Gourmet News

Smashburger Adds Eclipse Plant-Based Milkshakes to Menu

Published June 22, 2022

Eclipse Foods has partnered with Smashburger to create the industry’s first nationally available plant-based milkshakes for the fast-casual chain. The milkshakes are now available for purchase in all Smashburger locations nationwide (for $6.19, price may vary based on location) in Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Tangerine Dream and Oreo. Customers can also order the plant-based milkshakes for take-out or delivery on Smashburger.com or on Smashburger’s mobile app, and for delivery on DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats and GrubHub.

“This partnership marks an incredible milestone in advancing the plant-based movement and signals Smashburger’s confidence in Eclipse as the plant-based dairy brand that mainstream consumers will crave,” said Aylon Steinhart, co-founder and CEO of Eclipse. “Our shakes perfectly mimic the delicious taste and texture of traditional dairy milkshakes, and require no flavor sacrifice from consumers. And now that the shakes are available nationwide, even more people will have access to exceptionally delicious plant-based options that are better for the planet, animals and people.”

To create its first dairy-free menu item, Smashburger’s corporate chef, Ty Goerke, worked closely with Eclipse’s co-founder and James Beard nominated chef, Thomas Bowman. After months of testing, both teams were confident they had created a world-class offering all customers would love, no matter their diet.

“As part of Smashburger’s aggressive approach to menu innovation and catering to our guest’s evolving tastes, we have continued to diversify our product portfolio with the launch of new plant-based milkshake offerings,” states Carl Bachmann, president of Smashburger. “As part of our commitment and passion to deliver high caliber products with quality ingredients, we knew Eclipse was the best partner for us to develop the brand’s first dairy-free menu offerings. This felt like a natural next step in Smashburger’s journey to offer more diverse and plant-based options for our guests, while still delivering the premium, top-quality menu items that Smash fans know and love.”

Eclipse was co-founded in 2019 by Steinhart and Bowman with the mission to create a more sustainable, healthy, and ethical food system. Since then, Eclipse has scaled faster and more efficiently than competitors in the space in order to make this mission of fighting climate change, animal suffering, and the human health crisis a reality.

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Smartwater Names Zendaya as Brand Ambassador

Published June 22, 2022

As Smartwater’s global brand ambassador, acclaimed actor and performer Zendaya will appear in a series of new creative from the brand and support community water programs that will directly affect thousands of women.

Created in partnership with VMLY&R and WPP/OpenX, the campaign creative began rolling out in the United States from June 21 across television, audio, social and streaming channels, with global markets to follow. The campaign celebrates those who keep it smart, whatever the choice, and aren’t afraid to free themselves from the restraints of convention.

Zendaya will work with Smartwater to support community water quality and access improvements in various cities around the world, starting with Zendaya’s hometown of Oakland, Calif., by partnering with the Global Water Challenge – a coalition of leading organizations collaborating to achieve universal access to clean drinking water. In the United Stttes alone, 2.2 million people have no water at home and 44 million Americans are served by water systems that don’t function optimally.

The brand, GWC and Zendaya are launching the Smart Solutions: Global Water Challenge, which will invite local organizations to apply for grant funding to GWC’s women for water action platform that uplifts women and their communities through the power of clean water access. These efforts build on more than a decade of investments in clean water access around the world from The Coca-Cola Company, which have reached more than 18.5 million people since 2010. GWC’s work has proven that with access to clean water, people, especially women and girls, are healthier, safer, educated and employed.

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Summer Fancy Food Show: Day 3

Published June 20, 2022

The third day of the SFA Summer Fancy Food Show saw less foot traffic than Day 2, but many exhibitors were excited about the contacts they made the previous day. Somehow, I thought it was going to be a slower-paced day for me, but I still didn’t get to visit some booths I’d wanted to see.

Nancy Wekselbaum, aka The Gracious Gourmet, and I keep crossing paths! I interviewed her by phone last year for an article on Hatch chiles. Then at the Winter Fancy Food show, which she was attending but not exhibiting, she happened to sit at the table I was at between booth visits.

This time, I was invited to a scrumptious five-course seafood dinner and olive oil tasting sponsored by Onsuri and who should be seated next to me but Nancy! The next day, I stopped by her booth and finally got to taste a variety of her products. I love pesto, so there was no arm-twisting to get me to try her Roasted Tomato Pesto and Lemon Artichoke Pesto – I could eat a whole jar of those. The Strawberry Black Pepper Jam was outrageously good. She’s got a new Hatch product that’s delicious, too, White Balsamic Hatch Chile Jelly.

I was impressed with Yoele’s new chips, made with the ancient West African grain fonio. The gluten-free chips have the texture of tortilla chips, but not as crumbly. When I got home, I made nachos with them – yum! Fonio is a tiny grain and grown using regenerative farming. Yoele is planning to have more fonio products on the market.

Sweet Logic showed off its Mug Muffins and cake and brownie mixes. They’re keto friendly and just right for those of us who just need a quick, sweet snack. I’m told the Ultimate Carrot Mug Cake mix tastes just like carrot cake. I brought a packet home to test that theory (haven’t made it yet).

I met John Arnold and his family, who create small batch craft nut butter in Vermont as Mixed Up Nut Butter. I can’t say enough good things about the Mud Season nut butter, crunchy cacao nib and coffee with late-season maple sugar and vanilla bean. I also liked Maple Creemee with Vermont maple, cashew, pecan and vanilla bean. I learned that creemee is a rich, soft-serve ice cream, famous throughout Vermont. They had a large poster pairing nut butters with wines – these are my kind of people.

While we’re talking sweets, I got to chat with Eileen Gannon, founder and CEO of Sunday Night Foods. All of the premium dessert sauces were delicious and Eileen says they’re much more versatile than adorning ice cream. If you add powdered sugar, they can make frosting and with vodka and cream, chocolate martinis.

David Little promised me a chocolate food fight at this booth for Immunity Goodness, which didn’t happen, though he gave me handfuls of infused chocolates to take home with me. (I should have taken more Immunity Chocolates – Belgian Milk Salted Caramel Apple Chocolate bites with Vitamin C, zinc, elderberry extract and tetrahydrocurcumin from turmeric – with me because apparently, I brought a cold home.)

We’ll have a roundup of the Summer Fancy Food Show in the August issue of Gourmet News. Subscribe now so you don’t miss anything!