SupplySide Global 2025: Riviana showcases pulse-forward protein solutions
14 Nov 2025 | Riviana
Riviana, a US-based rice company and part of Ebro Foods, presented a range of clean label protein solutions in Las Vegas, US. Terry Stover, senior vice president of Special Markets at Riviana, explains how the company is innovating with gluten-free cookies and chickpea puffs, along with allergen-free spreads and a pea-based cocoa beverage. He also discusses how Riviana is redefining plant-based categories.
This is Elizabeth Green reporting for Food Ingredients first.
I'm here in Las Vegas at Supply Side Global.
I'm here today with Terry Stover, who is the senior vice president of special markets at Riviana.
Now Rivia is, is an American rice company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Ebro Foods.
Welcome Terry.
Thank you for joining me.
What can you tell us about some of the concepts that you've brought here to Las Vegas at Supply Side Global?
This year's show we're highlighting a number of new innovations we're bringing to the market, so extending, you know, a line of rice and rice flour products we've been producing for many years, now moving into pulse proteins, soluble rice flour, heat treated, ready to eat products for safety reasons, and of course.
Making it easier to understand some of these concepts with with applications that our R&D lab produced as as demonstrations of the concept.
OK, nice.
Now as I've, as I've walked the trade show floor, I can see that protein is a big contender and a big hot topic.
How do your company's pulse protein solutions like chickpea and pea-based ingredients contribute to this growing demand for plant-based and allergen-free offerings?
Yeah, you see around the show it's a hot topic.
Protein is the trend in the US, and more and more people want protein in their diets.
They look for protein enhanced solutions whether they're snacks or in their foods they eat the products that we're bringing to market.
Like chickpea protein integrate really into snacks, into beverages, into spreads so that you can see how they're more easily applied to satisfy this trend in the in the industry.
Yeah, and we're seeing this move to sort of better for you, healthier snacking.
What, what, how do your ingredients contribute to these trends that we're seeing for consumer preferences?
A big part of that healthier eating, healthier snacking is also on the go, right?
So people want to be able to eat quickly, grab and go snacks, snacking throughout the day.
So if you take the thought of wanting to.
Divide your meal time up into several points during the day.
If you want a quick snack, it's helpful to have a snack that is a little bit healthier, higher protein, so then we can start talking about things like whether they're chips or spreads.
They're also protein enhanced so you get more nutrition.
All of our products here are are all natural allergen free products, so we touch on the various things that are important to consumers, right?
We want clean label.
We want to understand what's in the product and when you talk about rice flour or chicken.
And that's pretty clear to a consumer what they're getting with what they eat.
Fantastic.
So you've got some concepts here on the stand.
What can you tell us about the hazelnut cocoa spread and what makes this concept so unique?
And I can show it to you here we have these little samples of, of this exactly as you said it's a chickpea hazelnut spread cocoa hazelnut spread so here you have.
Something higher in protein, nutritious, but it tastes good and we like this application because it's, it's fun.
You can enjoy, you know, the snack you spread that like you would, you know, other brands of products that maybe aren't quite as high in protein.
You get the nutrition you can, you know, enjoy it.
It tastes good.
It's a fun snack to have during the day while you're also fully plant-based, all natural, you know, protein, so it's taken a lot of those consumer.
Boxes that we're seeing, right, right, checking all the boxes, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And what about your pea-based cocoa beverage?
Is that also a concept that you have there?
That's this one here, yeah, so, and, and again, we're making the ingredients that go in here, so this is a demonstration of how that can be applied, but pea protein is, is easily produced into a beverage.
It's it's a, it's a common.
It's common in many powders that are used to make smoothies and shakes and beverages that are high in protein.
This one is a chocolate drink that's dairy-free, protein rich, and again, it tastes good.
This is the type of thing that you have this as a ready to drink product.
Again, grab and go, you can have your quick snacks while you're, you know, going from place to place or if you just need a quick break during your, during your workday.
Nice, thank you very much.
And you you've also got some chickpea puffs here as as another concept that you're showcasing.
How is this also tapping into sustainability trends and clean labels?
Transparency.
How are these playing out in your formulations that you have here on the stand?
All of our formulations follow the products we make, which are, they're plant-based.
They're all natural.
They're clean label.
For example, we have a soluble rice flour that works as a maltodextrin replacement, so that makes for a nicer ingredients label.
All of these follow those trends in addition to being nutritious and protein rich and you know rice, chickpea, these are all products that are farmed with sustainable practices that are.
You know, helpful for renewing the fields and you know maintaining a long term.
Nice.
And finally then, thank you.
And finally then, how has the response been for visitors to the stand today?
What have people got to say about your offerings, your ingredients, and these concepts that you've brought to supply?
Yeah, it's been very positive.
People like to see plant-based nutrition.
They like to see more protein offerings, you know.
Sometimes these demos are good enough that people ask if we're selling the, the demo, but what we're really doing is showcasing the, the ingredient that goes in it.
So we're happy with the, with the response we're getting.
Nice.
Thank you very much, Terry, for your time.
Absolutely, thank you.
