Headlines

If you’ve subscribed, thank you. Today is the first day of your full access to our existing and expanding platform. If you’re still waiting, we’re excited to have you join us. For 24 years our mission has been to provide the stories and information that help food and beverage professionals navigate the industry. This new subscription model will support our team’s commitment to providing you with independent journalism that serves and informs the food and beverage community, and will enable us to extend our capabilities even further to fulfill that mission.

Tessa Wanders is the founder and CEO of Hey Frida, a San Francisco-based food startup offering low-carb, functional snack bars. The brand has two SKUs, Beauty Bar featuring collagen and Relax Bar featuring collagen and L-theanine.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems many Americans are strapping on their aprons and marching to the oven with a goal of learning to bake. But why have sourdough breads, brownies and chocolate chip cookies captivated the nation? And is the “made from scratch” ethos similarly powering the baking mix brands that allow kitchen dwellers to cut out a few steps?

While production issues currently plague the meat industry, plant-based meat companies are growing. In their respective quarterly earnings calls this week, executives from meat company Tyson and plant-based brand Beyond Meat discussed powering through a pandemic — and trying to develop future strategies despite looming uncertainty.

The tenth round of Elevator Talk Livestream includes leaders from DiNoci, LiveKuna, lil’gourmets, IWON Organics, Craize Corn, Superseedz, Alta Goods and more. This week’s special co-host is Megan Bent, the founder and managing partner of Harbinger Ventures, who will offer feedback for each brand.

Nature’s Fynd thinks the plant-based market is ripe for disruption — and that the answer lies inside a volcano. Previously known as Sustainable Bioproducts, the company recently rebranded as Nature’s Fynd to turn its fermented protein — found in Yellowstone National Park’s ancient ‘supervolcano’ — into everyday plant-based food and drink products.

This week’s edition of Office Hours explores COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions to the review and reset process for categories and products, and the steps brands can consider when reaching out to retail buyers.

From Milk Bar cookies to Yasso and Coconut Bliss frozen desserts to chocolate from Goodio and Kosterina, April’s new product releases offered consumers plenty of sweet treats. View the gallery for April’s notable releases, including new bars from Premier Protein and Quest and plant-based condiments from Greenjoy and Follow Your Heart.

Maybe the old saying is wrong: You can go home again. Today Sonoma Brands, the holding company and investment group for snack brands started by Jon Sebastiani, announced the acquisition of KRAVE — the artisanal jerky and meat snack brand Sebastiani built and subsequently sold to The Hershey Company in 2015.

Investors are banking on a plant-based ingredient that behaves like egg whites — with potential use across a broad range of food and beverage categories. B2B food tech startup Plantible announced this week the close of a $4.6M seed round.