Pizza Prints has made a licensing deal for two new WWE Edible Image designs—flat-printed decorations that are made of starches and FDA-approved edible food colors—for pizza featuring Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown Superstars.

So what’s the deal? With a natural cheese flavor, these pizza decorations allow consumers to literally “consume” their favorite stars.

The WWE Edible Image designs are available at more than 1,200 independent pizza parlors nationwide.

For those who aren’t fans of the WWE, the company also has licensing deals with Nickelodeon, the NBA, NCAA, 80 colleges and universities, as well as Bob the Builder and Thomas.

What goes good with SpongeBob? Maybe ham and pineapple?

From chocolate-covered pretzels, to cheesecake and key lime pie, Vermont-based ice cream empire Ben & Jerry’s has the flavor thing down. Now, thanks to a partnership with late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon and NBC Universal Television Consumer Products, the company can add potato chips to the list of wacky ingredients.

Late Night Snack features vanilla bean ice cream, salty caramel swirl and fudge-covered potato chip clusters. The odd concoction was inspired by a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon skit in which Fallon and house band The Roots performed an original song, “Ladysmith Snack Mambazo,” about Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Late Night Snack begins arriving in supermarkets and Ben & Jerry’s locations around the country this week.

Fresh Enterprises LLC, one of the leading franchisors of Mexican casual restaurants in the U.S., has tapped Brand Central LLC, a LA-based consumer products company, as its licensing agency. In addition to top property Baja Fresh, Brand Central will also represent Fresh Enterprises’ family of brands, including the authentic Mexican restaurant chain La Salsa. Baja Fresh is the first client in Brand Central’s new restaurant division.

Brand Central will be responsible for extending the authenticity of the Baja Fresh restaurant, which doesn’t use freezers, microwaves, or can openers, into new product categories through licensing partnerships ranging from fresh refrigerated food offerings to salsas and condiments.

Good Housekeeping Good Food is adding five new products to its pantry line. Building on the success of the brand, which launched in fall 2009, the new products are being introduced at the National Association of Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) Fancy Food Show in New York.

With the addition of two new pasta sauces, Tomato Vodka and Roasted Garlic, the category will now offer six options and range from the popular Marinara to more adventurous flavors that include artichokes, olives, and roasted peppers. Three new products will increase the dressing/vinaigrette category to a total of six with the additions of BLT Dressing, Honey Lemon Dijon Dressing, and Italian Balsamic Vinaigrette.
As Good Housekeeping celebrates its 125th anniversary, the Good Food pantry line also celebrates its success in the marketplace with placement in nearly 3,000 supermarkets since its introduction last fall.

Through a new deal with Major League Baseball Properties, Team Grill has extended its line of professional-grade gas grills to include MLB-branded grills. The first two branded grills to debut will feature the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, with more available soon.

Team Grill products are sold through select retail outlets, including specialty BBQ stores, outdoor living stores, and through online retailers including teamgrill.com, Amazon.com and Sears.com.

Check out the website for a complete list of teams, models, and features, and this YouTube channel to watch demos of the products in the line in action.

Do you love chocolate? Do you love cute little cartoon monkeys? Who doesn’t?

Paul Frank Industries has partnered with Nestlé to introduce the limited-edition Paul Frank Nestlé Crunch bar. The collaboration marks Paul Frank’s debut in the confections retail environment.

Under the agreement, a Nestlé Crunch bar will be tucked inside a colorful gift envelope that doubles as a holiday card. The unique packaging features holiday artwork and the characters from the Paul Frank collection, including Julius the Monkey and Worry Bear.  The piece is finished with a special note where a heartfelt message can be written.

The Paul Frank Nestlé Crunch bar will be available exclusively at select retailers, including Paul Frank stores, beginning November 2010.

On the eve of Licensing Show, Scholastic Media (SM) has announced new deals for Clifford the Big Red Dog that will bring the property into everything from apparel and framed prints to musical instruments and even chocolate throughout the rest of this year.

Leading with apparel, Scholastic Media has aligned with Trevco Inc. for a line of Clifford the Big Red Dog T-shirts in infant, toddler, youth, and juvenile sizes.  For the home, Starry Story will offer framed and unframed Clifford prints and lithographs. SM then turns its focus on children’s music through its deal with Kidz Toyz, which will release an electronic keyboard with other musical instruments to follow. And finally, Healthy Chocolate, a sugar-free chocolate, will introduce various branded, mostly organic chocolate products.

These agreements augment an active period for the Clifford the Big Red Dog brand, which is currently in the midst of the second year of the Clifford BE BIG campaign.  The Clifford BE BIG campaign is a fully integrated cause marketing program that invites everyone to take action and raise awareness for how Clifford’s BIG ideas (Share, Play Fair, Have Respect, Work Together, Be Responsible, Be Truthful, Be Kind, Believe in Yourself, Be a Good Friend, and Help Others) can make the world a better place.

Stone America has announced that current client Mel’s Drive-In has signed its first food licensing agreement with Vita Foods to develop a line of branded burger sauce and seasoning, chili sauce and seasoning, dessert toppings, and pancake syrups. The Mel’s Drive-In line will feature various flavors that the Mel’s Drive-In consumer has enjoyed at Mel’s over the years. The products will be released early next year.

The Vita Seafood division is a U.S. leader in the herring production market and the refrigerated salmon marketplace, and is engaged in several other food segments, including cream cheese, cocktail sauce, tartar sauce, and horseradish. Vita markets and sells these items under the Vita, Elf, and Grand Isle brands. More than 95 percent of Vita Seafood’s sales are in kosher foods. Vita Specialty Foods, Inc., Vita’s wholly owned subsidiary, markets and sells sweeteners, salad dressings, barbecue sauces, and other meat enhancements, dessert toppers, and salsas.

Made famous by George Lucas’ 1973 film American Graffiti, the original Mel’s Drive-In was founded in 1947 by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs in San Francisco. Mel’s was also used as a location in the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Mel’s has licensing agreements with Universal Theme Parks with Mel’s locations in Hollywood, Florida, Japan, and Singapore.

Act III Licensing announced today two new agreements on behalf of its client, Sunkist Growers. Sunkist recently selected Act III Licensing as its Agent to enhance Sunkist’s fresh and healthy brand into quality non-foods categories.

Omega Products, Inc., owned by Greenfield Worldwide, has launched a line of Sunkist branded juicers, blenders and food processors.  The initial line was recently unveiled at the most recent International Home + Housewares Show held in Chicago, IL.  Product will appear in specialty, mid-tier and mass markets in the fall.

C-Life Group has introduced a line of retro-Sunkist Tee shirts for men and juniors. The tees will launch this summer at JCPenney and other retailers. The line features vintage Sunkist fruit crate logos representative of the 100-year history of Sunkist.

IMC Licensing announced today that it has negotiated a new licensing agreement for Sunkist Growers. The licensee is Los Angeles-based Titan Foods, Inc., a manufacturer and importer of candies, cookies, and fruit, which will be importing and producing a new line of real dried fruit for healthy snacking for all ages.

Sunkist Dried Fruit, marketed as “Where Healthy Meets Delicious,” includes a range of dried berries grown and processed in USA as well as mangoes processed in China. Initial real dried fruit products include cranberries, tart cherries, and blueberries.

Sunkist Dried Fruit will launch this month, with distribution channels expected to include retail grocery stores and club stores in North America.
“Sunkist is one of the most recognized and respected fruit brands in the world, known for its quality, fresh taste and natural goodness. Sunkist Dried Fruit is a great opportunity to extend this global brand equity into delicious new line of better-for-you real dried fruit for healthy snacking. We are delighted to bring together Sunkist and Titan Foods to launch this innovative new product line targeting consumers of all ages searching for a healthy on-the-go snack,” says Cara Bernosky, IMC Licensing Ppresident and co-founder.