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

Today yogurt and dairy conglomerate Danone announced it had sold plant-based nutrition company Vega to private equity firm WM Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Here’s another marker that life is approaching a post-pandemic “new normal”: the reintroduction of free samples in grocery stores nationwide. To the relief of brands, who have long relied on sampling to win customers, many retailers announced plans this month to allow brands back in-store for product demonstrations.

Rind Snacks wants to make getting your daily serving of fruits more ap-peel-ing and now it has more powder to make this goal a reality. The snack brand announced this week the close of $6 million in funding, an investment that will help the fruit-focused brand as it makes moves to expand into salty snacks.

We’ve posted the agenda for next week’s BevNET & NOSH Virtually Live event, and we’ve added a new panel to influence you to attend. With so much focus on influencers these days, we’ll be hosting a panel with Thrive Market and CAVU Ventures to address the best ways to exploit emerging social media channels.

Can a Boston based cellular technology company solve the taste and texture challenges around plant-based proteins? Investors are betting more than $200 million on it. Boston-based food technology company Motif FoodWorks announced today it has closed a $226 million funding round, which the company will use to expand R&D capabilities as it looks to “solve key sensory and nutritional challenges” in plant-based meat and dairy products and commercialize its first ingredients next year.

NOSH’s Pitch Slam 10 will feature the founders of the hottest new food brands competing virtually for the title. The semifinalists have been chosen, as well as the expert judges, who will be providing feedback and ultimately choosing the winner. So let’s meet the players.

Last week Chuck Muth, Chief Growth Officer at Beyond Meat, announced he had retired from the plant-based brand after four years. Muth will remain on the boards of several notable food and beverage brands, including Beyond Meat’s own joint venture with PepsiCo.

Chloe Epstein and Michael Sloan, the co-founders of better-for-you frozen novelty brand Chloe’s, explained why they shifted focus from foodservice to packaged goods and why Chloe’s is not shy about putting a target on the back of big CPG.

“Powerful branding, international exposure, and strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials” are just three of the qualities making Oatly a major player in the plant-based food and beverage space, according to a new equity research report from Credit Suisse.

On Thursday, New Mexico Fresh Foods (NMFF) will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new high pressure processing (HPP) tolling facility — the first in the state. The company offers services for food products, juice, cold brew coffee, tea and green chili.

First, we’ll hear from Monisha Dabek, the new Chief Commercial Officer and General Manager of Ocean Spray. Dabek, who has helped grow and scale innovation at WhiteWave, Danone, and PepsiCo. Next, a pair of entrepreneurs whose sales thrived online during the COVID-19 pandemic will share their plans for getting ready to pound the pavement once again.

Online retailer Boxed announced today that it would become a publicly traded company via a merger with SPAC Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp. Seven Oaks said Boxed is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33% over the next five years, ultimately achieving $1 billion in net revenue by 2026.

In this week’s Checkout, Beech-Nut exits the rice cereal segment following a voluntary recall due to high arsenic levels; Instacart announces a $1 million ad initiative to support Black-owned brands; LiveKindly Collective acquires The Dutch Weed Burger; and actress Zooey Deschanel joins better-for-you shopping app Merryfield as co-founder and chief creative officer.

Faire, an online marketplace for retailers and brands, announced yesterday that it had closed an additional $260 million in funding. With this funding, Faire is valued at $7 billion, the company stated.