What’s Next in Retail and Dining

May 31, 2022

Episode Description

Everyone has their favorite food they like to pick up at the grocery store or order at a restaurant. There’s a lot to be said for the benefits of “the usual.” But for the food industry to stay primed for growth, it pays to keep a pulse on trends in dining out and eating at home. We’re talking about innovation in Mexican comfort foods like quesadillas, more hands-on experimentation in college dining, healthy eating in grocery stores and the demand for brands to share their “why.” Inspired by our 2022 Next Gen Food Summit, in this episode, we explore what’s happening and what’s next in food service and food at retail—and how peanuts can take advantage— through conversations with Cathy Nash Holley, publisher and editor-in-chief of Flavor and the Menu magazine; Lisa Zehr, director of organizational excellence at Cornell University Dining; Carol Podolak, co-founder of BNutty peanut butter company; Don Ladhoff, president of FreshSmartSolutions; and peanut farmer Lonnie Fortner.

There’s nothing like opening a new jar of classic creamy peanut butter or enjoying the kid’s menu staple (and adult favorite) PB&J. But when it comes to new retail products and menu items with peanuts, exciting trends are underway! Peanuts are being used in unique ways like PB&J burgers or even to elevate a college dining experience. This legume can compete with the trend for healthier foods and for consumers wanting more purpose out of the brands they buy. The National Peanut Board (NPB) covered the topic in a recent episode of The Peanut Podcast. Read below for highlights and listen to the episode here or on your favorite streaming platform.

Where the Wild Trends Are

To keep up with the latest food trends and to keep peanuts at the top of the food industry’s attention, NPB hosts and attends events like the Next Gen Food Summit for professional chefs, recipe developers, food service directors and consumer package goods (CPG) brands. Also present are notable food media and Gen Z content creators to learn and adapt to the tastes of the next generation.

Lonnie Fortner is our Mississippi Board Member and managing partner for Bayou Pierre Farms, where he grows peanuts, cotton, soybeans and corn. He’s travelled to various food shows, including the Next Gen Food Summit, throughout the years and finds his experience at these events as a farmer invaluable.

“People aren't raised on a farm anymore...And people don't know what we go through to take a seed and put it in the ground and dig it out of the ground and set you know later and combine it and get it to market, they just don't know that process. So it's up to us to go to put these things out and bring them in educate them and then develop the relationships that that moves forward into the industry,” said Fortner.

Cathy Nash Holley has been Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Flavor & The Menu for 20 years and is a staple at our Next Gen Food Summit with her Trend Watch presentation. “Trends can resonate differently with different operators, different restaurant brands and different menu developers,” said Nash Holley. “I think that, you know, the big focus among menu developers right now is what is Gen Z want. And Gen Z really is where global flavors come into play.”

Cathy noted the latest innovative trend she’s seen includes peanuts utilized in promoting texture in recipes: peanuts used in loaded milkshakes, PB&J burgers, and even crushed peanuts on top of loaded French fries.

The Director of Organizational Excellence for Cornell Dining, Lisa Zehr, was also featured at our Summit about her focus on serving the majority of Gen Z students on their campus. “They're, they're interested in the story behind, right. So, you know, they're talking to us about authenticity and transparency in the ingredients that we're serving in the recipes that we have,” said Zehr.

One of the programs Cornell Dining has executed was to partner with the National Peanut Board to grind and produce their own Cornell peanut butter on campus. “We make a regular peanut butter, or we make a honey roasted peanut butter. We use this peanut butter in our commissary program. So, all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on campus are Cornell peanut butter. We sell the peanut butter in our convenience stores and retail locations by the pound,” explained Zehr.

Retail: The Win-Win-Win and Mission First

Don Ladhoff, president of FreshSmartSolutions, works on product promotions for supermarkets and grocery stores and offers this advice for organizations looking to support in-store product marketing. “I urge brands to look at the business from the retailer's point of view as well as their own and strive for a win-win where both parties benefit, and really a win-win-win, where the shopper also benefits from what the program is. But you want the retailer to succeed as well as seeing your own brand succeed. Offer retailers relevant support, you know, things that are not only timely, but align with their own priorities with their own promotions. Most of the mid-size or larger retailers can share a promotion calendar. And to the extent that you can, fit into that.”

“Part of our peanut butter program is we're working with a big chain in the northeast, that has a promotion in the summer around nutritious summer staples. And you know, that the peanut butter could be the poster child for that definition. And so participating in that program makes makes a great deal of sense,” Ladhoff continues. “Leverage trends, that, you know, the both the challenges retailers face, and the tailwinds that that they have around health and wellness and convenience and the like. These are things that retailers will respond to, and also leverage those consumer and shopper insights, you know, what brands know about how their product is being purchased and consumed, how the category is.”

Carol Podolak is the co-founder of BNutty, a gourmet peanut butter brand started by 2 moms in Indiana and was one of the attendees at our Next Gen Food Summit. “So, for food brands, what we see in the industry and what we're seeing more and more, and it's really interesting to us, are companies with missions,” Podolak said. “The brands that people are getting excited about that are getting shelf space, are the smaller brands, whether they're artisan produced, and they've got a unique ingredient, or whether they've got a really great story and a really great mission, whether they have something so totally unique that no one has ever, you know, heard of that concept in food before a unique flavor combination. I think that people are looking for innovation, they're looking for change, they're looking for something different.”

Learn more about how peanuts can play a role in the current food trends for retail and dining by listening the full episode of The Peanut Podcast.

* Interview excerpts have been edited to improve clarity

Lonnie Fortner, Mississippi Board Member

Fortner has been a farmer for 24 years and is the managing partner for Bayou Pierre Farms where he grows peanuts, cotton, soybeans and corn. Fortner is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science in agricultural economics and a 2012 graduate of the Syngenta Peanut Leadership Program.

Cathy Nash Holley, Flavor & The Menu

Cathy Nash Holley has been Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Flavor & The Menu since the magazine began 20 years ago. With its annual Top 10 Trends issue, Flavor & The Menu is a valuable resource for the foodservice industry, serving as a source of flavor and menu trends, strategies and innovation. In addition to overseeing the media brand, Cathy also serves as President of The Flavor Experience, an annual foodservice conference held each summer, and is past-president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council. A native of the west coast, she resides in Maine.

Don Ladhoff, FreshSmartSolutions

Don is a proven marketing expert who works closely with national and regional food retailers as well as the National Peanut Board and other commodity boards to successfully strategize, develop and implement promotional programs in the retail channel. Don’s background includes store management at Safeway, sales roles with Pepsi and The Wine Group and brand marketing at Constellation Brands as well as at a frozen food manufacturer and a regional brewer. Don later led retail campaigns for ConAgra Foods, Clorox, Dr Pepper and Procter & Gamble at the MARS Agency before founding his own marketing firm with clients including Nestle, Chiquita/Fresh Express, Challenge Dairy and Butterball.

Carol Podolak, BNutty

BNutty Founders, Joy Thompkins and Carol Podolak are two spunky Indiana soccer moms that were looking for a nutritious, healthy product to sell to raise funds for their local youth soccer team. They found that product when they created bNutty gourmet peanut butter! As a former project manager and a mother of three active children, Carol brought her organizational talents and problem-solving skills to bNutty and helped grow the company from a home kitchen to a National and then International Brand. Carol is involved in multiple fundraising activities in her local community as well as serving on multiple boards, keeping bNutty’s focus on serving the community and making a positive impact. You can find Carol and Joy at the soccer field on the weekends and at Bnutty headquarters- ‘The Nut House!’ during the week!

Lisa Zehr, Cornell University Dining

Lisa Zehr is the Director of Organizational Excellence for Cornell Dining. Her team is responsible for guiding new initiatives that impact the people, products and processes throughout the dining organization. Staying relevant with the changing demands of dining guests is one of the exciting challenges her team faces each year. Prior to her current position, Lisa was in accounting and finance for 20+ years, the last 10 of those in higher education. Lisa is an avid gardener and enjoys canning her own harvests.