Owners of food and restaurant properties have recently been looking beyond the most common brand-extension categories within the grocery store. They are lending their names to product sectors that not only make sense for their flavor profiles, but also have not been heavily licensed to date, meaning there is room for new brand entrants. For example:
• Tapatío teamed with Starkist for single-serve pouches of tuna paired with Tapatío sauce and lime.
• Hidden Valley licensed Mr. Dee’s for frozen potato sides with the flavor of Hidden Valley salad dressings. (Mr. Dee’s also holds a license for Old Bay seasoning.)
• Kellogg’s joined with Mistica Foods for ready-to-cook chicken breast bites breaded with Cheez-It crackers.
• Taco Bell partnered with Con Agra for spicy taco-flavored sunflower seeds under the BIGS brand. (Con Agra and BIGS also have relationships with Hidden Valley, Old Bay, Vlasic pickles, and Stubbs barbecue sauce.)
Like any brand extension in the food and beverage category that involves a particular flavor, these products can be achieved through ingredient sales or via the use of the licensor’s proprietary recipes or formulas, or can simply be inspired by the brand owner’s menu or core products, with the licensee handling the flavor creation.
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