New stats are showing that fast beat out casual when it came to the performance of the fast casual dining segment last year. Figures compiled by Technomic indicate that fast casual is tops among the big restaurant sectors.

The Chicago-based foodservice industry consultant determined that 2009 sales for the top 100 fast-casual chains in the United States reached $17.5 billion, a 4.5% increase over the prior year; units grew by 4.3% to 14,777 locations. The performance is impressive given the tail-end effects of the recession on dining out, but entirely understandable, since the growth is based on a trade-down from table service restaurants.

In other words, the desire to eat out didn’t diminish, only the destination changed.

What is “fast casual”? Think Panera Bread — which Technomic says remained the leader of the fast casual pack, with 2009 sales of nearly $2.8 billion, up 7.1% from the prior year. Unit also grew (4.3%) to 1,304 stores. Chipotle Mexican Grill came in second, with sales growth of 13.9% to $1.5 billion, and unit growth of 14.2%, to 955 locations.

Many of these restaurants have a health and wellness or sustainability component to them, but there’s new competition all the time, and one of the newbies will be pretty hard to beat. A chain called Otarian is making a name for itself (two stores are open in New York’s Manhattan and two are planned for London) by building its entire operation and menu around carbon reduction.

Otarian is “the first ever low-carbon restaurant chain, using a cradle-to-grave analysis in the carbon footprinting of every menu item,” states the website. Indeed, each menu item (including containers and packaging) has been analyzed for carbon content, with an eye on using ingredients and processes that creates minimal carbon emissions.

So, the Tex Mex burger (spicy vegetarian patty, barbeque sauce, guacamole, salsa, cheese and lettuce on a white or brown bun) creates 1.72 kilograms of carbon, compared to 2.55 kilograms for a comparable meat-based product — a savings of nearly one kg.

Technomic’s 2010 Top 100 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurant Report notes that, besides burgers (up 16.7%), the fastest-growing menu categories reflect our desire for international flavors: Asian/noodle (up 6.4%) and Mexican (up 6.3%). It seems that Otarian — with its global conservation goals, pan-Atlantic locations and sustainable menu items — might be onto something.

(Photo credit: Otarian/Oswal Projects)

MOM’s Organic Market is a retailer on a mission. It has rigorous nutrition standards for all of its products, including no high fructose corn syrup, preservatives or artificial flavors. In 2005, it became one of the first supermarkets in the country to eliminate plastic bags, and last year it did the same with imported bottled water.

And it has a president, Scott Nash, who says things like this:

“Societies are truly addicted to plastic, much in the way we are addicted to oil.”

This level of dedication is rare in the retail industry, and it has brought MOM’s a great deal of success through die-hard customer loyalty. It’s also made the company one of the few that sets the curve for industry health and wellness.

It should come as no surprise, then, that MOM’s has a new mission — one that’s a pretty big leap, even by its own high standards:

Eliminate plastic from its stores.

Or at least comes as close as possible. As Nash’s quote conveys, MOM’s doesn’t feel it’s being a truly sustainable retailer by letting all those bags and containers make their way into garbage dumps and ocean gyres. The company already has an extensive recycling program, shows a preference for biodegradable packaging and pressures its manufacturers to use less plastic. This week, MOM’s announced it will go even further, eliminating all bottled water, bagged vegetables, and petroleum-based wax paper from shelves. It’ll offer biodegradable bags and paper instead, and allow customers to use their own bags for bulk purchases. To fill that need for healthy, portable hydration, MOM’s will have water filtration machines in stores. MORE…

Packaging matters. If the explosion in reusable grocery totes hasn’t convinced you of that, maybe this research will. According to our own MamboTrack Quick Poll, taken just last month, four in 10 (40%) consumers recently tried a new brand or switched products, specifically because it had more earth-friendly packaging.

This issue is trending right now in a very public way, thanks to a media blitz for SunChips new compostable chip bag. The bag is made from plants and will reportedly break down in 14 weeks in an active compost pile.

But it’s not just compostable and/or biodegradable packaging that’s winning consumer affection. They also prefer packaging that can be recycled or is made from recyclable materials.

That’s an issue Whole Foods Market has taken to heart with the Gimme 5 recycling program. It’s for #5 plastics like those typically found in yogurt, cottage cheese, and other tub-style containers. Most communities don’t collect those plastics for recycling. MORE…

Plastic has slowly, but steadily been gaining acceptance as a wine vessel as more people understand that plastic — PET bottles, screw caps and corks, and bag-in-box containers — can be better for the environment. And when it comes to the discerning palette of a wine drinker, and their strong affinity for lush orchards and fields of grape arbors, the environment is an important element of the business.

The statistics I read vary, but all the numbers point to reduced costs in both manufacturing and transportation (which lessens the impact on the environment). On average, wine makers can lower shipping costs up to 33% less by using plastic; conversely, they can load about 67% more wine on a truck.

“Lighter bottles mean less fuel used in the shipping process,” reads a post on Mother Nature Network. “This is where the environmental benefits come in. The plastic bottles weigh 1/8th as much as glass bottles, which usually weigh about 14 ounces. Less fuel used to ship these lighter bottles means a smaller carbon footprint during the shipping process.” MORE…

Today is Earth Day, and that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To some, it’s a reason to be pessimistic; a reminder of our increasing focus on “green” consumerism, which detractors say makes people feel better about themselves but doesn’t adequately address the problems facing our environment. To others, it’s a chance to reflect on their habits and develop new ways to consume less and simplify their lives. It’s a revelation, a crock, an opportunity, and just not enough — all at once.

It definitely isn’t what it used to be. As a story in today’s New York Times points out, the first Earth Day, back in 1970, was staunchly anti-business. More than a million participants marched down New York City’s Fifth Avenue and occupied Central Park in what, during the Vietnam/Woodstock era, was more love-in than national holiday.

Now we’ve got recycling promotions by Pepsi, Chiquita’s “365 Days of Sustainability”, and a pitch from a condom company to save the polar bears by practicing birth control. Not to mention programs from just about every supermarket retailer out there. Business has become inextricably linked to the environmental movement. The question is: what’s progress, and what’s marketing hype?

This is important for retailers and manufacturers to consider. On one level, there’s the argument that consumers are growing more educated and demanding authenticity. Think about it. Would anybody have predicted ten years ago that there’d be so much animosity towards high-fructose corn syrup? Or that, with all the choice and sophisticated ordering systems and marketing behind a modern supermarket, so many consumers really just want a farmer’s market experience — a place where they can buy canvas bags and purchase local and organic products? MORE…

Trader Joe’s is a retailer that likes to do things its own way, and has enjoyed immense success because of it. From the Hawaiian shirts to the one-of-a-kind private label selection, to the plucky marketing language it employs in stores and online — there’s no mistaking the company for its competition.

A couple years ago, however, Trader Joe’s showed that it also had a stubborn side. Under pressure from the Humane Society, and despite the fact that most major retailers had made the decision already, the company refused to source cage-free eggs under its private label umbrella. It eventually relented in 2005, but has remained something of a holdout on another key issue: seafood. A recent Greenpeace scorecard ranked Trader Joe’s 17th out of 20 mainstream retailers on its sustainable seafood offerings.

Thankfully, Trader Joe’s decided not to hold out for very long. Last week on its website, the company announced that all of its seafood would come from sustainable sources by the end of 2012. It’s currently working with a third-party organizations to set goals and standards for the effort, and plans to soon include more information on seafood packaging, including species background and catch or production method.

It’s also clear — now that it’s committed — that Trader Joe’s aims to be an agent for change on the issue.

“We aim to use our purchasing power to leverage change within the seafood supply community,” the company wrote on its website. MORE…

Each day on the show floor brings new insights into how the many moving parts in the natural foods industry can process emerging consumer demand and turn out products that answer the call. There were two trends that we saw in the aisles yesterday that will soon be coming to a store near you:

Flexitarian Soy: Soy regularly gets into trouble. Studies come out against it, only to be answered by research refuting the original findings. Nevertheless, soy remains the dominant alternative protein of choice for vegans and vegetarians — and now, it seems, flexitarians.

That last term was coined recently to describe those people who might also call themselves “casual vegetarians.” They don’t follow a rigorous no-meat diet, but they have cut down on their meat consumption, either for health or ethical reasons. Judging from some of the products we’re seeing here, it seems as if soy manufacturers are poised to deliver a soy product that increases the acceptance factor of these part-timers.

First, from Vitasoy/Nasoya, comes a line that’s been fortified with essential vitamins (particularly B12) that are primarily found in meat, and often at risk in a vegetarian diet. The second comes from Harmony Foods, which is introducing a dry soy mix that is extremely flexible (after all, flexitarian eaters must desire flexibility) and can be shaped into patties, balls or crumbles, simply by adding water.

What’s more — and here’s the kicker — the latter product is flavored to mimic certain animal proteins, such as chicken. So, these optional vegetarian consumers will be able to find a compromise between their actions and their desires.

Then there’s product redesign: An impressive number of manufacturers are unveiling new graphics, updated logos and more ecological packaging at the show. Among the big ones we found were Nature’s Path, the Canada-based maker of cereals and cereal bars. Their new boxes are 30% smaller now, though they contain the same amount of product. What’s more, the dimensions of the boxes won’t require retailers to reset shelves or change planograms, One of the side benefits for companies undertaking such a program is that, if the work with retailers, they’ll likely be ablr to get one or two more facings of their products onto shelves.

Over at Barbara’s Bakery, the company’s iconic puffin no longer gets top billing in the graphics. We learned that the new design will harken back to the company’s founding, and its California roots, with a bucolic image and a craft-paper shade of brown threading throughout.

We’ll note that all of the products mentioned are either just coming to market or are going into distribution right after the show. The fact that many manufacturers time their efforts to Expo West indicates the importance they give the show as a marketplace of ideas. For this reporter, this makes wandering the aisle more like a treasure hunt for seek out the new and improved items your customers are going to soon see.

Next month we head out to Anaheim for Expo West, the great green granddaddy of trade shows for the natural and organic industry. We’re anxiously anticipating that, and in the meantime there are a few smaller shows to tide us over, like today’s Green Products Expo in midtown Manhattan.

We went up this afternoon, walked the floor, and came back with a grab bag of new product information. Vendors covered a wide range of categories, from spice companies to cookware to toilet leak detectors. If there was one unifying theme, though, it was providing reusable substitutes for many commonly used products.

Now let me just reach into the bag and pull out a few of the highlights…

- Conserve: Reusable water bottles have gotten a lot of attention lately, and now we’re seeing that concept evolve into other containers and packaging. Conserve has come out with a combo pack that includes a reusable spray bottle and four cleaning tablets. Drop in a tablet, fill the bottle with water, and you’ve got your cleaning solution.

- Regreet: This is an even more interesting twist on the “reusable” concept. Rather than throw out that birthday card, Regreet wants you to cover over the signature with one of its sticky pads and write in your own. It sounds a bit tacky, but the cover-ups are colorful and attractive. Also consider that millions of paper cards get thrown out each year. MORE…

Terms like vegetarian, vegan and locavore may not refer to mainstream movements, but they say a lot about our culture and the way we eat. Very few people, for instance, are able to consume only food grown within a hundred mile radius — yet the influence of “local” can be seen in every mainstream supermarket these days.

And so it goes with the latest term to be added to the health and wellness lexicon: flexitarian.

So what’s a flexitarian? It’s someone who tries to incorporate meatless meals into her diet but isn’t a strict vegetarian. It sounds a bit hard to pin down, but there’s no doubt it’s fully established and making inroads. Compass Group, the world’s largest food distributor, just announced its “Be A Flexitarian” initiative, which will expand the company’s meat-free offerings and promote flexitarian living.

“It doesn’t take an all-or-nothing approach to make a major impact, and giving customers more meat-free meal choices will improve health, reduce the impact of global warming and help animals,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society, in a release praising the new program.

Compass reaches millions of students, office workers and sports fans at cafeterias and food stops around the country, so it’s not hard to imagine the impact this will have. Even the most vegetable-resistant, hot-dog-scarfing consumers will be exposed to the possibility that such foods can be tasty and healthy. That kind of exposure will no doubt trickle down to the retail level in some form. MORE…

State-of-the-industry reports have been coming fast and furious lately, what with the fate of natural and organic products on so many people’s minds these days. Most of these conflict one another, or they come from firms we’ve never heard of (hello, junk folder!) — so we’re happy when we get our hands on numbers from a name we know and use often, like Mintel.

According to the Chicago-based research firm, 36% of consumers say they regularly or almost always buy green products. That’s the same percentage as reported last year, and kind of a bummer when you consider that this number tripled between 2007 and 2008. But considering how tough these times are — record layoffs, an anemic stock market, middle-class families shopping food pantries — it’s a wonder this percentage didn’t go down.

I think it’s safe to say the honeymoon period for health and wellness products is over. For years, retailers have been able to stock their shelves with organic this, and all natural that, and consumers have bought them up out of sheer novelty. MORE…