New York SBDC Research Network

From the Cornell Food Venture Center : The Cornell Food Venture Center provides assistance to validate safety and stability of food products entering the marketplace including: -Lab Analysis for pH, water activity, and Brix of food and beverage products -Process Authority approval and Scheduled Process: Product Review, Documentation, and Process Validation -Resources for Nutrition Analysis, Co-packers, Packaging Suppliers, Shelf-Life Studies, and More! -Regulatory Compliance: Registration and Licensing with State and FDA agencies -Small Scale Food Entrepreneurship: A Technical Guide for Food Ventures -Better Process Control School: Necessary certification for Acidified and Low Acid Food manufacturers. -Food Science 101 -Presentations and workshops: Interested? Contact Shannon Prozeller The Cornell dropbox link includes everything you will need to work with the university, register with the State and FDA, information on Small Scale Food Production and more. Services su...

From eMarketer The US economy is in relatively good shape when looking at measures like unemployment (it's down) and gross domestic product (it's up), but consumers are still feeling financial pressures. According to a Q1 2018 study by market researcher IRI, 47% of US internet users said they are making sacrifices to make ends meet. That's down from 50% in Q1 2017, but it's still a sizeable percentage. Even so, one-quarter of respondents plan to buy more premium brands in the next six months. This intent was stronger with higher-income brackets, as well as with retirees and seniors. When asked what they would be willing to pay more for, benefits beyond basic nutrition had the most interest (36%), followed by natural or organic products (29%). Paying extra for home delivery and in-store pickup of online orders were less popular.

From eMarketer : Growth of the private-label market in recent years has been driven by demand from lower-income shoppers as well as budget-conscious millennials. But these products are attracting wealthier consumers, creating yet another challenge for national brands. According to an IRI survey released last week, over half (52%) of consumers with household income of more than $100,000 said they expect to buy more private-label products over the next six months. For those earning $55,000 to $99,000, 62% planned to do the same. Those percentages are still smaller than the responses among consumers making less than $35,000 and millennials in general (76% and 74%, respectively). However, the private-label buying plans among the more affluent were higher compared with previous findings, according to IRI.

It's possible to become a real farmer with 25 square feet of space, even if skyscrapers are your neighbors. But it does take a bit of planning and innovation. Luckily, there is a core group of artists, designers and farmers leading the charge to help city-dwellers lower their food costs, eat local and turn their urban homes into homesteads. With the "moderate cost" of food for the average 19 to 50-year-old man in the U.S. at $295.90 per-month, according to the USDA, why wouldn't you want to feed yourself from the land where you're already paying to live? Plus, filling an urban space full of leafy vegetables, fruit trees, roosting chickens and buzzing bees is a lot more beautiful than covering one in concrete. More from CBS News .

Going out to dinner can be a pricey experience — a few dollars for an appetizer, another ten or more per entree, and maybe even dessert. The only good news for your wallet is that at most restaurants will give you a glass of tap water for free. That’s tradition, at least, and customers are used to it. But if you’re the restaurant — or if you’re a not-free beverage-maker — you’d prefer they choose otherwise. Which is how Coke and Olive Garden got into a little bit of hot water about a decade or so ago. The story begins in the late 1990s. The soft drink giant and the restaurant chain teamed up to create and implement something called “H2NO.” (Clever, right?) H2NO was an “education kit” for Olive Garden’s waitstaff training them in “beverage suggestive selling techniques” — in short, it taught waiters and waitresses how to get a customer off of the free tap water and into a more lucrative, paid-for drink choice. More from Now I Know .

SNAP ( Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , formerly Food Stamps) offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities. SNAP is the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net. The Food and Nutrition Service works with State agencies, nutrition educators, and neighborhood and faith-based organizations to ensure that those eligible for nutrition assistance can make informed decisions about applying for the program and can access benefits. FNS also works with State partners and the retail community to improve program administration and ensure program integrity. Apply online to accept SNAP benefits at your store or Farmers’ Market. It’s fast and secure. You can complete the online application in as little as 15 minutes. It’s so easy. By applying online, you can also check the real-time status of your application online using your USDA account. Applying to accept SNAP benefits at your store or...

Inspired by the front page story in today's Albany Times Union, Food ready to eat on a plate? It's taxable In New York State: Food Item is/// Tax Exempt if///Taxable if Cold cuts /// sliced and sold by weight ///arranged on food platter Pizza /// frozen, refrigerated, unheated ///heated Hot dog /// refrigerated (packaged) ///served on a bun or heated Fish /// sold unheated ///heated or served in a sandwich Bread /// sold by the loaf (whole or sliced) ///served with a bowl of soup Bananas /// sold whole, individually or by the bunch ///peeled or sliced as part of a fruit platter Bagel /// sold by quantity (whole or sliced) ///toasted, buttered, or with cream cheese Salad mix /// packaged in bag ///from a self-serve salad bar or prepared and arranged on a plate Ice cream /// sold in a container by weight (including hand-packed pints, quarts, etc.) ///made-to-order cone or sundae Macaroni salad /// packaged and sold by weight ///served with a sandwich, served in a tray as a side...

We’ ve blogged about Stephen Hall’s From Kitchen to Market a few times in the past ( Online resource for specialty food businesses , Bringing New Food Products to Market ) and it’s a great resource for guidance on marketing specialty food items. While I was in Chicago, I had the opportunity to attend a session with Mr. Hall. I won’t go into too much detail, but here are a few nuggets I thought were especially interesting: Do you have to supply nutrition information on every specialty food product? Not according to the rules of the FDA. But Mr. Hall suggested that although the government doesn ’t require the labeling, the consumer does. Today’s consumer wants to know what they are eating, and their food’s nutritional value. Looking for a commercial kitchen? The audience in this session had a couple of good suggestions. Try calling local churches or restaurants that don’t serve meals three times a day. Either way, they may be willing to give you use of their kitchen when they aren ’t ...

Tom Morley (from the Westchester SBDC) recently forwarded me an email that began like this: "Whole Foods Market, a national grocery chain with seven stores in New York, recently started a new program to provide low-interest, long-term loans to small producers around the country. We would very much like to let small producers of food products in New York know about the program." Part of this company's mission is that their produce be as fresh as possible, and make these loans available to farmers of "locally grown" produce (for reasons best explained here ). Of Whole Foods Market's seven locations in New York State , none are farther north than White Plains. However, they define "locally grown" as "produce that has traveled less than a day (7 or fewer hours) from the farm to our facility." Eligible products include agricultural crops, value-added food products, and other all-natural grocery items. This definition, then, makes most of the...

Two things we love around here: trends and new food & beverage products. Put 'em together in a lovely online journal? You get the Stagnito's New Products Online , a daily journal for product developers. Besides access to the print New Products Magazine , the site offers frequently updated news about new products, packaging and wellness trends. There's also a calendar for goings-on in the food and beverage industry and commentary on the state of the market (today's is about the importance of company behavior on consumer choices). Pleasant browsing. Good for searching. I like it.