The yearly pulse check of the consumer packaged goods industry, Natural Products Expo West, descended upon the Anaheim Convention Center for emerging brands to showcase their latest innovation. Retailers, distributors and investors all had their eyes glued to the brands they felt could soon disrupt their respective categories.
While conventional grocers have historically housed dedicated sections to international cuisine, it’s more clear than ever, based upon its dominant presence at Expo West, that global flavors are no longer exclusive to a single aisle. Here are some stand-out brands featured at the convention that are not only creating delicious products with flavors from every corner of the globe, but are adding a worldly perspective to the entire food-shopping experience.
Big Tree Farms
Born in Bali, Big Tree Farms is so much more than a brand that sells coconut sugar-based products. Founder Ben Ripple has lived in Bali for nearly 30 years to build relationships with thousands of coconut farmers who grow the trees that birth the beautiful coconuts in their own backyards. The flagship product Big Tree Farms sells is coco aminos, which is Regenerative Organic Certified. “We suck the nectar out of the coconuts,” VP of Marketing Susie Picken tells me at Expo West. “The farmers are climbing the trees…chopping the ends of the coconuts and inserting a canister into them and the beautiful liquid nectar drips out, then boiled into a caramel.” Big Tree Farms sells a line of sauces and marinades, each with a base of coco aminos, and introduce other global zests like ponzu, lemongrass and tamarind in every bottle. Big Tree farms also has a line of organic vanilla, brown and golden coconut sugars for a sweetener that gives back to farmers in Indonesia who are putting in tireless work in the name of regenerative organic farming. “Global flavors are hot right now, and we are the ones who can authentically bring the flavors because we have a true story…working with the farmers directly,” says Pinken.
Bollygood
Nimbu pani, the sweet, age-old beverage sold on the streets of India, now has a presence on American retail shelves thanks to Maxine Henderson, founder and CEO of Bollygood. Henderson, from Canada, would spend summers growing up with her family in India, where her grandmother would make the classic drink that’s made of a combination of lemon, herbs, and spices. “It’s usually sweet, citrusy and salty,” Henderson tells me, “so we wanted to preserve that and have all the spices and flavors coming though.” Bollygood comes in four flavors: Lime Basil Cumin, Lemon Ginger Mint, Lemon Mango Turmeric and Lemon Pomegranate Cardamom. The brand started in 2019 and rebranded in 2023 with its red cans that resemble a royal Bollywood red carpet. With subtle hints of Indian aromas in each tangy sip, Henderson made sure to make the beverage, which she modeled off of her grandmother’s recipe, more welcoming to the American consumer by plummeting the sugar content to 7g per can and adding carbonation. “There’s no other modern nimbu pani. It’s never been in a can or sparkling,” Henderson says. “We want to show people that we’re ready to grow and scale.” Bollygood has a retail presence in Giant, Fresh Market, and is launching in some Whole Foods Market and Walmart stores this Spring.
Chuza
Chuza is an emerging Mexican-American brand that highlights bold Mexican spices against a backdrop of familiar vessels like fruits and nuts. But Chuza takes dried fruit to an entirely new universe. The primary products are elevated dried fruits like cactus, mango, cranberry and strawberry–they are each thick, sweet, and chewy, presenting nearly as a gummy candies. Chuza is expanding its product line to include trail mix blends, which it debuted at Expo West, all with the same tangy spices made 100% of Mexican peppers. Those will begin rolling out direct-to-consumer over the summer. Founder and CEO Danny Schwarz created the company based off of the spice blends his family has been creating for decades. The striking, colorful packaging honors Mexican architecture–showcasing a modern design of Mayan pyramids along with vivid colors that reflect the powerful spices blanketing each chewy treat. “Lechuza means owl,” Schwarz tells me, explaining why there’s an owl as the logo. “You say ‘chuza’ when you’re doing something amazing.”
Coyotas
The root vegetable cassava is starting to make its presence more widely-known. Coyotas founder and CEO Janet Flores Pavlovich set out to make the best tortilla six years ago when she launched her brand, which is an homage to her home of Sonora, Mexico, where Pavlovich says flour tortillas were created. She was never happy with the selection of store-bought tortillas when she was in culinary school in San Diego, so she went back home to learn the trades from her own people, the ‘coyotas,’ as she says–the women who have been making tortillas for generations. She decided to use cassava because of the dietary restrictions of many Americans–cassava is grain-free. “I felt it could help people sit at a table and not divide them,” Pavlovich tells me. Coyotas tortillas are light, fluffy and comfortingly chewy. The artisan-style packaging for each of the four sizes of tortillas, from street taco size to 12 inch, are made of cassava too, highlighting the sustainability of the plant, which doesn’t require any water to grow after its initial watering. “I want to represent Mexico–My Mexico,” Pavlovich says. “Not the colorful stuff we see everywhere. But the desert, tattoos, and earth tones.”
Kokonut
Pudding meets panna cotta meets asian flavors. Kokonut is a coconut-based custard that’s both airy and indulgent. Founder Jia Xiong grew up eating coconut pudding in China and wanted to bring more excitement to the packaged dessert category in the States that would entice health-conscious consumers without sacrificing on taste. She uses agar agar to gain the gelatinous consistency and organic cane sugar for a subtle sweetness. Three flavors include the original coconut along with matcha and black sesame. The matcha is sourced from Uji, Japan and the black sesame is sourced from Taiwan. Kokonut launched last year and started in food service to then launch in retail at small chains like Erewhon. “This is a guilty-free indulgence,” Xiong says. At Expo West, she met with larger retailers in hopes of gaining more traction with natural retailers across the country.
Kolsvart
Kolsvart gummy candies from Malmö, Sweden has grown from being a super-premium European product to making a dent in mainstream American retail. Kolsvart, meaning ‘black’ in Swedish (an ode to Swedish licorice), sells a variety of nostalgic fish-shaped gummy candies that use real fruit to flavor each treat. Flavors include sour blueberry, sour raspberry and elderflower, all packed in rustic, minimalist brown paper bag pouches. The company doesn’t shape its candies like fish just for the gag of it all. Kolsvart donates some of its profits to cleaning and repopulating the Scandinavian waters. It’s fish are shaped specifically like pike, turbot and arctic char fish. “The fish came in a couple of years after the company started,” COO Andreas Roos tells me. “It was traditional to make candy fish and we wanted to focus on a healthier environment, so we donate in Scandinavia where it’s largely overfished. We would love to do the same thing in the US.” Kolsvart is on the verge of significant retail expansion.
Mezete
The expansive line of Middle Eastern products and flavors that Mezete offers is going to make a splash in the American market. Made in Jordan, Mezete offers a tahini-forward hummus and a smooth baba ganoush, but that just barely cracks the surface of how the brand highlights Middle Eastern flare–also rolling out a line of soups, including adas and freekeh, dips including tahini, toum and shatta sauces, and other specialties like muhammara and shakshuka bases. The family-owned company recently rebranded as it launches in US retail, expanding from food service. “People already know about hummus,” Mezete GM of International Mark Pataky tells me. “Now they get to discover the rest.” He says that Mezete’s products remain authentic largely because of UHT (Ultra-High Temperature) technology that the company’s owner Khaled Kasih spent 20 years creating, preserving the products’ original recipes while keeping them fresh and shelf-stable. “Middle Eastern food is the fastest-growing ethnic cuisine in the US and Europe,” Pataky says. “We want to land in thought-forward retailers by the end of the year to bring this cuisine in…more in the natural channel but retailers like HEB and other trend-forward retailers would be a great fit.”
Yolélé
Fonio rice is one of the most common West African foods, but its presence in America is minimal, barely existing on retail shelves. Yolélé brings fonio to the West in both a raw form to cook on the stove, as well as in spiced pilafs and the base of snackable chips. Fonio, a drought-tolerant crop, is higher in fiber than a typical white rice and naturally cooks in just about five minutes. Yolélé’s fonio pilaf comes in several varieties like jollof, dakar, and afro-funk. The crunchy chips are simple and a fun way to switch it up from standard potato or tortilla chips. Their rectangular shape makes them an apropos companion to dips–particularly ones that you add Yolélé’s garlicky African spice mix into. They come in sea salt, tangy baobao, and spicy chili, onion and lime flavors. Cofounders Pierre Thiam and Philip Teverow are determined to bring more West African flavors to the US.
