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

In this week’s Checkout: The Very Good Food Company secures capital to keep its doors open; Hormel reports double digit sales increase despite bird flu outbreak and inflationary pressures; and Danone North America commits to Zero Waste to Landfills by 2025.

Kansas-based milk alternative startup Strive Nutrition Corp. announced today it has partnered with Perfect Day for its first line of animal-free whey protein beverages, which will launch next month online with plans to enter brick and mortar retail later this year. The new milk line is led by Strive’s FREEMILK Whole product, a lactose-free milk… Read more »

At NOSH Live Summer 2022 on June 13 and 14 in New York City, we’ll hear from three entrepreneurs about what happened after the capital process: Denise Woodard, founder and CEO of Partake; Chris Kirby founder and CEO of Ithaca Hummus; and Lisa Barnett, co-founder and president of Little Spoon.

Industry leaders and investors warned CPG entrepreneurs that brands need to plan for a tighter investment market if they hope to survive in the rapidly changing economic climate at a Wednesday panel discussion hosted by the Naturally Network.

Convenience channel growth decelerated to 1.7% in the first quarter of the year, underperforming all other retail channels, according to market research firm IRI’s “The Convenience Store Landscape Q1 2022” report released this week.

Frozen entree brand Afia announced it will add 250 points of distribution for its frozen falafel products after landing partnerships with Harris Teeter and Giant Landover in May. The launch, which includes the falafel line’s 9 oz. Traditional and Garlic & Herb varieties, will bring the brand’s footprint to more than 2,000 stores nationwide, doubling its store count.

Meat snack brand Stryve has added CPG executive Christopher Boever as CEO, replacing co-founder Joe Oblas, who will transition to Chief Growth Officer. The news, which was announced last week, comes as the now publicly traded company tries to deepen its hold in the meat snack category, further build out a sub brand and fight back against rising ingredient and operations costs.

Despite multiple rejected attempts, Virginia-based alt-sweetener startup Bonumose will keep working to “compel and convince” the FDA to reconsider a regulation that mandates that its proprietary alt-sweetener, tagatose, be labeled under ​​total or added sugar counts on Nutrition Facts Panels (NFPs), said the company’s CEO Ed Rogers.

The Tory Burch Foundation announced this month its newest cohort of 50 fellows for 2022, eight of whom are female entrepreneurs in the food and beverage CPG industry.

Holding company and incubator Redbud Brands announced yesterday it has raised $46 million to create, fund and scale its portfolio of consumer businesses.

Investments in packaged food and beverage companies have been focused on the same areas for the past few years, with perhaps an increasing focus on alternative protein sources as well as social impact (excluding the impact of the pandemic on dining at home and home delivery).

This week’s new food launches saw brands creating new flavors of protein-packed ice cream, launching vibrant new plant-based pasta varieties and spicing up the popcorn category. Check out this gallery for new items from Beyond the Equator and ALOHA as well as the latest innovation in the Sprout Organics x Cocomelon line.

Having heard from speakers discussing retail, investment and sales strategies on Day One, Day Two of NOSH Live Summer 2022 will see more entrepreneurs and investors take to the stage to provide attendees with strategies for the upcoming year ahead.

On this month’s Market Share, we’ll hear from Amplify chief commercial officer Kyle Banahan about how having a unified voice and a singular goal is helping the snack-centered group move forward more efficiently and propelling it’s parent company Hershey deeper into snacking.