Two Sides, One Coin

I love those times when you get to see two competing tensions face off simultaneously.

I’m at the North American Food Technology and Innovation Forum. It’s an event designed to bring together the heads of R&D and New Product Development from leading companies across North America. It’s a smorgasbord of speakers and displays featuring leading edge thinking about the future of food, health & wellness, retailing, and innovation. I’m being exposed to fascinating opportunities in food ingredients (phytonutrients, prebiotics, omega 3’s, phosphorus), technologies, processes and packaging that will be a part of the next generation of products we prepare and serve to our families. It’s all about fortification, shelf life, attributes of health and technological platforms.

At the same time, I received an announcement about kidfresh (www.kidfresh.com), a new childrens’ food retail concept in NY. Kidfresh sells a huge variety of healthy, fresh, organic prepared foods made just for kids. The concept was developed by a chef, dietician and pediatric nutritionist. Foods are available in Grab ‘n Go or Mix ‘n Match, color coded and portion-sized by age for 4 age groups, merchandised to appeal to kids, and cost only $4.95-7.25 per meal. They emphasize fruits, vegetables and fiber in age-appropriate shapes and colors. The store is built to be child-friendly, with a special door and kid size carts. They offer childrens’ cooking classes in order to teach good nutritional habits and have an in-store counter where they can serve kids while they learn.

Two sides of the same issue: health and wellness. One is fresh and local, the other is technological and specialized. Two waves of the future.