These Rising Companies Are Transforming The Food and Beverage Industry

Simply Chocolate and goPuff are changing the game.

Presented by T1

Across nearly every aspect of direct to consumer facing business, both traditional values and business models are becoming rapidly obsolete.

Of course, we all see so much press on this topic in regards to the changing beauty norms along with the collapse of traditional retail business models that supported them, along with the accompanying rise of values of all-inclusivity and e-commerce taking over the fashion business.

Yet, if we’re perceptive enough, we can see the same trend starting to occur in other markets, most notably in the highly-competitive food and beverage space, where old values and business models are being replaced at an alarming rate.

In this piece, we will take a look at exactly how this is occurring through the standards set by two breakthrough modern leaders in the space. The paradigm shift occurring right now in the chocolate industry brings into focus the displacement of traditional values for consumers.

In a market long dominated by traditional players like Nestle and Hershey, there has been little fluctuation or volatility of popular chocolate consumption habits.

Sure, high-end brands like Godiva and Vosges have been able to capture affluent niches through an elevated product, but their high prices places most gourmet chocolates outside the price range of the regular consumer, rendering such brands incapable of driving macro-scale change.

That’s where the perceptive leader in the space, Simply Chocolate, steps in and provides a exciting new solution that fits the needs of modern consumers.

Owned by prominent progressive investor Alshair Fiyaz, Simply Chocolate makes gourmet, high end chocolate accessible to the end consumer on a market level for the first time.

Their all natural chocolate bars–such as the Crispy Carrie and the Salty Fred–are priced at only $3 per bar (roughly the same price as Hershey’s) thus providing a much healthier and more elevated value proposition.

And in a socioeconomic climate which is consistently trending towards healthier alternatives without compromise to performance, Simply Chocolates has set a standard which is producing large scale disruption in the chocolate industry for the first time in decades.

Along with the rise of new values, such as un-compromised performance at an accessible cost and an elevated standard experience for the end consumer, comes new business models.

This is perhaps no more clearly illustrated than with the booming growth of tech company goPuff.

Developed by Yakir Gola and Rafael Ilishayev while they were students at Drexel University, goPuff is the fastest growing digital retailer for convenient store goods, effectively bringing more than 2,500 convenient store items–from snacks to ready- made meals and toiletries–directly to your door.

Rather than just function as a traditional courier, goPuff has centrally located facilities that supply up to 100 cities within the U.S. In its wake, it is rapidly displacing the dependency on retail convenient stores and even starting to erode demand for courier services.

It has also become a sweeping trend amongst A-list celebrities who require bespoke convenience. From actress La La Anthony to pro athletes James Harden and Danny Green to rap stars like Meek Mill, goPuff has become firmly entrenched at the top of today’s cultural pyramid, leading the market to believe it is really here to stay. 

As innovative, high growth companies such as Simply Chocolate and goPuff demonstrate, the food and beverage space is rapidly beginning to optimize to meet the new demands of the digital era and set new precedents will change the food and beverage industry in posterity.