Food Industry News, Insights, and Education for the CPG Community

As consumer interest continues to shift toward fresh, simple ingredients and spicy, globally-inspired flavors, two large CPG players – PepsiCo and Samyang Foods – have extended their respective leading brands to meet those demands.

Baba’s is betting it can break through the crowded hummus category with authentic positioning, passed-through-generations Palestinian family recipes, bold flavor innovation and a broad ambition that reaches beyond dips.

The Hershey Company is building on momentum in snacks and innovation to drive growth in 2026, as strong performance across its core confection brands and expanding salty snacks portfolio pushed first-quarter sales into double digits.

This week on the podcast, Nosh senior reporters Brad Avery and Lukas Southard discuss the FMI’s online grocery report, fresh funding rounds for frozen dessert brands, why Nestle is offloading Blue Bottle and details behind the new brand from Lemon Perfect’s founder.

The Q1 2026 funding report from Northhall paints a picture of a funding environment that is cooling, but not collapsing. Total investment in food, beverage, and CPG brands reached approximately $340M, marking a 13% decline quarter-over-quarter as deal volume also pulled back.

Building on momentum from its first full year of profitable growth, Oatly says its refreshed growth playbook is “beginning to gain traction” in North America as it leans into a more disciplined operational approach.

The energy snack aisle is rotating from caffeine to cognition. Caffeinated gum is up 207% on social channels. L-theanine, lion’s mane, and rhodiola are crowding out BCAAs and ketones. Brightfield’s Q1 2026 report breaks down the stealth formats and ingredient stacks driving the next wave.

We caught up with Laird to understand how it has gone from a business in need of a turnaround to a strategic superfood acquisition platform in just four years.

As the lines between ecommerce and brick-and-mortar become even blurrier, online sales are expected to drive the vast majority of grocery industry growth between 2026 and 2028, per a new report from FMI The Food Industry Association and NIQ. Total U.S. online grocery sales are projected to hit $452 billion by 2028.

Fresh foods delivery platform FreshRealm has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections, and will sell its business and operations through a Court-supervised process.

Discount grocery store chain ALDI is tightening its product standards, announcing plans to eliminate an additional 44 ingredients from its private-label food, vitamin and supplement lines by 2027.

Deana Karim, the founder of direct-to-consumer low-sugar, low-carb and gluten-free baking brand Good Dee’s, has acquired and relaunched West Food Brands (WFB).

Soaring global demand for functional nutrition products, with protein at the forefront, pushed sales up 2.7% in Q1 2026 on the back of 1.5% increase in volume and 1.2% bump in average pricing.

Mediterranean food producer Cedar’s Foods has hit the bullseye, landing in over 1,500 Target stores nationwide. The curated collection includes the brand’s Cucumber Garlic Dill Tzatziki, Hot Honey Dip and Feta Dip.