Sometimes the key ingredient needed to create a successful new specialty food product is another specialty food product.
For Cynthia Duran, owner of Xinca Foods LLC, and Dina DiCenso, cofounder of RIND, that discovery came at last year’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City, where the two companies were exhibiting next to each other. Duran had been seeking a vegan cheese that had the right properties and taste to accompany her company’s pupusas, and DiCenso happened to be showcasing RIND’s Carrot Cheese, a vegan product that had recently launched.
They taste-tested the two items together right there at the Show and determined they had a potential hot new product for the market.
“It was very meltable, and it tastes good,” Duran said of RIND’s plant-based carrot cheese. “I was very impressed.”
Xinca began sourcing the Carrot Cheese from RIND, which supplies its plant-based cheeses to retail, manufacturing, and foodservice accounts. The new product, Vegan Loroco and Cheese Pupusas (the name is soon to be changed to “Plant-based” instead of “Vegan”) has rolled out to several grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest, where Xinca is based.
“There’s really nothing else like it out there on the market, either for her product or our cheese,” said DiCenso, whose plant-based cheese company is based in New York.
As women business owners, the two shared a special bond, she said, and both say they look forward to locating their booths next to each other again at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show.
In addition, further collaborations are in the works for the two companies. Plans call for incorporating another of RIND’s plant-based cheeses, a Red Bell Pepper variety to create another new product, Duran said.
Hear more from these makers during a live recording of SFA’s Spill & Dish podcast, taking place at the Show on Monday, January 26 at 11 a.m. on the Big Idea stage.
OCHO, Miyoko’s Create a Vegan Caramel
Another SFA member, OCHO Candy, has partnered with Miyoko’s Creamery to create its first vegan caramels.
Oakland, California-based OCHO had spent three years seeking to develop a recipe for plant-based caramels, said Emily Auerbach, brand manager at OCHO, when it discovered that Miyoko’s European-Style Cultured Vegan Butter was the ingredient it needed. The butter provided the “gooiness and pull” that consumers expect from a caramel, she explained.
“From a research and development perspective, it performs much better as an ingredient than anything else we had tested,” she said.
In addition to its performance in the caramels, Miyoko’s butter is also organic, which aligns with the all-organic product assortment at OCHO.
OCHO now is exploring other opportunities to feature Miyoko’s butter in its existing caramel product recipes, said Auerbach.
“We are really impressed with the technical performance, as well as the credibility it has lent us with vegan and dairy-free consumers,” she said, citing the devoted following Miyoko’s has for its products. “Given the response we’ve had so far, it’s definitely shaping our innovation strategy. We know now that’s a community that’s hungry for alternatives.”
The caramels feature Miyoko’s branding on the packaging, Auerbach said, and the two companies have also collaborated on promoting the product via social media.
The dark chocolate-covered caramels are available in four flavors — Classic, Cinnamon, Coffee, and Chocolate — and are sold at several retail stores and direct via OCHO’s website. They’re carried by both United Natural Foods Inc. and KeHE Distributors.
Three Little Pigs Partners with Mike’s Hot Honey
Mike’s Hot Honey is another specialty brand that is no stranger to collaboration. The company’s popular, pepper-infused honey has been incorporated into several other products, and has been featured on foodservice menus around the country.
Among the companies to incorporate Mike’s Hot Honey is SFA member Three Little Pigs, a supplier of charcuterie products, which recently introduced a sliced deli ham flavored with the sweet-and-spicy condiment. Described as a twist on Three Little Pigs’ classic Jambon de Paris, Hot Honey Ham is made from whole, three-muscle ham infused with Mike’s Hot Honey and cooked sous vide for 18 hours.
“We’re really looking to change up the deli aisle by bringing a product like this to consumers,” said Claudia Dionne, marketing brand manager for charcuterie brands at Village Gourmet, parent of Three Little Pigs. “Consumers in America like spice and a little kick of heat, and so we thought, why not bring something as fabulous as Mike's Hot Honey to the deli aisle?”
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