Tasty Tidbits

• According to New American Dimensions, a Los Angeles-based firm that monitors ethnic trends in the U.S., there are more Chinese restaurants than McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King restaurants combined.

• As a sign of the times, agribusiness giant Cargill has announced it will shut down its hydrogenated oil production line at a Wichita, KS plant. The demand for the product has diminished greatly since the movement to reduce or eliminate trans fats came about. The process adds hydrogen molecules to vegetable oil producing semi-solids like shortening used in baking and other food processing tasks.

• Target has opened 23 new stores, bucking the retailer depression. Only four are general merchandise stores, while 17 have expanded food options and 2 are full-grocery SuperTargets. Target is trying to push its private label brands Archer Farms, Choxie, Market Pantry and Up & Up.

• Changes in packaging focusing on smaller sizes for convenience stores and “small footprint” operations bode for growth in the US meat & poultry packaging market according to a study by The report by The Freedonia Group entitled Meat, Poultry and Seafood Packaging which predicts it will reach $9bn by 2013.

• Predictions about the death of the Good Humor Man is perhaps premature, but entrepreneurs attracted to mobile ice cream sales by the low start-up costs and nearly non-existent job training have found the market off by 25% in some areas. Ice cream was long considered a necessary luxury and otherwise recession-proof, but that’s no longer the case.

• While the scotch market continues to age-out and decline in size, premium single-malt distiller The Macallan is releasing a new line of four varieties aimed at the global travel (i.e., gift) market. Ranging from the “value priced” Macallan Select Oak (three oak casks, including former sherry barrels) is priced at $53/liter up to The Macallan 1824 Limited Release (only the oldest sherry casks made from oak produced by the Tevasa cooperage in Jerez, Spain) at a whopping $2,000/700ml. And who says conspicuous consumption is so yesterday?

• The bags go up, the bags go down: PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay and other snack makers are rolling back the de facto price increases of last year when packages were shrunk while prices stayed the same. Now the trend is in reverse, and F-L is releasing Doritos, Cheetos and Fritos in 20% larger bags but maintaining the same pricing.

• Suzie Wong would be amused: General Mills is rolling out a line of Chinese frozen entrees under the new Wanchai Ferry brand (Wanchai is the district in Hong Kong where the movie character Suzie Wong lived, and a branch of the Star Ferry connects it with the mainland). Claiming cooks can plate a complete Chinese dinner for two in 14 minutes, General Mills is offering five flavors at an MSRP of $7.49. A coupon for the product can be downloaded at http://www.WanchaiFerry.com.

• Restaurants know more consumers are eating at home, but if anyone has any doubts, Allrecipes.com double its site visits in the past year, and will launch a similar site in Germany.

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