Products on the Market
New Veggies Made Great Stuffed Cauliflower Bites feature a crispy cauliflower crust made with cauliflower, carrots, broccoli and spinach, plus alternative flours like chickpea and rice and are filled with a blend of authentic Italian veggies and cheese. Stuffed Cauliflower Bites are available to foodservice in two flavors—Margherita and Spinach Ricotta—to satisfy the growing demand for great-tasting, better-for-you appetizer, small plate and side dish options. Reminiscent of traditional pizza bites, Veggies Made Great Stuffed Cauliflower Bites align with the growing demand for comfort food with a twist. The crispy cauliflower crust and flavorful filling of cheese and veggies are sure to delight both kids and adults. Health conscious eaters will also appreciate the fact that the Stuffed Cauliflower Bites are made with simple, real ingredients, are gluten-free and are a good source of protein and fiber. Convenient and easy-to-serve, the Stuffed Cauliflower Bites can go straight from the freezer into the deep fryer, convection oven, high speed oven, microwave or air fryer with zero prep needed. Consider serving with a dipping sauce and side of fresh veggies to round out the dish. Stuffed Cauliflower Bites are shipped and stored frozen (18-month shelf life) and come in six-2 pound bags per case.
Upton’s Naturals, which makes quick-cooking, seitan meat substitutes for foodservice customers and industrial applications, recently teamed with Buona to make a Plant-Based Chicago Italian Beef & Gravy using their thinly sliced and seasoned seitan. Now sold as a heat-and-eat, frozen product at Whole Foods Market Midwest, Fresh Thyme and Jewel-Osco stores, the sandwich started as a permanent menu item at the family-owned restaurant group’s 26 franchise locations. Providing chefs, restaurants, and food manufacturers 100% vegan and versatile meat alternatives, Upton’s Naturals’ high-protein, low-fat (no oil!) offerings include everything from a beef frank that can be topped with fixings and seitan strips for sandwiches to chorizo for tacos, bacon for BLTs, and gyros for Mediterranean dishes. The products are also CRC Kosher Pareve, Certified Plant Based, and free of the cholesterol associated with meat.
Accolades
HUNGRY, the disruptive food tech marketplace that provides Corporate America with amazing food & event solutions from top local chefs and restaurants, has landed on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies for the second consecutive year. It's an incredible feat for a company focused on the corporate catering & events, especially given the last 2 ½ years with the COVID pandemic. This year, HUNGRY came in at No. 1,218 on the 5,000-company list, making it part of the top 25% percent. Winning companies will be recognized at the Inc. 5000 Conference and Gala, Oct. 19-21 in Phoenix. The prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data in order to recognize 5,000 of the country’s most booming private businesses. The global acknowledgement that comes with inclusion on the list gives businesses like HUNGRY the opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility to help drive sales and recruit talent.
Hot Off the Presses
As a novel approach to fostering growth through collaboration, Great Performances (GP), the highly acclaimed catering, events and hospitality company, and Eat Offbeat (EOB), the award-winning caterer that provides authentic meals prepared by refugees and minority immigrants who now call New York City home, today announced the establishment of a new business model. It is one that will assure each company maintains its distinct brand identity, while providing the framework for them to seamlessly blend their resources for mutual advantage. GP has assumed all of EOB’s catering-related operating costs and responsibilities, while incorporating its international culinary repertoire. This will enable GP to further broaden the cultural scope of its gastronomic offerings to catering and workplace dining clients, while affording EOB the opportunity to dramatically increase capacity and improve service levels. As part of the new arrangement, EOB’s current four chefs, including EOB Founder Manal Kahi, have joined GP’s kitchen team on a full-time basis. Their presence will mean the incorporation of their Senegalese, Sri Lankan, Venezuelan and Burmese home cooking traditions, their ingredients and techniques, into GP’s kitchen operation. In addition to lending their international expertise to GP’s menus, while continuing to cook for EOB clients, the chefs’ expertise will be tapped to introduce of an Eat Offbeat Station as an option for GP events. The culinary heritages its offerings will represent will expand as EOB recruits more chefs from different countries, an ability the new collaboration affords.
