Page 40 - Deli Business June/July 2020

FEATURE
and antipasti,” says Giuliana Pozzuto, mar- keting director at DeLallo. “Staying in and eating in, consumers are looking for ways to keep things interesting and exciting when it comes to their meals and snacks. With our prepackaged programs, olives and antipasti can be easily purchased using their active UPC codes for pickup and delivery via the retailer’s website.”
One Israeli olive oil maker is among the Mediterranean food producers relying even more heavily these days on internet sales to U.S. consumers.
“Although there has been a complete shutdown in Israel since the end of March, Sindyanna is considered an essential fac- tory due to the fact that we produce and export food,” says Hadas Lahav, CEO at
Sindyanna of Galilee.
Sindyanna sells its prize-winning olive
oils, herb mixes and honey made by Arab and Jewish women working together in Israel through Amazon, Fairway Markets and fair-trade groups like Ten Thousand Villages and Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap.
“You may not be able to go to the stores to pamper your friends and families, but you can stay at home and we'll come to you,” says Lahav.
The Snack Solution
Some trends that were in motion before the pandemic figure to continue, and an important one is the popularity of healthy dips or spreads that suit the new way of eating many snacks over the course of the
day rather than a few sit-down meals.
Deli sales of hummus and other spreads increased 3.3 percent in the year ending March 24, 2019, according to the IDDBA’s What’s In Store 2020, to approach $1 bil- lion, and other Mediterranean dips and
spreads are gaining in popularity.
“Tzatziki and babaganoush and other
Mediterranean salads are gaining traction,” says Klein, “Hummus is growing in single digits. It’s not as fast as it was, but it’s still growing. Hummus is our main product in the Mediterranean category, although we do have a tzatziki-style dip.”
Hummus is still rising in an expanding dip or spread category that also includes guacamole and salsa, and some suppliers offer all three.
Lakeview Farms, for example, offers a wide variety of salsas and guacamoles along with its hummus products.
For some suppliers, hummus is the Mediterranean alternative in their portfolio of healthy, plant-based dip and spread prod- ucts that are predominantly Hispanic.
“We do mostly salsa or guacamole,” says Dedic of Jaffa Salads. “My Mediterranean portion is the weakest part of my business.”
Steve’s Mediterranean Chef has intro- duced their four traditional hummus flavors: Original, Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic and jalapeño, which can be found in select retailers throughout the Midwest and are in the refrigerated dips of the deli.
“My preference is that the hummus be displayed with other dips and salsa,” says Chammas from Steve’s Mediterranean Foods. “It’s a more common item; it’s not just ethnic.”
Chammas started Steve’s Mediterranean Chef to continue to merchandise the Mediterranean recipes he knows best and has grown up with and derived the line of hummus from his family’s traditional Lebanese recipes.
He believes other dishes and recipes from the region also have the potential to eventually go mainstream.
“Unfortunately, Middle Eastern is being defined by just hummus these days,” says Chammas. “It’s a challenge to be in the deli; it has to be fresh. We’re able to preserve hummus; tabouli is popular but it is a chal- lenge because it has such a short [shelf] life. We’re also seeing a big demand for garlic spread; traditionally you eat that with pro- tein like beef and chicken. Our product line is a lot more than hummus; we make kafta and meat pies with ground beef.” DB
40 DELI BUSINESS JUN/JUL 2020