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

Food makers are reimagining the classic cereal bowl to bring higher protein and lower sugar levels to an aisle that has often overlooked its resident products’ nutritional value. This year’s Expo West saw two brands – Love Grown and Magic Spoon – aiming to capitalize on consumer interests while taking an omnichannel approach to draw in new consumers. Here is how one established and one emerging brand are each approaching the category.

Breakfast foods, including cereal and yogurt, are leading growth across General Mills’ portfolio, with sales increasing 4% during FY Q3 2021, according to an earnings report released today. During a call with investors and analysts, the global food giant highlighted its “solid execution in a highly volatile environment,” reporting that net sales growth has remained virtually flat at $4.5 billion, while organic net sales were up 4%.

In this video, recorded at Natural Products Expo West 2022, Orro founder Shaun Neff and partner Tabitha Brown discuss how the product is being positioned within the beverage market as well as how they believe brands can stand out in the competitive plant-based space.

Spindrift founder and CEO Bill Creelman drops in to chat about topics including crisis leadership, distribution, online marketing, platform expansion and other issues in a wide-ranging interview.

Trade shows have long been a launching ground for brands to show off new packaging and branding. At this year’s Natural Products Expo West, food makers arrived armed with new looks to help their products continue to pop on-shelf as consumer shopping habits shift between in-store and online. Here are some notable packaging redesigns we saw on the show floor.

This week PepsiCo and Beyond Meat’s joint venture launched its long awaited Beyond Jerky into stores. The jerky is part of a strategy to expand the Beyond Meat brand into new parts of the store and help build PepsiCo’s portfolio of better-for-you items

Plant-based nutrition platform Laird Superfood has undergone a significant amount of change over the past few years, from acquiring energy bar brand Picky Bars to taking the company public and bringing in a range of new team members, including new CEO Jason Vieth. In this video, recorded at Natural Products Expo West 2022, Vieth discusses how he plans to use his background and expertise to continue propelling the brand onward.

Online grocery platform Instacart is adding a new product integration feature that allows content creators on social media to link their recipes directly to grocery items within the app, the company announced last week. Dubbed Shoppable Recipes, the new feature is now available on TikTok and Tasty.

After announcing last week the departure of longtime president and COO Peter McGuinness, Chobani is actively reconstructing its leadership team, starting with the reappointment of former executive Kevin Burns as president and COO.

In this video, recorded at Natural Products Expo West 2022, Eat the Change co-founders Seth Goldman and Spike Mendelsohn discussed how the company’s latest release, carrot-based fruit snacks, offers parents a better-for-you alternative to the lunchbox staple and how the brand thinks about innovation

In this video, recorded last week at Natural Products Expo West 2022 in Anaheim, California, Kuli Kuli founder and CEO Lisa Curtis discussed how the company has tackled a range of formats while also educating consumers on the benefits of Moringa.

Given rising interest in the confection category amid large exits from brands like Lily’s and Smart Sweets, it’s perhaps no surprise that several brands exhibiting at Expo West debuted new form factors and sales strategies as they attempt to stand out in the competitive set.

In this week’s Checkout: Doordash launches its new Local Goods Accelerator program, Plantish raises $12.5 million in seed funding, Sweets & Snacks Expo announces new locations and MeliBio closes $5.7 million funding round.

Specialty food and home goods producer Stonewall Kitchen has once again traded owners, with private equity firm TA Associate announcing on Monday it has taken a majority stake in the company “alongside the company’s management team.” Concurrently, former investor Audax announced that it had exited the business.