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Hydrox was on Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel! Check out AMC's Twitter feed [embed]http://youtu.be/T2R3xWcMS6E[/embed] Sweden . ip info buy domain name
(Article as appears in USA Today) The Oreo-buster is back. Hydrox™ cookies, those Oreo-like chocolate sandwich cookies, could reappear on store shelves as early as September, says Ellia Kassoff, CEO of Leaf Brands, which recently acquired the rights to the unused Hydrox™ trademark. "The cosmic difference between Hydrox™ and Oreo is that Hydrox™ is a little more crispy; a little less sugary and stands up better in milk," says Kassoff, who will make the official announcement later this month at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago on May 20. Even in a new world of nutritional consciousness, there is little evidence that America's sweet tooth is fading. Sales of packaged cookies and baked goods are expected to top $17 billion by 2017 -- up from $13 billion in 2012, reports Packaged Facts. internet use statistics . While the return of Hydrox™ is expected to be a hit with Baby Boomers who may fondly remember the brand -- formerly owned by Kellogg's, Keebler and Sunshine -- it may be a tougher sell with Millennials who are not very familiar with the cookie brand, which hasn't been regularly sold on store shelves in almost a decade. "We'll use social media to reach out to Millennials," says Kassoff. The 46-year-old CEO says that he likes to acquire old brands or trademarks that still have fans. "We recycle brands that get left on the side of the road." But the Hydrox™ brand has special meaning to him. As a young kid raised by parents who were Orthodox Jews, he was only permitted to eat Hydrox™ -- not Oreos -- because, he says, at the time, Oreos were not kosher but Hydrox™ were. Today, both are kosher. The move by Leaf Brands -- which also owns trademarks to Astro Pops, Wacky Wafers and Farts Candy -- comes just two years after giant Oreo celebrated its 100th birthday. Little-known, however, is that Hydrox™ was the original creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie when it debuted in 1908 -- followed four years later by Oreo. But executives at Mondelez, which owns the Oreo brand, are hardly showing any signs of concern. "Oreo is America's favorite cookie," says Laurie Guzzinati, a company spokeswoman. She declined to comment specifically on the return of Hydrox™. Oreo sales, which exceed $2 billion globally and $1 billion in North America, have grown double-digits in the U.S. for the past two years. Its been years since Oreo had a genuine rival on the shelf. Kellogg stopped making Hydrox™ in 2002. Then, in 2008, when Hydrox™ turned 100, Kellogg briefly resumed distribution, but only for a limited time. Hydrox™ still has an online fan page, and a few months ago, Bill Burnett, of Salina, Okla., posted this wishful note about Hydrox™: "My brother and I loved them. I never got a taste for the inferior "Oreo," which was far less tasty as the wonderful Hydrox™. I think I've only bought one package of them in 50 years! Bring Hydrox™ back again!" In fact, says Kassoff, it's fans like Burnett who convinced him to bring back the brand. "I hear from all of them," he says. "I know millions of people are waiting for the product." But unlike the cookies giants, which typically must sell at least $100 million worth of a brand for it to be an even modest success, Burnett says he can sell a fraction of that and do just fine. The pricing will be roughly where Hydrox™ was for years: less expensive than Oreos but more expensive than store brands. If a 14-ounce package of Oreos retails for about $4; Hydrox™ will be $3 and store brand sandwich cremes often cost about $2, he says. But success won't come simply. At least one brand guru says Hydrox™ has lots of work to do. "Oreo conveys round and is fun to say and hear.Hydrox™ sounds scientific and medicinal ... not appetizing at all," says Steven Addis, CEO of Addis. "Oreo has become part of the fabric of America. Like Coke. This makes it somewhat unassailable, even from a superior product." The cookies will be made at a factory in Southern California, but Kassoff won't say where. Maybe he doesn't want the fans lining up outside the gates just yet. But later this summer, when the first pack rolls of the line, Kassoff has big plans for that one. "It's mine," he says. "I'm going to sit down and share it with my family."
Article as seen in "BEVNET"
Leaf Brands Announces New Zero-Calorie Astro Pop Sodas
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — LEAF® Brands LLC, announces new ‘Zero Calorie’ versions of their popular Astro Pop® sodas. The candy and snack manufacturer gained attention last month at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago when their Farts® Candy won the award for “Most Innovative New Product 2014’’. Now LEAF® continues their innovations with a new 100% naturally sweetened ‘zero calorie’ line extension of their popular sodas.
LEAF Brands® elevated their retro candy Astro Pops® to a whole new level when they announced in 2011, they would release a line of Astro Pop® sodas using real cane sugar in glass bottles, using the exact flavors of their popular Astro Pop® lollipop. The line of sodas then sold out shortly after their release. Ellia Kassoff, LEAF’s CEO remarked; ‘’The sodas really taste like you’re drinking your favorite candy, Astro Pop®! ‘‘They’re perfect for mixing and matching to create the entire Astro Pop® candy experience!’’ Since its release in 2011, sales of Astro Pop® sodas have exceeded company expectations. Following the success of their cane sugar-sweetened version of its sodas, LEAF® launched three additional varieties; ‘Zero Calorie’ Pineapple, ‘Zero Calorie’ Passion Fruit, and ‘Zero Calorie’ Cherry’ in response to a growing demand for naturally sweetened, zero-calorie products in the beverage category.
The Astro Pop® ‘Zero Calorie’ sodas are made with LEAF® Brand’s proprietary, all natural sugar-free blend called ‘Ultrasweet™’. ‘’We created Ultrasweet™ since there wasn’t a natural sugar substitute on the market which didn’t leave a strange taste in one’s mouth,’’ LEAF CEO, Ellia Kassoff stated, ‘’We also wanted to create a sweetener which is 100% naturally derived without the GMO’s found in other natural sweeteners.’’ The sodas are sold in Rocket Fizz and other specialty stores nationwide, with later availability in larger retailers by year-end. “We’re really excited to start experimenting with different flavors as well’’ Kassoff suggested, ‘’With as many Astro Pop® variations we can make, the possibilities for our sodas are endless’’. Astro Pop® sodas are currently sold in 12-ounce glass bottles with a suggested retail price of $1.69.
LEAF Brands has also been garnished attention all over the country for their rebuilding of retro brands. Look for Hydrox Cookies™, the original sandwich cookie, as well as Tart n Tinys™, Bonkers! ™ Fruit Chews, and Wacky Wafers™ to reach retail stores by late 2014. LEAF’S strategy is to rebuild one of the largest candy and snack companies in the US, through brand acquisition and development of new and fun products for consumers to enjoy. LEAF focusses on resurrecting many old brands in their original form, and then expands the product lines once the products are re-launched.
About Leaf® Brands, LLC
The original LEAF® Brands was started in the 1920’s. LEAF Brands, once the fourth largest candy producer in North America, produced candy classics such as Whoppers®, Jolly Rancher® and Rain Blo Bubblegum®, which were later sold to Hershey® Chocolate & Confectionary Corporation in the late 1990’s. Family members have acquired the LEAF brand name for the US, and assembled together to revive the Leaf name and its famous image. Products include Astro Pops®, Yummers!™, Farts Candy™ and David’s Signature Beyond Gourmet™ products.
Article as seen in 'The Wall Street Journal' http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303513404577352082845116146
Get ready for the return of Astro Pops, Boast logo shirts, National Premium beer and the Seafood Shanty restaurant chain, all names that had avid followings in their time. The difficult economy is prompting many entrepreneurs to try to revive old brands from the dead, or the near-dead.
The problem is that tastes have changed in the meantime. But that hasn't stopped Eddie Riegel of Exeter Township, Pa. The owner of a Reading, Pa., cleaning company has invested $1 million of his personal savings and a government-backed small-business loan in his bid to revive the old Seafood Shanty chain. The restaurants, first launched in 1970, had 14 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by the 1980s and were known for clam chowder and Key lime pie. But founder Joseph C. Gentile lost his small seafood empire after falling into debt by the 1990s. He was later charged with failure to pay taxes, including payroll taxes. (He couldn't be reached for comment.) Mr. Riegel, who took his wife to a Seafood Shanty on their first date in 1982, acquired the trademark for the brand in 2010 after asking his lawyer to find out whether the rights to the mark had expired. microsoft server He bought the original recipes for $7,500 after tracking down the former chef on Facebook. He says he also got some fishing nets and other original decor from former Seafood Shanty workers.
In February, Mr. Riegel opened the first new Seafood Shanty restaurant in Spring Ridge, Pa., not far from the chain's former headquarters. As early as November, he says, while crews were still putting up the drywall, about 200 people had lined up outside for prelaunch gift cards. While he's kept much of the original concept, 19 of the 85 employees used to work for the chain, including the manager,he has added a raw bar and a seafood market at the flagship location. "There's a tremendous amount of buzz around this," he says. "Anyone who grew up in the area remembers these restaurants." Using an old brand or product gives entrepreneurs at least one important advantage over start-ups: The amount they have to spend on marketing is often less than the cost of creating a new brand or concept, says George T. Haley, who teaches marketing at the University of New Haven's College of Business.
If a trademarked brand hasn't been used for three or more consecutive years, the law presumes it has been abandoned and it becomes available for others to register and use, according to Lawrence J. Siskind, a founding partner at the law firm Harvey Siskind LLP in San Francisco who specializes in intellectual-property law. Other entrepreneurs say they are actively seeking the owners of old products and concepts that may have fallen by the wayside in order to buy the rights. "It's pretty much open season for older brands," says Garland Pollard, a former travel writer from Sarasota, Fla., who started BrandlandUSA, a Web site for posts about classic American brands, five years ago. A year ago, Mr. Pollard added classified ads to the site, enabling people to buy and sell old brands. The site itself gets 17,000 visits a month, he says, while the classified-ad page is getting about 400 visits a month, up from 200 at the start of the year. "Because something is discontinued doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad product," says entrepreneur Ellia Kassoff of Newport Coast, Calif. "Maybe it just didn't fit the business model of the company at the time." The 43-year-old Mr. Kassoff, who owns an executive recruiting firm, noticed a few years ago that a local cash-and-carry chain was no longer carrying Astro Pops, the rocket-shaped lollipop he used to buy as a kid. He says he called the pops' owner, Spangler Candy of Bryan, Ohio, in 2010 and was told that Astro Pops had been discontinued in 2004.
He agreed to pay cash up front for global rights to the trademark and recipes as well as three years of royalty payments. He then figured out how to make the product in China in a way that would let him replicate the pops' look and taste. hosting information He plans to launch the pops at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York next month. Tim Miller of Easton, Md., paid $1,200 for the National Premium beer trademark at a December 2010 auction. Launched in the 1930s, the brand, familiar to generations of Baltimore Orioles fans, disappeared in the mid-1990s after then-owner Stroh Brewing Co. ceased production amid weak sales. "It was just too good to be true for a native Marylander to see a brand like that available," says Mr. Miller, a realtor, who spent the first six months of 2011 tracking down the beer's original recipe. He has since lined up two distributors and hopes to start selling the beer later this year. John Dowling of New York City first saw Boast polo shirts at a tennis camp in the 1980s. The shirts, a preppy icon, were launched in Greenwich, Conn., in 1972 by All-American squash and tennis player Bill St. buy domain name John. "Everyone was wearing Lacoste, but the cool camp counselors were wearing Boast," says Mr. Dowling, a former New York University film student who worked in advertising.
The logo had vanished from mainstream clothing stores by the early 1990s, although Boast shirts were still available at tennis and country clubs. Two years ago, Mr. Dowling, 40 years old, and a partner, both avid tennis and squash players, struck a deal with Mr. relevant domains St. John to buy the brand's trademark logo, a tiny Japanese maple leaf that is often mistaken for marijuana. They paid more than $1 million, according to Mr. St. John, though the buyers dispute that. Under the deal, Mr. St. John got a 32% share of Branded Boast, a spinoff company that would sell the clothing line in the U.S. Mr. St. John also continues to run Boast Inc., which sells a private-label line without the logo at sports and country clubs in the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Dowling launched the revived clothing line in September 2010 with financing from an angel investing round. The new line updates the 1980s look with a slimmer, contemporary cut. At a New York City trade show in January 2011, he says, "People came by the booth and were like 'Holy cow! Is that Boast?'" The first run of 8,000 shirts had sold out, with about 90% of sales online. Mr. Dowling is adding shorts, tennis dresses and accessories that used to be features of the brand. Mr. St. John, now 63, says having fans of the past isn't enough, though. "There are all those youngsters out there now [who] need to be turned on to it."