Fancy Food Show San Francisco January 2014  
branding insights  
 
  It was especially nice to be in San Francisco for Fancy Food this year. Not only was it a great break from the brutal Polar Vortex...but it was wonderful as usual to be with a community of chefs, craftsmen, designers and tasters that gather together to experience the joy of food. Here are a few brands that caught our eye. 
 
Two brands we love and watch regularly have gone to the dark side with beautiful line extentions. First, Tea Forte launched "NOIR", "artisan pan-roasted black teas, blended to delight even the coffee purist. Superbly smooth, in luxurious flavors like black cherry, blood orange, caramel nougat, chocolate rose and peach brulee." An example of a smart consumer insight, delivered with a real product story, name and package design.

 

 
  
 
And next, Vosges Super Dark Chocolate - made with dark chocolate and super foods like coconut ash & banana, matcha green tea & spirulina, acai & golden berry, pomegranate & goji, reishi & walnuts, guajillo & chipolte- reaching a health minded consumer with a sense of mystery and luxuriousness. Super smart. 
    
Vosges.com
 

 We fell in love with Savannah Bee packaging years ago and it's fun to see how the brand and story evolves.  Check out this chat with Kate, where she introduces their honey story book, "Once Upon a Hive". To quote Van, it's just as sweet as 
Tupelo Honey!
savanahhoneybee 
click on arrow for joyful plate chat with Savannah Bee
 

  

Just Cook
"We make it easy. You make it great." A modest motto from Chef Daniel who teamed up with two friends in San Francisco to create this great concept encouraging you to Just Cook. A versatile kit to use everyday, with coffee rubs for bbq and brisket, and blends for curry, steak and chicken. Great spices to empower the cook to achieve repeatable victories in the kitchen! 
 
joyful plate chat with just-cook
click on arrow for joyful plate chat with Just Cook

 

Route 11 Chips 

Another friend we always like to visit at the show is Sarah from Route 11 Potato Chips. See our interview with her below about how she started her company in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia in 1992. Our go-to chip is the dill pickle potato (which they were the first to make) and if you like a little heat check out the Mama Zuma's Revenge Habenero Chip or the locally inspired Chesapeake Crab. Stop in and visit them for a tour - you'll know the Route to take! 

 

 

joyful plate chat with RT11 potatochips
click on arrow for joyful plate chat with RT11 potato chips

The Wild Table
It was lovely to see Connie Green at the show. We met at a friend's dinner in nyc years ago and I've had her book The Wild Table on my coffee table ever since. Connie has been foraging mushrooms, berries, greens and other wild foods for thirty five years. As the founder of one of the first and one of the largest wild foods businesses in the U.S., she has sold ingredients to most of the top chefs in California and around the country. Click for much more here: About Connie Green

 
Photo: Sara Remington
 
Connie debuted her line of Wild Mushrooms at the show, an incredible range of the best quality dried mushrooms from chanterelles to porcinis to black truffles to
mousserons, which, according to Connie, are loved in Europe but not well known in the U.S... "drab little brown mushrooms that are extremely powerful, flavors that defy how they look."

   

 

 

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