Meagan McGinnes

Amplify Snack Brands, the company behind SkinnyPop Popcorn, and snack giant Snyder’s-Lance began a legal battle over the word “skinny” last week. Amplify filed a federal trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit against Snyder’s over the company’s plans to start selling its newly acquired popcorn brand, Metcalfe’s Skinny, in the U.S.

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.

Specialty represents nearly 15 percent of all food sales at retail, and, for the first time, this sector’s sales in multi-unit grocery and mass merchants outpaced the growth of sales in natural and specialty chains, according to the Specialty Food Association’s annual State of the Industry report released Wednesday.

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.

Financing growth takes money. Here is a look at four companies — Love Grown, Kar’s Nuts, Custom Made Meals and Passport Food Group — that have all been acquired or launched strategic partnerships in the last month to further grow and scale their brands.

Retailers like Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and 7-Eleven are redefining their strategies and expanding their store counts to see their profits bloom this spring.

Baby food brands like Pure Spoon, Once Upon A Farm and So Good are looking to push the category into a fresher, “chillier” direction. But the greatest uncertainty for refrigerated baby food is what exactly it will take for HPP purees to become “baby food 3.0” — and if retailers will be willing to invest the time and money to find out.

In one song from Martellus Bennett’s recently dropped EP, the tight end turns on-trend foodie phrases like “self checkout in my own lane / stacking bread that’s whole grain.”

How Goodie Girl Cookies’ Starbucks partnership — which got the brand’s best-selling line into more than 12,000 cafes nationwide — showed Founder Shira Berk that she was potentially missing out on a major sector within grab-and-go.

High Pressure Processing (HPP) has long been the hero of deli meats and, as of late, has become the innovation engine for a variety of beverage types. But a newly established trade group wants to push the technology beyond your turkey sandwich and green juice.