Headlines

The CPG Week podcast team talks “zombie brands,” a rumored mega-merger of snacks and sweets, beverage brands earnings, and more legal woes for PRIME.

Irresistible Foods Group – the umbrella company behind King’s Hawaiian, Grillo’s Pickles and Shaka Tea – is adding The Killer Brownie Company to its portfolio after taking a majority stake in the baked sweets maker.

Dairy cheese stinks, literally. Plant-based cheese (typically) doesn’t. That’s why category newcomer Plonts is seeking to crack the code by using microbes to achieve crowd-appealing taste, texture and smell.

Instacart’s core business has moved well beyond its origins in the gig-economy, third-party delivery space as it diversifies deeper into tech-based services. And those efforts appear to be paying off.

WK Kellogg’s net sales slumped 3.9% to $672 million during Q2 as it grappled with price increases (+2.1%) and volume declines (-4.8%) amid a “difficult business environment.”

Food tech company GrubMarket has acquired distressed online grocery platform Good Eggs in the latest example of a highly competitive market for ecommerce food delivery companies.

BellRing Brands – the producer of Premier Protein and Dymatize brands – reported 15.6% net sales growth to $515.4 million in its Q3 earnings report this morning as the company works to build up demand and household penetration for its shakes and powders.

This week, Akua founder and CEO Courtney Boyd Myers announced via LinkedIn that kelp-based burger producer is shutting down, citing packaging, manufacturing, warehouse and shipping “catastrophes.”

Despite a spike in private label popularity, TreeHouse Foods posted a 1.9% sales decline in Q2 as the company’s balance sheet recovers from significant divestitures and it works to regain momentum after a planned renovation to its broth facility.

Also in this edition: Treehouse Foods posts Q2 loss, inside the rumors around Kellanova’s acquisition by Mars, details on Agrovision’s $100 million raise and a roundup of new pumpkin products.