Latona Hospitality is a results driven consulting company to the culinary professional looking to grow their business.
They collaborate with food companies, restaurants and businesses from small startups to global companies focusing on research and development of new or existing products; process improvements or business scaling.
The year was 2012. Cider had just become known in America as an option to drink other than beer, wine and spirits. Gluten was entering our lexicon, IPAs were on the upswing and there were a few fruit beers on the market, but not many. And the options being sold where either very sweet, very unpalatable, or didn’t even really taste like the name as added flavor faded.
The Problem: Fruit beer wasn’t very good. The market didn’t have an appreciation for it. Furthermore, brewers turned their nose up to it as a fruity/fancy option for non-beer drinkers.
The Question: Could we brew a fruit beer that met both the market demands for something other than standard IPAs, porters and Ambers while still being balanced and flavorful AND being accepted within the brewing community for flavor and consistent replicable product? End goal getting a product to market from a large brewery.
The Solution: We brewed. We tested. We tasted. We taught ourselves how to make beer. Then we added. Whole fruit, puree, fresh juice, juice concentrate, peel, natural flavor, natural essence
What worked the best? What beers worked the best for fruit addition?
Through this test, we found that juice concentrate worked the best for great flavor, color, aroma and consistency in the finished product and easiest process for brewing. With the addition of natural fruit essence added after brewing and before bottling, we could add a great top note punch that really complemented the grain bill and mid-level hops.
This analysis and testing laid the foundation for fruit beers in the market today. Grapefruit IPA’s, Shandys, Radlers, fruit ambers,
Best Flavor combinations:
Raspberry Wheat (raspberry juice concentrate, raspberry essence)
Grapefruit IPA (grapefruit jc, orange peel, citrus toned hops)
Marionberry Amber (marionberry juice concentrate)
Citrus Pale Ale (orange jc, lemon jc, grapefruit jc, orange peel, grains of paradise)
Martinellis, the classic sparkling apple juice and cider company wanted a line extension to help extend sales into lower performing seasons and to help with more consistent production schedules. Steve and team developed a line of super fruit kids beverages focusing on antioxidants and fun flavor combinations. In addition, a line of sparkling and still flavored lemonades to sell throughout the spring and summer. Steve was heavily involved in product ideation, flavor combination suggestion, flavor formulation and supply chain planning. The product line was eventually sold in Costco and grocery chains nationwide.
Steve did an initial assessment of their culinary program and restaurant operations. Through client interaction, we devised a short term list of tasks for setting a foundation for house recipes, trend tasting/analysis, new recipe, new menu item development and implementation, updates to their operation for efficient flow and consistency. Beyond this initial project, Steve helped Homegrown grow from 4 units in 1 city, to 13 units in two cities over a 3 year period while outsourcing with quality and flavor, all house made recipes and products for easier exponential growth and consistent supply chain.
Hail Merry vegan snacks was launching a new savory product line and needed some recipes for food service and home chefs alike to understand product uses for specific menu categories.
Steve developed a full list of tested recipes for initial launch.
