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

Late last week Boston-based pickle brand Grillo’s revealed it had been sold to family-owned bakery business King’s Hawaiian earlier this year. While pickles and bread are often sandwiched together, the brand will largely be speeding ahead on its own, according to Grillo’s executives.

U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jim Risch (R-ID) last week reintroduced bipartisan legislation that would ban plant-based dairy alternative products from using dairy-related terms on their labels. Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Mike Simpson (R-ID) also introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Call it co-incubation. A Post Holdings product incubator is betting on crackers made with environmentally friendly oats as a core ingredient — and it’s brought in another big strategic, Anheuser-Busch, to chip in. Airly crackers debuted this month as the first brand out of the Bright Future Foods operation launched last year, and it’s already looking ahead to new climate-friendly innovations through a new R&D partnership with A-B’s EverGrain.

Yesterday CPG conglomerate Unilever announced it would acquire Onnit, a producer of food, beverage and supplement products designed for fitness-focused consumers. Onnit relies heavily on content marketing to draw in new consumers, investing marketing dollars in what Unilever says is a “destination website.”

Honest Tea co-founder and Beyond Meat chair of the board Seth Goldman discussed how his latest venture, mission-driven platform Eat The Change, fits into the context of his career and why the company led with mushroom jerky for its debut product line. He also addressed criticism of Beyond Meat products as being overly processed and the evolution of Honest Tea as a Coca-Cola-owned brand.

Plant-based meat company SIMULATE announced it had expanded distribution of its plant-based chicken nugget brand NUGGS to select Walmart, Sam’s Club and Target locations, marking the brand’s first move into larger, national retailers.

Breakout Boston-based pickle brand Grillo’s Pickles has been sold to bakery company King’s Hawaiian in a deal that closed earlier this year.

The confection aisle is a tough nut to crack but SkinnyDipped believes it has the perfect recipe with its emphasis on clean ingredient decks, indulgence and lower-sugar formulations. Last week, the company announced that it would add to its flagship line of coated nuts, launching a new line of nut butter cups and chocolate bars.

In this week’s Checkout, Misfits Market raises $200 million to support growth into new categories and expansion to the West Coast; Nestlé reports strong growth on its first quarter earnings call; and the food and beverage industry celebrates Earth Day.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s global investment and innovation group ZX Ventures yesterday announced an R&D partnership with animal-free protein maker Clara Foods. The hope is that by utilizing A-B’s fermentation expertise the two can work together to establish new technologies producing Clara’s proteins at large scale, a strategy A-B hopes to also implement at other fermentation-focused companies.

In this episode of Category Closeup, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg and reporter Erin Cabrey will interview executives and brand leaders from emerging confection companies to discuss company strategy, and how changes within the category affect new product development and marketing.

Foodtech company Perfect Day, which produces a whey protein isolate from non-animal sources for use in dairy alternative food and beverage products, announced this week the formation of its Sustainability & Health Advisory Council, intended to consult the company on environmental concerns and health and wellness issues.

Covering all manner of treats, selling confections might seem like a sweet gig — but getting space on shelf or capturing a consumer’s eye can be tricky in this candy wonderland — especially against large incumbents with the resources to fund innovation and marketing plans. In this month’s Category Closeup: Expert Analysis, we’ll hear from a group of industry leaders and explore both the market dynamics facing confection brands as well as the opportunities within the category.

Twenty years after inception, investor 2X Growth Partners is shaking things up in a continued effort to help CPG brands reach new heights. The group announced yesterday its name was changing to Loft Growth Partners, a moniker it says better expresses the firm’s operating practices. The change comes as the firm also announced the close of its third fund.