Nosh Staff

The Winter Fancy Food Show, which took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center from January 15-17, was filled with aisles of new product innovations ranging from plant-based meat to regeneratively-grown tea. The show saw Bitchin’ Sauce expand its portfolio , Norseland launch two Cacio e Pepe Sauce Starters and Grown As* Foods unveils a 1lb jar of vegan cheese powder.

On this week’s show the team discusses the ‘Pie-pline’ of Hubigs from New Orleans, elsewhere, and the changing climate around keto-branded foods. Later, John Johnson, senior counsel at law firm Shook, Hardy and Bacon, to delves into a recent report on the FDA from the Reagan Udall Foundation.

From plant-based sushi to salsa starter pouches to fish jerky crunch snacks, there was something for every consumer type at this week’s Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas. The show also saw Bobo’s making its first foray into the protein bar set, Savannah Bee Company and Runamok jumping on the hot honey trend and Wonder Monday launching a single-serve, better-for-you iteration of a classic dessert.

Tara Bosch, the founder of better-for-you candy brand SmartSweets, explained how prioritizing a lean business model in its early development enabled the company to be nimble and outpace its competitors, why its growth strategy is built around “patient urgency” and how the brand’s highly effective social media strategy drives consumers to its retailers.

Gluten-free frozen empanada maker COCINA 54 has been acquired by Los Angeles-based food manufacturer Pensieve Foods, founder and CEO Cecilia Panichelli announced in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In this week’s new products roundup, Little Spoon and OSMO Salt celebrate Valentine’s Day early, Partake teams up with Ben & Jerry’s and Pure Organic makes its first foray into the cracker set.

The NOSH Team considers what food products should truly be called food technology. Later, Lukas interviews Elohi Strategic Advisors founder Stephanie Lind to discuss the successes and failures of plant-based brands in foodservice.

KeHE Distributors last week unveiled its management succession plan, in which current CEO and 15-year company veteran Brandon Barnholt will transition to executive chairman of the board, effective April 1, with current board member Deb Conklin taking over the top executive role.

This week, a cross-section of public and private companies from across industries is meeting in Orlando, Florida for the 25th edition of the annual ICR conference. The invitation-only event featured a full-slate of daily presentations from publicly traded companies on its opening day today.

In this week’s roundup of notable new products, Tom’s Perfect 10 releases a dessert-inspired granola, Sambazon unveils shaker bottle-friendly smoothie cubes and Chobani expands its yogurt lineup with zero sugar offerings.