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

As the final step to complete a merger with European fresh produce company Total Produce that began in February, this week Dole Packaged Foods intends to raise $559 million from an initial public offering. The merger forms the world’s largest fresh produce provider, joining Dole’s 109,000 acres of land, 162 distribution and manufacturing facilities, 75 picking houses and 12 cold storage facilities with Total Produce’s global import and distribution network.

As Foxtrot Market, one of the most hyped retailers in recent memory, prepares to open dozens of new locations, we sat down with co-founder/CEO Mike LaVitola to talk about how the company cultivates an intimate understanding of its consumers and why the chain is simultaneously going head-to-head with the likes of Starbucks, 7-Eleven and DoorDash.

Office Hours returns today with a look into the state of the food service channel as a revenue and visibility outlet for food and beverage entrepreneurs. BevNET Editor in Chief Jeff Klineman was joined by Rooted Food Sales’ Matt Cotton and Clay Lichterman of Kodiak Cakes to explore the ways the Covid-19 pandemic cut into food service opportunities and the slow road back for many institutional accounts.

Food tech company NotCo announced today that it has raised $235 million in a Series D funding round led by Tiger Global, bringing its total financing to over $350 million to date. The funding will help the plant-based milk and meat producer to launch its food products in the U.S. and scale its proprietary A.I. technology platform.

Plant-based cheese maker Nobell announced last week that it has secured $75 million in funding to scale the production of its plant-based cheese products made with casein — an essential protein found in milk that gives cheese its taste and texture — cultivated from genetically modified soybeans, rather than cows.

North Carolina-based grocer The Fresh Market filed for an initial public offering this month for the second time in the company’s almost 40-year history. This second IPO could bring significant changes to the grocer’s position in the retail landscape, forcing them to optimize operations at the expense of local and emerging brands.

In this week’s Checkout, Quinn Snacks raises $10 million; Stryve begins trading on the NASDAQ after closing SPAC deal; Foxtrot reveals expansion plans, including adding 50 locations in the next two years; and Target announces the first class of its food & beverage accelerator.

Looking ahead to the second half of this year and beyond, retention of new shoppers, increasing comfort buying CPG online and acceleration of investments by leading retailers in online capabilities is set to drive expansion of online grocery further, representing an estimated 12% of total edible sales.

Canadian holding company and investment firm Eat Beyond this week announced the appointment of Michael Aucoin as CEO. Aucoin replaces Patrick Morris, who had held the CEO role since the company’s launch in fall 2019, and joins Eat Beyond after previously serving as principal for MJA Consulting and president of the Canadian division of dairy cooperative Agropur.

We’re featuring innovative cereal brands during the Product Showcase portion of this month’s Category Close-Up, examining the trends and news — as well as evolving product strategies — that are currently shaping the category.

Amid a retail push that has seen the New Jersey-based chocolate brand grow its total retail footprint to 10,000 doors last month, Undercover Snacks announced yesterday it has raised $13.7 million in funding.

In this month’s Category Closeup Cereal: Expert Analysis, we’ll hear from a group of industry leaders about the tactics, trends and efforts successful cereal brands must embrace, exploring both the unique dynamics of the set as well as the opportunities for growth and innovation.

Beaten into bankruptcy by the Covid-19 pandemic, Peeled snacks is getting a second bite of the dried apple. The fruit and vegetable snack producer, which had declared bankruptcy in March, has been sold to Jim Goldberg, the founder of tortilla and potato chip company Deep River Snacks. The purchase is just part of the jocular Connecticut resident’s larger plan to build a mission-based portfolio of companies, backed by his own firm, ESM Capital.

Fresh meal provider FreshRealm has seen its business model evolve over its eight years in business, ranging from a direct-to-consumer meal service to retail meal kit supplier. Now, with $32 million in new funding, it’s repositioning itself once more, aiming to establish “fresh meal destinations” in retailers nationwide that offer cooking-weary consumers more options.