This week’s NPD round-up sees Nestlé preparing for the festive season with a new line of Starbucks at-home offerings. A range of savoury crackers made with cricket flour are also preparing to hit shelves, as is Meatless Farm’s first entry into frozen foods. Scroll through the photo gallery for more.
Image source: Getty/Deagreez
This week’s NPD round-up sees Nestlé preparing for the festive season with a new line of Starbucks at-home offerings. A range of savoury crackers made with cricket flour are also preparing to hit shelves, as is Meatless Farm’s first entry into frozen foods. Scroll through the photo gallery for more.
Image source: Getty/Deagreez
Nestlé – which owns the perpetual rights to market Starbucks goods outside of coffee shops – is launching a range of products for the holiday season.
The Starbucks Holiday Coffees and Favorites at-home range includes Starbucks Toffee Nut Latte and Starbucks Holiday Blend. Five seasonal coffees in total, available in roast and grown, will also be available for Nespresso and Nescafé Dolce Gusto systems.
“This year’s holiday season will be different for many of us due to the ongoing pandemic,” said head of beverages strategic business unit at Nestlé, Philipp Navratil.
“By offering this Starbucks Holiday Coffees and Favorites range, we are excited to give consumers the opportunity to bring the taste of the holidays home. It is the change to experience the comfort of the café and the Starbucks experience at home, in a new way.”
The products will be rolled out globally throughout the end of the year.
Image source: Nestlé
Wellness brand Pollen is expanding beyond CBD drops, gummies, and merchandise into the soft drinks category.
Its new Pollenade offering, a ‘botanical CBD beverage’, contains 15mg of water-soluble CBD from broad-spectrum hemp oil. This, Pollen says, allows for greater absorption than traditional hemp products.
Pollenade is made from a combination of grapefruit, raspberry and lemon juices, which mask the CBD aftertaste. It is lower in sugar, vegan friendly, and has just 50 kcal per can.
According to Pollen, the beverage responds to growing demand for low- and no-alcohol beverages. The beverage has an RRP of £3.30, or £18 for a pack of six.
Image source: Pollen
Chilled chocolate start-up Russell & Artwell is bringing ‘restaurant quality’ chocolate to consumers ‘at supermarket prices’.
Russell & Artwell is the brainchild of chocolate experts Steve Russell and Giles Atwell. With over 30 years collective experience in chocolate (having worked at Mars, Cadbury, Green & Blacks, and Godiva), the duo focuses on ‘fresh’ chocolate.
“Why are we still eating long-life chocolate, if everything tastes better fresh?” they asked themselves. The resulting SKUs, rolling out this month, are Outrageously Creamy Milk Chocolates, Extra Dark Chocolates, and Ridiculously Smooth Dark Chocolates.
According to the startup, these chocolates bring an ‘authentic richness, depth and creaminess’ to chocolate without needing lots of extra sugar. Russell & Artwell is also proud of its ingredients, which it sources from ‘small ethical producers’ – including organic cream and butter from the Cotswolds, sea salt from Dorset, caramel from Joe & Seph’s, and Colombian chocolate from Luker.
RRP starts at £6 per 90g bag, with glass jars and a subscription service in the pipeline.
Image source: Russell & Artwell
UK company Perkier is rolling out a range of ‘immune boosting’ plant-based, gluten-free bars and porridge pots into Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
The products are ‘boosted’ with 100% NRV Vitamin D, C and B12, to help support the immune system, noted the business. This is ‘a ground-breaking first’ for the UK, it said, as “there are no other food or drink products that provide 100% NRV of Vitamin D, C and B12.”
The plant-based bars come in two flavours: Nutty Toffee with Dark Chocolate and Salted Caramel with Dark Chocolate. Each 37g bar has an RRP of £1, or £2.75 for a multipack of three.
Perkier is launching three porridge pot SKUs: Golden Syrup, Cranberry & Chia, and Original. Each pot has an RRP of £1.25.
“Not only are the bars and porridge pots in the range delicious, but they have been designed in direct response to government health guidelines to support consumers’ immune systems in the current climate, providing a powerful alternative to supplements,” said Perkier co-founder Ann Perkins.
“Perkier has partnered with Sainsbury’s and Morrisons to launch these products. Together, we will meet burgeoning consumer demand for food and drink, which supports the health and wellbeing of consumers.”
Image source: Perkier
Plant-based meat alternative brand Meatless Farm is entering frozen with the launch of its ‘frozen free-flow mince’.
The new SKU is made from the same recipe as the brand’s fresh mince, meaning it is made from pea, soya and rice protein.
According to Meatless Farm’s chief growth officer Michael Hunter, the launch responds to growing demand for frozen food.
“Frozen food is having a real resurgence, with sales up over 19% year-on-year. Heightened by lockdown, increasingly more people are recognising the value in its long shelf-life and reduced food wastage. We’re bringing to market a frozen product that meets consumers demand from a sustainability, convenience and nutrition point of view.”
The frozen free-flow mince has an RRP of £2.60 for 500g and is available via Ocado.
Image source: Meatless Farm
A new range of savoury crackers made with cricket flour are preparing to launch in the UK.
Small Giants Crackers come in three flavours: Tomato & Oregano, Turmeric & Smoked Paprika, and Rosemary & Thyme.
According to the brand founders, the crackers offer consumers a ‘great way’ to eat insects ‘without the yuck-factor’.
“As attitudes towards edible insects are changing, we want to bring excitement, innovation and new consumers to the savoury snacks market which has seen little change in recent years,” said co-founder Francesco Majno.
“Forty-two percent of British consumers are now willing to try eating insects. We’ve created a planet-positive insect-enriched snack that tastes great and offers a genuine alternative to those wanting to cut their consumption of animal-based foods and find an alternative source of protein.”
The crackers will launch for sale 30 October 2020, available direct from the Small Giants website and via Amazon.
Image source: Small Giants
