The Finest Olives Stuffed with the Finest Ingredients
Make your drinks memorable. Top off your business and first class passengers’ Martinis and Bloody Marys with hand stuffed olives from Gil’s Gourmet. Absolutely delicious!
The New Sweet Potato Popchips Are Here
They are sweet. They are salty. They are perfect! Let me know if you would like to try samples.
Hats off to GP Emporium!
Some of GP Emporium‘s favorite products, popchips and Clif Bar, got a shout out in United’s Hemisphere’s magazine this month. Check out the article here: http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2012/01/01/signature-food-and-snacks/ and be sure to try some next time you fly Business or First Class on United. 
Fancy Food Recap
I have been home almost a week and I am still exhausted. That show wears me out every year. I managed to walk the whole show floor twice. If I was wearing a pedometer, I think I would have racked up over a million steps –well close to it!
I must say the products were a little underwhelming this year. I always look for the latest trends as well as new products from existing manufacturers, but there was not much to see. As far as the trends go, I noticed a number of fancy salt companies, additional gluten-free SKUs from existing brands, salted caramels, products with QR Codes, and of course more yogurt! Why can’t there be more wine or craft beer manufacturers there? Aren’t they fancy?
Well, here are some actual products from the show that I found to be interesting:
- Crispy Pitas from Pita Break: they come in the most delicious flavors, you just have to try them.
- Bacon Sea Salt Caramels from Bessingers: bacon and salt. Enough said.
- Petite Palmiers from Fusion Gourmet; tasty product at a great price
- Trail Mixes from Enjoy Life – the Mountain Mambo is delicious! How could you not like a trail mix with chocolate chips in it?
- Profiteroles from Solo Italia – they had many tasty masterpieces, but these were my favorite.
- Hickory Farms individual shelf stable meal from GoPicnic . Individual components available as well. The meat sticks are my favorite.
- Funky Chunky: the most delicious sweet/savory combination ever! They launched a new chocolate covered potato chip mixture called Chip-Zel-Pop and it is truly amazing. Just checked their website and they have free shipping for all orders over $100 so go on and order some for yourself. You will not be disappointed.
Happy Snacking!
-Allison
Fancy Food Show
It’s been a busy week here at gpconceptlabs trying to get ready for the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. So many great vendors to see and interesting new vendors to meet. If you haven’t been to the show before, it is a mecca for all things FANCY, but there are certainly plenty of non-fancy things there too–why is yogurt considered “fancy”? I mean I love yogurt, but it’s certainly not fancy.
I usually end up making myself sick from all of the sampling even after giving myself a pep talk before the show that usually goes something like, “Just remember, you can have samples sent to the office. You don’t need to try absolutely every cheese, cupcake, and gelato on the market.” Never works.
This year I’m on the look-out for single serve dark chocolate pieces, inexpensive crackers, high-end pastas and a variety of other shelf stable single serve snacks for my airline and other custom snack box clients. If you are a manufacturer and you think you have a great product for either the airlines or a shelf stable snack box, reach out to me at allison.hardesty@gopicnic.com to set up a time to meet up at the show.
One of my favorite brokered vendors, popchips, will not be at the show this year. I’m guessing that’s because they already have such a strong presence on the West Coast. It’s too bad because I was hoping to try the new Sweet Potato flavor. Looks delicious!! Plus, I always love checking out the booth and their give-a-ways with risque quotes. I think my popchips button from last year said something that I don’t even feel comfortable typing!
Lots of other great vendors to see though. B & R Classics, Seapoint Farms, Sahale Snacks, Enjoy Life, Fusion Gourmet, Mrs. Mays, Nikki’s Cookies, Pita Break, QTonic, Robert Rothschild Farms, and Simply 7 Snacks will all be in attendance. Be sure to check them all out!!
Hope to see you in San Fran!
-Allison
