Headlines

Gathered Foods, maker of plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, announced yesterday it has raised $26.35 million in a funding round which the company will use to fuel new product innovation and continue its international expansion.

Target is committing over $2 billion towards supporting Black-owned businesses through the end of 2025, the retailer announced today, as part of a broader effort to use its “size, scale and resources to create opportunity” for those companies

Episode 34 of Elevator Talk features leaders from Raised Real, Blake’s Seed-Based, Obvi, Brewers Crackers, and Better Than Good Foods. Watch founders and CEOs introduce their brands and provide a recap of recent news and updates.

Former juice brand Forager Project this week announced it would launch plant-based ice cream — the next step in the company’s goal to become a plant-based “creamery.”

The latest Office Hours deals with the strategic use of fractional executives, including ways to develop trust, keep communication top-of-mind, and thoughts on the transition of roles as companies grow into larger armies.

Last week condiment and beverage brand Acid League announced it had closed $4.75 million in funding — capital the brand says will help it expand its omnichannel sales and marketing strategy as well as continue the company’s push into new categories.

BevNET & NOSH will host our next Investor Speed Dating event next month on Thursday, May 20. Speed Dating is a virtual event series designed to facilitate direct, one-to-one connections between emerging food and beverage brands with a variety of industry gatekeepers and experts.

Label this one as a step back for Tofurky. Turtle Island Foods SPC, maker of the plant-based meat brand, along with food advocacy organization The Good Food Institute (GFI) last week lost an appeal to block a Missouri labeling law that would make it a crime for plant-based meat producers to represent their products as containing real meat.

Recess Mood takes the New York-based brand into a different state of mind. While the flagship product offered a sense of “calm, cool and collected” through a combination of hemp extract and adaptogenic herbs, Mood is positioned as a caffeine and CBD-free “uplift” delivered via a proprietary blend of magnesium L-theorate.

In this week’s Checkout, Post Holdings acquires dry pasta brand Ronzoni; sugar-free gelato and chocolate bar maker Bon AppéSweet is named the winner of The Empower Project; synthetic honey maker MeliBio raises $850K; Anheuser-Busch breaks grounds on a $100 million EverGrain facility; and brands celebrate April Fools’ Day with creative product launches.