The Queen's Choice Awards shine a spotlight on the extraordinary talents and innovations of product developers and marketers who use honey as a sweetener, flavor and functional ingredient. These brands also embraced the opportunity to market honey in different ways, and through these interviews, representatives from Conagra Brands and Flowers Foods share what sets them apart.
Conagra Brands, Inc. Alexia Hot Honey Carrots — Rich Campbell, Brand Director
The decision to use honey as a sweetener was centered around Alexia’s philosophy of delivering on-trend, chef-inspired food. Hot honey has seen a 40% annual rise in menu penetration as consumers have shown a preference for foods that combine sweet and spicy. With hot honey we can offer a vegetable side dish that is distinctive, on-trend and easy to prepare.
For our Hot Honey Carrots, our ingredients include honey, garlic, ancho Chile pepper, dehydrated red pepper and cayenne pepper. This delivers a distinctive ‘sweet heat’ taste for the carrots. The hot honey sauce comes in a drizzle pouch, which is added during skillet prep. The Hot Honey Carrots are all-natural and non-GMO project-verified. Alexia is a brand rooted in chef-inspired premium side dishes, and the Hot Honey Carrots are one of two new skillet prep vegetables we introduced this spring. We combined the most popular vegetables, the most popular prep method and on-trend flavors. We’re excited about the winning combination of prep, vegetable and flavoring that we know consumers will love.
Flowers Foods Dave’s Killer Bread Crunchy Snack Bites Heavenly Honey Nut — Dan Letchinger, SVP Growth Brands
Honey provides an all-natural flavor to our snack bites, and it is a natural sweetener that pairs well with grains, nuts and seeds to enhance and complement their flavors. Honey and baking have a relationship that has stood the test of time. When considering flavors and sweetener options for our Snack Bites it was clear that honey had to be part of the portfolio. Honey not only provides that deliciously familiar hint of sweetness, but in the case of our Snack Bites also helps to keep the nuts, seeds and grains bound together in a crunchy bite.
With the rise of snacking post-pandemic, consumers have shown preference for better-for-you snacks. The DKB Snack Bites were created with the brand ethos in mind to provide killer taste, texture and whole grain organic nutrition. Using these organic ingredients along with natural sweeteners like honey in the Honey Nut Organic Snack Bites allowed us to create a delicious baked snack that provides sustained energy between meals. Designing them in perfectly poppable bite-sized clusters further helped the product stand out among the competition.
Read more about the Queen’s Choice Award winners.