Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Calm before the storm...let's get busy


It is that time, the calm before the storm of winter sales...meaning the perfect time for you and I to:
  1. finalize your winter tea offerings, finish formulation, and place orders ~ for inspiration see attached Holiday Tea offerings from last winter (valid for this year too!)
  2. get your winter orders in for your high volume items, negotiate pricing on volume (helping us project and negotiate best pricing)
  3. talk about what is in stock now - that usually runs out! SUCH AS:  Lemon grass tbc $2/lb, and Organic Lemon Grass c/s and tbc each $3/lb. Chamomile - organic tbc $4.50, Org whole $6.50, conventional whole $5.50, tbc $3.  Rosehips Org tbc $5.70.   Gunpowder - Org. 9374 $3.50 (C10139), C10141 Ex Spl 3505 Gunpowder $6.90, and conventional 3505 $3.  
  4. don't forget cardamom is down this year - but tea pricing is going up - so if you can place orders now, I would advise you to STOCK UP NOW or secure pricing for the next month beofre it rises - see attached article from World Tea News   
  5. talk about some Kenyan teas - I will send you info very soon on some that are overstocked here...I will send you cupping notes and ideas on how you can use them to your advantage at a GREAT price to move it out from us to you at a fabulous value 
  6. it is time to start thinking and planning on next years teas, especially in iced teas
  7. have you seen our new website and registered to view pricing?  www.qtradeteas.com, PLEASE NOTE - you can not order on here yet, so please ignore anything on this function (for now!), you can not check your account on here yet either! 
  8. lastly - check out my blog for more interesting info!  http://desntea.blogspot.com/,such as this interesting article on "The State of the Industry" From Bev Industry ...  http://desntea.blogspot.com/2012/07/2012-state-of-industry-tea-and-ready-to.html

FDA and Certified Organic Info


Who Needs To Be Certified?

Most farms and businesses that grow, handle, or
process organic products must be certified, including:
- Farms that sell more than $5,000 in organic
products per year (gross sales).
- Handlers that sell more than $5,000 of organic
processed food, including handlers that place
bulk products into smaller packages or that
repackage/relabel products.
- Processors that sell more than $5,000 of organic
processed products, unless all products contain
less than 70 percent organic ingredients or only
identify the organic ingredients in the ingredient
statement.
- Vendors that handle (e.g. package) and sell
products online (but not in stores) or otherwise
deliver organic products.

Overall, if you make a product and want to claim that
it or its ingredients are organic, your final product
probably also needs to be certified. Please review the
examples and exemptions below.
If you wish to make any organic claim on the granola’s
principal display panel (front of the package), yes, you
must be certified. Organic claims include any use of the
word “organic” (alone or referring to specific organic
ingredients) or the USDA organic seal. Only products
meeting all requirements for the “organic” or the “100
percent organic” labeling categories may use the USDA
organic seal anywhere on the package.

If you are only identifying specific
organic ingredients in the ingredient statement
and aren’t making an organic claim elsewhere, review
the  “exempt handling operations” section on next page.
If you are a retail food establishment, review the
“retail food establishments” section on next page.
Learn more about requirements for each labeling
category at www.ams.usda.gov/NOPOrganicLabeling.
If you are only selling a pre-packaged product, you
don’t need to be certified. The company that does the
final packaging for your product must be certified and
get any organic product label approved prior to sale.


Who Doesn’t Need to Be Certified?

The following operations do not need to be certified:
- Small organic farms and businesses (gross
agricultural income from organic sales does
not exceed $5,000 per year)
- Some brokers, distributors, and traders (see
below)
- Retail food establishments.
- Exempt handling operations (see below).
Although certification is not required for these “exempt”
or “excluded” operations, they may pursue voluntary
organic certification. Exempt and excluded operations
still need to comply with specific sections of the USDA
organic regulations (please see other side).

National Organic Program | Agricultural Marketing Service | U.S. Department of Agriculture              June 2012

Do I Need To Be Certified Organic?

I combine multiple certified
organic ingredients to make organic
granola. Do I need to be certified?
Another company packages my
product. They have an organic certificate.
Do I also have to be certified?Small Organic Farms and Businesses
If your farm or business’ gross agricultural income from
organic sales is $5,000 or less per year, it is considered
an “exempt” operation. This means you don’t need to
be certified to sell, label, or represent your products
as organic. You also do not need to develop a written
organic system plan. However, you must follow all
other requirements in the USDA organic regulations.
Specifically, you must:
- Maintain records for at least three years.
- Not use the USDA organic seal on your products
or refer to them as certified organic. If you would
like to use the USDA organic seal, pursue organic
certification.
- Meet other USDA organic labeling requirements.
- Not sell your products as ingredients for use in
someone else’s certified organic product.
- Register with the California Department of Food
and Agriculture if your farm is in California.

Brokers, Distributors, and Traders Who
Handle Products in Closed Containers

If your operation only sells, transports, stores, receives,
or acquires  products that are received in and remain
in a container without being processed*, the operation
does not need to be certified. An example of such
an “excluded” operation would be one that handles
boxed organic cereal. However, you must prevent
commingling with non-organic products and contact
with prohibited substances.

If your operation handles bulk, unpackaged organic
products (such as cattle, milk, or grain), you need to be
certified or be included under an organic producer or
handler’s organic system plan.
Retail Food Establishments

If your operation is a retail food establishment, such
as a grocery store, it does not need to be certified. You
may sell certified organic products that bear the USDA
organic seal, as long as you don’t process* them.

If your retail food establishment processes* certified
organic products on its premises, the USDA organic
regulations state that you must:
- Prevent commingling with non-organic products
and contact with prohibited substances.
- Not use the USDA organic seal or refer to
processed products as certified organic. If you
would like to use the USDA organic seal, obtain
organic certification.
- Meet other USDA organic labeling requirements.
Exempt Handling Operations
If your handling operation:
- Only handles products that contain less than 70
percent organic ingredients (excluding salt and
water) or
- Only identifies organic ingredients on the
product’s information panel,
It does not need to be certified. However, the USDA
organic regulations state that you must:
- Prevent commingling with non-organic products
and contact with prohibited substances.
- Meet the USDA organic labeling requirements.
- Maintain records for at least three years that
prove that the quantity of organic products sold
were organically produced and handled.

Learn more: www.ams.usda.gov/NOP

QSR Magazine...No Fizz, No Problem


No Fizz, No Problem


Many customers like the option of noncarbonated cold beverages.
Noncarbonated beverages provide menu opportunities for fast food restaurants.
There’s nothing quite as revitalizing as a cold drink on a hot summer afternoon. These days, however, restaurant guests are looking for more than just refreshment from their cold beverages. They are seeking fewer calories, healthful options, or, perhaps, a jolt of energy.
Cold beverages, particularly carbonated ones, have been part and parcel of quick-service restaurants from the time the first units opened. Coca-Cola, for instance, has been served at White Castle since 1921, the year the business began.
Fizzy drinks, as a group, are still the most popular beverage option at limited-service restaurants, but noncarbonated drinks are picking up steam. Iced teas and coffees, various waters, lemonade, and juices have been growing quickly.
“There is absolutely more consumer interest in a wider array of beverages, and restaurant operators have realized that,” says Maeve Webster, research director at Datassential, a food industry market research firm and consultant with offices in Chicago and Los Angeles.
This is partly an aspect of the overall customization bent, which focuses on giving diners more options to meet their wants and needs.
“The marketplace is splintering,” says Gary Hemphill, senior vice president of information services at Beverage Marketing Corp. (BMC), a New York–based research and consulting firm. “People want more variety now and that means more beverage choices.”
This trend has been developing for the past few decades, but has become increasingly notable in recent years. According to BMC statistics, carbonated drink volume has declined seven consecutive years as consumers gravitate to noncarbonated choices.
“These are often items that have a healthier image, whether or not they really are, including teas, bottled waters, and functional products like energy drinks,” Hemphill says.
The BMC annual report for 2011 found that major carbonated brands made up half of the top 10 liquid refreshment beverages and bottled waters took three more spots. The other two were PepsiCo’s Gatorade energy drink and Tropicana fruit brands.
Energy drinks, which appeal to young males, were the fastest-growing beverage category, with annual volume jumping 14.4 percent. Coffees and teas also showed strong gains.
“[Quick-service] restaurant operators understand what is going on in the marketplace, with people looking to make different beverage choices,” Webster says. Offering a variety of drinks “increases owners’ flexibility and gives them the opportunity to compete better.”
Excepting carbonated beverages, the beverage offered most at limited-service restaurants is tea, particularly iced tea, which is on the menu at 63.2 percent of quick serves, according to Datassential. That is followed by various waters, which are on 57.5 percent of menus.
The water total may be underreported since many restaurants don’t list water on their menus if it comes from the tap or from a tab at the fountain dispenser.
Various brands of bottled water are in 46.6 percent of quick serves, while penetration is 5.5 percent for spring water, 4.3 percent for vitaminwater, and 3.1 percent for sparkling water.
The vitaminwater brand showed the biggest compounded annual growth of any beverage at fast feeders over the past five years, rising more than 27 percent per year. The next two are green tea and San Pellegrino mineral water, both at about 16 percent a year.
An old favorite, lemonade, is on the menu at 54.4 percent of limited-service units, while coffee is on 51.6 percent and orange juice is on 51.1 percent.
Juices, mostly orange and apple, appeared increasingly on menus in recent years as more quick serves added breakfast or replaced carbonated drinks on children’s menus.
“The push to get kids to move away from sodas and eat healthier led to the boost in juice offerings, even if they may not have less sugar,” Webster says. “It’s all about feeling better about what you are ordering.”
Offering a wide range of beverages also “is a way for [quick serves] to differentiate themselves from the competition,” Hemphill says. “Historically, [quick serves] have lagged a little in trends, but if an operator can figure out a way to move faster, there is opportunity.”
Not surprisingly, limited-service restaurants have been adding noncarbonated cold beverages at a rapid pace. According to statistics from MenuMonitor, the menu-tracking database created by restaurant market research and consulting firm Technomic Inc., there were more than 200 new cold beverages recently added at quick serves.
Iced teas made up the largest chunk of those additions, followed by iced coffee and waters.
“There have been a lot of innovations in tea because it has such a healthy halo,” Hemphill says. “It’s also a base for innovation, like green tea, that appeals to the sophisticated tea drinker but also for those seeking a healthier option.”
An increasing number of quick serves offer or have added fresh-brewed iced and sweet teas to meet consumers’ growing demand for a fresher, better-tasting product.
At the same time, iced and chilled coffee, espresso, and related beverages have grown steadily in the wake of aggressive marketing by coffee chains, such as Starbucks, and the addition of these types of drinks at McDonald’s and other extended-menu fast feeders.
“Americans had traditionally consumed coffee hot, but the cold coffee hurdle has been leapt,” Hemphill explains. “Most Americans are now comfortable in drinking coffee cold. So now it’s a year-round product, hot more often in winter, cold more often in summer.”
Iced coffees carry fairly high margins, he adds, and while some of the products may be labor intensive and time consuming, restaurants can do well with these items if they become part of the core strategy and generate strong repeat purchases.
While fountain drinks are a long-time staple at limited-service eateries, a number of outlets, including pizza parlors, sub shops, and fast-casual restaurants, also feature refrigerated cases that contain bottled or canned cold drinks.
The cans and bottles—glass or plastic—in fast-casual refrigerators, for instance, are often drinks not available at the fountain, including upscale carbonated beverages, flavored waters, teas, vitaminwater, and even beer.
As some mainline quick serves try to compete with fast casuals, they are considering adding their own refrigerated cases. Wendy’s is testing several ideas at its new prototype units, including a refrigerated case that includes some regular items (bottled water, milk and chocolate milk, and packaged apple juice) as well as nontraditional ones, such as canned NOS energy drinks.
The units are also trying out several iced coffees and Coca-Cola’s Freestyle dispensing machines, which offer Coke’s Dasani still water and other brands in a variety of flavors.
Wendy’s continues to measure customer feedback, sales, and costs for all these offerings, says company spokesman Denny Lynch.
Firehouse Subs is already sold on the customization potential of the Freestyle dispensers. The chain last year completed installation of the machines in all 500 of its restaurants.
“There are so many possible drink permutations,” says Don Fox, CEO of the Jacksonville, Florida–based company. “The Dasani water, for instance, has seven different flavors and those can be mixed any way the customer wants.”
The Freestyle offers more than 120 drink options, and that “certainly adds value,” Fox notes. “It’s all about segmentation and satisfying the consumers.”
Even with all of the beverage possibilities, Firehouse would not have added the machines if Coca-Cola did not include one thing not typical for the beverage company: a noncarbonated cherry syrup drink for making the chain’s cherry limeade.
Cherry limeade makes up 21 percent of the chain’s beverage sales.
“When our first restaurant opened in 1994, the cherry limeade was hand mixed,” Fox says. “Later we went to a mix [for the cherry drink’s base], but the founders weren’t really happy with it, so it was never sold outside Jacksonville.”
Within the past four years, however, the cherry base was deemed good enough to go system-wide. Guests squeeze lime wedges into the cherry drink to make limeade.
“We know it’s expensive to do that, but we build that into our cost of doing business,” Fox says. “It adds a quality halo to our beverage offerings.”
The Freestyle has helped Firehouse attract more dine-in business, particularly among families, and boosted the average ticket from $10.25–$10.50 to $11.25–$11.50.
One chain that combines a coffee house with a fast-casual bakery-café is Cosi. The company resulted from the 1999 merger of Xando Coffee and Bar with Cosi Sandwich Bar and provides guests a range of cold beverages, from coffees to specialty lemonades.
“We think it’s important to our guests to give them the combinations they want,” explains Keith Stewart, marketing director of the Deerfield, Illinois–based chain.
The company has seen an increase in customer demand for water products, but not at the expense of other beverages. “It’s additive,” Stewart says, “particularly with drinks like smartwater and vitaminwater,” which include electrolytes, minerals, vitamins, and herbs.
Cosi also has made a point of creating proprietary cold teas and coffees, including Ginger Green Tea, which the company will be premiering this year. And then there are the lemonades: Strawberry Pomegranate and Mango Pomegranate.
This year, Habanero Watermelon Lemonade, a limited-time offer, will return. The sweet drink, which has a hint of heat, arrives with four big pieces of watermelon on a skewer.
“We have so much produce on our menu that it’s easy for us to have strawberries to garnish a beverage or to add watermelon to our order,” Stewart says.
At Quiznos, beverages “are a very integral part of our offerings,” says Zach Calkins, vice president of culinary creations. “It’s a natural fit to combo” a drink with food.
Tea and noncarbonated bottled beverages, particularly waters, are popular with salads.
Last year, Quiznos, with about 2,300 U.S. locations, relaunched its tea offerings with three new blends: unsweetened, black tea infused with raspberry, and green tea with lemon, lime, and honey. Sweet tea is available at locations in the South.
The Denver-based company is also upgrading its lemonade. A new honey lemonade was tested last year in six markets and is now rolling out system-wide. Franchisees can choose this variety or the traditional raspberry lemonade.
“It’s optional,” Calkins says. “Markets like Salt Lake City and Albuquerque love this new lemonade, while markets in the South want the raspberry lemonade.”
Quiznos also offers a wide range of Pepsi’s Sobe bottled beverages. While some varieties, like green tea, consistently do well, the company regularly switches flavors in and out.
“We rely on our partnership with Pepsi to see where consumers are and what they want,” Calkins says. “It depends on what is popular in a particular area. They may tell us that a drink is really moving and recommend we put that in our cooler.”
The idea of having many beverages available gives customers plenty of choices, so there is less chance for drinks to result in a veto vote.
“By having all these options, we have not seen a downtick in our carbonated drinks at the expense of more people choosing other beverages,” Calkins explains. “You’ve got to zig and zag with consumers and try to stay ahead of them and what they crave.”

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/menu-innovations/no-fizz-no-problem?page=show

QTrade and L.A. Business Journal...Tea is here to stay


Tea Maker’s Santa Fe Springs Exit Was in Leaves

RELOCATION: QTrade moves to Cerritos with eye on future expansion.By JAMES RUFUS KORENMonday, July 23, 2012
You’ve probably never heard of QTrade International Corp., but if you’ve ever strolled down the tea aisle at Whole Foods Market, you’ve probably seen the company’s products.
And you might see more. The company, a major importer and processor of specialty teas and herbs, is expanding and this month finished moving into a new manufacturing center and headquarters in Cerritos.
The 64,000-square-foot building, at 16205 Distribution Way, was purchased last year and nearly doubles the company’s footprint compared with its previously facility of 34,000 square feet in Santa Fe Springs.
“It gives us additional capability, especially in our manufacturing,” said QTrade President Manjiv Jayakumar. “We went from 2,000 square feet of blending area to about 12,000 square feet.”
QTrade imports teas and herbs, mostly through the local ports, then processes, blends and packages teas for private-label customers. Jayakumar said he could not disclose the names of any customers, but they are brands “you’d typically find in a Whole Foods environment.”
The company imports about 800 different ingredients, most of them organic and fair-trade certified, and has roughly 2,000 different product blends. Its products are available in all 50 states; the company also serves customers in Canada and the Middle East.
QTrade has grown significantly since Jayakumar’s father, Chief Executive Manik, founded the company in his garage in 1994 after emigrating from Sri Lanka. It was a one-man operation until 2005, when it moved to a small warehouse in Santa Fe Springs; QTrade now employs about 50 workers.
Manjiv Jayakumar said QTrade doesn’t need all of its 64,000 square feet today and called the $4.3 million purchase a gamble, but he expects the company to grow into its new space as the specialty tea market grows.
“It’s a bet on the future of the industry,” he said. “We felt we wanted to build ahead of what the current state of the business was. In the short term, we certainly face lots of cash-flow pressures, but we’re confident our tea is here to stay.”

Friday, July 20, 2012

2012 State of the Industry: Tea and Ready-to-Drink Tea


2012 State of the Industry: Tea and Ready-to-Drink Tea

July 18, 2012
http://www.bevindustry.com/articles/85658-2012-state-of-the-industry--tea-and-ready-to-drink-tea

Last year, sales of tea and ready-to-drink (RTD) tea increased 5.1 percent, reaching $4.3 billion in food, drug, convenience stores and mass merchandisers,tea excluding Walmart, according to Mintel’s July 2011 “Tea and RTD Teas – U.S.” report. Canned and bottled tea as well as refrigerated RTD tea drove growth in the category, the Chicago-based market research firm reported.
The canned and bottled RTD tea segment accounted for just more than 50 percent of the market share in measured channels and showed the largest growth in the category from 2009 to 2011 at 19.2 percent, Mintel noted. The second-largest segment, refrigerated RTD tea, made up
13 percent of total category sales in 2011 and grew more than 15 percent from 2009 to 2011, the report stated.
Bagged and loose tea sales growth remained small compared to the RTD segment, increasing 3.5 percent from 2009 to 2011, according to Mintel. Convenience via single-cup pods could help grow the segment, the report said. Based on the success of Celestial Seasonings’ single-cup tea pods, Mintel suggested that the pod packaging format might be a solution to the slow sales taking place in the overall bagged and loose tea segment.
Flavor is the No. 1 reason why consumers drink tea, according to the Mintel report. This explains why flavor innovation in RTD teas helped to drive growth in the segment, the report stated. In the RTD tea segment, lemonade-and-tea drinks have gained in popularity.
The line of Arnold Palmer beverages by Arizona Beverage Co., Cincinnati, showed the highest increase in SymphonyIRI’s Top 10 canned and bottled teas with 43 percent growth to nearly $158 million in sales for the 52 weeks ending April 15 in supermarket, drug, gas, convenience and mass merchandise retailers, excluding Walmart, club and liquor stores, according to Chicago-based market research firm SymphonyIRI Group.
Brands such as Snapple and Sweet Leaf both launched lemonade-and-tea beverages this year. Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Plano, Texas, launched Snapple Diet Half ‘n Half Lemonade Iced Tea, a blend of lemonade and iced tea made with green and black tea, and Stamford, Conn.-based NestlĂ© Waters North America’s Sweet Leaf subsidiary launched Organic Half & Half Lemonade Tea.
In addition to lemonade-and-tea combinations, tea is making an appearance in juice drinks and other categories. This spring, Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo announced its new Trop50 line of low-calorie tea-infused juices. The line includes Peach and White Tea, Raspberry and Green Tea, and Pear Lychee and White Tea.
In addition to positioning and flavor innovation, RTD teas are turning to packaging to attract consumers. The economic downturn influenced consumers to buy bulk packaging to save money, experts say. Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co. introduced family-size packaging for its Gold Peak RTD tea brand, which is merchandised in the refrigerated section. Gold Peak increased 12.3 percent in the 52 weeks ending April 15 in SymphonyIRI’s measured channels.
Also appealing to price-sensitive consumers, pre-priced canned iced teas continue to grow. Arizona, which offers several varieties of pre-priced teas, maintains the top spot in the canned and bottled tea segment with nearly $620 million in sales in SymphonyIRI’s measured channels for the 52 weeks ending April 15. BI 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Green Tea and Gold to Treat Prostate Cancer?

Green Tea and Gold to Treat Prostate Cancer?: A combination of gold and green tea compounds may be the future of prostate cancer treatments, according to a new mouse study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from the University of Missouri found that a combination of a compound...