Trend alert: Whoopie Pies are the new cupcakes

May 5, 2010 · Posted in Advertising, Culture · 4 Comments 

The Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer arrived today. One of the offerings is a container of six Whoopee Pies (presented, of course, as advocacy for a regional American tradition). So I’m hereby calling Whoopie Pies a trend because:

  1. The Cook’s Country Cookbook I received for father’s day (or was it my birthday?) last year contains a recipe for Whoopie Pies.
  2. The latest Penzey’s Spices catalog contains a recipe for Whoopie Pies (and a photo of one on the front cover).
  3. The latest issue of Costco’s magazine for its members contains a recipe for Whoopie Pies.

Of course, the New York Times beat me to the punch back in March 2009. But based on the evidence above, it now appears to have solidly trickled down in to the middlebrow. So if you are one of the countless people who opened up a cupcake shop in the past four years, you better add this to the menu. And if you are having a cutesy trendy wedding this summer, you might want to switch out the cupcakes for Whoopie Pies. Or not — I mean, once it hits Costco’s magazine, the trend is rather played out.

Let’s see. Red Velvet Cake has already had a run and Boston Cream Pie is doing well too so I’m going to call it now — the next major American dessert trend is going to be the rehabilitation of Baked Alaska, which I believe has already happened on the fine dining scene, but as far as I know has yet to make it seriously mainstream. Or maybe it’ll be icebox cake.

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Having a POV: Penzeys Spices

January 18, 2010 · Posted in Branding · 1 Comment 

I was surprised to find the following message in my new Penzeys Spices catalog:

Salt

We’re cutting back on salt.

A really good and healthy thing going on with food right now is that people are using less salt. We want to be a part of this. Going forward we will continue to sell reasonably priced generic salts of the earth and sea, but we will no longer be selling the higher priced specialty salts. I feel things have gotten to the point where the specialty salts are glamorizing the use of salt and, with that, encouraging people to use more of it. I have also found that along with the marketing of specialty salt had come a great deal of misinformation, including claims that some salts don’t affect your health like others do. This is just not true and not something we want to be part of. Salt is salt, it really is, and it taste no different no matter where it comes from.

With our belief that cooking comes from caring for those around you we feel part of that is caring for the well-being of the people we cook for. We all have our own relationship with salt and I respect that, but as a cook and a business I feel so much better about working to cut back on the use of salt rather than encouraging the use of more. I hope this makes sense to you.

Bill

This is found on page 43 of the most recent catalog. Just below it are the catalog items for Kosher Style Flake Salt and Pacific Sea Salt. And certain seasoned salts (Shallot Salt, for example) are still available. But the Fleur de Sel and other “gourmet” salts are not. I have no idea whether or not this will increase sales or buy loyalty with customers. In fact, some people are grousing about it on Chowhound.  And I must have missed it in an earlier catalog because here’s an Eat Wisconsin post from last November about it (it’s not favorable).

So because it irritated a few people, was Bill Penzey having a point of view on salt a branding mistake? I don’t think so. Penzey’s has always presented itself as a folksy company. The catalog features recipes (plus anecdotes) from customers. These invariably focus on middle America folks who want a better-than-supermarket quality spice and mostly engage in down home cooking. Just the kind of people to be worried about salt and appreciate the folksy tone and concern displayed in Bill’s note. The gourmet market is all about trends, and it’s clear that Penzey’s is in it for the long haul and wants to sell to a broader market even if that means alienating a few foodies. And that means that taking a stance against trendiness and for health is completely consistent with the brand and strengthens rather than weakens it. That’s the power of having and expressing a point of view.

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