Carol Ortenberg

Less than a year after departing Whole Foods Market as its global director of local brands product innovation and development, Elly Truesdell has not one but two positions to add to her CV. In addition to serving as chief strategy officer to newly launched copacker Canopy Brands, as of this week Truesdale will act as a portfolio advisor to investment group Almanac Insights, which is run by David Barber.

Consumers are ready for fresh baby food offerings and it’s time to meet that need head on, believes Once Upon a Farm (OUAF) CEO John Foraker. To test this assertion, the chilled baby and child food brand is ready to “go big” thanks to a $20 million dollar investment announced yesterday. CAVU Venture Partners led the round, with S2G Ventures, Beechwood Capital and other earlier investors also taking part.

Jason Karp, CEO and founder of hedge fund Tourbillon Global Master Fund, announced earlier this week that he will be shutting down the multibillion dollar fund and returning roughly $1 billion dollars of capital to investors. His new focus, he told NOSH, will be focusing on health and wellness.

Soon after the close of another round of investment, meat snack brand Chef’s Cut announced today that former Siggi’s CEO Bart Adlam will assume the role of CEO.

In this video, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg and BevNET assistant editor Martin Caballero explore some of the major themes and trends from Expo East 2018 across food and beverage, including the rise of sparkling teas, the plant-based category’s maturation, and some of the most innovative products from this year’s show.

Ingredient producer and bar brand ReGrained announced the close of a $2.5 million round of funding to help propel the brand into its next phase of growth as an ingredient supplier. Family-owned product development firm Griffith Foods led the round with Barilla Group’s venture fund BLU1877 and Telluric Foods also taking part. Roughly $700,000 of the round was also raised from 700 contributors via an equity crowdfunding round on Indiegogo.

While the competitive meal kit market may see a lot of customer turnover, ecommerce kids meal solution Yumble believes it has a sticky solution — and investors do as well. The company announced today the close of a $7 million round of funding led by Sonoma Brands.

Country Archer is deepening its relationship with investor Monogram Capital. The meat snack brand announced this week that it has closed a $10 million round of funding from the investment group. The brand plans to use the capital to increase capacity at its production facility and continue to scale its growth.

Sustainable seafood brand Fishpeople is determined to reinvigorate the seafood department and hook consumers on the concept that seafood can be fun, fast and easy with the launch of two new products — including a fish jerky — at Natural Products Expo East.

Hershey’s is taking another bite out of the snack set, announcing on Wednesday the acquisition of the Pirate Brands business from B&G Foods for $420 million. The acquisition is another step by Hershey to broaden its offerings, moving further afield from confection and deeper into the snack aisle.