SugarCreek: Brandworthy Food Solutions

4 Food Brands That Are Changing American Food Culture

Posted by SugarCreek

May 11, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Food culture in America has been undergoing Silicon Valley-style disruptions over the past decade, resulting in food companies and restaurants launching new products and services, and re-evaluating and changing procedures at a seemingly ever-increasing rate. Frankly, it's hard to keep up with all the innovations in the market.

But there are four companies we'd like to focus on for today's post. A few we've talked about before, so we'll update you on doings with them. One we haven't mentioned before, but we're pretty excited about its new product and its potential to influence consumer decisions. So, without further ado…

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Topics: Innovation, American food culture, Proteins

4 International Food Brands with Digital Strategies Worth Studying

Posted by SugarCreek

May 1, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Devising a digital brand strategy for your food company can involve making some tough decisions. With so many social media platform to choose from—and more cropping up every day (Periscope, anyone?)—how can a food brand stay on top of the digital sphere? Especially as depictions of American food culture are becoming increasingly fragmented across a variety of channels.

Well, for starters, you can stop being so stressed out about it. There are many ways to go about digital marketing. And you don't have to tell the same story the same way across channels. In fact, you don't want to.

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Topics: American food culture

American Food Culture: Millennials Use Food as Alternative Medicine

Posted by SugarCreek

Apr 20, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Millennial foodies' concerns with healthy eating habits aren't derived solely from an ethical belief. Many young adults seem to be embracing diet as a form of alternative medicine. Adherents to diets like paleo, gluten-free and others often tout food lifestyle changes as a path to better general wellness.

So how can food companies and food entrepreneurs play to this trend? Obviously, if you're not developing and producing healthy foods, you're going to have a hard time tapping in to the Millennial market.

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Topics: Millennial Consumers, American food culture

American Food Culture: Healthy Lunch Trend Brings New Opportunities

Posted by SugarCreek

Apr 14, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Healthy school lunch initiatives have gone from idea, to law, to political brouhaha. The movement toward an American food culture that embraces healthier lunches and smarter protein choices may have started in the school cafeteria, but it certainly hasn't stopped there. High-level attention is being paid to fighting the epidemic of obesity among America's children and its adults.

The impetus for healthier lunches—in our schools and for our nation's legion break-skipping, deskside mealtakersis simple: as developed nations go, the incidence rate of diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses in the United States is tremendously high.

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Topics: American food culture, Proteins

American Food Culture: Breakfast Isn't Just Eggs and Bacon Anymore

Posted by SugarCreek

Apr 7, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Americans today are rejecting breakfast in the traditional sense. Gone are the days of George Washington's Breakfast of fried hoecakes, butter, honey and tea.

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Topics: American food culture, Snackification

3 Companies That Have Mastered the Art of Food Videos

Posted by SugarCreek

Apr 6, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Food marketing has become heavily visual as American food culture has become deeply ingrained on the Internet. And as part of that shift toward the visual, YouTube videos have become an important tool of the food marketer's trade.

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Topics: American food culture

Gamification: The Hot New Growth Strategy for Food Brands

Posted by SugarCreek

Apr 2, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Creating a food culture can be challenging—especially with so many dining choices available to American consumers today. Millennial foodies, an exploratory demographic, can be a particularly hard segment to target with loyalty programs. Young adults view food as an opportunity to experience as many tastes, smells and sights as possible; they're always looking to expand their product horizons.

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Topics: Millennial Consumers, American food culture

Has the Private Label Revolution Arrived in the Food Industry?

Posted by SugarCreek

Mar 30, 2015 2:30:00 PM

Private labels have learned a lot about branding (ironic, we know) in the last 30 years. Take a look, for example, at Kroger's private label then, and compare it to Kroger's private label now. Clearly, attention has been paid.

But even in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession—when traditional economic theory would hold that cheaper, generic store goods should have been able to grab grocery shopper share from expensive brands—the success of private label foods has been somewhat mixed. Some private line categories even saw sales decline in the midst of the economic downturn.

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Topics: American food culture, Snackification, Retail

Decoding the Language of Millennial Food Culture

Posted by SugarCreek

Mar 17, 2015 2:30:00 PM

A large and unique generation, millennials have captivated the minds of marketers in all industries. According to Forbes, members of this generation tend to be more optimistic and independent when it comes to their world views. They also tend to be less traditional than the generations that came before them when it comes to experiencing various life stages. These characteristics pose distinctive challenges to marketers in the food service industry, who must come up with new and interesting strategies to keep their brands at the top of millennials' minds.

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Topics: Millennial Consumers, American food culture, Retail

4 Popular Searches from 2014 Show Shifting Consumer Eating Trends

Posted by SugarCreek

Mar 12, 2015 2:30:00 PM

American food culture has undergone many unexpected and interesting shifts over the past several years. A quick look at some of the most popular food-related Internet searches sheds light on exactly how much our tastes have changed.

Although we continue to see a shift on the part of the American eating public toward more health-consciousness and toward maintaining budgets, our Google searches last year seemed to indicate that comfort food and dining out aren't quite on the outs. In fact, as the national economy has continued to pick-up, searches for restaurants topped those for recipes.

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Topics: Trends, American food culture