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NOSH’s annual Best Of awards honor companies, brands, individuals, products, ideas and trends from across the dynamic and ever-changing natural food landscape. For the first time, the NOSH Best Of awards are accepting nominations for 2020. A nomination guarantees the person, company or product submitted is considered for the category chosen by the nominator. All nominations will be categorized and published on nosh.com once the application period closes.

It’s been 10 years outside the chocolate business for celebrated chocolatier Oded Brenner. But the globally recognized pastry chef and Max Brenner co-founder says he’s back, and now doing “exactly what I want to be doing” with a new, cacao-focused brand platform called Blue Stripes. After opening a Blue Stripes cafe, Brenner is now moving the line into packaged products: last month, the company introduced over 20 new cacao-based products online. Its Cacao Water is the first to launch into brick-and-mortar retail.

Nicole Ledoux, co-founder & CEO of seed-based food company 88 Acres, spoke about the thoughtful process of scaling from a local to national brand, why she credits in-house production as a significant competitive advantage and how a successful Kickstarter campaign provided the foundation for the brand’s retail launch and successive fundraising initiatives.

Pretzel makers since the 1700s, the Spannuth family launched commercial bakery Unique Pretzel Bakery in 1921 and its store brand in 1964. The company is now rebranding to Unique Snacks, hoping to build out a larger salty snacks platform.

Last week members of investment firm N*GEN Partners filed with the SEC to raise up to $125 million for an IPO for Better World Acquisition Corp (BWAC), a newly launched special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). BWAC will look to acquire a company that “benefit[s] from strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) profiles” within the “healthy living” sector.

Designer Protein, which owns legacy brand Designer Whey, is looking to evolve into a broader nutrition platform. Though it isn’t outgrowing its roots in protein supplements, the company is solidifying its brand identity and moving into new categories and ingredients.

We’re looking for about a dozen entrepreneurs and other workers in the food and beverage business to join a live Office Hours taping on Tuesday with Steven Hershberger, the founder of Westminster Innovation Group. Audience members are encouraged to join the conversation by asking questions and speaking with our guests during the show.

In this week’s Checkout, Instacart raises $200 million, Tofurky fights a Louisiana labeling law and Friends of the Earth reports on retailers’ organic product and pesticide commitments.

No beans about it, the frozen category is gaining interest from retailers, brands and investors. Hoping to capitalize on this momentum, this week Tyler Mayoras, a former principal at Advantage Capital, announced he has joined frozen wrap startup Cool Beans as CEO.

The 9th edition of NOSH’s Pitch Slam returns to computer screens around the country on November 17th and 19th. Presented by General Mills’ venture arm 301 INC, Pitch Slam 9 will offer twelve emerging food brands the opportunity to gain industry awareness and get in front of decision-makers who can open doors and help take their business to the next level.