As I am in the food and beverage industry, I enjoy always to search for new and upcoming items, new technique and with new analysis. I got on some and I would like to introduce it to you. I hope you will enjoy it just like I do.

So here it goes:

Number 1: Good things really do come in small packages, as fans of the winning 100-calorie snack package will agree. Now a new UK company aims to upgrade the small-portion snack with natural and nutritious edibles delivered by mail in just the right sizes.
Graze encourages consumers to do just that by offering a wide variety of natural foods in snack sizes for regular delivery by Royal Mail. Consumers can select from three types of standard snack collections: the grazemini, which combines fresh fruit with dried fruits, nuts or seeds; the grazeclassic, which adds vegetable, savoury and bakery options to that mix; and the grazeluxury, which includes deli and sweet indulgences. Focused nutritional selections are also available, chosen by Graze's team of nutritionists for energy, well-being or workout enhancement. Whichever box style they select, consumers then tell Graze how they feel about the various food options in that mix—whether they like, love, or would like to try them.
It's become a snack culture world as consumers have begun to realize (the "supersizing" trend notwithstanding) that bigger isn't always better, and Graze's concept plays into that, adding the convenience of a subscription model and smartly targeting office workers ("delivered to your desk"). One to bring to health- (and portion-) conscious consumers in the rest of the world?

Website: www.graze.com
Contact: getintouch@graze.com

Number 2: German for Flavour Lab, is a new restaurant located in a former school in Bremerhaven. The 'lab' part of the name doesn't refer to molecular gastronomy or food served in test tubes. Experimentation at the restaurant is all about letting customers add flavour to their meals.
Dishes are served ready-to-eat, but diners are encouraged to enhance them by adding one or more of twenty custom-made seasoning oils that Geschmackslabor has on offer. The seasonings are all based on very pure olive oil, which is infused with flavours ranging from Arabica coffee and rosemary to papaya and coconut. Geschmackslabor's menu suggests which seasonings go well with which dishes, but the whole point is for customers to experiment and find their own delicious combinations. The restaurant supplies plenty of bread for trying out different oils before adding them to food, allowing customers to sample a full range of spicy, sour, salty, sweet and bitter. The oils are also sold separately at EUR 4.90-5.50 for 100 ml.

Website: www.geschmackslabor.com
Contact: info@geschmackslabor.com

Number 3: Honey may be one of a growing number of snobmoddities, as we noted back in 2006, but that doesn't mean it isn't still sometimes a sticky mess. Not so the Honey Drop, a new honey that you can hold in your hand.

Island Abbey Foods, of Prince Edward Island, Canada, has come out with a dried honey drop, equivalent to a teaspoon of the sticky stuff, that you can hold in your hand, drop in your tea or pop in your mouth. Released in January, the drops are made with pure Honibe honey from PEI, with no artificial colouring, flavouring or preservatives. The drops have a shelf life of one year and are available in two flavours: pure honey, or honey and lemon. Pricing is CDN 11.99 for a box of 20, which makes for a very premium alternative to sugar cubes.

Island Abbey Foods, which is a member of 1% for the Planet, is currently looking for retailers, affiliates and resellers for the Honey Drop. Sounds like a sweet proposition!

Website: www.honibe.com
Contact: reseller@honibe.com

Number 4: We've already written about programs to adopt a vineyard or an olive tree, and now two Maine brothers have found a way to offer consumers the chance to adopt a Maine lobster trap.

For USD 2,995, consumers can own a Maine lobster trap and all the lobsters it catches for an entire year through the Premium Trap program from Catch a Piece of Maine. As "partners," as the company calls them, customers of the program are assigned a dedicated lobsterman who will fish their trap throughout the 32-week season. Everything he catches is tracked with a colour-coded band placed on the lobsters' claws, and all data is recorded online so that the partner can view their trap's activity, manage their catch and schedule shipments from anywhere. As lobsters are caught by the trap, the partner's account grows; as lobsters are requested for shipment, it decreases again. Lobsters can be shipped in batches of four as soon as they are caught, or they can be saved for later (in which case the company will substitute one just caught for the original); either way, details are included on when, where and by whom they were obtained. Catch a Piece of Maine guarantees at least 48 1.5 lb lobsters for each partner—totalling over 70bs.—and also 12 lbs. steamer clams, 12 lbs. mussels, and 48 servings of Maine-made desserts over the course of the year. All shipments are sent via FedEx overnight delivery throughout the continental U.S.; shipping costs are included in the fee. Partners are even invited to come aboard the company's lobster boat in Maine if they can, to meet the lobstermen and experience the harvest first-hand. Corporate gifts and single-meal orders are also available, and Catch a Piece of Maine donates 10 percent of its profits to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, educating 5th and 6th grade students about the Maine lobster industry.

Website: www.catchapieceofmaine.com
Contact: brendan@catchapieceofmaine.com

Number 5: Bin Ends, which was started up earlier this year, is now gearing up for its second Twitter Taste Live, which will be held this Thursday—the first one was in July. The project aims to give wine enthusiasts around the globe a chance to join the world's top wine personalities online for tastings via the popular social networking tool Twitter. Users need only set up a free Twitter account and then follow binendswine on the service. In the U.S., they can also order the wines being tasted from Bin Ends three weeks prior to the event, with free shipping across the country (Bin Ends does not ship internationally). Then, equipped with the wines and their Twitter account, users can join the event as it takes place, commenting, asking questions and enjoying back-and-forth interaction with the winemakers in real time. Tastings generally take place the third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Eastern U.S. time, and are announced on Twitter, Facebook and Bin Ends' own website.

Besides encouraging sales and trial of newer and lesser-known wines (one might even consider this a mostly paid version of tryvertising!), Bin Ends' tasting program also offers consumers a generous splash of status skills through their interaction with wine experts. It remains to be seen if Bin Ends will track which tastings consumers participate in and use that to help guide future purchase choices, the way Vinotek and VinoVenue do. Either way, though, this is one to watch—and emulate. Vintners, take note!

Website: www.binendswine.com/tastings — www.twittertastelive.com
Contact: www.binendswine.com/contact

Number 6: Serious chocolate lovers may be excused for knowing little about the manufacture of their favourite food, engrossed as they typically are in its consumption. But a new San Francisco start-up has just become one of only a few major chocolate manufacturers in the United States, and it's taking a high-tech approach to the confection of this ages-old delight.
Whereas many companies that work with chocolate today simply re-melt the heavenly stuff, TCHO has built a factory capable of producing 4,000 metric tons of its own chocolate per year. The employee-owned firm was founded by Wired co-founder Louis Rossetto and legendary chocolatier Timothy Childs, and it's rethinking the way chocolate is made. In its factory, TCHO has recycled and refurbished legacy chocolate equipment with the latest process control, information and communications systems.

The company's "obsessively good" dark chocolate is created in limited run, "beta editions" that are available only online and at its factory store. Continuous flavour development and customer feedback mean that varieties are constantly evolving, with new versions emerging as often as every 36 hours. TCHO also aims to change the way people describe chocolate, and has created a new taxonomy based on common-sense terms like "nutty," "fruity" and "chocolatey" to help people find the types they like best. Its products are named accordingly, such as the recent Beta C Ghana 0.2x release, for example, in which the "C" stands for chocolatey (and status skills go to consumers who learn to interpret the rest!). Finally, TCHO embraces a social mission that goes beyond Fair Trade to help farmers by transferring knowledge of how to grow and ferment better beans, allowing them to escape commodity production and become premium producers. TCHO's 50g chocolate bars, wrapped in plain-brown paper, are priced at USD 4 each.

Website: www.tcho.com
Contact: info@tcho.com

Number 7: Wine may be enjoying new popularity, but that doesn't mean the average consumer isn't still daunted by the knowledge it takes to pick a bottle they'll like. We've written about several efforts to simplify the process, and now WineSide is taking a novel approach by offering wines packaged in sample-sized tubes.

WineSide offers both sweet and classic wines in patented, flat-base glass tubes with screw tops carefully engineered to protect the wines' flavour. The sweet wines—which include Sauternes and Muscat, for example—are available in 6cl tubes, while the Pomerol, Chateau Neuf du Pape and other classic wines can be purchased in 6cl or 10cl sizes. WineSide's collection represents a range of appellations and producers; tubes are available individually or by the box, which can be chosen to provide an introduction to a variety, year or region. Kicking off retail sales, the products are available exclusively at Colette in Paris this month.

In addition to giving consumers a new way to sample and discover wines, WineSide's tube format also promises to give vintners new tryvertising capabilities at relatively low cost. The French company's website is still under construction, but it says it is looking for distributors. One to get in on early!

Website: www.wineside.net
Contact: vincent@wineside.fr

Number 8: Morsels, which opened its brick-and-mortar doors in April (online ordering is coming soon), offers cookies, brownies, cakes, scones and other delicacies, all in two-bite sizes. At least a dozen different morsels are available each day, all featuring the same half-round shape and size—the toppings and batter used are what distinguishes them. Morsels also offers a range of direct-trade coffees and teas from Intelligentsia of Chicago, and pita sandwiches for lunch are "about a week away," Neidorfler says. Morsels are priced at 89 cents for one, USD 2.99 for four or USD 8.49 for a dozen—mixing and matching is encouraged. The bakery has already handled orders for up to 50 dozen at one time.

"My wife and I have always loved to bake, and we have had the dream of starting a bakery for a long time, but we didn't want to be like every other bakery out there," Neidorfler explains. "Then one day in April of 2007, we were sitting at home and the idea of really good, bite-sized baked goods hit me. Within an hour, we had the name, the initial flavour ideas, packaging ideas and the start of a business plan. After a bit of researching, we determined that this is a niche that no one was doing the way we wanted to do it. There were a number of cupcake bakeries and things like that, but nothing that really pushed the envelope of what a bite-sized bakery could be. We knew we were onto something when it became almost impossible to find the kind of baking pan we needed."

Tourists visiting the shop from far and wide have already asked Morsels to open branches in the cities they're from, Neidorfler says. How about helping to make that happen....?

Website: www.morselsbakery.com
Contact: info@morselsbakery.com

Number 9: From Germany this time, Sonntagmorgen (German for Sunday morning) sells made-to-order coffee blends online. Customers can choose from nine regional varieties and set their own blend ratios. A 250 gram pack of coffee can contain 4/7ths Ethiopian Sidamo and 3/7ths Indian Pearl Mountain, for example. Adjusting is easy: just flick arrows up or down. Once the momentous blend decisions have been made, coffee-meisters specify a grind (or whole beans), and can then move on to add flavouring. Sonntagmorgen offers 13 aromas, ranging from vanilla to chili peppers, and users can select up to three.

Finally, customers pick a name for their personal brand of joe, which is printed on the label along with the varieties and aromas used. Prices for a custom-made blend depend on the types of coffee used, but average around EUR 7 for a 250 gram bag. Until entire pantries can be stocked with personalized food, customization opportunities abound for smart and creative entrepreneurs. (Related: Mixed-to-order muesli.)

Website: www.sonntagmorgen.com
Contact: www.sonntagmorgen.com/index/kontakt

Number 10: There are many statistics out there to inspire and motivate the eco-minded consumer, but one that should be particularly shocking for parents of school-aged kids is the fact that the average elementary student generates between 45 and 90 pounds of plastic, foil and other garbage in school lunch programs each year. That sobering fact comes from the Center for Ecoliteracy; hoping to do something about it, Kids Konserve recently launched a reusable, waste-free lunch kit that does away with paper, plastic and foil altogether.

Priced at USD 40, the waste-free lunch kit includes a recycled cotton sack, cloth napkin, 16 oz. stainless steel beverage bottle, "food kozy" sandwich wrapper and two stainless steel food containers. Each component is also available separately from San Francisco-based Kids Konserve, as are a selection of products including reusable cloth gift bags, drink lids and stainless steel food savers. Kids Konserve also offers its lunch kits as a fundraising opportunity for schools, enlisting parent representatives across the country to help educate schools and build its "Fundraising Through a Waste-free Lunch Program" nationwide.

"With waste from snack and lunch breaks at an all time high and recycling knowledge and budgets still too low, Kids Konserve is empowering parents and kids with information and a reusable product that will help participating schools make the grade when it comes to decreasing waste in community landfills," explains company cofounder Chance Claxton.

An admirable goal that will no doubt appeal to green consumers around the globe. Kids Konserve currently sells its products only within the United States—one to partner with in other parts of the world....? (Related: Happy healthy meals.)

Website: www.kidskonserve.com
Contact: reuse@kidskonserve.com

Number 11: The California-based company highlights the bottles' portability, pitching Volute as the wine that can be drunk anywhere, including no-glass zones like concerts, camping grounds and beaches. And given the bottle's distinctive look, drinking from a Volute bottle might be more socially acceptable than drinking wine from a glass bottle, a can or—perish the thought—a juice box.

Aluminium bottles are also claimed to be eco-friendlier than traditional glass bottles. Aluminium can be recycled almost infinitely and the bottles require less fuel to transport than their heavier glass counterparts. To combat worries that aluminium might destroy a premium wine, the company points out that the packaging not only has the same qualities as glass but improves on it with it UV-blocking properties. Volute's recognition of consumers' desire for convenient and eco-friendlier products seems spot-on. One to partner with in other regions? (Related: Wine by the trial-sized tube.)

Website: www.volutewine.com
Contact: www.volutewine.com/contact-information

Number 12: For many urban dwellers, deciding what to have for dinner means deciding which restaurant to visit—a task that's not easy when you live in a place like New York City, with countless eateries to choose from. Eatbite/NYC is a new site that lets users browse through photos of individual dishes at local restaurants to let their craving of the moment dictate where they eat.

Eatbite currently features a collection of more than 200 photos of mouth-watering dishes that are served up at restaurants throughout New York City. Users can browse those photos sequentially for inspiration, or they can search by location, price range, landmark (near Columbia University, for example) or food type (Chinese, sushi or pizza, etc.). When they click on a photo of a dish that attracts their attention, the site tells them where to get it along with the price range to expect. Photos are tagged by key descriptors, and users can add comments to photos of any dish. They can also upload photos of their own and link them with restaurants from Eatbite's list.

In offering an alternative way to search information that is already widely available, ad-supported Eatbite is in many ways much like Dishola, which we covered earlier this year, but with less of a focus on reviews and more of a focus on photo-based inspiration. It also shares something in common with SeeYourHotel, which offers a slightly different twist on hotel search by focusing narrowly on location. Either way, Eatbite gives people a new way to search and restaurants another way to be discovered. Similar opportunities? On a general level, invite the crowds to contribute content of some kind, focus on a specific search criterion, and keep your costs low by using services like Amazon's S3 for flexible hosting and Google's AdSense for easy ad income. Now that's a recipe worth sharing! ;-)

Website: www.eatbite.com
Contact: admin@eatbite.com