Executive Sweet: Lily's Sweets Founder Cynthia Tice and Former CEO Jane Miller on the Next Compass Coffee Talk
Executive Sweet: Lily's Sweets Founder Cynthia Tice and Former CEO Jane Miller on the Next Compass Coffee Talk
Cynthia Tice (Left), Founder, and Jane Miller (Right), Former CEO, Lily's Sweets
Join natural and organic leaders Cynthia Tice, Lily’s Sweets founder, and Jane Miller, former CEO, will join Compass Coffee TalkTM for a wide-ranging conversation about their collective experience leading and shaping influential companies. Fresh from the recent acquisition of Boulder, Colorado-based Lily's for a reported $425 million by The Hershey Company, Tice and Miller will share perspectives on their impressive track records of success, the state of the industry, their vision for 2022 and next steps.
About Cynthia Tice
After 40 years in the natural products industry, Cynthia Tice is focused on supporting women in business, finding and introducing the highest quality delicious products for healthier living, supporting young entrepreneurs, and sustainability. Her career in the industry began when, fresh out of college, she opened a natural food store in Philadelphia, and she remains passionate about natural foods and their benefits to people and the planet. In 2012, Tice founded Lily’s, a line of delicious, no-sugar-added line of treats that has disrupted the confection and baking categories. Following the initial launch of four bars, Tice added Lily’s No Sugar Added Baking Chips in 2014, and they became the number one item in natural-channel baking. She later partnered with private equity firm VMG to capitalize on Lily’s growth.
About Jane Miller
Jane Miller has more than 35 years of executive experience in the food industry with both startups and Fortune 500 companies. Most recently the CEO of Lily’s, Miller’s previous CEO positions include Rudi’s Bakery, ProYo High Protein Ice Cream, and HannahMax Cookie Chips. Her career began at PepsiCo, where she became President of Frito-Lay's Central division. Miller co-founded Haevn, a company dedicated to creating jobs for the next generation of leaders, and founded career advice website Jane Knows. She is the author of Sleep Your Way to the Top and Other Myths about Business Success (FG Press, 2014). Miller serves on the boards of the University of Colorado Leeds Business School, Watson Institute and Eldorado Springs Artesian Water. She earned her MBA from Southern Methodist University and a degree in Russian Studies from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
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Sugar Free Is Top Sales Trend in Chocolate
Photo: Pexels
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s October 2021 Industry Newsletter
By Steve Hoffman
“People are really thinking about self-care,” Joanna Lepore, Global Foresight Lead at Mars Wrigley, told the Food Institute. In that pursuit, consumers are seeking moments of indulgence from candy and chocolate, but they are increasingly opting for healthier alternatives. According to IRI data analyzed by the Food Institute, in the 52-week period ending August 8, 2021, chocolate candy dollar sales in the U.S. were up 5.8%, reaching nearly $12.8 billion. However, sales of sugar-free chocolate fared especially well over that 12-month span, increasing 27.4% to roughly $225.64 million. Lepore told the Food Institute that Mars Wrigley is aiming to create snacks to help consumers interested in portion control and consuming a “responsible level of calories and sugar.” She added, “We’re thinking about chocolate as to what role it plays in activating brand values, or giving back to sort of bigger planetary causes, but also thinking about it as being primarily this emotional, social connector.”
In related news, Hershey’s – one of America’s biggest names in chocolate – is responding to the plant-based trend by launching “Oat Made” vegan chocolate bars in select retail markets. “We're working with partners to keep a limited number of stores supplied with a limited quantity of inventory… We'll use the results of our in-market testing to determine whether we take the products to a national launch in the future," said Dan Mohnshine, Hershey’s team lead of strategic growth platforms, in a statement. “After finding that the ingredient formulas of existing products could be improved upon, our masterful R&D team at Hershey developed formulas using oats that we believe deliver better on consumers' expectations than what is in the marketplace today,” he said. Hershey’s launched organic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups earlier this year, and vegan, plant-based Reese’s could be on the horizon, Food & Wine reported.
Iconic natural products company Dr. Bronner’s, however, is already there when it comes to standing behind values, giving back to planetary causes – and innovating plant-based, vegan products. Known worldwide for its natural and organic soaps and for its support of natural health and environmental causes, the company has set its sights on changing the cocoa industry for the better by launching Magic All-One Chocolate, its new line of vegan, fair trade, regenerative organic chocolates. Produced in direct partnership with small-scale cacao farmers, Dr. Bronner’s is using a model it established in 2009 to create its certified organic and fair trade palm oil project, reported Honeysuckle Magazine. “Born from the company’s industry-leading socially and environmentally responsible supply chain and developed with the expertise of world-class Swiss chocolatiers and industry experts—this is a chocolate experience like no other—from the brand that is best known for making soap like no other. Dr. Bronner’s Magic All-One Chocolate is the ultimate expression of ethical business, activist compassion, and deep love for the planet,” the company said in a statement.