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News category for Stewart News & Events page

Recent Trends in Health & Wellness

August 31, 2020 by Admin

Given all of the product innovation that SIS engages in on a daily basis, we are very familiar with chasing the trends of the day and find ourselves meeting the consumer in increasingly health and wellness focused grocery aisles. This has been a decade plus long process and the opportunity in the health and wellness fields has grown tremendously during that time. So while health and wellness is going nowhere, its crucial to note that Cheese and Cream Cheese pastries aren’t either. In the Pastry and Sweet Goods categories, product innovation with Cream Cheese & Cheese varieties saw a 36% compound annual growth rate between 2017 & 2019.

Of course, please continue to utilize Stewart Ingredient Systems unrivaled product development resources and turnaround time to develop new Super Fruit based toppings and fillings or perhaps new high-fiber content bar fillings for the health and wellness snack category. But also do not forget that SIS produces all different styles of Cheese and Cream Cheese fillings and toppings for almost any application you can think of in the baking industry. Request a sample today via our sample request form and allow us to show you the difference.

Source: bakingbusiness.com

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Baking industry, Cream Cheese, Cream Filling, Health & Wellness

Moving on from incremental improvements in Health and Wellness

February 26, 2020 by Admin

Moving on from incremental improvements in Health and Wellness snacking, complete re-imagination of formulas is required to keep the attention of a more educated consumer.

Consumers are seeking snacking options that offer clear purpose. Rather than single ingredient elimination (HFCS-FREE, ALL NATURAL COLORS AND FLAVORS, ETC), consumers are searching more and more for convenient snacking options that cover, in a larger sense, nutritional profile. Does the product have healthy proteins and fats included means much more to consumers in 2020 than eliminating one ingredient for advertising purposes did in 2015, for instance.

With that in mind, Stewart Ingredient Systems continues to stay on the cutting edge of product development inside snacking categories. As a product developer and a manufacturer, SIS is well positioned to co-develop on these high-protein, potentially fatted formulas that attack health and wellness from a more wholistic approach that consumers are striving for in 2020 and beyond.

Begin your project today with SIS by submitting a Sample Request Form or call Ross Stewart today at 312-254-3539!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Bakery Fillings, Bakery Toppings, Fruit Fillings, Health & Wellness, Product Development, Research & Development

Lower Sugar Levels In-Demand

December 13, 2018 by Admin

Increasingly, consumers are motivated to reduce or eliminate sugar and/or consume alternate natural sweeteners.

As food developers and manufacturers, remaining aware and reacting to changing consumer demands is a necessary step in an evolving marketplace. With 47% of consumers currently saying that they are actively attempting to minimize their sugar intake, it is incumbent upon us as suppliers to bakeries and product developers across industry to provide sugar-free or no-sugar-added options. At Stewart Ingredient Systems Inc., our developers have been providing reduced-sugar and sugar-free options for use in bakeries and snack producers for more than 30 years.

No matter how close or far off industry projections may have been going back 10 years, reacting in real time to changing demands is the only way to keep consumers pulling products off the shelves. Stewart Ingredient Systems maintains our own in-house R&D along with our just-in-time manufacturing operation which complements changing demands and makes us the perfect partner heading into 2019.

Begin building your next project with SIS by Contacting Us today.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Health & Wellness, natural sweeteners, Product Development, reduced-sugar

Plant-based Foods Growth and Opportunities

August 13, 2018 by Admin

Plant-based FoodsIs your next Health and Wellness/Clean Label project in need of protein fortification? SIS has developed a complete line of plant based protein fortified fillings, toppings, variegates and fruit/vegetable dips with protein addition solely from plant based sources.

The Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) recently released data stating that plant-based foods as an industry has seen a 20% growth over the last year alone and with sales now topping 3.3 billion, this is a market that will see significant shelf-space demand in the coming months and years.

SIS is the perfect partner to develop with in your next ideation project and our experience in developing with plant based food ingredients can only be an asset in your next project. If you would like to discuss further to co-develop your desired system, please fill out our sample request form (Stewartis.com/sample-request-form/) or contact Ross Stewart direct at RStewart@Stewartis.com.

Filed Under: News

Seen and Noted: Reducing food waste good for business’ bottom line

March 17, 2017 by Admin

stewart-ingredients-chicago-20170317At Stewart Ingredients Systems, not only are we looking to produce and sell more product, we’re always looking to reduce inefficiencies and waste. A recent study highlighting the cost-savings that some companies are able to achieve confirms our thinking: “…a British-based food manufacturer achieved a more than 300-fold return on investment by running an audit that revealed seven percent of the food it bought remained in bulk containers after they were emptied.” (Umberto Bacchi/Thomson Reuters)

How does SIS work to reduce food waste? Through innovative and strategic purchasing protocols, perfecting our just-in-time/lean manufacturing processes, utilizing a strong daily reciprocal inventory program, with an emphasis on raw ingredient recovery, as well as strict FIFO and reducing waste through a comprehensive recycling program. The results are the savings and competitive pricing we’re able to provide for our clients.

Read the article here: http://tiny.cc/te4tjy

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Food Waste, Recycling, Savings

Seasonal Offerings from Stewart Ingredient Systems

October 25, 2016 by Admin

stewart-ingredients-chicago-pumpkin-fillingNovember is fast approaching and it’s the perfect time to roll-out seasonal offerings for consumers over the next three months. As a R&D house that manufactures all of our custom formulated items under one roof, SIS is perfectly positioned to accommodate any seasonal concepts and equipped to do so in a rapid fashion.

Below is just a spattering of concepts to get marketing and product developments wheels turning. Contact Ross Stewart at (312) 254-3539, ext. 18 today and we will jump at the opportunity to allow our products to speak for themselves!

  • Pumpkin Pie Filling
  • Sweet Potato Pie Filling
  • Apricot Filling
  • Cranberry Filling
  • Toasted Marshmallow
  • Cranberry-Orange Filling
  • Pomegranate Filling
  • Sweet Pear Filling
  • Cranberry-Apple Filling

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Apricot, Cranberry, Product Development, Pumpkin, Seasonal

C-Store Still Matters for Food Manufacturers and Consumers

September 6, 2016 by Admin

snackCan’t stay away from the discourse surrounding consumer’s demands for better-for-you snack offerings. The intersection of on-the-go consumers who demand better-for-you category of snacks often lands in convenience store aisles, and the data suggests that the C-store segment of the market is not shrinking anytime soon. In fact, convenience store sales increased more than 5% year-to-year from ’14 to ’15 with no expectations of that trend reversing course.

With that in mind and knowing that the inside C-store sales annually are well over 2 billion dollars annually, packaged bakery, fresh bakery, cookie and snack bar developers/manufacturers need to have items that can both indulge consumers sweet tooth but also exhibit a real effort to produce foods that show a focus on health & wellness.

More than ever, Stewart Ingredient Systems is well-positioned to help co-develop these products with our long-standing history of innovating within the health and wellness snack category. Our fillings and toppings represent the vehicle to find nutraceutical benefit in snacks more directly than perhaps focusing innovation on the base of the product.

NACS Online
“Convenience Stores Hit Record In-Store Sales in 2015”

General Mills Convenience & Foodservice
“Satisfying Convenience Store Shoppers’ Sweet Cravings”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: C-Store, convenience stores, Health & Wellness, Nutraceutical, Snacks

100% Natural? Maybe. Who knows?

August 30, 2016 by Admin

NaturalIt may well be past time for ingredient declaration standards to be agreed-upon between manufacturers and consumers before the food industry becomes mired in lawsuits and wasted developments. For all of the push towards health and wellness trends—which consumers have now been demanding of the market for at least a decade—it does astound that the FDA has only this year asked for public comment on what the word “Natural” means on food labeling. In May of this year, the FDA opened the topic up for public comment and as of August 2016, more than 5,000 comments have been filed in response. Now, recall again how long consumers had to wait for the Nutrition Labeling changes to be implemented into the marketplace? If the designation of what constitutes “Natural” on our food labeling takes nearly as much time, it is fair to assume that resource spend within industry by those protecting themselves from lawsuit will dwarf the spend associated with Nutrition Label changes.

This much is certain: the domestic food industry’s largest manufacturers are being monitored more closely than ever in 2016. What is not certain is when R&D departments and manufacturers can feel 100% confident that what they are printing on their labels won’t end up landing them in court.

LINKS:

FDA.gov
“‘Natural’ on Food Labeling”

Consumerist.com
“Lawsuits Claim ‘100% Natural’ Label On Nature Valley Granola Bars is Deceptive”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: FDA, Labeling, Natural, nutrition

“Getting back to basics”

November 7, 2015 by Ross Stewart

“Interest in natural and ‘getting back to basics’ has boosted ancient grains and superfoods, fostering a principle that age-old staples are better than today’s manufactured options."

SISBlogNov72015Millennial-parents are dedicating space in their cupboards to snacking food options that, as early as a few years ago, were not available in grocery aisles. Weighed against Gen X & Baby Boomers, Millennial-parents are in a league of their own when it comes to what foods they allow their kids to consume and the market which they represent is only growing and becoming more influential to the food industry each year. More conscious of processed ingredients & less likely to purchase foods that are perceived to be ‘unhealthy’, the industry is scrambling to rush product to market that better fits their demands.

Manufacturers are working with ingredients that they’ve never had to source before and vendors are offering a more diverse selection of ingredients than ever, and SIS has been continuing our efforts to create the best and most valued added options for the baking industry. Whether your project calls for claims driven inclusions, offerings with less processed ingredients or even eliminating specific ingredients to react to the market “getting back to basics”, SIS is ready to get working for you.

To see offerings from SIS and talk to a representative directly, please come see us at the Chicago IFT Suppliers Night 2015 on November 11th at the Donald E Stephens Center in Rosemont, IL at booth #1021 from 12pm-5:30.

Global Food Trends 2016

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Bakery Fillings, Bakery Supply, Bakery Toppings, Bakery Trends, Fruit Fillings, Health & Wellness

Millennials – begging for attention in bakery

November 10, 2014 by Ross Stewart

Bakery SnacksThe annual IDDBA report (What’s in Store – 2015) provides excellent data and analysis on evolving consumer trends spreading across all platforms of baked goods and the bakery aisle.

What continues to catch our eye when going through the “Bakery Department” of this year's report is the mounting data on the growing challenge of reaching millennials in the bakery section. Specifically, the challenge is set out for in-store bakeries to better accommodate the rapidly evolving demands of consumers who were born between 1980 and 2000. It is thought that millennials' changing tastes in condiments, gravies and sauces is driving consolidation in that grocery segment as well, resulting in the recent Kraft and Heinz merger. The data provided by the IDDBA report indicates that millennials are 50% more likely than boomers to place an importance on digestion related health claims such as gluten-free or lactose free. Of further importance is that 39% of millennials purchase their baked goods at preferred stores, not their primary grocer. That figure compares directly to baby boomers, where only 27% utilize specialty bakeries for those purchases.

In 2014 and going forward for the foreseeable future, millennials will continue to actively seek out specialty products that directly cater to their heightened desire for health and wellness driven foods and continue to pose a specific problem for bakery snack producers, as well as in-store bakeries.

It is an enormous take away that all the current consumer data continues to show: The biggest challenge for bakery snack producers to remain relevant on your grocers shelves is to make a connection with the toughest consumer group they’ve ever encountered – Millennials.

“When it comes to engaging Millennial shoppers, IDDBA research suggested that conventional in-store bakeries might face an issue of relevance. Millennials ranked bakery dead last in order of importance among fresh perimeter categories.”

What's in Store 2015

Filed Under: News, Products Tagged With: Bakery, Baking industry, Fillings, Health & Wellness, Millennials, Toppings

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Over the last 120 years we've earned a reputation for excellence in product development and dependability as a supply chain partner to the wholesale baking and cookie, cracker and biscuit industries. We're committed to the highest standards of rapid development services, lean manufacturing and complete product cycle service.

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