going to be a great new avenue for
Blue Diamond
, I
plunged myself into the inner workings of the process.
In March 2015, the flour line was fully commercialized,
and just a month later I was promoted to a Team
Leader position, supervising the Flour Line team. The
growth of flour was explosive. Today our flour business
exceeds $40 million in sales.
Mark:
Please share how we so quickly created this
business
?
Toby:
We set our sights to establish the “Gold
Standard” for almond flour in the baking industry.
Through market research and refinements in our
production process we were able to achieve a very
fine granulation that is used to make the light, fluffy, and
smooth texture of a French Macaron. Fast forward to
July 2017 and
Blue Diamond
commercializes a second
Flour Line at our Salida facility. Since that time, B
lue
Diamond’s
worldwide growth in almond flour continues
to surpass our expectations.
Mark:
As exciting as flour is, there’s more! Toby, it is
now appropriate that we share our next big idea.
Toby:
Almond protein is the biggest opportunity in our
new product pipeline. You challenged the innovation
team to prioritize and accelerate the launch of almond
protein powder. Our target date was July 16, 2018.
That specific date is important as it was the first day
of IFT 2018.
IFT is the Institute of Food Technologists and once a
year they host one of the world’s largest food shows.
The show brings together over 23,000 attendees from
the food industry around the globe comprised of food
scientists, product marketers, ingredient buyers, and
Research and Development teams. They are all looking
for the latest and greatest in new food ingredients.
This makes IFT a great place to tell a captive audience
about Almond Protein Powder.
We designed a beautiful eye-catching booth and
performed live baking demonstrations, as well as our
Protein Taste Test challenge where we put an almond
protein smoothie head-to-head against soy and pea
proteins, two of the most commonly used today.
Consumers loved the taste of the almond protein
powder and it offers exactly what they are looking
for: plant-based, clean taste, nutritious and delicious,
gluten-free, and guilt-free. Almond Protein Powder has
been one of our most well received innovative product
launches.
Mark:
When should our growers expect the first sales
?
Toby:
Sales are already happening, with bigger volume
sales coming in 2019.
Mark:
By 2023, we project that half of our
Blue
Diamond’s
growth will come from new products. You
have given us all confidence in achieving this big goal!
Thank you, Toby. Keep up the good work!
Blue Diamond
is inviting you to participate on our social media team!
All you need is an Instagram, Facebook or YouTube account, and the willingness to share postings with
your families and friends. We understand that getting started is sometimes the hardest part and we are
here to help. You do not need to work in marketing to market
Blue Diamond’s
products. Many of our
grower-owners have a family member who has baked a delicious dessert with almond flour or created
an appetizer using snack nuts or Nut Thins. Next time, take a picture, share the recipe and tell the story
of how
Blue Diamond
products make your life better. Contact Ben Goudie at bgoudie
@
bdgrowers.com
to indicate your interest in learning more.
Join the
Blue Diamond
Social Media Team
11
N O V E M B E R – D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8
