Headlines

For many new food and beverage companies, landing placement in Whole Foods is often an important goal. The influential retailer is viewed by many as an powerful launching pad for expanded sales and distribution within the natural channel and beyond.

They’re barely out of diapers. But Generation Alpha—children born since 2010—
promises to be the most highly educated, diverse and technologically proficient generation to live so far, predicts Tessa van Asselt, a demographic expert from TrendsActive, a Dutch consultancy.

It’s not often you see altruistic innovation get paired with the funding it needs to impact the world, but luckily for entrepreneurs in the University of Texas’ (UT) Food Lab Challenge Prize competition, an opportunity just arose. Barnraiser, a crowdfunding community started by Eileen Gordon, wife of celebrity-chef Michael Chiarello, is pairing up with The Food Lab to help entrepreneurs, who are dedicating their work to improving the world’s food system, get the funding they need.

Food and Beverage University has four action-packed seminars ahead for 2015 and we made our very first stop in the Lone Star State capital of Austin, Texas. “Keeping Austin weird” is the city’s motto, and frankly, if weird means innovative, unique, energizing, and avant-garde, then Austin is very weird.

When we interviewed the director of community relations for Boston’s CropCircle Kitchen as part of our Kitchen Incubator Series, she insisted we talk with one of its star entrepreneurs, Sherie Grillon, the founder of NoLA’s Fresh Foods.

U.S. producers of natural and premium beverages such as coconut water, value-added dairy products and, in the food category, broths and soup, have gravitated to aseptic packaging for four principal advantages.

It’s clear that Americans are trying to eat healthier. But if you’re thinking about labeling your product as “light” or “low-calorie,” you might actually be turning away a few customers.

A growing number of U.S. consumers are buying locally produced foods, and retailers are taking notice. Using localized methods to produce and distribute food, the products are praised by consumers as being as more sustainable, fresher and environmentally-friendly than alternatives.

After learning about the basics of kitchen incubators, part two of FBU’s kitchen incubator series focuses on the costs of working in such a facility, the necessary permits and certifications you will need before starting, and the inner workings of developing your product in the kitchen incubator space.

When temperatures drop, soup sales heat up. But in recent years, consumer attitudes toward the category have been chillier than winter in Alaska, and declining sales of this venerable and undeniably versatile dish have left soup manufacturers in need of some comfort themselves.