Western consumers who have an interest in Japanese culture are familiar with a unique product category from that country: DIY candy kits. E-commerce sites and subscription boxes that specialize in snack foods or novelties from Japan often feature the kits, which also regularly appear in “unboxing” videos on YouTube. The kits, packaged in bags, contain […]
Archive | Food/Beverage
Coffee and Donuts
Quick service restaurant chains specializing in donuts continue to extend their brands into retail food categories. This is often—but not always—accomplished through licensing agreements. Some recent examples: Dunkin’ Donuts signed Coca-Cola in 2016 for ready-to-drink coffee beverages, with a launch expected in early 2017. Deals previously in place include J.M. Smucker for coffee, Keurig Green […]
A Second Helping of Food-to-Food Licensing
When we last looked into the food-to-food licensing arena about three months ago, we outlined the large number of new deals involving food and restaurant brands that had come to fruition in the grocery industry in the previous year and a half. And we noted that, despite the crowded landscape, licensing still represents a tiny […]
All You Can Eat
Food-to-food licensing, in which food and restaurant brands extend into non-core food and beverage sectors that represent a good fit with their flavor profile or positioning, continues to proliferate. Taking a look at some of the deals announced within the last year and a half shows the wide variety of food and beverage categories impacted: […]
One Potato, Two Potato
In May, Mr. Dee’s launched a line of Hidden Valley frozen potato sides, including Shredded Hash Browns, Southern Style Hash Browns, and Roasted Red Potatoes, under license from the Hidden Valley Food Products Company. This deal represents the latest of several in the frozen potato category, a small but growing slice of the licensed food […]
DIY Beer-Brewing
At the end of May, Whirlpool’s W Labs division introduced a home beer fermentor and dispenser system through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The same day, SodaStream announced the launch of its Beer Bar, which allows users to create beer at home from sparkling water and a beer concentrate. These initiatives follow the debut of […]
Still Cooking
Celebrity chefs and bakers continue to enter or expand their presence in consumer products, with several announcing new initiatives within the last year or so. Many of these have used one or more of the following tactics to separate themselves from their competitors in this already crowded arena: Ethnic focus. Maria Loi, who is a […]
Adding A Little Flavor
Consumers’ embrace of flavored alcoholic beverages brings opportunities for licensors of brands associated with fruit, sweets, or other taste treats. Flavored beers accounted for 27% of total new beer launches in 2015, according to researcher Mintel. That compares to 15% five years earlier. In addition, 20% of U.S. beer drinkers (and 39% of female beer […]
Meal Deals
The link between licensed properties and meal delivery services continues to strengthen. Three announcements in the last few months illustrate the trend: As part of a deal between the NFL Players Association and Chef’d, athletes Kyle Rudolph and Chad Greenway provided recipes for a Super Bowl-themed “Big Game Party in a Box,” consisting of an […]
Cooking with Cannabis
Celebrities have been at the forefront of licensing in the emerging consumer marijuana industry, with musicians leading the way. It is starting to look as if celebrity chefs will drive the next wave of branding activity in this sector. Recent chef-related ventures tied to cannabis and cannabis-infused edibles have taken many forms: Mindy Segal, cookbook […]