Innovation Issue Vol. 2

What does it mean to innovate in food today? For this round of standout makers, innovation isn't about chasing the next trend — it's about doing the old things better than anyone else. Maui Nui Venison turns axis deer overpopulation into some of the cleanest protein on earth. Kettle & Fire revives grass-fed beef tallow as the steakhouse-quality cooking fat your grandfather actually used. Savage Jerky proves veteran-owned, hand-crafted snack meat still has a place between mass-market gas station bags. Egmont Honey ships New Zealand Mānuka with hive-to-shelf transparency. Renfro's invents a brand new condiment category at the intersection of pickle and salsa. Still Branch puts a bar-quality Old Fashioned in your pocket. This is food that surprises, delights, and — most importantly — moves the category forward.

Wild Harvested Venison Stick Starter Pack // Maui Nui Venison // Maui, HI

Maui Nui's Stick Starter Pack is a six-pack tour of the cleanest — and most nutrient-dense — meat snack on earth. Each stick delivers 10 grams of complete protein in just 55 calories: a 1:5.5 protein-to-calorie ratio no conventional meat stick comes close to, with no preservatives, no fillers, and no seed oils, sourced entirely from free-roaming wild axis deer in the upcountry forests of Maui. The pack samples Original (warm spice with a hint of brown sugar), Peppered (clean heat from black and red pepper), and Chila Pepa (slow-fermented chili, real wood smoke, a savory build that lingers). And because the deer are harvested stress-free, the meat never turns gamey — it stays tender, rich, and clean enough to land on Michelin-starred menus. Drop one in your pocket for a hike, stash one in the glove box, or build a charcuterie board around them — these are snack sticks that earn a permanent spot in the rotation.

What makes Maui Nui an Innovator?

Maui Nui is innovating by inverting how we think about wild meat. Instead of farming protein, their team stress-free harvests axis deer that are devastating Maui's native ecosystem — at night, in the field, using FLIR thermal imaging, in the only USDA-approved wild-game harvesting program of its kind in the country — turning an invasive-species crisis into the most regeneratively sourced protein on the market. Every stick is field-harvested, processed at their on-island facility, and traceable from animal to package. And the nutrition backs the story up: in an independent Utah State University study spanning 250+ ranches, the venison out-measured grass-fed beef on protein density, antioxidants, and omega ratios — what leading physiologist Dr. Andy Galpin called "by a country mile, the best I've ever measured." It's a conservation model dressed up as a snack brand — one that has donated 905,000+ meals to Maui families through its Holo ʻAi program — and the meat happens to be some of  the best we've ever had.

Try the healthiest meat stick on the planet — and save while you're at it.

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Recipes:

The Maui Nui Charcuterie Board

Snack Better — Maui Nui's Snacking Guide

Original Bacon Jerky // Savage Jerky Co // USA

Savage's Original Bacon Jerky is veteran-owned, uncured, thick-cut, and engineered for people who actually care about what's in their food. Each bag delivers serious protein, real bacon flavor, and the kind of texture you only get from a small kitchen that cures and smokes batches by hand. No preservatives. No high-fructose syrup. No mystery ingredients you can't pronounce. Just bacon — done the way bacon was supposed to be — with the kind of bold, uncompromising flavor that turned a frustrated home-kitchen project into a full-blown obsession. Tear into a strip on the trail, the tailgate, the road trip, or the couch — there's no wrong moment for thick-cut bacon jerky.

What makes Savage Jerky an Innovator?

Savage Jerky is innovating by treating jerky as a craft, not a convenience product. As a proud veteran-owned brand, Savage carries the values of discipline, grit, and integrity from service straight into the kitchen — sourcing premium cuts, crafting every batch by hand in the USA, and refusing the preservative-loaded, sugar-laden, additive-stuffed jerky that dominates the snack aisle. What started as a home-kitchen rebellion against over-processed garbage became a meat snack brand built on a single principle: you should be able to read every ingredient on the label and recognize every word.

100% Grass-Fed Beef Tallow // Kettle & Fire // Austin, TX

Kettle & Fire's grass-fed, grass-finished beef tallow is the throwback cooking fat your grandfather used — and the one steakhouses, home grillers, and seed-oil refugees are rushing back to. Slow-rendered from 100% grass-fed and grass-finished cattle, it's a single-ingredient fat with a mild beef flavor and subtle earthy richness that enhances food without overpowering it. Use it to sear steaks, burgers, pork chops, and chicken thighs. Roast potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms. Fry eggs, hash, and smashed potatoes. Build cast-iron crusts and steakhouse-style char on everything you cook. Swap it anywhere you'd reach for butter or oil when you want more flavor and better browning. Seed Oil Free Certified, Non-GMO Project Verified, and made without stabilizers, emulsifiers, or artificial additives.

What makes Kettle & Fire an Innovator?

Kettle & Fire is innovating by reviving a cooking fat that food culture spent decades trying to forget. Beef tallow was the standard fat in American kitchens for a century before seed oils took over the supermarket — and Kettle & Fire is leading the comeback by sourcing 100% grass-fed cattle, slow-rendering for clean flavor, and certifying every jar Seed Oil Free. It's not invention. It's restoration. And in a 2026 pantry, restoration is the most innovative move on the shelf.

Want more Kettle & Fire? Click here to get 20% off sitewide

Recipes:

What Is Tallow? 10 Practical Tips + Benefits

Keto Fried Chicken (Made with Tallow)

Mānuka Honey // Egmont Honey // Taranaki, New Zealand

Egmont's Mānuka Honey is harvested from remote stretches of New Zealand's Taranaki region — the rugged farmland and native bush at the foot of Mount Taranaki where wild Mānuka trees thrive. The flavor is unmistakably richer and more complex than standard honey: earthy, floral, with a touch of natural caramel that gives it incredible range in the kitchen. While Mānuka is famously good straight from the spoon, its depth is what makes it a secret weapon in savory cooking. Stir a spoonful into homemade BBQ sauce to balance acidity. Combine it with mustard, garlic, and apple cider vinegar for a pork-rib glaze. Mix it into a mop sauce for smoked brisket. Combine with hot sauce to make your own hot honey. Drizzle it over fried chicken. Add it to bourbon, soy sauce, and black pepper for the best beef-rib marinade you'll cook this year.

What makes Egmont Honey an Innovator?

Egmont Honey is innovating through total transparency in a category drowning in marketing claims. From hive placement in remote New Zealand bush, through independent testing, to packing in their purpose-built New Plymouth facility, Egmont maintains full oversight of every jar — and certifies every batch independently to guarantee genuine New Zealand Mānuka. It's a family-owned philosophy: respect the land, care for the bees, let the product speak for itself. In a market full of generic honey dressed up with a Mānuka label, Egmont chose source traceability and verification over noise. What started with a single gifted beehive has become a family-owned honey brand shipping to 30+ countries — without changing the philosophy that started it.

Recipes:

Bourbon-Mānuka BBQ Mop Sauce

Mānuka Honey Old Fashioned Syrup

Spicy Pickle Salsa // Renfro Foods // Fort Worth, TX

Renfro's Spicy Pickle Salsa is the strange, brilliant condiment hybrid you didn't know your chip needed. A fourth-generation Texas family makes it — combining tangy dill pickle brine with the depth of proper Texas salsa, then giving it a kick of jalapeño for good measure. The result is a chip dip, a taco topper, a hot dog upgrade, a deviled egg secret weapon, and a Bloody Mary mix-in all in one jar. Salty, briny, hot, sharp, and absolutely impossible to stop eating once you start. Open it for game day. Sneak it into a charcuterie board. Spoon it over a smashburger. Try not to eat the whole jar standing at the counter.

What makes Renfro's an Innovator?

Renfro's is innovating by inventing a brand new condiment category at the intersection of two American snack staples that should have collided decades ago. Pickle was having a moment. Salsa was a household standard. By fusing the two into a single jar — built on real ingredients and fourth-generation Texas family recipes — Renfro's created the kind of category-defying condiment that doesn't compete with the pickle aisle or the salsa aisle. It defines its own.

Old Fashioned Cocktail Mixer // Still Branch // Portland, OR

Still Branch's single-serve Old Fashioned packets put a bar-quality cocktail in your pocket. Open one packet, pour into a glass with 2 ounces of bourbon or rye, add quality ice, stir for 30 seconds — bar-quality Old Fashioned, no muddler, no bitters collection, no bar cart required. The mixer is built on real ingredients: Kentucky sorghum syrup, real maple, dark brown sugar, Italian marasca cherry syrup, real orange peel extract, and over a dozen botanical bitters. No synthetic flavors. Shelf-stable. Travels anywhere. The 14-count box has earned Platinum and multiple Double Gold medals across major spirits competitions — and it's the easiest way to pour a proper Old Fashioned at a hotel bar, a hunting cabin, a boat day, or a backyard fire.

What makes Still Branch an Innovator?

Still Branch is innovating by stripping the friction out of a classic cocktail without compromising the recipe. Old Fashioneds historically required a muddler, multiple bitters, a sugar source, an orange, ice — and the patience to actually do them right. Still Branch keeps every real ingredient and discards the gear, packaging a multi-Double-Gold-winning recipe into a single shelf-stable sachet. Same drink. Same craft. None of the bar cart. Put one in a travel bag, hand one to a guest, drop one in your jacket pocket — and have the best Old Fashioned anyone in the room is drinking in 30 seconds.

Recipes:

The Classic Still Branch Old Fashioned

Mānuka Honey Old Fashioned (combo move with the Egmont in this crate)