The cultural transformation of the American breakfast

Occasion-based business strategy is nothing new in the food business. But the current frenzy of breakfast strategizing is certainly one of the more intense episodes in an industry struggling for organic volume growth. More »

Categories

Food and Beverage, Culture, Point of View

A.C.T. Denver health and wellness is a wrap: Looking at consumers through a cultural lens

At The Hartman Group’s A.C.T. Culture of Health & Wellness event in Denver earlier this summer, industry players from all over the country spent a day immersed in seeing and thinking like ethnographers steeped in the wisdom of culture. More »

Categories

Food and Beverage, Culture, Health and Wellness

Echoes from the past, a moment of reflection on sustainability

Alan Jacobs, a humanities professor at Baylor University, recently directed our attention to a little-known passage from the writings of French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. It’s amazing to think that something written six decades ago can... More »

Categories

Sustainability

When the cupcake crumbles

Blinded by its lines out the door, Crumbs and its investors forgot a cardinal rule of specialty food. What went wrong?

Blinded by its lines out the door, Crumbs and its investors forgot a cardinal rule of specialty food. While it’s not nice to shake a finger at nascent public companies whose dreams have been cast against the rocks, there are a few things food... More »

Categories

Food and Beverage, Retail/Shopper Marketing, Food Service/Restaurant

The fallacy of megabranding: Keeping brand extensions relevant

A special report by Hartman Strategy

When years of blockbuster success are followed by flagging growth, it is tempting for older brands that still enjoy high consumer awareness and stable base volumes to try to stimulate growth by moving into other categories. More »

Categories

Food and Beverage, Private Brands/Branding, Point of View