Stand Out From Competition By Customizing Food Offerings

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Bakery, coffee, frozen foods, fully cooked sausages and more were all on display and all offered customizable options at the Private Label Trade Show, Nov. 13-15.

There was an avalanche of food products, which were all customizable in both look and formula to a retailer’s needs. Like the product’s label as-is? No problem. Want to create something different? These companies work with the retailer or let the retailer create it independently. Same with recipes.

This differentiation is the name of the game in food, said Tom Martin, regional sales manager, Big Dipper Food Co., Youngstown, Ohio.

“As private label gains market share in the United States, differentiation is growing, Martin said. “You don’t want to go to the category buyer and sell another sour cream and onion potato chip because it doesn’t add value. But if you bring something like a peanut butter caramel popcorn, something with a twist, that becomes a point of differentiation for retailer X, and it becomes a point of destination for their retail operations versus the competitor down the street.”

Over the last six years or so, the private-label trend has been growing in the United States, which has been slow to ramp up and create tiers versus other countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, Martin said. Those tiers are value brands, mid-tier brands and a premium product “that brings a point of differentiation,” he said.

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Butterfield Foods, Noblesville, Ind., makes precooked and ready-to-heat sandwiches, handhelds/wraps, burritos, breakfast sandwiches, sliders, soups, sauces and more.

It also can develop a product with a customer.

Pictured: Chicken and cheese quesadilla. Kosher, halal, gluten free and vegan also are available.

Montreal-based MLW Foods sells frozen Chinese food that’s precooked and ready to heat. Entrees, party packs, sides/appetizers, vegetable spring rolls, wontons, wonton soup and potstickers (both deep fried and boiled) are available.

Menu customization is also available.

Individually packaged and larger bakery items are available from Crown Bakeries. Snack cakes, bagels, biscuits, English muffins and more are available for both foodservice and retail needs.

The Nashville, Tenn.-based company’s Duos are pound cake in two flavors, strawberry vanilla or chocolate vanilla. There’s also chocolate chip pound cake, brownies and mini versions of the pound cakes and crumb cakes.

Fully cooked sausages are on the menu at Manitowoc, Wis.-based Cher-Make Sausage, which offers links both skinless and in natural casings. It offers shelf-stable, ready-to-eat summer sausage in beef, pork and chicken in different sizes and flavor profiles.

It will help in creating a sausage tailored to the flavor profile a retailer desires. It also will build a custom roller-grill sausage program for convenience stores.

City Brew Coffee and Colter Coffee Roasting are the two biggest names under parent City Roasting Co., Billings, Mont. This company sells retail-ready coffee and bulk for in-store brewing.

They brew more than 60 varieties of Arabica beans that are USDA organic and Fair Trade certified.

Damascus Bakeries, a fourth-generation Brooklyn, N.Y.-based bakery, offers an array of items from lavash (for use with grab-and-go sandwiches), pita bread, flatbread, pizza crust, buns, focaccia and more.

Breads are 100% naturally fermented and allowed to rise naturally for up to 24 hours.

Mississauga, Ontario-based Giraffe Foods offers custom-made sauces, dips and salad dressings. There are private-label items as well as a custom-made division.

Certifications include organic, GMO free, gluten free, vegan, kosher and halal.

Good West offers dispensed-enabled solutions for cold brews, creamers and iced coffee. The Douglasville, Pa.-based company offers its own blend of 100% Arabica cold brew coffee extract that’s preservative free and kosher certified.

Cold-brew offerings include mocha, French vanilla, frappe, horchata and salted caramel.

Manini’s, Kent, Wash., sells heat-and-serve frozen entrees including fresh pasta, ravioli and tortelloni that are gluten free and made with the all-natural ancient grains millet, amaranth, teff and sorghum.

Ancient grains offer more fiber, protein and texture, and hold together longer, than gluten-free grains made with rice, the company said. Manini’s also sells pizza crust/dough balls, buns and flour.