Carol Ortenberg

At NOSH Live Winter 2018, Leslie Miller, Unilever’s Director of Ice Cream North America, shared how she approaches product development and category analysis for one of the top players in the ice cream set. At the heart, she said, must always be the consumer and regardless whether your company is big or small, it’s that focus that will lead a brand to succeed.

This week two emerging brands — Kalahari Biltong and Ancient Nutrition — announced the appointment of new CEOs. At both companies, the executives will assume the role from founders that previously held the position.

The publicly traded health-and-wellness corporation announced today the creation of Curation Foods, a corporate umbrella that will hold Landec’s five food brands: Eat Smart, O Olive Oil and Vinegar, Now Planting, and Yucatan and Cabo Fresh.

Caulipower, a brand under the Vegolutionary Foods umbrella, today announced the launch of its newest frozen innovation, the cauliflower tortilla. The vegetable focus has paid off for the brand. In 2018, the company had revenues of over $45 million.

Rhythm Superfoods is hoping a brand redesign and portfolio expansion will bear fruit. Next week at the Fancy Foods Show the produce snacking company will debut a new line of fruit snacks and, later this year, will reveal refreshed branding, according to CEO Scott Jensen.

Change is difficult. But often it’s needed — even vital — to move your company forward. That’s what Angie Bastian discovered when she decided to rebrand her popcorn line as Angie’s Boomchickapop, despite a loyal following under the name Angie’s Kettle Corn. In this video, recorded at NOSH Live Winter 2018, Bastian shared why she chose to make this decision, even though the company risked losing consumers who knew and loved the old brand.

Less than two years after repositioning its line, hummus brand Ithaca Cold-Crafted has grown to being on shelves in over 3,000 retailers. To see further distribution growth, the company announced today that it has closed a $2.7M round of funding.

After of a year of fast growth, plant-based dairy brand Lavva has undergone a rebrand that places a greater emphasis on taste as it seeks to expand its consumer base in 2019. The brand has enjoyed success since launching roughly a year ago, growing to 1,000 doors in retailers and closing $5.8 million in investment.

At NOSH Live Winter 2018, Kathryn Peters, EVP of retailer services at SPINS, and Brian Reed, principle at IRI, revealed that for food brands, simply being “natural” is no longer enough to capture consumers. However, the duo said, there’s plenty of white spaces for brands to seek out.

Lantana Hummus CEO Matt Gase says he was “born into big food.” In both his time responsible for some of the top food and pet brands as well as CEO of emerging brands, over the years Gase learned “there are tremendous advantages to big food, but there are vulnerabilities as well.”