Chicago Tribune's first ever FOOD BOWL offers a 3-week crash course in the fine art of cuisine from Tuesday, August 7 through Sunday, August 26. The festival showcases the distinct tastes and flavors of Chicago from its neighborhoods to its award winning restaurants and world-class chefs.
The FOOD BOWL gives locals and tourists alike the opportunity to get up close and personal with Chicago's second to none food scene through 100+ events that include specialty classes, test kitchens, panels and talks, pop-up bars, neighborhood tours, fine dining and more.
Why Chicago? Why now?
Here are just a few reasons that make Chicago the city at the top for foodies:
The James Beard Foundation moved their big Awards ceremony-aka the Oscars of the food world--to Chicago four years ago and will be calling Chicago home again next year.
Condé Nast Traveler says "Chicago is the best restaurant city in America” (2017).
Bon Appétit magazine calls Chicago “America’s most exciting city to eat in right now.”
Chicago's Alinea restaurant has been named the “Best Restaurant in the World” by many, including Elite Traveler magazine.
25 Chicago establishments received one or more Michelin star in 2018.
So now's your chance to experience Chicago's finest at Chicago Tribune's FOOD BOWL. Here are some highlights--the rest of the events are listed on the website.
Read the full article HERE
LaForce Baker is the founder and executive chef at Moon Meals Inc., a company providing plant-based meals including vegan meats, cheeses, and sauces to major retailers and foodservice operators. When Black Enterprise interviewed Baker in 2014, he discussed his vision to expand to other markets, to make healthy, tasty options accessible to other time-starved, urban professionals. Four years later, his vision for Moon Meals has come to life. Thanks to the Fiesta Wrap, the company’s new vegan grab-and-go concept, the bootstrapped entrepreneur who overcame poverty is launching in all 187 Jewel supermarket locations in the Midwest.
To read the entire article from Black Enterprise click HERE
It's so rewarding for CFBN to be able to host events where our guests are able to meet new people, learn about different aspects of the industry and build business relationships.
Last week, we kicked off the month of August with our friends at CPG Professional Networks, to host an event where attendees had the spotlight. It was a great opportunity to connect with the industry, so we appropriately named this event, “Hot Networking, Cool Drinks.” We truly had a blast bringing together the food & beverage industry of Chicagoland. Special thank you to our partners at CPG Professional Networks for a great event!
PITTSBURGH & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 31, 2018--As part of its commitment to reduce natural resource needs and manage overall environmental footprint, The Kraft Heinz Company today announced the expansion of its environmental stewardship strategy to include time-bound targets for achieving greater packaging sustainability and setting science-based goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically, Kraft Heinz supports the move toward a circular economy and aims to make 100 percent of its packaging globally recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. This announcement, a complement to its Growing a Better World strategy released in last year’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, supports the Company’s broader efforts to improve the sustainability of its supply chain.
“Our collective industry has a massive challenge ahead of us with respect to packaging recyclability, end-of-life recovery and single-use plastics,” said Bernardo Hees, CEO at Kraft Heinz. “Even though we don’t yet have all the answers, we owe it to current and future generations who call this planet ‘home’ to find better packaging solutions and actively progress efforts to improve recycling rates. That’s why Kraft Heinz is placing heightened focus on this important environmental issue.”
A Matter of Science and Food (IFT 18) gave food industry professionals and science enthusiasts the chance to network, collaborate and share information. Attendees were given the opportunity to showcase their inventions, listen to expert panel discussions and explore the logistics of the industry. There was a ton of information to take away from this year’s show, so I decided to make a list of the top 5 things that I learned at IFT 2018.
Our friends at FoodNavigator give us an overview of the food and technology trends at IFT18!
Plant proteins are trending - but are they better when blended with animal? Coffee flavor is hot, but only if it's cold brew, and coconut is promising a whole lot more than just water. FoodNavigator has rounded up some of the highlights from the world's biggest food science show.
See all of the trends from FoodNavigator here
When Joel Warady began working as a consultant to Enjoy Life Foods in the early 2000s, the small maker of gluten-free products was struggling to differentiate itself. "We'd heard that the (Food & Drug Administration) had designated eight common food allergens," recalls Warady, today the company's chief sales and marketing officer. "So we said, 'Well, what if we were gluten-free and free of the top eight?' We certainly didn't know the size of the opportunity."
That naive gambit, he jokes, has turned out beautifully.
Today, Chicago-based Enjoy Life—which posted revenue of about $40 million in 2014 and was acquired by Deerfield food giant Mondelez International for $81 million the following year—has emerged as a leader in the rapidly growing "allergy-friendly" packaged-foods category. The company, whose sales grew at a 40 percent year-over-year clip between 2011 and 2013, continues to see double-digit growth.
Estimates of the allergy-friendly food market are inexact, as most researchers lump it into the larger gluten-free category (itself projected to grow to $7.6 billion by 2020). Meanwhile, data providers Nielsen and IRI don't include Whole Foods Markets—a major purveyor of allergy-friendly lines—or Amazon in their sales data. But the allergy-friendly subset is undoubtedly increasing as more and more Americans deal with what can be a life-threatening issue. The rate of anaphylactic reactions to food, which can include throat swelling and difficulty breathing, increased 377 percent between 2007 and 2016, according to Fair Health, a nonprofit organization that analyzes billions of private health insurance claims. Reactions to peanuts increased 445 percent, while those to tree nuts and seeds spiked sixfold.
Read more from this Crain's article here
The U.S. cold chain is growing more complex as changing consumer demands, new federal regulations and even factors such as warmer weather patterns spur shippers to adjust their approach to refrigerated truckload and LTL transportation. What do these changes mean for shippers and how are they responding?
Meeting Consumers at Their Doorstep
As any food manufacturer or retailer knows, consumer demands are fickle and subject to change with little to no warning. However, the biggest change that is roiling the retail landscape has been nearly two decades in the making: the shift in consumer preference from shopping in brick and mortar stores to shopping online. Only recently have changing shopping patterns begun to ripple across the supply chain.
Read more from Food Logistics HERE
This month's Innovation Breakfast, Food & Beverage Revolution...Chicago Style was sponsored and hosted by our friends at Fifty Gazelles. The panel discussion featured speakers from two innovative Chicago companies-- Home Chef, the nation’s third largest home meal delivery service, and Foxtrot, an upscale convenience store and mobile delivery service. The innovators, shared insights about the changing market in food and beverage, retail service, and executing on consumers' needs.
Jeremy Anderson, Brian Irwin & Mike LaVitola (left to right)
Brian Irwin, vice president of marketing with Home Chef, spoke about their recent $200 million acquisition by Kroger, a true milestone for Home Chef. Irwin emphasized that a key component to the company's success was creating a personable environment for the consumer, and a divine focus on consumer needs (in most cases, a clear preference for variations of meat and potatoes). Irwin attributed Home Chef's success to building an original, Midwest-focused business. Home Chef has a mission to create meal kits that are not only a millennial phenomenon, but can be enjoyed by a wide variety and range of ages.
Panel discussion with Brian Irwin & Mike LaVitola
Mike LaVitola, CEO and founder of Foxtrot, reflected on launching his organization, while he studied business at the University of Chicago. He opened his first store on Lake Street, 10 years ago, and laughs as he recalled how slow and empty the neighborhood was at the time (compared to the present day west loop area, which is booming with people, activity and culture). LaVitola also reflected on some of the interesting things that he's noticed with incoming orders and consumer needs. He's seen a surprising demand for ice cream, liquor and cigarettes orders, usually placed after midnight. LaVitola's closing remarks included plans of expanding his business, as a more upscale version of a 7-11. An opportunity for growth is clear in Foxtrot's future.
By Donna Berry
Ice cream, refrigerated desserts and baked goods such as cookies, cakes and pies are trending these days. The Specialty Food Association’s 2018 State of the Industry report attributes this to Millenials, who collectively cannot get enough of these sweet treats. They want dessert, and often at strange times, according to Michael LaVitola, CEO and co-founder of Foxtrot, an upscale convenience store chain and home-delivery service in Chicago that delivers all too often a single pint of premium ice cream—usually Jeni’s or Coolhaus—to your door within 60 minutes of ordering.
Read more HERE
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