News

KIND Snacks has launched the Frontline Impact Project, a centralized platform where healthcare workers and other organizations on the frontlines can request and receive necessary food, lodging and transportation assistance.

As many states begin to reopen businesses, IRI reflected on the 2008 recession to help brands prepare for the months ahead, while the FDA and USDA announced plans for supply chain management collaboration. Here’s the latest COVID-19 news from around the industry this week.

Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make a plant-based omelette. When JUST — then known as Hampton Creek — started up roughly a decade ago, founder Josh Tetrick wanted to shake up the food industry. While his goal has remained the same, the path has changed. The company has expanded its strategy beyond its own branded products to form strategic partnerships with a focus on ingredients as the way forward. To start, the company announced this week a new food service partnership with Michael Foods, a subsidiary of Post Holdings and one of the largest processors of egg products in the world.

Office Hours, BevNET and NOSH’s weekly live call-in show, returns Tuesday, May 26 at 3 p.m. ET. Jordan Gaspar, managing partner at AF Ventures and Ben Mand, CEO of Harmless Harvest will field questions from food and beverage industry entrepreneurs about investor and brand relationships and how they can evolve in a crisis climate.

Rebellyous Foods has more than a nugget’s worth of plans. With a new plant-based chicken nugget launching into limited retail this week, the company hopes its proprietary technology will eventually be adapted by other manufacturers.

The twelfth round of Elevator Talk Livestream features leaders from This Saves Lives, Mighty Gum, Rowe of Venice, Novel Plant Foods and more. This week’s special co-host is Sebastian Dreher of Doehler Ventures, who will share his thoughts, questions and feedback with the participants.

Over the past decade, consumer interest in immunity boosting products and ingredients has been steadily on the rise. But the outbreak of the coronavirus has pushed that into overdrive: Between January and April, social posts mentioning “immunity” increased 134%, according to flavor provider FONA International.

Two years after its launch, keto snack brand HighKey has made a name for itself on Amazon, going toe-to-toe with beloved brands like Chips Ahoy — and winning: it’s currently the massive consumer platform’s best-selling chocolate chip cookie.

Miguel Garza, co-founder & CEO of Mexican-American food brand Siete Family Foods, spoke about the principles upon which the company was founded, the roles of family and love play in the company’s operations, the hallmarks of its product development and innovation strategies and why revenue isn’t the defining metric for Siete to become an iconic brand.

This week’s featured guests, investors Wayne Wu (VMG) and Robert Brown (Encore Consumer Capital), offer financing advice and discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on investment in food and beverage companies, from sourcing and closing deals to changing terms.