Riff Launches Shelf-Stable Products with Daniel Humm and Mark Ramadan

“Butterfly clips, frosted tips, and a food court that's actually cool again.” That’s how Food and Beverage Magazine is describing B.J. Novak's Chain six-month food court residency at Westfield Topanga Mall in LA — kicking it off with some sharp cheddar energy with their debut partner Cheez-It [Kellanova ]. Featuring cheesy twists on mall classics like cinnamon rolls, corn dogs, and Philly cheesesteaks. And over the next six months, major chefs like Roy Choi, Calvin Eng, Mason Hereford, and Mei Lin each get the freedom to craft their own nostalgic chain-food favorite with a rotating lineup of big brand partners. Did I mention the sweet surprise? Chain is also partnering with nostalgic cereal favorites like Lucky Charms, Trix, and other General Mills brands for limited-edition snacks and desserts available only at the pop-up. Is it a little unhinged? Maybe. But the strategy behind it is worth paying attention to — nostalgia, scarcity, chef credibility, and a menu built for the camera, all showing up at the same time in one of the largest markets. And it's a move worth keeping an eye on regardless of your category. Which brand could you see them partnering with next? My guess: Takis. Takis [Barcel USA] are everywhere and anywhere…  Read the full article → https://lnkd.in/gq7qa_vx #brandstrategy #cpg #experientialmarketing #consumertrends #foodindustry

A great Saturday night for this old guy: I spent it with several young people, which was both fun and inspiring. They even treat you like the cool guy when they know you’re paying! The evening turned into unexpected consumer research when I asked, “Where should we eat?” The answer was unanimous: “Let’s go to Golden Chick—they have queso for dipping our fries and chicken.” Later, I reflected on their choice and appreciated Golden Chick’s smart decision to add queso. Chicken restaurants are not simply trending: 2025–2026 data shows the category becoming a dominant force in the U.S. restaurant industry, a shift reflected in reports across the sector. Limited-service restaurant (LSR) chicken is now the fastest-growing segment among America’s top 500 chains. ·       4.4% unit growth in 2025—the highest rate of any segment ·       $55.24 billion in sales—up 4.2% year over year Consumers increasingly want greater variety, bolder profiles, and globally inspired flavors in sauces and beverages. Gen Z’s willingness to experiment, the rise of foodie culture, and demand for sensory, emotional, and customizable experiences are driving this shift. Golden Chick’s new queso directly addresses that need. Hats off to Golden Chick for giving customers what they want. Chicken is not just a hot trend—it is the hottest category in U.S. foodservice, propelled by favorable economics, changing consumer behavior, and rapid chain expansion. The industry consensus is clear: 2026 belongs to chicken. Tonight, also showed me that Golden Chick is winning not only with its chicken, but by understanding younger customers and introducing products that appeal to them. My dinner tab was excellent—thank you, Golden Chick. Then we headed out for evening cocktails, which offered more firsthand consumer research and plenty of lessons, though the bill was far less friendly than the one Golden Chick helped me cover.

What should brands and retailers blend with ground beef next? Central Market the upscale Texas retailer, has partnered with Fable Food Co on four shiitake-infused beef products: burgers, sliders, meatballs, and koftas. The company makes a shiitake infusion designed for restaurants and retailers to blend with ground beef. According to Supermarket Perimeter, a majority of consumers in a blind taste test preferred Fable’s shiitake-infused beef burger to a 100% beef burger. Ground beef is one of the most versatile products in the meat case. It’s familiar to consumers and easy to cook. That makes it a great foundation for introducing something new. Cheddar cheese and bacon are always popular, but there’s plenty of room for more ideas in the meat case. I’ve written previously about ancestral blends that incorporate organ meats. Then there are brands like Schweid & Sons, which make burgers using specific combinations of beef cuts, such as chuck and brisket. For brands and retailers, I think the opportunity starts with understanding what customers want. Some consumers are looking for unique flavor profiles; others are seeking nutrition-focused products. Still others may want a restaurant-style burger at home. The blend needs to deliver on that need. And the marketing needs to make the benefit easy to understand. That’s where the product name, packaging, signage, and sampling can help drive trial. I’d like to see brands and retailers keep experimenting. 

Bold, global flavor isn't a niche play anymore, it's a category-wide shift. Food Business News just rounded up how manufacturers are answering consumer demand for spicy, globally-rooted condiments, and Mr Bing made the list alongside Hormel/MegaMex and Nestle USA. Our co-founder Brian Goldberg put it simply: real ingredients, street food roots, and the confidence that consumers and culinary professionals are ready for bolder, layered flavor. Building on our street food inspiration, our BBQ sauces make it easy to add bold, layered flavor to any dish. Check out the article. https://lnkd.in/e8H5QH86

What if the biggest constraint on ready-meal innovation isn’t the recipe? What if it’s the tray? We spend a lot of time looking for the next flavour. A new cuisine, sauce, ingredient or topping that gives us something different to put on shelf. But however exciting the idea, it often ends up in the same place. Protein. Carb. Sauce. Tray. Film. Sleeve. Microwave. So what happens if we remove the tray from the brief? If a conventional microwave tray wasn’t an option, what would we design instead? Maybe it’s a pan-fried meal that can brown and caramelise. Crispy chicken with the sauce added at the end. A modular meal the consumer finishes themselves. Something designed for sharing rather than eating straight from the pack. Or a meal that can finally combine hot, cold, soft and crunchy. Suddenly, the conversation gets much bigger than whether the next sauce should be gochujang or hot honey. We start questioning what a ready meal could actually be. And that matters. Because the better we become at manufacturing something efficiently, the easier it is to design innovation around that capability. We make what our factories are good at making. We optimise it, improve it and create another version. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s how good businesses operate. But there is a risk. At some point, the capability that made us successful can start limiting what we imagine next. Perhaps the next meaningful growth opportunity in ready meals won’t come from a better recipe at all? Instead of asking: “What else can we make on this line?” What if we asked, “What would we make if the line didn’t exist?” That’s a much harder question. But it might reveal where the real innovation is. #FoodInnovation #ReadyMeals #NPD #FMCG #FoodManufacturing #InnovationStrategy #UKFood

We were excited to see FoodOvation 47 featured in Food and Beverage Magazine! Huge thanks to their team for taking a closer look at the format we’ve built over the last 11 years.   After 47 Exchanges, we know what makes it work: putting the right operators and suppliers together, giving them focused time, and letting the conversations do the work.   Read the article: https://lnkd.in/gERX7jiN Thanks to the FoodOvation 47 suppliers who made it what it was: Atoria's Family Bakery, BelGioioso Cheese Inc., Bush Brothers & Company, Classic Cookie, Danone, Heartland Food Products Group, J.T.M. Food Group, King's Hawaiian, Kraft Heinz Away From Home US, Lee Kum Kee Culinary, Maple Leaf Foods Inc, Michael Foods, Nestlé Professional Solutions, Pilgrim's, Primo Brands, Red Bull, Savor, Scelta Mushrooms, Spiceology, Seviroli Foods, LLC., Sun Orchard, The Hershey Company, Trident Seafoods The team behind FoodOvation 47: Matt Heres, Ansa (Ahmed) Sajwani, Hanna Makarounis, Delilah Rosenblum, Haley Nelson, Nadia M., Chrissy Shea, Brooke Barrentine, Matt Foster, Tim Taylor

A honey manufacturer does not always need a new base product to enter a new market. Sometimes the more useful question is: where else could this honey go? The same familiar foundation could become cardamom honey for a coffee program, citrus honey for glazes and beverages, or rosemary honey for cheese service and culinary use. Those are not simply three flavors. They are three different customers, buying occasions, and reasons to reorder. That distinction matters in foodservice. A café may care about how easily the honey mixes into a drink. A chef may want a flavor that can move between a glaze, a dressing, and a cheese board. A distributor may be looking for a product with a clear use story that the sales team can explain quickly. Before developing a collection, we would ask: Who is expected to buy it? Where will it be used? What package and dispensing format will the operation need? Can one SKU support more than one menu application? A focused answer to those questions usually creates a stronger product than beginning with ten flavors and hoping an application appears later. Saëna works with honey manufacturers on flavor selection, format, concentration, and bench development. If you are considering a foodservice honey line, start by telling us who will use it and what they will make. #HoneyManufacturing #FoodserviceInnovation #ProductDevelopment #IngredientSolutions #Saena

The Beverage Arms Race Just Escalated Beverages have quietly become one of the most fought-over categories in food service, and McDonald's is leaning in, targeting a 1.5-point increase in beverage share by chasing the same "dirty soda" and colorful refresher trend that's been filling c-store fountain counters for the last year. Here's the part that's easy to miss: chasing that trend isn't just about the drink recipe. It's about whether your fountain area can actually support more flavor combinations, more cup and lid SKUs, more syrups and mix-ins, without turning into a cluttered mess by the afternoon rush. More variety at the counter always means more to organize behind it. That's exactly the gap a modular system like PanelRak™ closes, interchangeable baskets and panels that keep cups, lids, and syrups sorted and easy to restock, and that reconfigure in minutes as your beverage lineup changes. The winners in this next beverage cycle won't just have the boldest drink menu, they'll have a counter that can actually keep up with it. Is your beverage station built to grow with the trend, or does every new flavor mean another cluttered corner? Source: https://lnkd.in/gvhX8brg #BeverageTrends #DispensedBeverages #ConvenienceStore #PanelRak #FoodConcepts

If you ask an Indian chef about hemp, the first question usually shouldn’t be: “Do you want to add hemp to your menu?” A better question is: “Where could hemp actually make sense in what you already serve?” Because cafés, bakeries and cloud kitchens don’t need another complicated ingredient. They need something that can fit naturally into existing operations. For a café, that could mean: • Smoothie bowls • Salads • Breakfast bowls • Dips and dressings For a bakery: • Seeded breads • Crackers • Cookies • Granola • Selected baked products using hemp-seed ingredients For a cloud kitchen: • Millet or grain bowls • Chutneys and sauces • Protein-focused meals • Healthy snack formats But the chef’s concerns are bigger than the recipe. They also need to know: Will customers understand it? Can my team prepare it consistently? Is sourcing reliable? How do I describe it on the menu? Does it actually improve the dish? And that is where I believe the real opportunity lies. Not in telling restaurants: “You should sell hemp.” But in helping them answer: “How can hemp work inside my existing food business?” That is the thinking behind the Hemp Menu Integration Programme we are developing at Zintrove. Ingredient selection. Menu applications. Recipe development. Team education. Customer communication. The goal is simple: Make hemp easier for food businesses to understand, integrate and serve confidently. For café owners, bakers, chefs and cloud-kitchen founders: If you were considering hemp for your menu, what would be your biggest concern? Taste? Cost? Customer acceptance? Training? Compliance? I’d genuinely like to hear it. #HempFood #CafeBusiness #BakeryBusiness #CloudKitchen #RestaurantIndustry #FoodInnovation #Hospitality #MenuInnovation #Zintrove

𝗔 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱-𝗸𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗸𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿. 𝗜𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀. We compared item-level performance for menus that were adapted from dine-in formats against menus built specifically for delivery, looking at how well individual dishes held up in terms of both order volume and customer complaints tied to food quality on arrival. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝟮.𝟯𝘅 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆-𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘂, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲-𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. What a delivery-first menu design actually accounts for: • Packaging and transit time change how a dish performs, independent of how good the recipe is at the table • Items designed around a single container and minimal reheating risk perform more consistently than plated dishes retrofitted into a box • A dine-in bestseller isn't automatically a delivery-menu asset, it's a different product with different constraints, even if the recipe is identical Menu Economics isn't just about pricing and commission. It includes designing the menu itself around the format buyers actually receive it in, not the format it was originally built for. Is your delivery menu designed for the box, or adapted from the plate? #HyperlocalData #RetailAnalytics #BusinessIntelligence #DataStrategy #Datanitial