Jeff Klineman

The combined forces of BevNET and Project NOSH descended on the Fancy Food Show in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago, and while the beverage team has already given its take, let’s face it — there’s a heck of a lot more solids on display in the aisle than liquids.

Natural foods giant Hain Celestial announced a major reorganization today as well as the creation of a venture capital arm.

Yesterday may have been May Day, but rather than celebrating the start of Spring, several CPG groups were celebrating an influx of cash. No sooner had we hit our collective seats this morning than a few million dollars had flowed out of investors’ wallets and into entrepreneurial coffers.

For bags of broken chocolate bars, Hershey broke the bank. The massive chocolate company announced today that it had acquired the Ripple Collective, which produces fast-growing snacking chocolate line barkTHINS. Hershey has been diversifying its business from being solely confection-focused to offer more healthy snacking options through acquisition and innovation.

In the month since Natural Products Expo West closed, food and beverage companies have announced millions of dollars’ worth of investment, from strategic investment in companies like Juicero and Body Armor to advanced funding rounds in brands like Perky Jerky and Health Ade.

Last week, Acosta, one of the largest grocery brokers in the world, announced that it had acquired Ignite Sales & Marketing, following a sales process run by Whipstitch capital. The purchase brings a high-touch set of account managers who foster the growth of mid-sized businesses into a brokerage and sales strategy firm that deals with the largest companies in the world.

At BevNet Boot Camp, we’re offering an enhanced opportunity to spend one-on-one time with our speakers as well as an additional group of experts who will be on hand to help provide further perspective on the day’s topics, as well as what challenges may lie beyond.

Although Natural Products Expo West, which ended on Sunday, has swelled to an amazing 3,000 exhibitors, Project NOSH spotted three macro trends (insect based protein, full-fat dairy and single origin products) that spanned numerous categories. In the following video, Project NOSH Editor Carol Ortenberg and BevNET Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman discuss these trends — and the brands and products that embody them.

Newly added speakers include Jeremy Halpern and Bob Stringer, investors with the Edible Ventures angel network, Debbie Wildrick of MetaBrand, and DrinkMaple founders Kate Weiler and Jeff Rose. Beyond the speakers, however, a special two-hour networking session at the end of the day will give attendees the chance to direct their questions to even more experts curated from across even more disciplines.

The all-natural, vertically-integrated jerky company closed on a $5 million funding round shortly before Expo West and is now trying to push East from its California base. The minority investment came from Monogram Capital Partners.