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The 7 Fanciest Brands from the Winter Fancy Foods Show

by Fred Hart on 01/21/2019 | 3 Minute Read

The 2019 Winter Fancy Foods show in San Francisco just wrapped up, and safe to say, many of the brands lived up to the tradeshow’s name. The show focuses on specialty food and beverages like chocolates, cured meats, imported goods, and every cheese imaginable—no, seriously, there’s a cheese wheel every 5 feet.

As of late, the show’s been exploding with better-for-you products and category-redefining alternatives – be it dairy-free ice creams, plant-based cheeses, mushroom jerky or hemp juice shots. Here’s a look at seven of our favorite brands from the show floor, differentiating not just with unique products, but bespoke design as well.


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Loisa

Few foods are as vibrant and lively as Latin food, but sadly they usually come with artificial baggage in the grocery store. While one of the founders is half Dominican and half Peruvian and the other married into it (his wife is Dominican), they wanted to share the flavors of this cuisine with their lines of seasonings and ready-to-eat rice. Not only that, but they’re bringing beautiful packaging with their colorful patterning and vintage-inspired wordmark.

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Beckon

Welcome back to ice-cream! Lactose-free, yet still chock full of sweet, sweet dairy because of a lactase enzyme they utilize, Beckon takes you back to your childhood favorite without any of the compromises. The packaging is lighthearted, striking and features an upside-down ice cream cone – flipping everything you thought you knew about the magical stuff of dreams, and minus all of the dairy-related bellyaches.

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Sonar

Grain-free tortilla chips with a purpose. Built on the back of strong Hispanic communities, Soñar provides at least “$10,000 annually, up to 1% of annual sales to advance the mission of the Latino Community Foundation.” And just like they reinvest in the community, they also like to show off their citizen-first mentality by placing people right on the packaging.

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Chomp Town

What if we lived in a world where we didn’t have to constantly get protein from hardboiled eggs and raw slabs of steak? What if you could do it all with a cookie? Chomp Town makes cookies with attitude and plenty of protein. Strong, bold and appetizing, the brand invites you to a place we all want to call home, minus all the dairy and gluten.

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Lumen

Healthy, not high. These cold-pressed hemp shots not only regenerate the land but your body as well. The branding is clean, confident and emphasizes a brighter you. Best of all

both flavors come loaded with either turmeric or ashwagandha, aka, all the supplements your hippy-dippy mother keeps trying to pour on your Corn Flakes.

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Shrooms

The only thing magic about these mushrooms is the taste. Here’s a brand that’s sure to raise some eyebrows, and unapologetically so. With black backgrounds and bright gradient imagery, the packaging plays into the mystique around mushrooms without the added fuss of blacklight.

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Loca

Anything you can do, I can do better…said the plant to the dairy. Loca’s plant-based nacho dip has proven just that and delivered a wonderfully sleek, elegant and confident look that encourages people to dip-in.

But just once. You don’t double-dip that chip. Ever.