USDA extends free school meals through the summer, but who ultimately will pay? USDA’s announcement this week to extend free school meals through the summer – and possibly the end of the next school year – ensures students are fed even if pandemic-related safety measures keep them at home, but it doesn’t alleviate increased financial pressures schools face providing the expanded services.
US Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack told school nutrition professionals gathered virtually at the School Nutrition Association’s Legislative Action Conference March 9 that the department would extend through Sept. 30, 2021, key COVID-19 Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option waivers that allow schools to serve free meals to students outside of required group settings and meal times and allow guardians to pick up meals for their children, including in bulk to cover multiple days to reduce exposure to the coronavirus through less frequ
RightRice Risotto takes rice from side dish to convenient, plant-based meal solution RightRice has launched its newest innovation in the rice category, RightRice Risotto, a veggie-based product line that is dairy-free using just water while achieving the same level of creaminess the well-known rice dish is known for (in under 15 minutes), says the company.
Keith Belling, founder of
RightRice, says the high-level goal for the brand has always been to reimagine the rice aisle and bring to market nutritious plant-based main meal solutions that deliver on taste and convenience for consumers.
“As we’ve come to really understand the versatility of our product and consumer needs, we’ve seen the opportunity to look beyond rice as a favorite side dish and move towards this plant-based meal solution notion,” Belling told FoodNavigator-USA.
Selling direct-to-consumer (DTC) online has emerged as a favorite go-to-market strategy for emerging brands launching during the pandemic, and while it can offer better margins, a more intimate connection with shoppers and flexibility around pricing and assortment, the CEO of the DTC seafood company Get Maine Lobster warns going it alone online comes with significant challenges.
Among the most notable hurdles selling DTC online are driving discovery and brand building, which Mark Murrell explains he overcame when he founded Get Maine Lobster in 2009 by forging partnerships, some unexpected and others counterintuitive on the surface.
But, he explains in this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Investing in the Future of Food, maintaining this practice over the next decade and through the pandemic helped him drive 6X year-over-year growth and see a 425% increase in boxes and product shipped to more than 36,000 new consumers acquired in 2020 alone.
Consumer and regulatory pressure is mounting once again for the CPG industry to cut back on the use single-use plastics, Styrofoam and other non-recyclable packaging despite a temporary reprieve during the pandemic when safety and hygiene fears outweighed environmental concerns.