First Bite Boulder: Your Chance for Cheap Eats

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Just wanted to remind everyone in the local Boulder area that First Bite Boulder runs from November 15th-22nd. Had your eye on a fancy restaurant in town but don't like spending a ton of money? You get a three course meal at any of the 35 participating restaurants for only $26. Not bad eh?

Since I'm usually at home cooking for two, I don't get out to restaurants much. However, I've been to two of the participants: The Kitchen & Brasserie Ten Ten, both of which I recommend highly. The Kitchen in particular works hard to be eco-conscious, and has one week per night when the food all comes from within a 100 mile radius (or so I'm told, not sure if this continues through the winter?). 

Anyone have any other recommendations?

Sticky Fingers Cooking Wins Naturally Boulder Days Pitch Slam

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Congratulations to the winner of Naturally Boulder Days: Sticky Fingers Cooking!

If you read my PitchSlam Recap, you might be wondering how Sticky Fingers Cooking was able to win with judges comments such as "can't quite envision the product" and "Loved the story, what is the product?" To put it plainly, Stick Fingers stood out.

Aside from The Wholesome Gourmet (and possibly Shaken, the documentary about Parkinson's), every other pitch was for a product. How could the judges pick one local, organic, free trade, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free product over another in just 60 seconds? They couldn't, so they went with the pitch that clearly had the largest scope - one that focused on education.

Sticky Fingers Cooking currently focuses on cooking classes for 2-5 year olds. They also sell cooking kits for young children, and hope to appear in supermarkets with a semi-prepared meal easily finished at home. The judges comments questioning the actual product reflect that the pitch's focus on cooking education came across as philosophy more than product. Hastily mentioning their idea for a supermarket isle product only led to further confusion.

However, the scope of the business and its educational ideals overcame any faltering during the pitch itself.  Recent articles featuring Sticky Fingers in The Daily Camera, Denver Westward and BusinessWeek raised awareness before the PitchSlam even began. Well timed PR ladies!

If you read posts at The Reluctant Eater, you know that although I may mention products from time to time, I do not believe they are the answer to improving our relationship with food. To create the greatest good, we need to educate those who eat blindly, unaware their food choices have severe long-term consequences.

Congratulations to Sticky Fingers Cooking, they took home almost $200,000 worth of prizes! 

Organic Food Brokers:

• One full year of national brand management - $180,000 value!
• Detailed review of product, production costs, margins and retail price point
• Detailed review of sales, marketing plans and associated budgets
• Recruiting, hiring, training and management of the regional broker network
• Sales presentations to all 11 Whole Foods Market regions and key national distributors for category review

Boulder Innovation Center:

• Two free months of consulting - $1,500 value!
• Top industry leaders will provide pertinent advice and guidance for your business success

Small Business Development Center (SBDC):

• Two free passes to all five Naturally Boulder/SBDC classes in 2009 - $450 value!
• These classes are perfectly aligned with any new business trying to break into the community and learn from the "2009 Trade Secrets" classes

A Whirlwind Tour Through 8 Decades of Food Advice

Friday, October 31, 2008

Why You Shouldn't Entrust Your Eating Habits to the Media, the Government, or Food Science

Alongside 11 other fantastic presenters, The Reluctant Eater spoke at Ignite Boulder on Wednesday night. Ignite is a worldwide movement of people getting together to present and share ideas but with a twist: 20 slides, each advances automatically after 15 seconds.

My first public speaking gig in 11 years went off without a hitch, except, as you'll see, due to a technical glitch not all of the slides advance after 15 seconds. I spent so much time cutting down my speech that I wasn't prepared to have extra time, and there is a little bit of dead air! Enjoy - A Whirlwind Tour Through 8 Decades of Food Advice: Why You Shouldn't Entrust Your Eating Habits to the Media, the Government, or Food Science.

The other Ignite Boulder presentations can be found here. If you watch just one other, I'd recommend Michael Tseng, who talks about "The Perception of Possibility".

Naturally Boulder Days: PitchSlam Recap

If you couldn't make it to the PitchSlam at Naturally Boulder Days, fear not! I furiously tried to write down as much as I could, and below is my summary. It all happened so quickly, an it is entirely possible that I misspelled names of people and companies. Let me know if any corrections are needed. Also, please note that for most products, I wasn't able to jot down "organic" "local" "gluten free" "chemical free" etc...but for the most part it's safe to assume that these products are all made responsibly.

Each presenter got 60 seconds to describe their company to the panel of four judges. After the pitch, the judges gave their thoughts and advice for about a minute, and then gave either a thumbs up, neutral, or thumbs down rating. Pitches listed in order of appearance. Enjoy!

Ken's Outrageous Organics

Product: Cookie dough

Catch phrase: "When you buy 3, we plant a tree"

Moderators comments: "Looking at his package, what would you tell him?" (crowd cannot control our laughter)

Judges advice: package needs to be able to identify the brand from 15 feet away

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

Will's Organic - Tom Kellogg

Product: herb garlic dressing mix. Dry mix, just add olive oil, vinegar, water. 

Judges advice: it's hard to get your product into supermarkets with only 1 product...develop a few more dressings, and you'll get a better response

Final Score: 3 down, 1 neutral

Goddess Garden

Product: sunscreen soap "sunscreen simplified", nothing else like it, spf 10 - $7.99

Judges advice: potential perception issue...people think soap takes things off, but this leaves sunscreen on (pitcher reminds us that most soaps actually leave a residue)

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

Oogave - Stephen Anson

Product: soda, no HFCS, sweetened with agave nectar

Notes: Natural soda market frowing, 35% in 2008. (Side note: Stephen could have a good career as that guy who does the promo voiceovers for all hollywood movies)

His quotes: 5280 magazine said he could be the "the next Izze",  "I've made every rookie mistake in the book"

Judges advice: "you'll fit in perfectly, you're pushy". Issue with using agave as a sweetener, people aren't used to that in a soda. It is unique, distribution is tough. Brand has legs, and could go other places.

Final Score: 4 up

Goodebar - Chuck & Tori Roosevelt

Product: "power twinkie" or "snack cake", organic, gluten free, egg free, wheat free,

moist, unlike other bars

Judges Advice: 95% organic....go all the way? You get built in marketing with a gluten free product, new packaging needed. Be worried about competition down the road. Bars are REALLY competitive. Maybe package like a twinkie to differentiate yourself from being just another bar?

Final Score: 1 up, 2 down, 1 neutral

Overseas Connection - Steven Karowe

Product: fair trade african market basket

Judges advice: love it, make sure product you are selling is what people want (I'm not going shopping with that bag...not right size). Love product, love story - think about channels of distribution...grocery stores might not have space, and it's $29.99...more than people often spend there

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

Boulder Soupworks - Joseph Carroll

Product: Organic, fresh, gluten free soup sold in clear, see-through reusable containers to be sold in supermarkets.

Quote: "Bring back the truth in soup"

Judges advice: Like the idea and look, and you'll have to put in in the prepared food case or dairy case (which is most expensive), be in the food service area instead - airports, bagel shops. Product is "on trend" but huge distribution challenges.

Final Score: 3 up, 1 neutral

Anilla - Hank Lourie

Product: over 100 natural, personal care products, anti aging, acne, etc

Quote: "merging health care & beauty care"

Judges advice: how do you get your message out? Sounds like you are selling a category, not a brand

Final Score: 1 down, 3 neutrals

EnerHealth Botanicals

Product: cocoa with lots of fancy ingredients, even mushrooms! $10.99 for 12 oz.

Quote: "we put the mojo back in the cocoa"

Notes: 2 million hits per month on their website?!?

Judges advice: narrow down the message, love the packaging (it's rice paper)

Final Score: 3 up, 1 neutral

Stickyfingers Cooking

Product: the "un-tv dinner", just grab it and a few items from produce (I think?), take it home, and encourage your children to help and be educated in the process.

Judges advice: Love it, significant need for this, can't quite envision the product. Loved the story, what is product? It will work if you're willing to stick with it.

Final Score: 4 up

Hope Foods - Kristen Carmen

Product: gluten free pizza and pasta in the frozen foods section made by celiac chefs.

Judges advice: Name might not be right...I want delicious, not "hope" (name represents giving hope to celiacs). I need more information, what are products (she almost ran out of time before getting to the product descriptions).

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

Nusa Yogurt

Product: local, all natural, hand crafted, gourmet australian yogurt in clear packaging

Judges Advice: concept is great if it can emulate rise of greek style yogurt, if you can make people buy it, it can work.

Final Score: 3 up, 1 down

The Wholesome Gourmet - Lulu

Product: delivery service of prepared organic foods, "heat, eat and enjoy". She does a 15 minute consultation with you in the beginning, and from that point on she makes the meals for you, without having to choose or make specific orders. Serving boulder & metro denver

Judges advice: It's great, assuming the price point works. Healthy convenience, logistically it's daunting to scale this service, to make this work will be really hard, but what you're doing is right

Final Score: 1 up, 1 down, 2 neutral

Simply Boulder culinary sauces - Seth Mandelsohn

Product: agave sweetened cooking sauces

My notes: he sells these at the Boulder Farmers Market, and they are awesome.

Judges advice: healthy convenience. Great "tweener" category.

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

Crystal River Organics - Doug

Product: nude food bars, mostly raw, gluten, soy free, nutrient dense, twice size of larabar or clif bar. They have been used for meal replacement in a weight loss program

Judges advice: bar category is tough, have you done trademark work? "I don't understand product". Moderator questions his claim that there aren't already existing savory nutrition bars?

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

100 Mile Burger - Ira Leavetag

Product: fast food restaurants (burgers, hot dogs, fries, etc) will all local ingredients

Judges advice: love the local idea, but it is a retail concept, but it will fail or succeed on location and execution. Love the idea, it's all about execution, price point, taste and service. Work on the name! (100 mile burger)

Final score: 3 up, 1 neutral

Laisha - Sharon

Product: some sort of lotion, cream to support good breast health.

Quote: for "moist perkier breasts"??!? (no, I did not make that up)

Judges Advice: very interesting, good target for the internet? (discrete purchases)

Final score: 2 up, 2 neutral

Adava Foods - Julia

Product: gluten free snacks and baking mixes

Judges advice: growing sector, lots of demand, about whether you have a good product, brand building. Don't sell the category, sell the brand.

Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral

NA Plus Ultra Foods - Nelson

Product: heirloom, artisan salts

My notes: Nelson never even said what his product was till after the pitch was over!

Judges advice: gap in that people don't understand nuances between regional salts, consumer education problem

Final Score: 1 up, 2 down, 1 neutral

Lila Films Inc - Deborah Fryer

Product: A documentary on Parkinsons, that it is often caused by environmental pollutants.

Judges advice: Great idea, connect products, information and education, get financing through partnerships of likeminded people

Final Score: 4 up

maggiescottage.com

Product: none technically, it's an online shop that sells natural products to a national and international audience. Pet care, household, baby care, nutrition, etc... "just in time" inventory

Judges advice: buy stuff over the internet is a proven market, but can you target the whole world as your market?

Final Score: 1 down, 3 neutral

Gourmet PB&J - Steve

Product: the name says it all, a gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwich shop with total ingredient transparency

Judges advice: "so wacky I kinda like it, doesn't make sense, but somehow it does, I like it but I'm not sure why"

Final Score: 4 up

Spice - Justin

Product: organic roasted nuts, selling directly to coffee shops as a point of purchase snack

Judges advice: taste great, like the name, design...you need a good package and a good price point, you need it in airports and Starbucks, etc

Final Score: 4 up

Bali Malas - Karen

Product: necklace prayer beads hand made in Bali

Slogan: "wear peace"

Note: nametags for the conference were attached to these necklaces, so most attendees wore them for the entire day

Judges advice: like product, story & vibe

Final Score: 4 up

Dog Popcorn

Product: natural popcorn in malls and high traffic areas like stadiums & arenas. Product produced locally everywhere.

Judges advice: like the product, people want simplicity...

Final Score: 3 up, 1 neutral

And the winner is:

Stickyfingers

Stay tuned for more in depth analysis.

"Emerging trends" breakout session at Naturally Boulder Days

Thursday, October 30, 2008

This post brought to you by me, The Reluctant Eater, coming from inside the Julian Hotel & Spa in downtown Boulder, host of Naturally Boulder Days 2008. The first of two breakout sessions has just concluded. Although I begrudgingly passed up both The Climate for Innovation - What is it about Boulder? and The Perfect Consumer Storm - What do we know about the market today? I learned a great deal in Cutting Edge Trends - What's hot and why? Did we see it coming?

Moderated by Doug Radi of Rudi's Organic Bakery, the "panel" (each speaker essentially spoke for 20 minutes, followed by questioning all three for 15 minutes) was made up of:

• Blake Waltrip - Growth Ventures
  
• Steve Savage - Eco-Products
  
• Etai Bar-on - Udi's Handcrafted Foods
  

Blake spoke mostly about marketing and branding, but I would rather call out the part that is most relevant to this blog. Trends. He briefly mentioned a few hot subjects including:

• Locavore
  
• Sustainability
  
• Carbon Foodprint
  
• Food Labeling

Steve spoke almost exclusively about his company Eco-Products, which was disappointing, given the topic of this breakout session. The trends he mentioned were all product related, so I'll skip that.

Finally Etai stepped up to the mic, and actually talked about trends! The recent trends that lead to their current success were:

• A Local food economy
  
• All Natural
  
• Healthy
  
• Artisan
  
• Fresh
  
• A Progressive work environment

As for emerging trends, he mentioned both granola (which is growing 40% year over year), and gluten free (which is currently a $5 billion dollar market with no clear leader).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some tasty samples to eat (currently munching on jerky from Colorado's Best Beef)!

Overheard during Naturally Boulder Days

• More people are sick during the holidays because of stress and poor eating habits
  
• There has been recent media coverage of growing meat in a lab
  
• According to one rancher, cows don't have a problem digesting grain. ?!?
  

Most referenced local supermarket: Sunflower. 

Naturally Boulder Days: Biodiesel Bus Tour Overview

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I just got back from the opening event of Naturally Boulder Days 2008, the Biodiesel Bus Tour. For now, I will give you a quick overview of our three stops, but look forward to more detailed posts in the future.

Stop #1: Bud Peterson's Xcel Smart Grid Home

While admittedly, this has nothing to do with food, I can say that I have seen the future of energy consumption. Basically, everything in the house is hooked up in such a way that power consumption can be monitored through a simple web interface. Want to know what items are consuming the most power? Want to control your thermostat from anywhere in the world? How about sell power back to the grid? You can do all of those things, and more. Pretty neat.

Parked out front? A gas/electric SUV that gets ~100 mpg in the city, 54 overall. Crazy right? The gas motor doesn't kick in until ~30 mph. Average cost is 4 cents per mile, vs. 25 cents for it's gasoline powered equivalent.

Stop #2: Udi's Bakery

Udi's is the premier artisan breadmaker in the Boulder / Denver area, producing around ~6000 loaves of bread per day, all custom ordered. Primarily, these are sold to farmers markets and local restaurants (none of their bread is shipped outside the Boulder / Denver area).

We were allowed to don lab coats and hair nets to tour the inside. The whole concept of starters is new to me, but apparently it's the base that will be mixed with the dough. The acidity, texture, and crust are all affected by the starter, which is left out to ferment and develop into a leavener. Below is a video of me touching a few of the "starters" they had laid out.

No, these will not be made into bread - just samples for us to play with! On the way out, we all received loaves of bread (not to mention the FANTASTIC box lunches, from Udi's catering biz, we hate beforehand)! I wrote down a ton of other interesting facts about the company, which I will turn into a more detailed post in a few days. 

Stop #3: Seth Ellis Chocolatier

Let me just come right out and say it - high end chocolates are not my bag baby (I'm a cookie/brownie guy). However, the Seth Ellis Raspberry Truffle? WOW. I'm a believer.

By the way, their products are all organic and they do lots of private label orders (you know, in case you want to impress hundreds of guests with your own custom chocolate bars).

Stay tuned - more to come from Naturally Boulder Days 2008!

Big News this week for The Reluctant Eater

Monday, October 27, 2008

Several great things are happening this week for The Reluctant Eater. Here is a quick summary, but read on for more details.

• I will be reporting from Naturally Boulder Days this Wednesday & Thursday
  
• I am giving a presentation on food headlines since 1935 at Ignite Boulder this Wednesday
  
• The Reluctant Eater has become a Featured Publisher for FoodBuzz!
  

The Reluctant Eater Reporting from Naturally Boulder Days

Naturally Boulder Days, held October 29th & 30th here in Boulder, CO, is the event for local food & natural products entrepreneurs. There are information sessions, lunches with a mentor, tours of local companies, new ideas & product pitches, and plenty of networking opportunities.

I will update this site throughout the event with any kind of information you might find useful. Keep in mind, although most of the companies mentioned will be local to the Boulder area, there will be plenty of the content I post will appeal to a wider audience, for example the break out session covering emerging trends in the industry. Check back here often on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.

The Reluctant Eater Presenting at Ignite Boulder

Ignite is a worldwide movement of people gathering together to share information and ideas on a wide variety of topics. However, it's not that straightforward. Each presenter gets only 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. It's harder than you think!

Presentation ideas need to be submitted and approved by a panel, and mine was accepted this weekend! The topic, based on these two posts, is titled:

A Whirlwind Tour Through Eight Decades of Food Advice: Why You Shouldn't Entrust Your Eating Habits to the Media, Government, or Food Science

This will be a great event, so if you live in the area, come out and show your support, learn a few things, and please introduce yourself! Tickets are free, but as of this writing there are only 41 left. Click here to get yours. If you miss it, next week I will post the video of my presentation, along with my notes and the powerpoint slides.

The Reluctant Eater: A Featured Foodbuzz Publisher

You may notice the Featured Publisher badge down in the lower right hand corner of each page. There may be a few more layout changes to accommodate another Foodbuzz banner. Fear not intrepid reader, nothing else will change (other than some increased traffic to this site)! Foodbuzz is a great site that collects and ranks the best food related blogs and websites. Many of their current publishers focus on recipes, so I am honored to be one of the few that doesn't!

If you are interested in checking out their site, please consider voting for me. Nothing says "this site has great content" better than a vote, and it will lead to increased visibility and readership. Thanks!

Lots of exciting things are happening this week. Be sure to check back often!

Naturally Boulder Days: October 29th & 30th

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

For all you local Boulder readers, check out Naturally Boulder Days 2008.



This should be a fantastic event. From their website:

Naturally Boulder Days is fast becoming "the" educational, informational and inspirational event for companies both starting and expanding in the natural and organic space.

There are a ton of events packed into just two days, but I'm most looking forward to the insider bus tour of local establishments, and the 60 Second Pitch Slam, where entrepreneurs get to pitch their ideas to an expert panel.

Have no fear, The Reluctant Eater will your eyes and ears throughout the event!

Go see: Heart & Soil, Sat night in Boulder

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The movie (which I haven't seen...yet) is playing as part of the Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder this weekend.


There are over 80 different movies playing over the course of the weekend, as the festival returns to Boulder after a two year stint in Los Angeles (but moved back because we're awesomer here!).

Synopsis:

'Heart & Soil' is a family documentary that clips along with the pace of barefoot children and frolicking livestock. The film takes us on a journey into the rich landscape and lives of farmers, and into the bustling energy of farmer's markets. The men & women farmers are an inspiration about cycles of life, and the importance of organic farming as a means toward better personal and planetary health. Pueblo Indians speak about their meaningful connection to the most important resources needed by all living things: clean air, clean water and clean soil. ‘Heart & Soil’ highlights the importance of small-scale farming as a means to cut down on fossil fuel usage, corporate take-over of our vital food supply, and as a means to strengthen communities.

If you're reading this blog, the movie will be right up your alley. More information can be found here. See you at the show!

Local Events, coming to a venue near you

Monday, August 25, 2008

A great way to become more involved in your local food community is to attend local events. Want some examples?

My nearby Whole Foods was visited yesterday by the Farmers and Local Food Artisans Road Tour (I sadly could not attend). Here is the description:

Join Whole Foods Market as we celebrate our local Farmers and Food Artisans. We're committed to purchasing and consuming local foods and Whole Body items for our customers. about the diversity and quality of locally produced food. Meet local producers and growers and sample products over 30 local venders. Buy a local basket to help support our local agricultural charity, Boulder Growing Gardens. We'll have live music, Aztec dancing, culinary food demonstrations, face painters and more.

Whole Foods does a fantastic job of holding events of all types: tastings, cooking classes, local food showcases, etc. Find your nearest store, and see what is on the horizon.

Yaya Farm and Orchard in Boulder, has a Dinner Club where they feed you local food and give you a great excuse to talk to some of your local growers (they have an upcoming event in both September and October). Don't live in Boulder? Not a problem. Search around on the web and you will likely find something in your area.

For example, I just googled "local food events Milwaukee" and found this great page.

Unless you are already deeply immersed in the foodie culture, these are things you won't know about unless you take an active interest. And really, with the miracle of the internet, you can find the opportunities in just a few seconds. Good luck!

Anyone been to a local event recently that they thoroughly enjoyed? Tell us about it.

The Boulder Farmers Market

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Starting over with my eating habits was easy. I have been out of the country for the last 5 weeks traveling in Peru & Bolivia, countries who, while not completely unaffected by the spread of the Western Diet, seem to still be eating mostly local and unprocessed food. I ate exclusively at restaurants and at homes in poorer areas, where people were still farming their own food (a LOT of potatoes, and to a lesser extent quinoa).

Then upon return I had moved to a new city, Boulder CO. Time to get rid of all the bad habits and start fresh.

Our very first morning back, my wife Janet and I went straight to the Boulder Farmer's Market, the largest in all of Colorado.

Visions of in-depth conversations with sellers, grilling them about their farming practices and discovering the truly dedicated danced in our heads. Of course, as soon as we got there, I froze up. I was overwhelmed. What questions were we supposed to be asking? What does ultra-pasteurized mean? Grass finished?

Thankfully Janet took charge (it helped that she was the one carrying the wad of cash) and I wandered around in a daze, amazed at not only how many different booths there were, but also how many people were there. Wasn't it barely 8 am on a Saturday morning? Yes, it was. And the market had just opened.

Anyway, we walked down to one end of the market, and by the time we had retraced our steps our backpack was full, arms bulging, and wallets $120 lighter. Certainly not the trunk-full of groceries you end up with from a normal supermarket...but different somehow...more...exciting.

The biggest challenge for many people to switch to this type of grocery shopping is the increased cost. Michael Pollan argues in In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (and/or in his other book The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (referral links), forgive me, I just read both) that the industrialized food found in the supermarket is artificially cheap, reflecting government subsidies and ignoring the environment costs associated with big agriculture. Thankfully, most small and local farms have little negative environmental impact.

I wasn't going to worry about price, my long term health depends on this after all, right? My strategy of letting Janet carry the money, and asking questions about price last (if at all) had paid off. That is except when I ended up reluctantly paying $10 for an 8 oz. bag of Granola from Two Moms in the Raw. It was really tasty though, which of course I already knew because I had sampled some before buying. This stuff really sticks to itself, so rather than pouring yourself a bowl, it seems to be put to better use by grabbing an occasional clump as a mini-snack.

I am excited for my next trip. It will be less overwhelming, and I'd be surprised if not a little...exciting?