The best way to survive New York City in the winter is to leave it now and then…so the past few months I’ve been on the food and beverage circuit touring Fancy Food in San Fran, Miami SOBE fest and last week the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, CA. Here are some brands that caught my eye in my one day tour of Expo West.

First, a few comments on a macro level: A few of the trends mentioned by joyful plate in the Fancy Food show 2011 trend recap still apply: Demonstrations are reaching a new height of BRAND THEATRE: brands typically put on their best dress for trade shows, but this year’s level of performance seems to go way beyond creatively, offering a whole new kind of star quality to the experience. HEALTHY INDULGENCE is alive and well: insightful brands are delivering doses of it -with healthy products offering gourmet taste and gourmet products gone fresh, local and organic. Brands are flirting with a NATURALLY CHIC tone, dialing up the emotion without sacrificing functional credibility. After all, food is fashion! And finally, some creative natural brands are bringing the outdoors in with GARDEN FRESH design-a lifestyle trend we’ve seen for years in restaurants, home decor and clothing.

BOOM CHICKA POP

This was love at first sight and bite-what a fun, fantastical name and package that is altogether NATURALLY CHIC. “The name BOOM CHICKA POP represents just what snacking should be—light, tasty without taking itself so seriously”. It is free of gluten, GMOs and preservatives and is made with just popcorn, sunflower oil and sea salt- and, it has only 35 calories per cup and is a good source of fiber. BOOM CHICKA POP will be available in June 2012 at leading grocery stores across the country. It can also be found online at:  BOOMCHICKAPOP.

GREEK THEATRE

Chobani‘s enormous success clearly gave them the confidence to show off their sense of BRAND THEATRE. Their tagline “nothing but good” absolutely applies to the Panko Coconut Scallops with Chobani Chutney I tasted in their experiential Chobani Kitchen. And, I fell madly for their backdrop messaging, ‘It’s crazy to love a yogurt this much” (Created by  Leo Burnett campaign : apparently it is just breaking in Australia and Canada).

CRAZY FOR COCONUTS

The industry has gone coo coo for coconuts…in water, frozen desserts, even baking sticks like kelapo. And no wonder, coconut’s taste profile is rich and sweet and a perfectly pure form of HEALTHY INDULGENCE.

The folks at Dang, San Francisco hear “Dang, That’s Good!” all the time when someone tastes their coconut chips. They start with the best coconuts from Thailand, slice out the nutritious Copra (dried Coconut meat) and toast them with a touch of sugar and salt. I’m saving mine to top my next red curry. And, check out this new beverage intro,  Coco Cafe (joint venture with Vita Coco): Fair trade certified, rich and delicious, Coco cafe provides natural hydration & natural energy. More on the deal here.

NATURALLY CHIC

The lovely ladies at MetroMint posed for this picture while I sampled their all natural, no sugar, no preservatives, no sweeteners and zero calorie water.  Everything about Metro mint branding is pure and simple and NATURALLY CHIC.

thinkThin Products made a big impression at  ExpoWest. Their website recap recreated the experience well: “along with impressive outdoor and indoor booths, thinkThin had 12 models walking around the convention center, posing statuesque in front of the booth and giving people thinkThin protein bars, the #1 weight management bar in the natural channel”.  Brava! THINK THIN for your sense of BRAND THEATRE and NATURALLY CHIC style and confidence.

TASTES LIKE……