At the New York Times' Food for Tomorrow Conference last Tuesday at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills New York, veterans of the food industry have given advice to start-up companies on how they can successfully remake the food and snack industry.
As reported by New York Times, this is a critical stage for the food industry. More and more consumers are realizing the need for more nutritional options and have moved away from packaged food and unhealthy snacks. A new kind of competitor has emerged in the form of small start-up companies offering healthier snacks and meals.
Ironically, these start-up companies are getting critical guidance from the same people who built some of the biggest companies in the food industry. These advisers are the marketers of not-so-healthy popular food items. However, even the veterans have realized the need to move to healthier side and start-up companies need the business expertise of these veterans.
So here are the veterans who took part in New York Times' Food for Tomorrow conference and their new advocacy:
Jeffrey Dunn
Formerly President of Coca-Cola North America
New exploits Has sold baby carrots for Bolthouse Farms by positioning them not as healthy, but, instead, as fun. In 2013, he told the Produce Marketing Association: "We must change the game. We can help solve the obesity crisis by stealing junk food's playbook, by creating passion for produce, by becoming demand creators, not just growers and processors." He has since been hired by Campbell's Soup to drive its new line of fresh foods.
Edward Martin
Formerly Marketing analyst for Kellogg's, Coca-Cola and Hershey
New exploits Is helping to give Zaycon Foods, which delivers meat directly from farms to consumers at wholesale prices, a trusted brand image. He also helped found a company, GoodXChange, that links big brands with charitable causes.
Sara Brito
Formerly Group director, cultural and business insights, for the advertising agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky
New exploits In 2013, she led the marketing team that analyzed broccoli and decided it should be marketed as the alpha vegetable. That idea has since then been adapted into a celebrity-led marking initiative for fresh produce. She is now the executive director of Chefs Collaborative, a groups of chefs and food professionals working together to make restaurant menus healthier. The slogan for the group - which she wrote - is "Change Menus. Change Lives."
Bob Drane
Formerly Executive vice president for new products of Kraft Foods
New exploits Designed calorie-saving thin slices of cheese for Sargento. His firm, Growth Catalysts, has developed a "better for you" line of microwaveable meals for Hormel by adding vegetables and reformulating meals with less salt and fat. He also helped Rojo, a start-up salsa maker, to reformulate its traditionally spicy product into new varieties that were less spicy to please mainstream Americans. This month, he began helping the creator of Farmer's Fridge, a vending machine for salads, in hopes of marketing that product with some of the same framework he learned by selling Lunchables.