by Jill Failla Can frozen desserts provide indulgent treats to please discerning health & wellness shoppers? Certainly! Natural frozen desserts that satisfy special diet needs – and even those claiming functional health benefits – are stealing share of the freezer shelf this summer. In the FZ ICE...
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by Jill Failla As more consumers demand portable, healthful snack options, snacking innovation is permeating multiple retail categories—including soup. As another recent enhancement to SPINS’ Product Library, we have expanded our Grab N Go attribute to include ready-to-eat and ready-to-drink soups into additional subcategories to better...
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By Abbey Fuster I am the youngest team member here at SPINS, but don’t let my 21 years of life experience fool you: I know a thing or two about the grocery store aisles. I probably can’t singlehandledly represent the whole of my generation – Gen...
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On a recent sunny Saturday afternoon, SPINS rallied together a team of 30 volunteers to help restore and inspire our community. At this year’s Chicago Cares Serve-a-Thon, we joined 5,000 others to build, create, organize, engage, and more at 28 locations across Chicago. Our SPINS’...
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By Scott Dicker With more and more consumers trying to live an active and healthy lifestyle, the traditional sports nutrition market has expanded to a much more diverse crowd. The recent Sports Nutrition Marketplace show I attended, which is sponsored by the International Society of Sports...
Read Moreby Jill Failla Commonly used in hospital emergency rooms to prevent the absorption of certain toxins in the gastrointestinal tract, charcoal is now growing quickly in a variety of retail product lines, marketed with the ability to bind to unwanted substances so they may be eliminated...
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Michelle Fox Senior Manager, Brand Growth Solutions Over the past five years, I've analyzed data on a wide range of products from lip balm to dog food, from potato chips to kefir. And while categories of interest have changed, my general best practices for analyzing the data...
Read MoreBy Kim Kawa and Paige Leyden Delighted to attend the Midwest Face & Body Show for the first time, we found ourselves privy to a variety of noteworthy ingredients and massage techniques geared primarily toward spa professionals. As researchers, we were eager to learn the recommendations...
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On a not so cold late November evening, a group of 11 committed SPINiZens made our way to the Chicago Food Depository to embark on an adventure in food repacking. While we didn’t know exactly what would await us there, we knew that our service...
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An annual celebration of plant-based and vegan living, this year’s Portland VegFest drew over 6,000 people for an outstanding program of prominent speakers and, of course, a wide variety of vegan wares. Nonprofit Northwest VEG has served the Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA area with...
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