CPG Week: Why Danone Is Suing Chobani Again. Plus, Beyond Drops The ‘Meat’

[00:00:05] Monica Watrous: Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by BevNET and Nosh. I'm Monica Watrous, here with my co-host, Lukas Southard. Now here is the latest in food and beverage industry news. Doughlicious is rolling in the dough after raising a $5 million round led by Rich Products Ventures and the Angel Group. The London-based company will use the new capital to start manufacturing in the United States, in part to offset tariffs imposed by President Trump. The brand produces a line of frozen cookie dough and gelato bites in flavors like chocolate chip, chocolate truffle, mint chocolate chip, and cinnamon churro. All of Delicious' products are currently produced at its 22,000 square foot manufacturing facility in London. However, armed with this fresh capital, the company expects to start U.S. production next spring. According to founder and CEO Catherine Bricken, the business is not profitable because of the tariffs. It will continue to produce in London for the U.K. and European markets and will manufacture stateside for the U.S. and Asian markets.

[00:01:13] Lukas Southard: The war between Big Yogurt continues, but this time the battlefield appears to be in cold coffee. French dairy conglomerate Danone has accused Chobani of trademark infringement in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint centers around two dairy companies' coffee brands, La Cologne for Chobani and Uncle's cold brew brand, Stoke. Danone claims that Chobani changed the packaging of La Cologne's multi-serve cold brew, adopting a similar quote, golden yellow color scheme. as well as the quote, bright and mellow tagline used on Stokes light roast skew. Previously, Chobani used bright and flavorful as its descriptor. Now, this is not the first time these two companies have gone to court. In 2016, Danone filed a legal complaint claiming Chobani falsely depicted Danone's products as containing chlorine. That suit ended in an injunction. In a separate case from 2019, a judge determined that Chobani's claim to have 33% less sugar than Danone in the kids' drinkable yogurts was misleading. We will continue to track this latest point of contention between these two dairy and coffee companies in the future.

[00:02:30] Monica Watrous: Beyond Meat is dropping the meat from its moniker. The plant-based protein purveyor aims to reframe itself after years of slumping sales, lawsuits, and a general downturn in the category. Beyond is gearing up to launch a new product with just four ingredients, Beyond Ground, crafted with fava beans, potato starch, water, and psyllium husk. Each serving contains 27 grams of plant-based protein, which is more than a serving of beef. The new product launch is part of Beyond's shift to focus on serving an occasion versus trying to mimic an animal. And other potential innovations could include lentil sausages and chickpea hot dogs, according to Chief Executive Ethan Brown, who spoke with Fast Company in July about Beyond's new direction. Once a leader in the plant-based sector, Beyond's stock price has plummeted from $25 per share at its initial public offering in 2019 to a measly $3.25 per share as of July 30th of this year. Brown has pointed to a number of factors stunting its growth, including misinformation about the impacts of plant-based meat to the complex formulations and synthetic ingredients that are falling out of favor among consumers. Interestingly, while Beyond is choosing to distance itself from the meat category, rival Impossible Foods has doubled down on a meatier brand identity, unveiling new packaging last year intended to appeal to, quote, carnivorous cravings. Insiders can read more about Beyond's new direction and its second quarter earnings at Nosh.com.

[00:04:08] Lukas Southard: Looking towards the spirits category, Nearest Green Distillery, the largest black-owned distillery in the U.S., has been slapped with a complaint from agricultural lender Farm Credit Mid-America. The lender claims that the Tennessee-based maker of Uncle Nearest Whiskey has failed to meet its financial obligations for more than a year and has a debt load of about $100 million. Farm Credit Mid-America is asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee to remove nearest green distilleries leadership and appoint a receiver to determine whether there is a path forward to a profitable business. The distillery, which has stood as a success story for diversity and representation in the spirits industry, claims that the call for receivership is, quote, inappropriate and stems from a technical default caused by the company's former CFO. There are a number of claims in the complaint that speak to overstated value and the misuse of funds, including the purchase of a $2.2 million home on Martha's Vineyard, which was later mortgaged to a separate lender. For details on how Uncle Nearest is pushing back on the accusations, read the full story, Uncle Nearest Distillery Faces $100 Million Lawsuit, Lender Seeks Receivership, from BevNET Spirits editor Ferron Salniker. Farron will continue to track this case with a hearing scheduled for later this week.

[00:05:32] Monica Watrous: On a lighter note, Frida's breast milk ice cream has officially hit shelves. The product was developed by infant care brand Frida and Odd Fellows Ice Cream Company. And while it does not contain real breast milk, it is described as sweet, salty and smooth with hints of honey and nutrients, including colostrum.

[00:05:55] Lukas Southard: The ad on the Frida website says breast milk ice cream just like mom used to make In other news an unspecified number of cans of the decidedly non-alcoholic energy drinks Celsius were accidentally filled recently with the decidedly alcoholic vodka seltzer brand high noon according to an FDA recall notice per the New York Times Now, I'm just speaking for myself here, but I might consider this a pleasant surprise in my drinking experience, depending on what time of day and, you know, the mood I was in.

[00:06:36] Monica Watrous: It's like Russian roulette. But you win every time.

[00:06:40] Lukas Southard: I mean, this could spawn a interesting new drinking game where you just take like energy drinks and like sparkling waters and you throw them all into a, a, a box maybe. And you just grab and see what you drink and you have to chug the whole thing, no matter what it is without looking.

[00:06:59] Monica Watrous: Isn't that what they do at BevNET headquarters?

[00:07:01] Lukas Southard: We have done that at BevNET headquarters. We call that the BevNET drinking game. Yeah, you're right.

[00:07:05] Monica Watrous: I think we should raise a Celsius-labeled high noon vodka seltzer to our list of Nosh notables that were released this week. What do you think of the overall picks, Lucas?

[00:07:19] Lukas Southard: I'm very happy with it. I think we did a very good job. You especially put in a lot of the legwork with our editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Klineman. I like the different categories we used this year. Last year, we had more of a yearbook vibe. This year, we had some fun categories from Crusaders to Trendspotters. My personal favorite was the Sisters, the grouping of three different groups of Sisters that were just playing to some, some fun brands that I, I happen to like all three of those brands a lot.

[00:07:51] Monica Watrous: Oh, Sisters would be the founding families of Sum Foods, Mazza, and Painterland Sisters. And we also have some celeb power in our midst. Khloe Kardashian, the founder of Cloud Protein Popcorn made the list, as well as Mike Kurtz, the founder of Mike's Hot Honey, which I feel like he's a celebrity in his own right. But one of my favorite picks this year was Ryan Harmon, who is the co-founder and executive creative director at DayJob. who had a really powerful couple of moments this year. first with the launch of Hornbull's Chornbulls, which that agency branded and named, and then with the marketing campaign scene around the industry for David, and that would be the release of Frozen Cod. DayJob Mastermind did both of those moves and has been a longtime developer of some really creative campaigns. I thought that was a well-deserved distinction, and I'm excited to see more from that group.

[00:09:00] Lukas Southard: Congrats to all of our notables and congrats to you and Jeff and the team for all the hard work you all put in on this.

[00:09:09] Monica Watrous: Well, thank you. And folks can see our full list and read about each of the notables at Nosh.com. And here are some other notable bits of news from the week. Pabst Brewing is making changes to its C-suite, including the appointment of Greg DeBow as CEO. B&G Foods is selling its premium canned vegetable brand, Lassure, to Macau Farms amid ongoing portfolio restructuring. And finally, Schumann Cheese and Good Planet Foods are forming a joint venture to accelerate plant-based cheese sales. For these stories and more, become an insider at BevNET and Nosh. And if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. That wraps up this edition of CPG Week by BevNET and Nosh. Thank you to our audio engineer, Joshua Pratt, our director is Mike Schneider, and our designer is Aaron Willette. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice, and we will see you next time.