Sweet Combinations
Fusion Without Confusion
Lynn Dornblaser, director of innovation and insight at the Mintel Group in Chicago, sees the dessert hybrid as a successful, though not groundbreaking, strategy. “Think cakes with pudding in the middle or muffin tops or sweet bagel chips even,” she says. “However, it does appear that the concept is growing, especially from smaller companies.”
To explain the appeal of these dessert “mash-ups,” as she calls them, Dornblaser cites consumers’ familiarity with at least one of the components, which makes them more tempted to try it in a new form. Fusion without confusion, in a sense.
“These hybrid products also can do a good job of differentiating a company’s offerings,” Dornblaser says. “It can make them stand out and create something unique.”
Such is the case with Barbara’s Hand-Made Cookie Pies, changing up two tried-and-true treats. For 50 years Barbara Schechter had whipped up butter cookies from a surefire recipe passed down from her grandmother. The cookies were a hobby, not a profession, but with all the praise she got from friends and colleagues, she still recognized they were something special.
Schechter’s longtime career in marketing came to an abrupt halt when her company downsized in 2010. At 58, she was without a job and realized finding a new one at her old salary was unlikely. After some disheartening searches, she decided to go into business for herself. “I didn’t want to retire and I was nervous because of my age,” she says, “but I’m tenacious.”
“I thought, what is it I do really well?” Schechter recalls. “I bake a good butter cookie. I’ve always believed in this cookie, but from my time in marketing I knew it wasn’t different enough. There are a lot of good butter cookies out there. You have to know your competition. You need to be on trend, have a unique factor.”
Schechter looked at the trends happening around her and saw hybrid cars and hybrid beverages, such as energy-boosting drinks and vitamin-enhanced waters. “I thought maybe now was the time for a hybrid dessert,” she says. It was her husband, Steve Schechter, now vice president of research and development, who suggested combining her cookie dough with pie. “He’s a very creative guy.”
In a short time Schechter developed a cookie-within-a-cookie, taking the same all-natural butter-cookie recipe from her grandmother to create a pie shell and then filling it with toppings like apple and caramel or Key lime and macadamia. “It looks very much like a pie but is meant to be eaten like a cookie,” she says.
Schechter debuted Barbara’s Hand-Made Cookie Pies at the 2012 Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., and her life changed, she says. “People understood it right away.” Gift-catalog companies snapped it up. Retailers appreciated that her cookie pies had a shelf life of six to eight weeks, much longer than conventional pies. Sales are rocketing, up five times what they were last year.
“I’m 60 now,” Schechter says. “I think this could be my breakout year.”
Source: http://www.specialtyfood.com/news-trends/featured-articles/article/sweet-combinations/
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