Products low in carbohydrates, everything from ice cream to booze, are taking up more supermarket shelf space, and at least two Spokane-area food producers have rolled out goods aimed at the low-carb diet craze.


Such products are relatively new to the market and still account for a small portion of overall sales for food producers, but early indications suggest that low-carb products are being well-received.


Let me put it this way, says Frank Pigott, president of HearthBread BakeHouse Inc. Since we introduced our Carb-Choice products, its been four new jobs in the bakery.


Low-carb diets, including the popular Atkins diet, have become dramatically more popular during the last couple of years. While theres been some suggestion that the current low-carb fad might be losing steam, food producers say the craze has been widespread enough to produce long-term demand for low-carb alternatives.


HearthBread makes specialty-bread products, including varieties of loaf breads, hoagie rolls, dinner rolls, bagels, and hamburger buns. That company introduced its first line of low-carb breads last September and came out with a second-generation product in March that Pigott says is a substantial improvement over its initial effort.


Les Bischoff, food-safety manager at HearthBread, says that to make its low-carb products, the bakery uses a mix of wheat gluten, soy flour, whole-wheat flour, grains, and seeds in place of enriched flour, which is a standard ingredient in most commercial breads. HearthBreads Carb-Choice breads include 3.9 net carbs per 1-ounce slice, compared with 30 to 35 net carbs for a 2-ounce slice of white bread.


Net carbs are calculated subtracting dietary fiber from total carbs, Bischoff says.


Similarly, A.C. LaRocco Pizza Co., a Spokane Valley-based maker of frozen, natural pizzas, introduced two low-carb pizzas in April at the Expo of the West natural-food show in Anaheim, Calif. Clarence Scott, president of A.C. LaRocco, says new products typically take two to six months to be rotated into retail outlets, but Costco Wholesale Corp., the big Issaquah, Wash.-based membership retailer, picked up the products right away, and Kroger Co., a Cincinnati-based supermarket chain, is adding them also.


At HearthBread, the companys first Carb-Choice products came out well ahead of the low-carb options now being produced by most large commercial bread makers, Pigott says. In the companys first effort, however, the low-carb products came out chewy and didnt have a good flavor, he says.


Unsatisfied with those first attempts, HearthBread experimented with a few different ingredients and came up with a second generation of low-carb products, Pigott says. The company introduced them at a national trade show last March, and in taste tests, the new lines beat their predecessors, he says.


Pigott describes HearthBreads conventional breads as premium products with distinct taste and texture. The Carb-Choice products, however, are more like commercial breads in taste and texture.


A.C. LaRocco, meanwhile, came up with its low-carb pizza alternative at the request of Costco, Scott says.


The company had been reluctant to delve into the low-carb market, because its established pizza products are popular with the Weight Watchers group, which doesnt subscribe to carb-cutting diets.


The low-carb alternative that A.C. LaRocco devised proved to be not only low in carbohydrates, but also scored well under the Weight Watchers points system of dieting. Through that system, a dieter assesses points to food portions based on fat and calories, with points deducted for fiber, to stay under a certain point threshold daily.


Scott says A.C. LaRocco uses a dietary fiber called inulin mixed with whole-wheat flour in place of white flour in its low-carb pizzas. The result is a thin-crust pizza thats high in fiber and low in carbs. So, the product appeals to both low-carb and Weight Watchers dieters.


A.C. LaRoccos low-carb pizzas are available in two varieties, a four-cheese and a spinach and artichoke. The company has 35 distributors nationwide, and the new products still are in the process of making it into retail stores.


So far, though, Scott says, Sales have been really good. Theyve forced us to move a little faster than we would have.


Not every food maker here with a product high in carbohydrates is looking to come up with a low-carb alternative.


Barclay Klingel, chairman and CEO of Spokane-based Fresh Foods Corp. of America, which makes Cyrus OLeary Pies, says that company doesnt plan to jump on the low-carb bandwagon.


We havent seen products or low-carb ingredients on the market that we were impressed with, Klingel says. To be able to create a dessert that is low carb and satisfying has proved elusive.


Cyrus OLeary Pies for years has made some pies with no sugar added. While those products have generated surprisingly strong sales for the company, it hasnt seen any notable upward trend in recent years.


Pigott and Scott both say demand for low-carb products could wane, but both believe there still will be a market for their products in the future.


Scott says that even before A.C. LaRocco thought of coming up with a low-carb pizza, it had wanted to roll out a thin-crust pizzathe companys conventional products have a medium crust.


Even if consumers stopped seeking out low-carb pizzas, the company will keep those lines and market them as thin-crust alternatives to its traditional fare.


Pigott says some of HearthBreads food-service outlets have found that customers have come to expect low-carb menu items. Even if interest wanes, a certain percentage of the population will continue to demand such products.


What will eventually go away is the choices the consumers will have, he says. Theyll continue to be a small percentage of products available, though.