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

This month’s Office Hours assembled leaders from three leading incubation programs to get strategic advice for brands on overcoming the kinds of obstacles they face as they grow, and ways that they can pivot safely when they’re met with unexpected challenges.

In addition to sweet treats, April’s new product launches offered consumers plenty of savory options from new plant-based meat alternatives from Sweet Earth to BBQ innovations from Pit Boss Grills and Haven’s Kitchen. View the gallery for the most notable new releases including dairy free cheese alternatives from Boursin and Grounded Foods Co. and spicy snacks from Blue Diamond and Country Archer Provisions.

In April, brands rolled out plenty of sweet and indulgent innovations, from oat milk-based treats from Chloe’s and My/Mochi to low-sugar snacks from DouxMatok and The Cookie Department. Check out the gallery for April’s notable product launches, including new bars from CORE and Obvi and dairy-free baking mixes from Bushwick Kitchen and Blue Diamond.

Last month during our Category Close-Up: Product Showcase we explored innovation and growth strategies for a group of rising noodle brands. In this special bonus segment, you’ll hear from three more brands.

In this week’s Checkout, Mondelēz talks M&A strategy and Hu acquisition during Q1 earnings call; President Biden signs FASTER Act into law, making sesame the 9th major food allergen; and Kraft Heinz and Hershey discuss post-pandemic shopping behaviors.

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.