29 Dec What’s Your Favorite Snack in Philadelphia?
“The rapidly evolving consumer landscape is dramatically changing the game in the food industry,” says John Haugen, vice-president and 
general manager of 301 Inc., a business development venture capital firm that will work with food and beverage industry start-up companies.
301 Inc. began as a new business development team within General Mills in 2012. The name comes from the address of the original Pillsbury Mill. 301 Inc. With this legacy name as its heartbeat 301 Inc. will seek to meet “consumer needs faster than ever by combining the vision and passion of entrepreneurs with General Mills extensive capabilities.”
In addition to seeking out new brands and new products to meet growing consumer needs in Philadelphia and throughout the country for healthier, natural, organic products, General Mills is not only looking at new items to drive market sales but revamping the old. Take a look below to learn some interesting facts about some of America’s favorite snack bars.
The Bar: Nature Valle Oats and Honey Bars
• Its significance: #1 bar brand in convenience stores with a 94% awareness
• General Mills (GM) Revamps:
o August 2015 the bar was made easier to bite with a crunch reformulation
o October 2015 new consumer messaging to promote that the brand has no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners
o Fall of 2016 – expect to see new brand packaging
The Bar: Fiber One
• It’s siginificance: Fiber One is the #1 selling fiber bar
• GM Revamps:
o April 2016 – Fiber One Oats & Chocolate will have no artificial flavors or sweeteners
General Mills was founded in 1866. It could be easy for them to dig in their heels and stick to what they’ve always known. Instead, as we rapidly approach the end of 2015 and enter 2016 they’re living out a lyric from an old Girl Scout’s song. It states, “Make new friends but keep the old; some are silver and the other gold.” It appears then that you can teach an old dog new tricks and that you can expand a company without losing what makes it, it.
As we at One Source Refreshment look forward to the New Year we’d like to say thank you for another year of doing business together in Philadelphia. We’d also like you to know that we are going to follow General Mills’ lead and continue to search for new ways to meet your break room needs in 2016. We promise we’ll keep your favorites while expanding our product line and that we’ll continue to stay on top of all the food trends affecting our industry this coming year. Call today at 1-800-549-3190 for a free no-obligation consultation of your break room needs.