Meagan McGinnes

In a deal that’s shaking the shopping experience for consumers, retailers, and food and beverage companies, Amazon’s scooping up of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion on Friday has hardened talk of large-scale disruption in the way consumers buy their groceries. The deal is the largest U.S. grocery transaction since a $17.4 billion takeover of Albertsons, according to Mergermarket. Here’s an in-depth look into the acquisition and its implications for the retailers and beyond.

Come Ready Nutrition is hoping for a win with its newly doubled portfolio of performance-based snacks. At the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, Illinois, last month the brand rolled out protein puffs, apple slices and protein waters, all which will retail for under $3. Patrick Cavanaugh, President and founder of Come Ready Nutrition, told NOSH he hopes the new products will expand the usage occasions for the brand, as well as the day-parts in which they are consumed.

Over the past year social media platforms became dominated with cauliflower-based items and one rose to the top: cauliflower crust pizza. Now it’s taking off in retail, too. Just a short four months after its launch, Caulipower, a ready-to-cook cauliflower pizza and crust company, has added a thousand retailers.

There is no such thing as an afternoon slump at NOSH Live. Presentations continued throughout the day on topics ranging from what’s trending in Whole Foods Market to scaling and selling your business. Here are a few highlights from the afternoon sessions at NOSH Live Summer 2017.

The event at the Metropolitan West in New York City was packed with presentations ranging from the keys to growing brands and relationships to the steps for rapid growth and the best branding for good-for-you products. The buzz of networking breaks was actionable advice, stories from market leaders and conversations with industry trailblazers — and that was all before lunch.

The New York-based, mission-driven hot sauce brand won the second annual Project NOSH Pitch Slam at the Metropolitan West in New York City on Monday. Bronx Hot Sauce Vice President Daniel Fitzgerald competed against representatives from four other emerging brands: Cali’flour Foods, Zesty Z, Bearded Brothers and Partake Foods.

Retailers looking to ride the waves of change this summer are adding new brands to their offerings. From burgers to bites, here is the latest in distribution news from the natural world.

When owner Pascal Rigo bought back his bakery brand, formerly La Boulange, from the Seattle-based coffee company in 2015, he quickly got to work. Now, the beloved San Francisco-based chain is reopening its retail stores, rebuilding its private label presence, and launching its own branded CPG line in Costco.

While at the Sweets and Snacks Conference in Chicago, Illinois, IRI snack industry expert Sally Lyons Wyatt reported on the “state of snack,” sharing the group’s latest research on 2016 category performances and marketplace predictions for 2017. Here are five noteworthy takeaways from her report.

Last week, the NOSH team trekked through a real-life Candy Land during the 20th annual Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, Illinois, in search of the latest trends in treats– and now they’re sharing their findings with the BevNET podcast.