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

While coconut flour-based tortilla and chip maker The Real Coconut has primarily focused on its namesake ingredient since its launch in 2016, the brand is now poised to expand its horizons to create a platform of plant-based gluten and dairy free products. To do this, the brand brought on a new CEO, former General Mills executive Camille Gibson, who has spent much of 2020 charting growth plans set to be realized this year.

Prelude Growth Partners, a New York City-based fund, announced last week the close of their second fund at $250 million dollars. The majority of the fund’s limited partners also backed Prelude’s first $85 million fund in 2018, co-founder and partner Neda Daneshzadeh said.

Office Hours dug into the state of debt and financial planning for entrepreneurial food and beverage companies with our first episode of 2021. Featuring guests Jeremy Triefenbach, co-founder of Stage 1 Financial and Jessica Bates, Managing Director of Dwight Funding and a live studio audience, the show explored how CPG brands should look at the state of investment and loan availability amidst a variety of changes.

Having tackled confection, Jason Karp is setting his sights on the frozen aisle. Backed by a team of industry veterans, the co-founder of Hu Products, which sold to Mondelez in January, launched today frozen food brand Snow Days under his holding company, HumanCo.

The second half of February’s new product gallery includes new condiments, sauces and seasonings from brands like TRUFF, Acid League and Cured and Crisp. Check out the gallery for more of February’s notable releases, including kimchi from Cleveland Kitchen and Compartés’ Chrissy Teigen collaboration.

February’s new product launches included several better-for-you takes on indulgent snacks, from Lenny & Larry’s new low sugar, protein cookies to an allergy-friendly Rice Crispy Treats line from Blake’s Seed Based. Check out the gallery for some of February’s notable new releases, including the first snack offerings from Yolélé, a new superfood bar line from Your Super, and limited edition flavors from Ellenos and Laura’s Gourmet Granola.

AF Ventures has joined the SPAC club. Together with investment groups Scharf Brothers and Mistral Equity Partners, the CPG venture fund once known as Accel Foods has combined forces with two other firms to launch a publicly traded “blank check” company to target more consumer brands.

In this week’s Checkout, Beyond Meat announces strategic global partnerships with McDonald’s and Yum! Brands; Pan Pacific International Holdings acquires Gelson’s; Foxtrot raises $42 million to expand into new markets; and FASTER Act for sesame labeling is introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nine months after joining snack brand CLIF Bar and Company, CEO Sally Grimes is starting to put her mark on the 30 year old brand. The company announced this week that it would lay off roughly 125 employees as part of a larger restructuring plan — news that comes as CLIF debuts two new items that bring the brand into new parts of the store.

Plant-based dairy alternative products maker Oatly submitted plans for an initial public offering (IPO) to U.S. regulators, the company confirmed this week.

In this episode NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg and reporter Erin Cabrey interview executives and brand leaders from both emerging and established yogurt companies to discuss individual company strategy, and how changes within the category affect new product development and marketing.

Sustainable ingredient data platform HowGood announced this week the close of a $6 million funding round. The company will use the capital to further invest in its proprietary database, which helps members of the food industry and consumers make choices around purchases, formulation, investment or marketing claims.

We’ll explore the Yogurt set during this month’s Category Closeup, hearing from a group of experts about the market dynamics of the yogurt set as well as how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted consumer behavior in the category. Our experts will also share their thoughts on the flavor trends, health benefits, innovation strategies and promotional plans a successful yogurt brand must embrace.

It’s no secret that plant-based innovations in categories like meat and dairy have dominated headlines in the natural products industry in recent years, with companies swapping farms for fermentation tanks to create many of the ingredients used in vegan alternatives to products like burgers or ice cream. But the technology behind one of these production processes, synthetic biology, is relatively new to the industry, and it may blur the definition of a genetically modified organism (GMO) — causing some to question the safety of these new lab grown ingredients.