Food Industry News, Insights, and Education for the CPG Community

In this week’s Checkout: Whole Foods settles breach of contract suit with former dairy supplier with $15M payout, Del Monte acquires Kitchen Basics brand amid heightened soup sales, Naturally Network and NielsenIQ launch national fellowship to support minority CPG entrepreneurs and Tabasco and Instacart foray into fashion with new swag.

This week’s notable new products saw brands creating better-you iterations of the classic hot dog, launching Mediterranean-inspired baking mixes and adding new flavors to their existing snack lineups.

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) is the target of a class action antitrust lawsuit filed last week, alleging the largest national dairy cooperative has acted or has tried to act as a monopsony by constraining the Northeast raw milk market. The complaint, filed on July 29 in the U.S. District Court in Vermont, claims DFA… Read more »

Longtime CPG executive Sarah Bird has joined Quinn Foods as CMO. “The brand is at this incredible place where it can grow,” Bird said of the opportunity.

Marketing firm Vericast explained in its “2022 CPG and Grocery TrendWatch” consumer report that brands who offer competitive pricing and promotions while optimizing the convenience of online shopping with the in-store experience are more likely to succeed across age groups during the current high inflationary period.

The grocery shopping app Flashfood has doubled its business in 2022 and saved 45 million pounds of food waste from landfills by pairing grocery retailers with shoppers looking for a discount.

Vegan cheese has long been associated with highly-processed, non-fermented oil-starch-flavor concoctions. While artisan iterations have emerged within the category, they face a conundrum. What’s the role of these products, given that slices and shreds still lead sales in the category?

While some ecommerce platforms may be navigating a downturn as many consumers return to brick-and-mortar retail, startups Parade and CPGD are looking to the metaverse to make the online shopping experience more fun and personal with their latest platform: The MetaMarket. Launched earlier this year, the MetaMarket calls itself “the first-ever farmers’ market in the… Read more »

Whole Foods Market this week announced the 10 brands selected to participate in its new mentorship and education program for local suppliers, the Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP).

The pandemic changed how consumers used e-commerce to get products delivered to their doors but the exponential growth of digital shopping platforms has subsided leaving CPG food and beverage companies to reevaluate how they strategize growth and reach consumers online.

Despite a rising consumer interest (+40%) in meat, dairy and seafood alternatives, a new report released by the Food Industry Association (FMI) last week – titled The Power of Plant-based Food and Beverage – revealed that shoppers are still confused about what products are considered plant-based.

This week’s roundup of notable new products saw a protein brand collaborating with animal-free whey protein producer Perfect Day, a snack company rolling out Thai chili edamame snacking beans and a frozen produce brand offering the “Honeycrisp of strawberries.”

In this week’s Checkout: Giant Foods brings with circular waste platform Loop to D.C.-area stores; Stone’s Throw Foods announces its acquisition of Swapples; Morningstar Farms factory workers file to unionize; Shinsegae Foods invests $6 million into U.S. subsidiary Better Foods; and Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer expand AgBio partnership.

Within the specialty coffee space, Vietnamese coffee is typically dismissed as cheaper and low quality, according to Sahra Nguyen, founder and CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply. Which is why since launching her dry coffee brand in 2018, she has focused on exposing the coffee industry to the potential of Vietnam-sourced robusta beans.