Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1194330
As we enter 2020, Specialty Food looks back at the best quotes from the past year about our trade and where it is headed. "Retailers with commercial kitchens should consider becoming virtual restaurants for meal delivery services." —Dave Donnan, A.T. Kearney, on the continuing growth of home delivery "Back then, the kind of food I wanted the world to eat was pretty terrible. You had a choice of lentil loaf or lentil burger. Which one would you like?" —Miyoko Schinner, Miyoko's Kitchen, and 2019 SFA Leadership Award recipient, on the early days of vegan food "2019 is the year of soil. Say what? Regenerative agriculture and its farming and ranching principles better whole agrosystems, increase biodiversity, improve soil health and watersheds, and ultimately reverse carbon accumulated in the atmosphere." —Mohammad Modarres, Interfaith Ventures, on the biggest trend impacting specialty food "The ability to perceive the kitchen environment, safely work alongside staff, cook existing recipes perfectly consistently, all in a form-factor that easily fits into existing workflows and is easily cleanable at the end of the day, is a breakthrough." —David Zito, Miso Robotics, on the potential of robots in commercial kitchens "I've given many millions of dollars away and it brings great joy." —Bob Moore, Bob's Red Mill, and 2019 SFA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, on his business and life philosophy "Healthy is the new standard. It's no longer differentiating—it's expected." —Emily Schildt, Pop Up Grocer, on consumers' product attribute demands "There's no question that aging Baby Boomers have different expectations than generations in front of them. They're educated, wealthy, and well-traveled. They want vegan, vegetarian, organic, sushi and power bowls, branded items, and a community that offers retail operations. They want it all." —Todd Lindsey, Glendale Senior Dining, on specialty food opportunities in senior living developments "A good bartender or chef in a busy location will educate thousands of consumers in a week." —Lee Etherington, Wild Hibiscus Flower Company, on building his brand through food and beverage service "The best advice I got was, 'Before you start a startup, go work for a startup.'" —Lisa Curtis, Kuli Kuli Foods, and 2019 SFA Leadership Award winner, on how she started her company "You have had very few memorable events in your life that did not involve food, whether it's going out for a cup of coffee or to a wedding or bar mitzvah. It's a way to share common thoughts, bring people together. Getting to introduce new foods to our society that maybe we hadn't seen before has been a tremendous amount of fun." —Stewart Reich, Hanson Faso Sales & Marketing, and 2019 SFA Hall of Fame honoree, on the specialty food industry 2019 in Review WINTER 2020 41 industry voices