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As more Americans continue to work from home and look to cut extraneous expenses — say, a stop at the juice bar on the way to the gym — lockdown-era habits have entrenched themselves into consumer routines. In turn, many frozen fruit producers have embraced smoothie kits, with some innovative brands managing to outpace the category and maintain strong growth despite the headwinds facing the CPG industry today.

Outside of its traditional domain in Asia, seaweed is rapidly gaining popularity among CPG food brands and consumers alike in the United States for its multitude of positive attributes including the potential to help achieve carbon neutrality and mitigate deoxygenation and eutrophication.

Last week, plant-based ramen startup immi announced it raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Touch Capital and featuring a slate of celebrity investors such as tennis pro Naomi Osaka and R&B singer Usher. Now, the company is looking to quadruple its retail footprint this year and bring manufacturing up to pace as demand rises.

Over the past month, BevNET and NOSH tapped contacts from around the CPG industry to get a feel for the pulse of this year’s show as it prepares for kickoff in Anaheim on Wednesday.

In this roundup: Home Chef expands business with new East Coast facility; Poppy raises $3M for handcrafted popcorn; Afresh expands to new areas of the store and Renegade Foods unveils shelf-stable vegan deli meat.