Shauna Golden

Grain-free baked goods maker Soozy’s is approaching its fifth anniversary with ingredients it believes can help the company achieve more mass appeal. In addition to shifting its positioning, the brand has also expanded its product mix and distribution, in addition to bringing on Grupo Bimbo as a new partner.

Greenwich, Connecticut-based snack brand Munk Pack announced last week it closed a $5 million funding round led by an undisclosed private investor.

On the heels of raising $25 million last October, plant-based and cultivated meat company New Age Meats has rebranded to New Age Eats, a move it says reflects its expanded focus as a CPG company rather than just a food tech company.

Thirty-five years after launching Power Bar with her late husband, food scientist Jenny Maxwell is aiming to showcase organic ingredients while celebrating music and active living with her new venture in the category, JAMBAR. Launched in the Bay Area in October 2021, Maxwell told BevNET that JAMBAR emerged from a dinner table conversation she had with her daughter regarding a lack of organic energy bars that provided the complete package she was searching for.

Sweet Loren’s CEO and founder Loren Castle announced at NOSH Live Summer 2022 on Wednesday that the better-for-you cookie dough brand will be launching a range of reduced sugar products in Publix next month.

Castle began her presentation by taking audience members on a journey through the history of Sweet Loren’s, which has grown from a frozen cookie dough sold at New York City farmer’s markets in 2011 to a multi-SKU brand of refrigerated cookie dough products available at more than 15,000 stores nationwide. Founded in 2011, Sweet Loren’s was born in Castle’s kitchen as she set out to pioneer a health-conscious sweet treat after beating cancer.

The Tory Burch Foundation announced this month its newest cohort of 50 fellows for 2022, eight of whom are female entrepreneurs in the food and beverage CPG industry.

In this week’s Checkout: Gopuff launches pizza brand The Mean Tomato through Kitchens platform, Evo Foods and Gingko Bioworks Team Up on Animal-free Egg, Ben & Jerry’s announce ‘Mootopia’ pilot project, FDA looks into improving infant formula supply, and Kraft Heinz works to develop paper-based ketchup bottle.

In 2021, the rapidly-growing plant-based food industry saw several technological advancements across the value chain, ranging from crop optimization to ingredient isolation and functionalization all the way to end product formulation and manufacturing.

Indoor agriculture company Gotham Greens announced earlier this week its plans to double the size of its total U.S. greenhouse capacity from 600,000 square feet to over 1.2 million square feet by the end of this year. The Brooklyn-based company, which describes itself as a “fresh-food company farming with the future in mind,” was a pioneer in what’s become known as “urban agriculture” when it launched in 2011.