specialize in coffee, tacos and muffins: 1
Number of potential homeless that directions were sought from: 1
Times referred to as "Yankees:" 3
Number of tater tots consumed: 67
GQ rank of national burger joints: 10
Travel time back to hotel: 17 minutes

Overall, the burger was good. Number 10 nationally may be a stretch, but the atmosphere, lovely waitresses, and drive-in niche definitely elevated it in our minds. Their specialty is the "No. 5" which is a double cheeseburger topped with thousand island dressing and freshly grilled onions. Overall, a very good, juicy burger with delicious tater tots that proves Texans know more than just their steaks, football and 10-gallon hats.

White Castle-role

Painter sent me this. I can't even determine what food groups are being displayed here besides the ever present White Castle Burger . . . is that marshmallows?



BTW - Do you know why White Castle burgers have 5 holes? It takes 5 shots to kill a rat.