Don't Skip Breakfast this Holiday Season!

Did you have a good breakfast this morning?

We are going into the holiday crush and you'll need your energy! Did you know that a well-made bagel with a nutritious topping like organic peanut butter or fruit can give you the energy you need to start your day right. One plain medium-sized bagel – about 100 grams has about 264 calories, in addition to the following:


11 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, 52 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 8 grams of sugars, 105 milligrams of calcium, 4 milligrams of iron, 107 milligrams of potassium and 422 milligrams of sodium.

So start your day off right with a Harlan Foods bagel, found at grocery and club retailers nationwide.

We manufacture a wide range of nutritious and delicious bagels with the finest ingredients sourced from America's best farmers.  Plus, they look and smell as good as they taste and feel.  Did you know that today Harlan Foods feeds 2 in 10 Americans every single week?  There is a reason!

Breakfast...the most important and exciting meal of the day. Or at least we think so!

When you love what you do, it isn't work. And, we here at Harlan Foods LOVE breakfast and snack time. We make some of the most delicious muffins and Gluten-Free organic granola you will find-and finding it is easy.

Our muffins are available at a variety of retailers and club stores-and coming soon to a major quick serve restaurant chain! Our granola is available under many of your favorite brands found at your local grocery.

We make our muffins in a variety of standard and exotic flavors ranging from Crumb Cake, Blueberry and Chocolate Chip to Apple Pie and Red Velvet Cake!

You don't always know Harlan Foods makes the products you love, but we do. Each week, we provide delicious food choices to 2 in 10 Americans like these mouth-watering items!

 

Learning from Mother Nature

At Harlan Foods, we understand that innovation is about finding new things. However, we believe that 'new' isn't enough. So we focus our efforts on 'better'. At its basic building blocks, food is about chemistry and physics. Concepts we understand and work with each day.

Because of this, we have come to understand and embrace the fact that data can hide-or illuminate-virtually anything you can imagine, if you have enough of it that is. We used to pull our hair out when receiving downloads of 'dirty data', which would need to be scrubbed. But, with the advent of certain species of AI and access to 1,000x more data than we could have dreamed of only 10 years ago, this problem is diminishing.

In developing new replacements or alternatives to existing products, it's helpful to identify what makes up that item (or even the intended item's) Digital DNA. When you plot this DNA in an n-Dimensional graph and introduce the Digitial DNA of other products, both alike and dissimilar and introduce entropy, along with some other more advanced mathematical tools, what shows up can be pretty amazing and powerful.

These product characteristics and attributes, when assigned a universal value in the graph, form strong and weak bonds with each other. The greater number of strong bonds, the more alike those products are (ok, there is more to it than that, but you get the picture).

This model is nothing new. It's been around for about 4 billion years, at least here locally. It's what drives molecular biology.

At Harlan, we are using these new tools alongside our tried and true ones to create food products that are better for you, more enjoyable, more sustainable, more affordable and more exciting.

Because while we have always delivered delicious, we feel it is important to ensure that what we innovate on is not just delicious but also products that are better that what was available yesterday.

Harlan Foods Indianapolis production facility receives an 'Excellent' SQF rating

Harlan Foods Achieves a 96 SQF Score - Excellent!

Harlan Foods is a diverse food conglomerate with operations across the United States and Canada.

Today, Harlan feeds 2 in 10 Americans with nutritious and delicious food products ranging from innovative, clean label functional foods to iconic, convenience- oriented breakfast and snack foods available at America’s leading groceries, club stores and quick serve restaurants.

Did you know that this year, Harlan Foods won a record 26 First Place Blue Ribbons? This represented ‘best in show’ awards for over 60% of the pies entered for competition.

In the 2023 SQF Kitley Facility Audit, there were no critical or major findings even though the audit is comprised of over 300 lines of code and numerous opportunities for point deductions.

The final report reflects a cohesive team effort with both Food Safety and Food Quality certifications earned and no non-conformance findings within Harlan’s Quality programs!

“Harlan Food’s Indianapolis (Kitley) team is not just ‘in it’ to pass the audit but is instead committed to doing very well.

The team is friendly and easy to work with. The sky is the limit on what this team can achieve based on what was witnessed this week.

Harlan’s documentation is very good from their work order system to their sanitation program as well as their associated records as is the food safety system documentation.

Their approach to culture and S.A.F.E. certification program is truly best practice.”

- SQF Auditor

 

Twenty six Blue Ribbons representing 60% of our entries at this years APC

The American Pie Council’s APC Pie Championship held this past May in Kissimmee, Florida has been on hiatus since 2019.  This year, competition roared back with twenty-four of North America’s very best commercial and independent bakeries, ranging from small, specialty bakeries to internationally recognized brands all submitting a total of 365 pies.

This year, pies were submitted across 30 sweet and savory flavor categories – including hand-held options, no-sugar-added , family, premium and gourmet categories.   All 24 participating organizations put forth their very best products, each hoping to win a coveted APC Blue Ribbon.

In 2019, Harlan came home with 19 APC Blue Ribbons, which represented a high-water mark in pie quality and performance.  Said Harlan Foods President, Hugh Harlan, “We were hopeful knowing the quality and attention to detail our team puts into our products but winning 19 first place prizes exceeded even our expectations.”

This year, Harlan Foods set an even higher bar, winning an extraordinary twenty-six first place Blue Ribbons, representing a first-place finish for approximately 60% of the pies Harlan submitted.

 

Said Rick Hoskins, American Pie Council board president and chief executive officer of Colborne Foodbotics.  “We couldn’t be happier with this year’s event. Our bakers outdid themselves, to the judges’ delight. There truly is no other gathering for the pie industry that rivals this event.  We’ve enjoyed 26 years of competition and of time well spent in our mission to impact and enhance the consumers’ love of this All-American treat.”

At this year’s competition, Harlan’s ribbon count exceeded second place finisher, Sarah Lee by 11 and specialty pie bakery, Jessie Lord Bakery which took home 13 first place ribbons.

Harlan’s Joe Latouf, EVP of Sales and Marketing commented at the awards ceremony, “This year’s competition saw some of the best pies anyone can imagine.  The very best in creativity, quality, visual presentation, and taste were all on display from our competitors.  Achieving what we did in 2019 would have been terrific but exceeding that performance by such a high margin is both humbling and exciting.”

Latouf continued with, “This is proof positive that Harlan Foods along with our Canadian subsidiary, Apple Valley Foods can deliver the very best pies capable of delighting American families in virtually every category.  And that is our sole goal — Delicious delivered.”

Judges’ Blue-Ribbon favorites this year included Harlan Foods’ ‘Bursting with Berries’, ‘Spiced Peach’, ‘White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake’ and ‘Chocolate Bourbon Pecan’ pies.

 

 

 

The trend pundits align on what is driving food popularity...but what is driving the why?

internet of things, iot, hand try to pick the product in to the cart with augmented reality technology with virtual reality display screen which show the product and subtotal in the retail or store

Many of us focused on innovation here at Harlan Foods spend a lot of time crunching data and doing all kinds of research and analysis.  However, often we must look beyond our findings to understand the 'why' behind the 'what'.

There are five reoccurring trends we are seeing solidifying in foods for 2022 and specifically in baked goods.  They are:

  1. Functional Products:  Products with enhanced ingredients which are designed to deliver beyond simple nutrition.  Immunity, probiotics, mental sharpness, digestive health are some enhanced product characteristics which are seeing growth in popularity.
  2. Improved Sustainability:  Ingredient sourcing to responsible packaging and even energy efficient supply chain scoring are more frequently on consumer's radar screens.
  3. Rich and Decadent Flavor Combinations:  Chive and onion doesn't cut it anymore.  Consumers are looking for interesting and exciting flavor combinations which are more exotic or at least more interesting.  However, it can't be as simple as chocolate and peanut butter, but it does need to work as well as chocolate and peanut butter.
  4. Regional Products Flavor Combinations: Lime citrus, red and sweet peppers from the Hatch Valley added into flakey biscuits are rapidly growing in popularity, served at both breakfast and dinner.
  5. Gold Standards Revisited:  Flour and gluten free pancake with dark chocolate chunks and local honey is a simple example growing in popularity

What's driving some of these trends?  Let's take a look and make some assessments.

  1. Post COVID hangover.  Just like post-New Year's, consumers are looking in the mirror and telling themselves that it is time to make a commitment to improve.  Some are serious and this is what is driving some of these trends.  Some want short cuts, and yes, this is driving some of the trends as well.
  2. Inflation.  With food prices climbing along with everything else, consumers are looking to economize and get more for their shrinking dollar.  Finding interesting products with interesting flavors may allow them to jazz up a home meal at a bargain price.  Affordable luxuries at home begin to outpace larger or more expensive luxuries such as a fancy dinner out.
  3. Boredom.  Consumers have begun to only taste freedom post COVID.  However, with inflation on the rise, the appetite for something different is more frequently going unfed.  If you can't travel to the Southwest, bring the Southwest to you.
  4. Fear.  Right now, the world we are living in is more than a bit uncertain.  Food is a comfort.  Preparing food at home is a safe, familiar, family activity which can be planned for and controlled in predictable ways.  Food and food-based activities are a much-needed salve for what many see as uncontrollable and unstable world.

There is plenty of research to substantiate these trends.  For food manufacturers and brands, understanding the 'why' helps to understand if the trend might be a blip or something with some longevity.  In this instance, we may see these trends continue to grow and mature, especially in frozen, bulk package, brown and serve and mid-priced items.

For our clients, we work to not just help innovate new products but deliver exceptional products tailored to fit  price points and delivery schedules. This in turn ensures that brands always have the proper shelf presence required to build loyalty.

Delivering on this every day is Harlan Foods's Signature Promise.

As we move post-COVID, personal health and nutrition choices are growing in importance

We are all aware that COVID has taken a toll beyond simply the impact to our healthcare system, supply chains and personal lives.  The news has for months reported on the fact that COVID has disrupted families, careers and even the mental health of tens or hundreds of millions of people across the globe.

However, there is are a small number of important COVID facts which have been largely overlooked, until now.  And, we'd like to share them with you.

COVID shift in eating habits

Post COVID health and weight statistics

Reversing the habits of COVID and improving physical and mental health is a process that can begin simply.

Harlan feeds 1 in 10 Americans each week, so helping to improve health by providing safe, nutritious and delicious food is part of our Signature Promise to consumers.

Let's start with something simple which virtually every employee and consumer can easily act on-today.

If you are reading this, please consider sharing this simple technique  with your team, family, customers perhaps even do yourself.

It's called 'Replacement Practice' or simply 'Switching'.  Here is an example.

Instead of ice cream in the evening, replace it with a small bowl of organic and/or gluten-free granola mixed with greek yogurt, blueberries or raspberries, dark chocolate chunks, flax or chia seeds or seed powder and a nut butter.

Harlan Foods Gluten Free Granola

Harlan Foods' Gluten Free Granola mixed with fresh berries

Not only is Gluten Free Granola filling and tastes incredibly rich, there are a number of health benefits such as;

In this case, eating too much gluten can cause symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and more intestinal issues.

Gluten free granolas are cholesterol-free, so it's heart healthy.

Often animal products other than products such as meat itself has a number of additives and by-products included, which more often than not don't do anything to improve your health, so do without when you can.

Gluten free granola often contains more protein and fiber per serving than traditional cereal because it's made from ingredients like oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, and dark chocolate chips, all of which are packed with antioxidants, minerals and vitamins.  In fact, studies tell us that gluten free granolas contain twice the amount of antioxidants as brown rice!  It’s a tasty way to get all sorts of health benefits at once while still being equally delicious as our favorite comfort foods.

If you struggle with mid-day sluggishness, a granola snack is a natural way to provide the body with clean, high quality fuel without processed sugars or caffeine.  It’s also packed with healthy sources of fiber as well, so feel free to indulge without feeling guilty.

Often, consumers avoid gluten free products because they believe they must be on a gluten free diet or that gluten free products are more expensive or taste inferior to standard products.   All of these are urban myths!  You can enjoy a gluten free product regardless of your nutritional approach and finding high quality, rich-tasting and affordable options is something we at Harlan Foods are focused on delivering every single day.

Harlan Foods is a leading manufacturer of a variety of high quality breakfast and mealtime foods, snacks and deserts.   Part of our Signature Promise & Approach is to provide consumers with foods family's can afford and enjoy without sacrificing quality or nutritional value.

Learn more about the Harlan Signature Way by clicking here.

What does the Crystal Ball tell us about the future of CCPG (Consumable Consumer Packaged Goods) performance?

Those of us around Harlan Foods have been paying a fair amount of attention recently to some recent trends and discussing the impact these numbers will likely have on consumer consumption of CCPG items such as food (Consumable Consumer Packaged Goods).

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for February 2022, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $658.1 billion, an increase of 0.3 percent from the previous month, and 17.6 percent above February 2021. Total sales for the December 2021 through February 2022 period were up 16.0 percent from the same period a year ago.

Chrystal Ball

Is this good news for the food industry?  Or not?  Depending on how food manufacturers, retailers and food brands approach the situation, it can be a mixed bag.

As of February 2022, we are at a year over year double digit increase from 2021, we have extenuating factors to consider:

Tailwinds:

  1. Continued downward shifts in COVID numbers
  2. A lessening of restrictions and mandates backed by the CDC

Headwinds:

  1. A significant uptick in gas prices
  2. A continued growth of inflation
  3. Instability in eastern Europe that is news 24/7
  4. A quarter point increase in the prime interest rate

Further, US Index of Consumer Sentiment is at a current level of 59.70, down from 62.80 last month and down from 84.90 one year ago.  This drop is the hangover after the hope that things were getting better and all the uncertainty is behind us party...

So, will increased freedom from COVID restrictions outweigh the squeeze on the consumer’s wallet?  Probably not in the short term.  Look for recent dining out trends to retreat from the recent upward trends.

With this said, will all on-premise retailers be penalized by the current state of affairs?  Probably not.  QSR’s will likely outperform fast casual, casual and upscale retailers but it isn’t likely going to be gangbusters and sadly, look for fast casual and casual dining to be driven in part by a continued growth in alcohol sales.  On balance, grocers and even digital home delivery services will see the scales for share of wallet tip to their favor.

Back to dining at home, this time to save money and save gas.

Food manufacturers need to be thinking about supply chain commodity cost management and with the consumer, four key things:

  1. Unit cost value
  2. Product differentiation
  3. Convenience of the product in terms of consumption and access
  4. Balancing nutrition and taste

All these things play an important, really a critical role, in maintaining share of wallet as market dynamics shift.  As food suppliers, we want to avoid any form of a whipsaw in consumer consumption patterns.  For those involved in the supply chain of food manufacture and especially towards the last mile, make it easy for consumers to buy your products.

Simple stuff, however, make it valuable in chaotic/busy lives where people are more stressed and pre-occupied than in the past. At the same time make it easy for the consumer to put it in the cart wins the day.

Given the fact that the market headwinds currently outweigh the market tailwinds, and we don’t expect this to change until perhaps H2 this year.

Simple, consistent tactics focused on Unit Cost Value, Product Differentiation, Convenience as well as Balancing Nutrition and Taste will give you an advantage.

 

The New Consumer's Impact on Grocery

In the past year, the consumer shopping process has seen a change like no other.  Economic factors coupled with the realities of how consumers shop, socialize and engage with brands during a global pandemic have compressed behavioral changes.

Technology innovations have significantly amplified the changes over the last 18 months.  The net result is a newly emerging consumer mindset and muscle memory.  This change drives expectation.  The experience that a consumer receives determines where and how the consumer spends discretionary food dollars.

Some interesting data points illustrate this newly emerging reality:

Private Brands Growth Opportunities

According to the FMI’s 2020 Private Brands Report, COVID has markedly increased the demand for private brands in grocery.

The report compiled with sales data and shopper insights gleaned from industry data sources and survey responses found that 83% of food retailers expect to boost private brand strategies promoted as part of their e-commerce and digital service offerings.  Further, 97% are rethinking assortment and supplier strategies to focus on bundled products supporting home cooking and meal preparation.  Of the retailers surveyed by the FMI, 83% indicated their desire to focus on baked goods and deli as their areas for growth.

The Impact of Frozen on In-Store Traffic

While fresh foods can drive larger market baskets in e-commerce, where does this leave frozen products such as baked goods?  Do frozen goods play a role in a retailer’s private label growth strategy given these items are not optimally suited for e-commerce?  Can private label frozen items such as baked goods play a role in driving customer retention in-store and increase market basket values?  Yes.  However, it requires rethinking how frozen, fresh and packaged foods can be merchandised and positioned in the store to better take advantage what the new shopper is seeking.

The key is understanding that consumers are shifting and allocating part of their spend to e-commerce driven home delivery.  However, a part of their spend will remain in-store, augmented with curbside and BOPIS.  The store experience isn’t dead, it is simply evolving.

So, what does this survey data tell us?  It implies that nearly half of consumers will never go back to shopping physical retail establishments in the same way they did three years ago.  Thus, the physical shopping experience and how products are developed, merchandised and delivered to the consumer’s market basket needs to evolve to align with the newly emerging behaviors and expectations.

Merchandising’s New Model

Let’s focus on in-store.  No food category is an island any longer.  With the advent of more sophisticated and energy efficient specialty and end-cap coolers available for frozen products, cross promoting frozen products that have bundle value to certain consumers will drive improved market basket values.

Leveraging some of the new endcap and specialty frozen display technology which can occur in specialty departments and along the perimeter of the store, is an important strategy to attract shoppers, particularly younger consumers. Mixing frozen products in with fresh foods allows for effective promotional prompts to assist with meal and occasion planning as well as leverage greater discretionary spend opportunities.

Specialty endcaps can accommodate multiple categories of products from fresh to frozen and which are customized to remove friction for the consumer by providing curated product mixes. Leveraging these emerging strategies which include frozen foods into the curated product mix help to ensure sustained volumes of in-store traffic.

Terry Roberts, President of Merchandising by Design Inc., in his interview with Progressive Grocer, emphasizes that when cross-merchandising frozen packaged foods within specialty departments, seasonality is the most impactful way to deliver results. For example, if you have bushels of peaches, you can place a bushel next to ice cream, with recipes for peach cobbler a la mode.

That care extends to other aspects of physically co-merchandising fresh and frozen items, Roberts adds. “It requires planning and management,” she advises. “You need to sit down with a seasonal calendar, planning what comes in and out — and that includes meat and seafood — and how to do promotional activity accordingly.”

Other approaches lead to a greater linkage between the fresh and frozen. Burt Flickinger, Managing Director of New York-based Strategic Resource Group, points to work that Cornell University is doing in this area. Consumer behavior and competitive pressure are actively driving new product development in both fresh and frozen and retailers are innovating more aggressively in merchandising approaches in order to keep up with how the consumer’s mindset and behaviors are evolving.  Flickinger points out, “We are seeing from analyses of Lidl in the U.K. that they are aggressively and progressively working in this area” “And … the talent that Amazon is hiring, along with Whole Foods, will make it a bigger player in that, too.”

Today, products and categories that five years ago would never have been co-mingled are considered viable merchandising strategies. Shoppers are looking for solutions to meal planning and snacking dilemmas.  Providing the proper mix and merchandising makes it easy for consumers to act.  The result is greater satisfaction, loyalty and basket values.

Consider a few simple in-store strategies to improve performance and outcomes.  Specifically,

Effective Ways to Meet Emerging Customer Demands

What works on grocer's central aisle shelves may not perform the same on specialty end-caps, or visa versa.  Today, consumers are shopping very differently than in the past.  Generation Z and Millennials approach shopping and meal planning very differently than their older Gen-X and Boomer counterparts.

Analyzing retail transaction log, loyalty card and panel data to better understand how certain market baskets were evolving across the U.S., we were able to identify a hidden product opportunity.  Harlan's innovation team, which includes product development, manufacturing specialists as well as retail marketplace and data analysts, collaborated with a global retailer in order to ensure that our intelligence and approach aligned with their information and product goals.

This collaboration uncovered that younger consumers as well as value shoppers were often by-passing certain deserts.  The data informed us that consumers were looking for greater variation in a smaller overall SKU size, without premium pricing.  Moreover, the flavor combinations included in the offering had to be optimal in order to stand out on a specialty end-cap.

Making it easy to for younger consumers to select a range of fresh, packaged and even frozen items merchandised as a bundle in-store ensures that meal preparation is a snap.  It's this removal of friction for the consumer that helps to drives larger market basket value and return visits.

Knowing where opportunities for conversion lie helps suppliers work with retailers to improve end-cap bundles.  Without the proper actionable intelligence, developing the exact product to fill these gaps becomes guesswork.

Knowing the category isn't enough though.  Understanding purchase patterns is critical and then aligning these patterns with variety of complimentary flavor combinations, which are often aligned with seasonality or occasions.

Pairing an Asiago Cheese bagel with lime, crushed red pepper guac and fresh tomato makes for a quick, flavorful and refreshing mid-day meal.

The result can often be an unexpected and highly valued merchandising option for consumers and deliver new uses for existing product categories driven by simple groupings or recipes that consumers can easily replicate.

We recognize that consumers never think about all the work that goes into delivering innovation and excellence, nor should they.  That's our job as Food Professionals.