Carol Ortenberg

It’s crunch time for retailers. To attract new customers, retain current customers and plan for long-term, consistent sales growth, several retailers revealed new stores, marketing strategies and location plays over the last week.

Plant-based products are one of the hottest trends in food and beverage, and investors have taken note. Last week, several funds and venture capital firms came together to back Nutriati, a food technology company whose first products are a chickpea flour and chickpea protein concentrate.

Getting kids to eat their vegetables can be a tricky proposition, even for venture capitalists. Recognizing this challenge, some investors are betting on brands, like Kidfresh, that help parents make mealtime a little easier. Kidfresh announced Monday it’s taken in a roughly $10 million Series B equity round for its line of frozen foods with hidden vegetables.

PowerPlant Ventures has looked to coconuts, greens, pea protein and algae, and now the private equity group is betting on beans — and rehabilitation. The venture fund announced today it had acquired Beanfields, a line of rice and bean-based chips. The brand was acquired by a coalition of investors including Zico founder Mark Rampolla, media and CPG investor Bruce Friedman and PowerPlant Ventures, where Rampolla is a partner.

When Mark Ramadan and Scott Norton, the co-founders of high-end condiment company Sir Kensington’s, were introduced to Kees Kruythoff, President of Unilever North America, they went into the meeting with the mindset that their company was not for sale. Five months later, the seven-year-old company announced today that it had been purchased the CPG giant, which owns some of the largest brands in the world — including erstwhile competitor Hellman’s, as well as Ben & Jerry’s, Lipton and Breyer’s.

Now armed with cash and plans for growth, plant-based nutrition bar company D’s Naturals is taking the next step in its “no cow revolution” with the hiring of health and wellness veteran Chris Hickey as CEO.

While traditional dishes at the Passover Seder table may stay the same from generation to generation, food brands don’t have the luxury of remaining complacent. As consumer dietary trends shift and new brands come to market, stalwart brands must also adjust their Passover offerings to remain contemporary.

Natural brands are on the hunt to replace the mainstream confectionary in consumers’ Easter baskets this year. As the desire for cleaner, better-for-you products has become more mainstream and gained traditional retailer support, natural candy companies have hopped to capitalize on seasonal holidays.

With its one-year exclusive with Whole Foods ending, enhanced chocolate brand Good Day Chocolate has closed a bridge round to finance expansion into a new set of retailers.

In the post-Expo West hustle, several industry leaders from brands and retailers alike have taken new positions with up-and-coming natural brands. Several of the additions come after recent rounds of funding, which have enable the companies to scale their hiring.