Garrett McBride: Hey, there. Welcome to Get the Scoop with Smirk’s Podcast, where bulk ingredient conversation happens. We’re sharing our knowledge and expertise as bulk ingredient importers, tapping into the latest trends we are seeing and commenting on what that means for natural food businesses as they approach ingredient purchasing, product development, and marketing. You’ll hear the latest market reports, ingredient specifications, and product applications from Smirk’s in-house experts, as well as origin stories from our growers and processors around the world. Listen in for the scoop on what’s happening with bulk ingredients.
Garrett McBride: Hey there, and welcome to our get the scoop with Smirk’s podcast episode 11. Today, we’ll be breaking down Expo West, exploring the various products and trends we saw as we cruised the show floor in Anaheim last month. In our product feature segment, we’ll dive into some of the ingredients that Smirk’s offers that track with some of the trends that we saw at Expo. And then in the 3rd segment, we’ll wrap things up with our market report. In case you’re newer to the industry and haven’t attended before, Natural Products Expo West is the largest natural and organic products trade show in the United States and it’s held every March in Anaheim, California. This year, there are over 3,000 exhibitors and more than 65,000 people in attendance. Smirk’s brought a huge team of 11 people and our group exhibited in the organic marketplace and in the organic section of Hall B. This gave our team a great opportunity to not only talk to people at our booth, but also to explore what’s new and innovative in the natural and organic product world by walking the show.
Garrett McBride: My esteemed colleagues, Jessica Warden and Zach Schwindt are here with me today to share their experiences and discuss what they saw this year at Expo West. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in. Welcome, Zach. What trends and new innovations did you encounter at Expo West this year?
Zach Schwindt: Hey, Garrett. I’m excited to chat with you and Jessica about Expo West. To start off, I noticed that regenerative organic products were much more widespread than last year. In the organic marketplace, nearly every 3rd booth was showcasing products that were labeled as regenerative organic certified. And RO certified products were sprinkled throughout other halls as well. There was everything from RO certified coffee, tea, chocolate, rice grains, peppers, kelp chips, meat, dried fruits, as well as some soap and hygiene products as well. Garrett, what are your thoughts on the RO certified trend?
Garrett McBride: I think your take is spot on. You know, I’ll tell you, it’s been just in the last 2 or 3 years that I really started seeing regenerative organic certified products at Expo West. I mean, prior to that, it was few and far between. This year, it’s as if the number of manufacturers and CPG brands offering the RO certified products increased dramatically. Recently, I read an article entitled Understanding Why Regenerative Agriculture is the Fastest Growing Green Theme. The Food Institute published this in February of 2024. And the gist of their article that’s based on Spin’s trend reports is that many consumers still see sustainability as an optional must have for organic brands as they’re skeptical of the greenwashing of the industry where unsubstantiated claims are widespread. But where sales of some sustainable product categories are down such as fair trade certified that dropped 26%, sales of certified regenerative organic products are up 39%.
Garrett McBride: RO certified defines regenerative organic agriculture as a collection of practices that focus on regenerating soil health and the full farm ecosystem. This includes farming practices like cover cropping, crop rotation, low to no till compost, and 0 use of persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Regenerative organic is believed to contribute to carbon sequestration and storage in the soil. That’s pretty cool. Some consumers believe that regenerative practices go a step further than the typical sustainability efforts, and therefore they see the value in spending their dollars on RO certified products. I also noticed a variety of products that were upcycled such as items made from coffee cherry pulp, peel on dried fruits, frozen banana treats made from irregularly shaped bananas, candy made from upcycled fruits, pretty cool stuff overall. They’re using a lot more of what traditionally would have been waste to make their finished goods. Okay, you’re up next. What caught your attention at expo?
Jessica Warden: Oh, a better question, would be what didn’t catch my attention at expo, Garrett. I was actually chatting with one of our fellow trading partners, and she was speaking about how her the inner magpie was just like, oh, ah, at everything because there was so much sparkle and color and all kinds of bright, vibrant brands. And I certainly thought that resonated with myself as well because I I found myself just stopping and looking at all the different things to take in. So, all that’s to say is there was a lot to take in at expo. Like you mentioned, with all of the different folks exhibiting, there is just, you know, it’s just a lot to take in. So, if I did have to call something out though, as far as trends go, I would say that, the multitasker in me is really jazzed about this, continuation of functional foods, where basically you’re eating it for sustenance and nutrients, but then there’s also a double whammy usually layered in there with some other type of ingredient. I noticed this trend last year, and, actually, I think we chatted about it on our last expo wrap podcast. But definitely saw that it’s alive and well this year.
It seems to even have reached maybe some new heights, where there’s some new ingredients being thrown in the mix, new products, and brands that are really, embracing this trend with consumers. So, there’s just something about when you’re walking down the aisles and you’re seeing all these new snack categories and everybody’s kind of bragging about gut health that got me kinda digging a little deeper, and I did a quick Google search before chatting with you guys. And, did you know a fun fact that, your gut creates 30 neurotransmitters and also is, like, responsible for 90% of the serotonin production in your system. So
Zach Schwindt: I didn’t know that.
Jessica Warden: I didn’t know that either. And so, I just thought I was like, oh, well, this kind of explains why brands like, you know, the snack bars, the chocolate makers, the beverage makers, they’re all just kinda gunning after that big gut health market share. So, we saw a lot of fermented items that represented that at the show. Grilled pickles. Did you know grilled pickles were a thing? Apparently, that’s the thing now.
Garrett McBride: Those are the 1 on the top five list of things that I saw at Expo. Fantastic.
Jessica Warden: I don’t even know if I walked past that booth, but I heard everybody talking about it. So, it was a big hit at the show. And then if you didn’t find the grilled pickles and you didn’t find the fermented gut health items, there were a lot of probiotic and prebiotic products that we were seeing around. Some were fermented with including different fermented nuts. Saw a lot of kimchi, even kimchi pancakes. So, again, really adding some flavor to your breakfast.
Zach Schwindt: Very innovative. Yeah. Let’s see that one.
Jessica Warden: The savory element, I suppose.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah.
Jessica Warden: And then there are also just other various snack foods and bars and chocolates. We saw some stuff that had a lot of added caffeine, maybe in not your drinkable type fashion like normal. And then a lot of things that we were looking at were adaptogens. One that has kind of been in the market, but, again, continue to see it is ashwagandha, where it’s just being added to different products that maybe wouldn’t traditionally have it. But folks believe that it helps reduce stress levels and aids the immune system, so it’s definitely taken on a life of its own in the in the natural food space.
Garrett McBride: And that’s a cool one because there’s actually been a lot of legitimate scientific studies and work around the benefits of the ashwagandha.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. Exactly.
Zach Schwindt: Ashwagandha and Maka have both I thought been pretty prevalent, you know, in that space. I actually saw some ashwagandha extract in a water product, and I thought that was a big trend this year at Expo West. There’s a lot of different water products, especially sparkling waters. It’s definitely not a show where you have to worry about where to satisfy your thirst. Take your pick of functional waters. I mean, I saw various ingredients being highlighted in probiotic sparkling waters. Some beverages were incorporating apple cider vinegar, which was thought also to help improve digestion and gut health. I noticed that electrolytes were big this year.
Some products were also incorporating coconut water or coconut water powder and other added alkaline. The electrolyte drink categories seem to be targeted towards different demographics, such towards women or maternity. You could also find quite a bit in the organic section as well on the waters, which I thought was cool.
Jessica Warden: Interesting.
Zach Schwindt: These brands appear to be responding to a need for healthier alternatives to like big name sport drinks like, you know, Gatorade or whatever. And they were offered in either ready to drink or powder format. There are also various alkaline water products. So that, and as I understand it, alkaline increases your pH levels. So, some people believe this is thought to help increase your energy and improve digestion. And I did find waters with adaptogens as well, Jessica.
Jessica Warden: Oh, neat. Yeah. I, think that my kids would probably appreciate me to be not so sassy and acidic probably. They need me to my alkaline levels, maybe they’ll find that. But we’re more on the drinking the dysfunctional water in our household. So Yeah. Sign me up for that.
Garrett McBride: Yeah.
Jessica Warden: Shifting gears, though. I noticed it real like, same when the drink kinda responding to the big name drinks where we see a lot of things with lower sugars, more natural sweeteners. We see that a lot with beverages, but now it’s, you know, in snacks often. And so, we’re seeing a lot more of a widespread look at the people staying away from cane sugar and going more towards coconut sugar, date sugar, maple sugar, coconut nectar, fruit powders, honey. And a lot of that is, I think, related to the fact that you can kinda label it a little bit more cleanly where you’re necessarily having an added sugar. It’s just a natural sweetener. And so, we’re definitely seeing those products and even maybe to a lesser extent than before, but certainly, stevia and monk fruit are still alive and well at the shows and, definitely trying to generate some attention there.
Garrett McBride: Yeah. Agreed. That alternative sweetener trend just continues to grow. A lot of reduced and zero sugar beverages, snacks, and everything in between. On a different note, I have to mention one of the coolest products I saw at the show. You know, we’re used to seeing tons of plant based everything, plant based nuggets, plant based meat analogs of every shape and form. I saw for the first time plant based bacon and it was seasoned shredded coconut instead of seasoned smoked pig. Jumped out.
It was just an amazing, great tasting alternative to, you know, a meat based bacon. And, yeah, I’m a bacon fan. I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference from a flavor standpoint.
Zach Schwindt: It was pretty cool.
Jessica Warden: That’s awesome. I think I’ve seen a similar product before, but, you know, to your point, you could kinda tell. You know, you could definitely you tell it was something mimicking. So it’s neat to see that the folks are just still continuing to do research and development and find these alternatives that are so closely mimicking the thing that they’re trying to emulate.
Garrett McBride: Yeah. The innovation in that space is definitely improving the, the experience of those products from a few years back when they first kind of emerged.
Jessica Warden: Sure.
Garrett McBride: Yeah. I never would have thought that the grilled pickles would have been tasty. They were, as we mentioned, amazing. And I don’t know if it was a flavor.
Zach Schwindt: Who would have thought about grilling a pickle? Who would have thought?
Garrett McBride: I don’t know if it was a grilling flavor.
Zach Schwindt: Spending my whole life doing, but
Garrett McBride: Yep. Just an outstanding thing.
Jessica Warden: I’ve deep fried pickles but never grilled them, so
Garrett McBride: Pickle in any form, but that was that was a great product. Yeah. What else caught your eye, Zach?
Zach Schwindt: I felt like protein rich products were still a big thing. I saw pasta with added protein, you know, vegan cheese puffs with protein, double protein oats. Another thing that stuck out to me as well were nostalgic flavors and those products that were kinda highlighting the old-fashioned flavors from their grandma’s kitchen.
Jessica Warden: Yeah.
Zach Schwindt: That kind of thing. Like I saw traditional style buttermilk biscuits, like with a twist, you know, they were gluten free made from almond flour, which was cool. I also saw some chocolate zucchini bread, a portable pocket style snack version of, peanut butter jelly. You know, there are some classic flavors like birthday cake, red velvet. Cookie dough is also, I thought, very relevant at this show.
Jessica Warden: Definitely.
Zach Schwindt: It seemed like that was in granola, protein, bars and shakes and all kinds of stuff. So, I thought nostalgic flavors extended into the freezer section as well. You know, there was some Neapolitan frozen, traditional ice cream made with oat milk and flavored with natural vanilla. So, I thought those were some of the some of the highlights that I saw.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. I definitely agree. One of my, daughter’s favorite things to say lately is, that’s my childhood, mom. That’s my childhood. And she just keeps referring to, like, the things that my mom made for her, and she’s only 13, and she’s already having, like, the understanding of what a nostalgic flavor is. And I think
Zach Schwindt: That’s cool.
Jessica Warden: As adults, we very much have that same thought of you come across something, you’re like, that was my whole childhood. So, it’s kinda fun to see when you look back at the at the things we were eating as kids and saw how terribly nutrient poor they were now that folks are making these innovations and turning something that we loved as a kid growing up and actually giving some nutrient density to it and making us feel a little bit better about consuming those things is kinda cool.
Zach Schwindt: Yep.
Jessica Warden: So, it lets us be, you know, healthier yet still indulgent and a lot more functional across the board. So if you if you kinda go back to, you know, us as adults wanting craving that nostalgic flavor, if you string it all together, it really seems like consumers are still looking for that healthier yet indulgent functional snacks and often nostalgic and classic snack reformulated to hit those nutritional targets is just what folks are really trying to find in their pantries and refrigerators and freezer sections. So next thing you know, consumers are feeling good and enjoying every, bit of their, you know, protein rich vegan cheese puffs. Even if it doesn’t give you the Cheeto fingers that you are craving, it’ll still hit those nostalgic, like, I need my Cheetos cravings. So, the other cool thing, I think, Garrett, you were one of the ones who pointed this one out to me, was there was innovation around pistachios, and there was this really cool pistachio oil and pistachio cream. And I think you came up from the basement areas kinda where it was located, and you were just like, everybody’s gotta go try this. And I have to say, I did try it, and I was just it was, like you said, one of the top five snacks I had.
Garrett McBride: Mhmm. Yeah. Vegan Pistachio Cream was at the top of my list. It’s outstanding.
Jessica Warden: And then there was one that I thought, it was barley milk. So, I thought that was a new plant a new and interesting plant-based milk. We’ve seen a lot of iterations of plant-based milks over the last couple years, but I felt like that one was one I haven’t, seen. And kind of in that same vein of the dairy section, as most of my coworkers know, I am a huge fan of butter. I would probably eat it on a spoon if allowed. And so, the snack lines that were basically the flavored butters, I think they’re getting closer to folks like me where I could just eat, you know, a spoon of the black garlic butter, the pesto butter, or the garlic and shallots. There’s truffle and miso and bruschetta flavor. So
Zach Schwindt: So good.
Jessica Warden: Sign me up for that section next year. That’s where I’ll be looking.
Zach Schwindt: Taking a lunch break?
Jessica Warden: Yeah. Exactly.
Garrett McBride: Yeah. Everything’s better with butter. Did you notice how companies continue to innovate with mushrooms? Some are calling it the shroom boom.
Jessica Warden: Uh-huh. Rhyming it always so.
Garrett McBride: Science is still a work in progress, but the the fungi fungi fungi are believed by some to help benefit mood and focus. So pretty cool potential benefits there. Now consumers can partake in shroom gummies, various beverages, ground coffee, you know, alongside the coffee creamers that are already available in your local grocery store. Lot of lot of great options and formats for the shroom market.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. Definitely. I couldn’t, help but notice, a lot of honey and bee products as well. So we talked a lot more about natural sweeteners, and it seems like honey is a very natural progression in this category. So there was a lot of product ideation around, honey and honey flavor. Aside from just standalone honey, there was honey being added to salmon jerky, incorporated into ice cream, added to marinades and snack bars. One is, example was it was upcycled with oats, and wildflower honey, which is basically an upscale version of the classic honey and oats cereal that many of us, you know, grew up eating.
Garrett McBride: Are those, like, free range bees, the wildflower honey?
Jessica Warden: Definitely free range bees. Yep. They I don’t know what to say back to that guy.
Garrett McBride: Calling that out for.
Jessica Warden: Zach, do you have a free range bee joke?
Zach Schwindt: I thought they were all free range, but
Jessica Warden: No. Some of them have little leashes, and their beekeepers take them out.
Zach Schwindt: We don’t just start asking for bee free slavery statements on our
Jessica Warden: Oh, definitely. Top ingredients. Yeah. Well, when we get those QA documents, we’ll be able to buy honey that was, you know, ready to drink water, and and some of them have been incorporated into kombucha. So and then just that trend that we’ve seen probably for the last couple of years is hot honey and hot honey flavor snacks. So it seems like that’s just all the rage. So that combo of honey and the sweet and the spicy, that’s definitely something that is in snack aisles pretty hot and heavy right now.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. I thought it was interesting to see how prevalent Honey was at the show as well.
Garrett McBride: Yeah. For an ingredient that’s been around for eons, it was very much more in the spotlight this year than any other year that I can
Zach Schwindt: All of a sudden trendy. Yeah. So, it’s interesting. Moving away from food and beverage, I saw a lot of eco-friendly laundry products. Thin soap sheets that you can stick in your washer are super lightweight and easier to ship them big containers of liquid detergent. Shampoo and conditioner bars continue to pick up steam as well. So, this trend of moving away from liquid form of shampoo and conditioner and even more laundry detergent to a more condensed, easy to ship form is on the rise.
Jessica Warden: I’ve never actually tried a shampoo and conditioner bar. Have you guys?
Zach Schwindt: Never.
Garrett McBride: No. But one of our previous podcast guests, Soap Creek. They confirmed what what we’re seeing. Apparently, the shampoo and the conditioner in bar form is one of the more popular items that they produce.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. So, I definitely after, you know, seeing this trend, I wanna learn more about the product because for me, I feel like traveling with a solid form of shampoo and conditioner would be super cool, not only just, like, for getting through security issues and whatever. But every time I travel, I have this fear that when I load up my liquid shampoo and conditioner, that it’s gonna somehow make its way out of its plastic baggy home and just ruin everything in my suitcase. And then by the time I get there, then I’ll have shampoo and conditioner all or
Zach Schwindt: for shampoo. Yeah.
Jessica Warden: So it’s one of my traveling fears. But, I put money on the fact that people who came up with these bars, they probably had this happen to them, and they’re like, there must be a better way.
Garrett McBride: Yeah. You know, this stuff comes from experience. It doesn’t just,
Jessica Warden: Exactly.
Garrett McBride: enter their dreams.
Jessica Warden: Necessity breeds invention always.
Garrett McBride: Absolutely. Well, I appreciate those insights. That was a great little recap of what we saw at expo. Overall, I’m giving this year’s expo a thumbs up. It was a whole lot of fun and a lot of cool new products that, it’s always neat to see what people are able to dream up and bring to market. You know, walking the show floor this year, I noticed that some of the exhibitor spaces were empty and heard that more people decided to walk the show this year rather than exhibit. Regardless of that, I thought Expo West remained a very vibrant show and a super worthwhile experience, you know, at least for our team, you know, echoed by those that we spoke with and the industry friends and competitors and everybody else. All the buzz was that after the pandemic show shut down, we experienced a spike of visitors and exhibitors and now it seems to have dropped a bit and leveled off.
Garrett McBride: But I did hear that there were still like 800 new exhibitors this year. So, it’s still a place that new companies and brands are showcasing their product. And there’s a lot of value there for all of us. The challenge, of course, is always the hefty cost to exhibit. It’s not cheap, but very worthwhile. We found that some brands were leveraging the other opportunities at Expo West. Between the wall-to-wall people and the organic marketplace to the brands that were partnering with their co packers and sharing booths, there are some creative ways to take advantage of the big buyer audience without completely breaking the bank. Different options out there and people getting creative with their expenditures around this event.
Super smart that the Southern California chapter of the IFT
Jessica Warden: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Garrett McBride: Anaheim IFT show to the day before Expo West rather than the same day that Expo West made show opens. And it was held within a mile of the convention center, so it was super accessible. Smirk’s is exhibiting, and that place was just packed wall to wall with the manufacturer.
Zach Schwindt: Very valuable. Huge for the children.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. I definitely agree. And I think as long as we have to do, like, the sidewalk shimmy while you’re trying to go through the North Pole and, like, even the organic marketplace, I attempted to start my rounds one time, and I just had to retreat out of pure, like, nope. I’m not doing that. So I went back instead of the booth because it is just so so busy, so packed. And then even with the first two days of the traditional show opening and we were in hall b, our booth was just hopping. And it was just awesome because we had so many great conversations with the folks that we work with already. We had new people who stopped in by our booth with a lot of really just interesting innovation projects.
Jessica Warden: I think that’s one thing that we’re seeing a little bit more now. It was kind of there for a little while. Innovation, it seemed like it took maybe a back seat to some of the other things. And I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like just in our day to day, I’m seeing more in that. And then at the show, it seemed like it was kind of reinforced there.
Zach Schwindt: Mhmm.
Jessica Warden: And since we’re all about, you know, helping companies with their new projects, it’s exciting for Smirk’s. We’re certainly there to sell ingredients, but we’re also there just to help sell creative solutions. So, we love it when people bring us those new ideas and ask for, like, hey. Is this possible? And we can do different bench top work, and we can kinda see what’s the new trend before it’s even hitting the show. And I think we’re pretty well suited to help with that. But, yeah, it’s definitely still awesome to see those everyday ingredient needs, for the existing items. And if we end up being someone’s main supply chain or being a secondary supply chain just to ensure redundancy, you know, that’s what we’re all about. So, we also hear questions like, hey.
Do you know a good pack co packer who can do x y z? And that’s what’s kinda cool about the show is we have those partners there, and sometimes we can put people together right there on the spot. And, yeah, a lot of great partners walking away from the show being like, man, that was that was awesome. That was a great show. I got a lot done, and it could’ve just been because of some of the connections that we helped put together. So even for that alone, expo’s such a great time, and I really enjoy getting to be a part of that piece of it.
Garrett McBride: Well, super cool that we can put people together face to face
Jessica Warden: Yeah. At that
Garrett McBride: moment, you know, instead of through Zoom calls and all. You also see that that innovation is back being prioritized after the survival mode of the last few years. People are coming back out of their shells and getting creative again. It’s gonna be a lot of fun moving forward.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. For sure.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. And I feel like the momentum has kept since the show. I don’t know if you guys feel the same way, but it feels like it’s been very busy. Totally. You know, we’re still having this we’re, you know, continuing the conversations that we started to have with the people who we met at the show. And that’s the whole goal. To go there and develop these relationships and to, in effect, be the company that can solve the problem that they’re looking for.
Jessica Warden: Put names to faces, that kind of thing. Right.
Zach Schwindt: Meet the people who you speak with on a weekly basis, but you don’t necessarily see them every day, you know? So, yeah, just being there to help, you know, even if we are in a position to offer a service or an ingredient, we love to connect people to a friend in the industry who can help or, you know, at the end of the day, it’s rewarding to be just a resource for people, whatever that looks like. So Yeah.
Garrett McBride: It feels good to help.
Zach Schwindt: I encourage people. Yeah. I encourage people to reach out to Smirk’s even if you just wanna pick our brains or pitch a project to us or let us know what you’re working on. You can always call us or email us at whatsnew@smirks.com.
Jessica Warden: Yeah, definitely.
Garrett McBride: Very cool. That was a ton of fun. I appreciate you both joining today. That was a good conversation. And it’s fun to recap these things because it was such an overload of products and concepts and innovation and just cool stuff all around. So neat to download in this sort of a forum. We’re not quite done here. In our next product feature segment, we’re going to explore the ingredients found on various Expo West product ingredient decks.
Garrett McBride: In particular, we’re going to explore the category of gluten free baked goods. So stay tuned for more content. Thanks, guys.
Product Feature
Garrett McBride: Welcome to the Get the Scoop with Smirk’s podcast product features segment, highlighting ingredients from Expo West 2024. This year, we continue to see innovative products within the gluten free baked goods category, both sweet and savory items. Jessica and Zach are back with me, and we’re going to highlight some of the specific items on gluten free baked good ingredient decks from Expo West that we offer here at Smirk’s. Jessica, you wanna kick it off?
Jessica Warden: Absolutely. Alternate flours were all over the ingredient decks at expo, and I think we see that at a lot of the shows that we go to that lends well to the customer base we work with. So we break them down a lot of times into customers that are nut based gluten free flours, that are looking for seed based, that are looking just for complete alternatives that are more for the binding agents and and that kind of thing. So or maybe a blend of all 3. There’s chewy something for everything in the allergen friendly bakery arena. Let’s take baked crackers as an example. This is a huge category that is sometimes overlooked because I feel like crackers are just such a everybody’s they’ve been around the block a time or 2, but it seems like there’s some really cool innovation happening with crackers, especially because of these alternative flours. So, it maybe was a snack that people couldn’t traditionally enjoy, and and now they can.
Jessica Warden: So there was a lot of companies at expo that were using single or combination of ingredients. Like organic banana flour is actually a really interesting one that we’ve seen pop up. And buckwheat flour, I had this cracker that was like buckwheat flour mixed with some cranberries, and, I ate it, honestly expecting it to not taste great. And, it was one of my favorite snacks, actually. So I am now gonna go out of my way to be a consumer of such, cracker now. So and then head flour, cassava flour, arrowroot powder. We often see potato starch and rice flour. And then, of course, gluten free oats and oat flour are widely used as well.
Jessica Warden: I don’t know. Do you guys have any cracker insights from the show? Do you guys see anything that you thought?
Garrett McBride: I saw what you did where, generally, I expected them to taste.
Jessica Warden: 1 at a time, guys. 1 at a time.
Garrett McBride: I agree with you. I expected these crackers, you know, most of these exotic blends of gluten free ingredients to taste not so great.
Jessica Warden: Cardboard. I think cardboard is the word.
Garrett McBride: But they’ve done a fantastic job of making the product taste fantastic using these alternative flours. So it’s the industry’s come a long way. The category’s come a long way.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. Definitely. Zach, you were saying?
Zach Schwindt: I thought seeds were very involved with flour or, seed flours were very common in crackers that I saw. So
Jessica Warden: Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Well, and the cool thing about the trends that we’re seeing is Smirk’s is really aligned with a lot of these items already. We are already importing them. We’re already working with domestic processors on them. We have a lot of great milling partners. We can do both organic and conventional.
Jessica Warden: We do a lot with chickpea flour, almond flour, cashew flour, macadamia nut flour, milled sunflower. We have a really cool, like, nitro milled option. We actually had a podcast already once with our partners that make that. Milled flax, milled chia. And what’s cool about some of these flours is you can actually you know, to Zach’s point before about the protein, you know, heavy or protein dense options is some of these are whole milled, so it’s the entire seed or entire, you know, whatever ingredient is milled. And other times, it’s actually oils pressed out for other applications, and then they take that cake that’s left over and they further process it. And so, it’s a flour consistency, but it’s super high in protein. So that one of our strong suits is finding out what a customer actually needs for their ingredient.
And so whether it’s singly or in combination or they’re looking for gluten free cookies, cakes, muffins, snack bars, even breads, pizza doughs, we really have a lot of ingredients that can help out with those things.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. And I think the allergen friendly world is very diverse. So, you know, that means some baked goods steer clear of nuts, but embrace the vast world of seeds, for example. And seeds are a mainstay ingredient used, you know, in breads, cakes, cookies, snack bars, muffins, and of course, granolas. Smirk’s offers a wide range of organic and non GMO seeds, including chia seeds, sesame, pumpkin, flax, sunflower, and poppy seeds. We also have condensed
Jessica Warden: Actually interrupt you there too, Zach, and say that now that Sesame has been introduced as an allergen, we have processing facilities that we’ve kinda gone out of our way to where we can still service that ingredient and help with that ingredient, but also still be mindful of that allergen and be able to get some of these other seeds from a processing line and a processing facility that are sesame free or have these really strict allergen protocols in place. So, it’s been a new thing as of, you know, 2023 is kind of we’ve seen all that change come, and Smirk’s is pretty well versed and prepared for that.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. And I mean, if you’re buying chia seeds and you need your product to be allergen free, you wanna make sure there’s sesame not being processed in the same facility.
Garrett McBride: Yep, we can do that.
Zach Schwindt: And we offer both raw and ready to eat seeds. And the ready to eat is are seeds that have already went through like a sterilization process. So, for example, if your process includes baking or roasting, you don’t necessarily need ready to eat, but let’s say you have a salad and you’re putting some sunflower seeds on the top. That would be an example of wanting a ready to eat product. If you’re looking for seed butters, Smirk’s is also very strong in seed butters as well. We also have pumpkin butter and sunflower butter as well, so.
Jessica Warden: Yeah. Zach, to your point, we also see a lot of organic and conventional non-GMO nut and nut butters used in baked goods pretty widely as well. So, Smirk’s also has that very well lined up in our supply chains. Our nut and nut butter offerings usually include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanut, pecan, macadamias, pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts, really just a huge variety of it. And just like the seeds, we have processors that can offer something that’s gone through, you know, a validated kill step or something that is raw. Again, depending on the application, you know, we’ll look to give our customers the cost savings where they don’t need an RT because they already have that built into their own supply chain processes, or we’re able to help steer them in the direction of, here’s this RTE solution that doesn’t have to be handled multiple times because it’s already been taken care of at origin. And so, if you aren’t sure about what kind of application you need, what kind of size of item you need, A lot of times, you can get a lower grade for butter applications and save some money. So, our team is pretty well versed.
And if you kind of give us an idea of what you’re working on, we can help you figure out the best fit from that standpoint.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. And dried fruits as well. You know, some that’s added to a variety of baked goods, muffins, cookies, granolas.
Jessica Warden: For sure.
Zach Schwindt: So, adding organic and conventional non GMO dried fruits creates both textural gives a textural component, and also gives, you know, different flavors.
Jessica Warden: Yeah.
Zach Schwindt: We offer, you know, your, your staple dried fruits for your baking projects, such as cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and raisins. We also work with a lot of imported tropical fruits. Yeah. Such as, golden berries, goji berries, pineapple, mango. We also work with apples. Almost any fruit that you’d be looking for, we can source. So, and those both come in dried formats and fruit powders as well.
Jessica Warden: Well, I’ll also throw out there kind of tied in with the fruits that we can import. We sometimes have customers who are looking for very origin the origin specific. Right? They want it from a non-Chinese origin or they specifically want it from a Chinese origin, and so we’re very good at being able to bring in those types of items from multiple supply chains. So, if it’s a origin that you’re looking for or a price point you’re looking for, we can usually kind of approach it from a couple different ways. And then kind of in that same vein of the fruit, going back to the natural sweeteners that we discussed, they’re definitely a hot topic right now. We see a lot of baked goods brands that are steering away from cane sugar. Smirk’s can offer full lineup of alternative sweeteners. Our strongest by far is coconut sugar and coconut nectar.
Jessica Warden: But there are certainly other categories that we can help with, like date paste and date powder and sugar that as well as maple sugar, maple syrup, and even agave. And, again, a lot of those you can get in both formats, whether it’s the liquid or the powdered format. And so, basically, we just worked with a lot of brands that are still wanting to introduce that level of sweetness to their products, but they’re still glycemically friendly. I don’t know if glycemically is a word, but
Zach Schwindt: It’s now.
Jessica Warden: If it’s not, it is today. It is now. So, what do you think about that, Zach?
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. No. I completely agree. You know, I think many baked goods are not complete without coconut as well.
Jessica Warden: I happen to know a company that imports a lot of coconut. Do you, Zach?
Zach Schwindt: I think so.
Garrett McBride: Well, I’ve heard of these guys. Yeah.
Zach Schwindt: Yeah. So many made goods are not complete without coconut. You know, we mentioned coconut oil, but desiccated coconut is also big, you know, in bakery form. Smirk’s offers a full range of coconut specs to choose from, including chips, medium, macaroon. We offer liquid versions like coconut milk, coconut cream.
Jessica Warden: Right.
Zach Schwindt: So, yeah, let us know what your coconut needs are. We’re very into the world of coconut, so
Garrett McBride: Yep. That’s an important one. Outstanding. Well, that wraps up our product feature for our special Expo West 2024 episode. If you happen to be working on a new or existing project involving gluten free baking, please feel free to reach out to Smirk’s for product information, spec sheets, pricing, samples. Shout at us anytime using the whatsnew@smirks.com email. Thanks again for listening. Appreciate you.
Garrett McBride: And stay tuned for our market report in the next segment. You don’t wanna miss out on the latest updates.
April Market Report
Donny Edson: Get the scoop with Smirk’s April market update. There’s a lot going on right now, so we were gonna cover several things today. I’m gonna start by just talking a little bit about international freight. Still, we have several issues to take into account right now. The Red Sea is still causing a lot of delays and shipment delays, particularly to the East Coast. We’re having a hard time getting bookings out of several countries as well right now. If we have contracted rates with carriers, we might be at the end of the contract, or other people might be at the end of the contract, and the carriers are trying to fill the rest of their contracts that they have as we’re getting ready to enter into the new contract season. So that’s causing delays as well.
Donny Edson: We’re also seeing slowdowns in the ports. The East Coast port slowed down a little bit because of what happened with Baltimore with the ship hitting the bridge there and just causing more delays on the East Coast as well. So, plan, planning ahead right now. Nothing is certain in the international freight. On a good note, we did sign our new contracts, which begin in May with ocean carriers. We saw minimal price increases from last year, which is a big relief considering what happened the last few months when prices started to shoot up. However, there’s still not enough international demand for shipments to really keep the prices super high. So that was a relief to see that the rates weren’t that much higher than they were last year.
Donny Edson: So that’s good. One other thing to take into account right now that’s causing delays is the new rules with shipment of organic items and the need of the NOP import certificate which has to be filed with customs before you can pick your product from inside of the port. This went into effect in the middle of March, a lot of people are still trying to navigate it. A lot of people are having issues getting the NOP certificates from their certifying bodies.
Donny Edson: We’re having a lot of issues, especially around Ramadan right now too with getting these, and that’s causing our containers to sit in the port until we get the documentation to be able to clear customs with it because it’s now required by the law that you have the NOP import certificate on anything organic coming into the country. So that’s also causing some issues.
Donny Edson: So on to what’s happening around the US right now, all these delays in shipments in a combination with people been running tighter inventories and a combination with everybody not really sure how to forecast right now, they’re making inventories get really tight in the US. Several items are hard to get, and the spot market has picked up considerably. Importers are working with other importers a lot right now to try to keep stuff in stock. We’re taking a lot of phone calls for items right now. We don’t anticipate that slowing down at all. So overall, things are getting tighter, so do plan ahead and really work with your suppliers to have a good plan in place.
Donny Edson: So, jumping into the items right now that we’re following very closely. Everyone’s been talking about El Nino for over a year now. Really, we’re seeing the effect globally with El Nino, whether you’re watching the coconut market, other items right now. Really, what we thought was gonna happen last year is really happening right now. So, things are getting really hard, and prices are going up. Inventories are getting tight. So, the first one we talk about is coconut. Desiccated coconut’s gonna be an issue, which is strange to think about considering how much was available a few months ago in the US.
Donny Edson: Packers around the globe are booked into August, particularly in the Philippines are booked into August, and they’re already having delays. Some of them are running their factories less days a week because they can’t get the raw material to process the coconut. So, we’re seeing delays anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks right now, both out of the Philippines and out of Indonesia. Interestingly enough, another thing that’s adding to this is China’s demand for coconut milk. They really like coconut milk in China, and so they’re doing anything they can to keep coconut milk. One supplier in Indonesia told us that one day, a bunch of ships showed up from China, and they went to the farmers, bought all the coconuts for cash from the farmers, took all the raw supply, filled the ships up, sailed back to China, which immediately drove the price up for the coconut and took all the raw material, which is starting to add to the delays and the increases in prices. That’s just one example from one origin of something that’s happening. We’re seeing prices increase anywhere from 40 to 70% depending on the origin and depending on the grade.
Donny Edson: If you’re not covered through the end of the year on coconut, you should get covered immediately. With the packers being booked into August, that really means that if you’re not covered, you need to be on those bookings into August right now to have inventory to come to take care of you in the Q4 this year. Another issue is, coconut sugar. As we’re preparing to come out of Ramadan, packers in Indonesia are very concerned about the lack of raw materials that are available to process. Typically, they like to try to stock up a little bit. So, when they come out of Ramadan, they ask some stuff to process, and they haven’t been able to get any raw material. Most packers are offering new shipments only in June July forward with limited availability. Stocks in the USA are getting very tight, and the spot market is getting tight as well.
Donny Edson: We’re getting increased daily for truckloads of coconut sugar, and it’s getting tighter and tighter. So, we expect the shortages to happen and carry on throughout the summertime until the stuff they start to ship in June July finds its way to the US. Coconut oil, prices have risen anywhere from 20 to 30% depending on if it’s VCO or RBD coconut oil. The demand in the USA has been very high as many people have delayed shipments both from the issues from the packers, but also the delays from the Red Sea. So, the bottlers are trying to get anything they can to keep the retail shelves full. We don’t anticipate the coconut oil price to correct itself for quite some time. Everything in coconut seems that it’s gonna remain firm and tight right now. So please plan ahead, get yourself covered on that.
Donny Edson: Another item we’ve been watching very closely is organic cashews. I’m speaking in regards to organic more than I am about conventional, but there has been a lot of demand for cashews. Organic cashews are quickly firming up as packers in Vietnam have little inventory to process, and new crop is arriving very slow to the plants. In the last week, we’ve seen some packers come off the market for whole grades as they wanna wait and see what happens. There are concerns of a short crop. No one really knows for sure if when the new crop shipments do arrive, the market might settle itself and correct a little bit. But we can tell you that 2 of the suppliers we work with are fully booked this year on their broken grades and whole grades already. So, we do expect this market to stay firm and to get tight.
Donny Edson: Another one that’s firmed up, again, very ironic because last year, we were talking about what great deals there were on macadamia nuts. But China continues to buy any in shell they can get, and this is adding pressure to the market daily. It’s been really hard to get firm offers and have them held for a period of time from any origin on the macadamia nuts, and a lot of the suppliers are booked way out right now. We saw price increases of 10% in the last week on style ones. There is little inventory in the market in the US right now as well. So, we anticipate macadamia nuts to remain very firm. Another one everyone’s talking about is Brazil nuts. Everyone’s anxious for the new crop to arrive.
Donny Edson: There’s a lot of people asking for these, especially on the organic side, and this is adding a lot of noise in the market. But rest assured, new crop will start sailing in the coming weeks, and this should help settle down all the increase that people are seeing on these. However, prices are much higher this year than they were last year. And it could remain at these levels for quite a while until the markets filled up. We have harvest happening in India for a couple items right now. 1st, we’ll speak about is amaranth because that’s an item we ran out of last year from India. They ran out of organic amaranth to ship. The new crop was very good, and it’s just starting to ship out of India.
Donny Edson: Prices have dropped anywhere from 20 to 25% from where they were at, and this is very welcome news in the US. We’ll see the new crop, Amaranth, starting to arrive in the US probably sometime around June. But prices should be a little bit more stable this year. India will be less expensive than the South American stuff is, and things should be more a little bit more normal than amaranth. It’s just gonna be probably closer to the Q3 when this happens. So also, organic flax. A lot of the packers ran out of product to ship from India and, maybe overcommitted themselves as well. So, they’ve been anxiously awaiting for the new crop of organic flax to come in.
Donny Edson: Prices are pretty stable right now, but a lot of them said the crop is smaller, and they do anticipate the prices to increase throughout the summertime. So that would be a good one to work with your suppliers on to make sure you’re getting covered for the organic flax if you’re using the stuff out of India. We can tell you that in Canada right now, North America, some packers are out of organic flax. They’re out of organic golden flax as well, and some of them are 6 to 8 weeks out on production time as well. Smirk’s does have organic golden flax arriving in May from Turkey. So, if you do need some of that, let us know. Next item is chia. So, most of the suppliers in South America are sold out of the 2023 crop, and there’s very little material left in South America that’s not committed or shipping right now.
Donny Edson: So, we’re working to handle a planting happening in March in South America and in Paraguay. However, it was very, very hot, and a lot of the people down there and farmers have said they had to replant the chia afterwards. And then it did rain, which helps a little bit, but everybody’s concerned about how hot it still is down there. The replanting really means that the crop could be late. And the risk that comes with that is that you do increase the risk of hitting a frost. So, we need to just kinda watch and see what happens. This was the same topic last year, almost identical to last year, and everything worked out just fine, and they had a great crop. I think one other difference right now compared to the last couple years in chia is there is a large stock of chia available in the US right now.
Donny Edson: A lot of importers have extra inventory, including Smirk’s, to kinda weather the storm. So, there’s not gonna be this huge surge of pressure come harvest time that we need to ship stuff to get stuff into stock. It should be a little bit smoother, and that should keep the market a little bit more stable as long as mother nature doesn’t have any influences on the crop down there. The last item I really want to talk about today is pumpkin seeds out of China. So, the Shine Skin pumpkin seeds, the conventional crop, there’s, there was a surge in demand, and it’s quieted down quite a bit in China and globally, for that matter. So, and there seems to be enough supply available that we shouldn’t see any issues. There are talks that the crop could be very big this year. We’re just getting into the planting season.
Donny Edson: So, we’ll have more updates on our next market update with what we’re hearing about what’s actually being planted there. But all in all, the market softened a little bit on the conventional side, so we’re not super worried about the conventional side. Organics, however, that is one that we are watching very closely. The crop was smaller, and it’s firming up weekly, really, from China right now. Some packers are completely sold out of the organic a grade, and some packers have told us that they only have a few containers left of organic double a. So, it’s highly recommended to cover yourself through December with your suppliers to just ensure that you have enough product until the new crop arrives. Generally, the new crop starts being processed sometime in October. Add on 6 to 8 weeks to get in, and that’s it’s usually January when you start to see the new crop come into the country.
Donny Edson: So do get yourself covered on your needs through December right now on the organic side. On the conventional side, maybe not quite as necessary to cover that far out because the price has been stable for the last couple weeks on that. So, thanks for listening to our April market update. If you have any questions, hit us up at whatsnew@smirks.com
Garrett McBride: So that’s it for this episode of Get the Scoop with Smirk’s podcast, where we bring you the latest market reports, insights into bulk ingredients and their origins, as well as in-depth product information. So, if you have any questions, feedback, or just want a sample to taste for yourself, visit the smirks.com website or email us at whatsnew@smirks.com. Never miss a future episode. Be sure to hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to your podcasts. Thanks so much for tuning in.