After an awesome week in California showing off our delicious ice cream to everyone at EXPO West, we were pumped to find out that we had been highlighted in their 2019 recap and wanted to share that with you! Read on to learn about other awesome health-conscious brands, and see why Mammoth Creameries Ice Cream is your best option to satisfy your sweet-tooth without disturbing any of those sweet sweet gains:

"Like lifestyle diets such as Paleo and plant-based before it, keto is the food tribe driving significant change and innovation today that will affect most food and beverage categories for years to come. Different than any tribe before, keto isn’t as simple as eating certain products and ingredients and avoiding others (though that’s certainly a big part of it). Keto is also about being in nutritional ketosis, a state in which the body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. Long term, there will be product and category attributes that grow beyond the core-keto food tribe, such as the contemporary revitalization of low-carb eating. Sodium (like fat) is back on the table, protein still rules, and tracking macros and making calories count will remain a part of how consumers consider nourishing themselves for years to come. 

Just as Paleo has crossed into the mainstream with a multitude of ripple effects and related diets, we expect keto will continue to have a similar impact on the market, segmented into main areas we’re watching: keto-indulgence offerings and everyday-lifestyle foods. We’ll be watching to see how keto, like Paleo, influences product innovation and ways of eating in the years ahead.

Keto-indulgence foods are really where we first started to see keto-positioned products coming to market. Bars, chocolate, cookies, and shakes were some of the early product types, often utilizing grain-free formulations, high-fat ingredients, sugar alcohols or low-/no-calorie sweeteners, and sometimes added fiber to help with net carbohydrate counts. Ice cream seems to be the product type of the moment for keto-indulgence foods, and a few brands stood out at Expo. Mammoth Creameries has classic flavors such as Chocolate Peanut Butter and Vanilla, plus new Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Lemon arriving this summer. All four deliver on the gourmet ice cream experience with 1-2 g net carbs per serving.

On the RTD beverage side, Koia calls its latest protein drinks “your newest and most indulgent keto solution.” With flavors like Cake Batter and Chocolate Brownie, the brand is not afraid of the sweet association. The drinks have 5 g net carbs, 12 g plant-based protein, and monk fruit as their sweetener (no sugar alcohols).

It seems as if convenience is almost synonymous with CPG innovation these days. Keto-friendly and convenient, everyday pantry items are emerging as the second segment of developments for this diet tribe. While the first popular wave of the keto mostly avoided bread-like products to focus on whole, fresh nutrition from foods that fit the diet’s goals, the convenience wave brings more low-carb alternatives to familiar, largely grain-based foods. Various versions of keto-friendly breads, pastas, and wraps had a strong showing at Expo West.

Barely Bread’s 100% Grain-Free Sliced Loaf made a mean grilled cheese, featuring egg whites and eggs as the first two ingredients, along with unsweetened applesauce, almond flour, psyllium, coconut oil and flour, sweet potato flour, flax meal, almond butter, hazelnut flour, and apple cider vinegar. This year, Egglife featured rebranded packaging and a new Fiesta flavor (in addition to Caraway, Italian, and Original), for its egg-based wraps with 25 calories and just 1 g of net carbs. Known for its low-carb, grain-free pizza crust made from cauliflower, egg whites, and mozzarella, Cali'flour Foods launched new frozen pizzas in Artisan Margherita, Classic Cheese, and Supreme Veggie at the show. While these products aren’t labeled keto, they clearly communicate how they deliver a
convenient meal solution with low net carbs, high protein, and other aspects of what’s important to so many of today’s consumers’ ways of eating."