Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - November 2013 - (Page 74)

Choose Wenda for your next project. Innovative Meat Ingredients Premium Phosphate Blends. Made in Wenda's BRC Grade A facility. Alginate-based binding systems. Made in Wenda's BRC Grade A facility. Natural fruit and spice extracts that protect against pathogens while improving shelf life. Made in Spain, a BRC Grade A facility. A clean label and high quality functional beef protein designed to improve texture, retain moisture, increase cooked yields, and increase proﬁts. Made in Brazil, a BRC Grade A facility. All-natural solution designed to replace phosphates in meat and poultry applications. Made in the USA. Tel: 630-527-9800 sales@wendaingredients.com www.wendaingredients.com 74 \ November 2013 Gluten-free Gluten-Free Rice Flour Blend. The products are made in a certified gluten-free processing plant along with several other Betty Crocker products, including yellow cake mix, devil's food cake mix, brownie mix, chocolate chip cookie mix and Bisquick gluten-free pancake and baking mix. A gluten-free makeover was given to the company's Pillsbury brand in early August with the launch of a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough, a glutenfree thin crust pizza dough, and a gluten-free pie and pastry dough. "We're excited to welcome the gluten-free community back to the fresh dough aisle," said Rebecca Thompson, marketing manager for Pillsbury fresh dough innovation. Food service the next frontier Even as new products hit grocery store shelves, the gluten-free trend is moving into the food service category. Darren Tristano, executive vicepresident for the market research firm Technomic, Inc., Chicago, told participants at this year's National Restaurant Association convention that gluten-free is gaining greater attention from restaurant operators. "At last year's N.R.A. there was a lot of discussion around gluten-free," Mr. Tristano said. "This year there were more companies with products. I think we are still in the early stages of growth for gluten-free, but it is becoming a part of the menu." Data provided by Technomic highlight how the gluten-free trend is evolving at food service. Year-over-year, the number of items on menus listed as gluten-free has increased 29% from the first quarter of 2012 through the first quarter of 2013, according to the market research firm's MenuMonitor service. Key areas of growth include "add-ons," which signifies a restaurant 'I think we are still in the early stages of growth for gluten-free, but it is becoming a part of the menu.' - Darren Tristano, executive vice-president for the market research firm Technomic, Inc. will provide a menu item in a glutenfree format if it is requested. More specific areas include burgers at 54% year-over-year growth, sandwiches (52%), salads (33%), Mexican dishes (30%) and pizza (16%). One restaurant operator that has made the transition to offering some gluten-free menu items is Cosi, Inc., Deerfield, Ill. In January, the company introduced Cosi bowls, which initially were available in three varieties, each on a bed of grains and each with fewer than 500 calories. But since June, the bowls have been gluten-free and include more than 500 calories. Boulder Brands, Inc. also is eyeing food service. In a May 2 conference call with financial analysts, Stephen Hughes, chairman and chief executive officer of Boulder Brands, said food service is "about three years behind" wholesale grocers in latching onto the gluten-free market. That said, food service operators are aware of gluten-free, he noted. "Everybody's trying to figure it out," he said. "But we're knocking down whether or not it's bread, it's pizza. Hamburger, hot dog buns are going in most. I think we've got 250 universities. We've got 85 sports stadiums. That's kind of an early-stage thing. I think we're going to see really strong robust growth at good margins on food service for the foreseeable future." CP Milling & Baking News * Food Business News * Baking & Snack * Meat & Poultry Corporate Profiles http://www.wendaingredients.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - November 2013

Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - November 2013