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

With the support of entrepreneur Mark Cuban, plant-based burger brand Everything Legendary is “going to be bold” in order to take a bite out of the increasingly crowded meat alternative category, according to CEO and co-founder Duane “Myko” Cheers. This month, the brand is making its retail debut, seeking to grab consumers’ attention with what it believes is a more approachable vegan meat product featuring vibrant packaging and a consumer-friendly ingredient label.

In this week’s Checkout, the FDA introduces “Closer to Zero” action plan for toxic elements in baby food; cultivated animal fat company Mission Barns raises $24 million; Impossible Foods launches its first national ad campaign; and Conagra reports its third quarter results for fiscal 2021.

Gathered Foods, maker of plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, announced yesterday it has raised $26.35 million in a funding round which the company will use to fuel new product innovation and continue its international expansion.

Target is committing over $2 billion towards supporting Black-owned businesses through the end of 2025, the retailer announced today, as part of a broader effort to use its “size, scale and resources to create opportunity” for those companies

Episode 34 of Elevator Talk features leaders from Raised Real, Blake’s Seed-Based, Obvi, Brewers Crackers, and Better Than Good Foods. Watch founders and CEOs introduce their brands and provide a recap of recent news and updates.

Former juice brand Forager Project this week announced it would launch plant-based ice cream — the next step in the company’s goal to become a plant-based “creamery.”

The latest Office Hours deals with the strategic use of fractional executives, including ways to develop trust, keep communication top-of-mind, and thoughts on the transition of roles as companies grow into larger armies.

Last week condiment and beverage brand Acid League announced it had closed $4.75 million in funding — capital the brand says will help it expand its omnichannel sales and marketing strategy as well as continue the company’s push into new categories.

BevNET & NOSH will host our next Investor Speed Dating event next month on Thursday, May 20. Speed Dating is a virtual event series designed to facilitate direct, one-to-one connections between emerging food and beverage brands with a variety of industry gatekeepers and experts.

Label this one as a step back for Tofurky. Turtle Island Foods SPC, maker of the plant-based meat brand, along with food advocacy organization The Good Food Institute (GFI) last week lost an appeal to block a Missouri labeling law that would make it a crime for plant-based meat producers to represent their products as containing real meat.

Recess Mood takes the New York-based brand into a different state of mind. While the flagship product offered a sense of “calm, cool and collected” through a combination of hemp extract and adaptogenic herbs, Mood is positioned as a caffeine and CBD-free “uplift” delivered via a proprietary blend of magnesium L-theorate.

In this week’s Checkout, Post Holdings acquires dry pasta brand Ronzoni; sugar-free gelato and chocolate bar maker Bon AppéSweet is named the winner of The Empower Project; synthetic honey maker MeliBio raises $850K; Anheuser-Busch breaks grounds on a $100 million EverGrain facility; and brands celebrate April Fools’ Day with creative product launches.

Despite sustainability being a fairly standard aspiration for progressive food and beverage brands, there are times when the implementation of environmentally friendly measures can still be an arduous process. With the launch of the working group Band of Brands, Quinn Snacks founder and CEO Kristy Lewis hopes she can ease some of this burden and help food and beverage companies have a bigger impact on the supply chain.

March saw several snack brands expand into new categories, from Hu’s grain-free cookies to LesserEvil’s toddler-friendly puffs. Check out the second part of March’s new product gallery for more of the month’s new releases, including frozen treats from KIND, Yasso and Halo Top and an upcycled baking mix collaboration from Renewal Mill and Burlap & Barrel.