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

Regenerative food company GoodSAM has brought on James Ren, former head of Food Merchandising at Thrive Market, as VP of revenue and growth.

The latest episode of Elevator Talk features leaders from Joon, Scobucha, Hey!Hunger, Jozo and Fable Fish Co. Watch founders and CEOs introduce their brands and provide a recap of recent news and updates. Our special co-host is Tom Spier, the founder and managing partner of venture capital firm BFG Partners, who shared his thoughts, questions and feedback with the participants.

Awake Chocolate has raised CAD $8 million (approximately $5.84 million USD) in funding, including CAD $5 million from Btomorrow Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of British American Tobacco, and CAD $3 million from BDC Capital. The investment brings the brand’s total funding to CAD $15.5 million since its inception in 2012.

In marketing news, Quinn Snacks unveils a new look, Mike’s Hot Honey drizzles into a national ad campaign, and Old El Paso introduces its new taco night icon.

UNFI’s systems have nearly returned to normal operating levels, but the company believes last month’s cybersecurity breach will result in a loss between $65M to $75M.

Can A.I. help reduce food waste? Ingredient tech company 2nd Nature sure thinks so. The business launched yesterday a new proprietary A.I. platform called AgWaste Portal, which seeks to find new ways of converting food waste into upcycled ingredients.

Hummus maker Little Sesame has closed a $8.5 million Series A funding round led by InvestEco Capital with participation from Watchfire Ventures, Santatera Capital, Beliade Consumer Partners, and other prominent individual industry investors.

The online grocery sphere appears to have strong momentum as the market’s growth significantly outpaced that of in-store shopping at a time when key demographics are shifting away from supermarkets.

Dessert Holdings has acquired Willamette Valley Pie Company, a premium private label and branded pie producer. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Food brand operators are sweating more than the summer heat these days. From tariffs to regulatory moves impacting sourcing and food safety, Dataessential One’s Midyear Trend Report illustrates some of the most pressing topics companies are tracking and adapting to in the first half of the year.

The FDA announced it has approved the use of a new natural food dye, gardenia, to bring blue hues to food and beverages amid its ongoing push to phase out synthetic alternatives.

Jams, a high-protein take on the frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich, debuted today exclusively in more than 3,000 Walmart stores nationwide.

Peter Rahal built his reputation on RXBAR, a product that clearly stated its few ingredients on the front of the package. His newest product, part of his growing David protein bar empire, purports to have just one ingredient: Frozen, boiled cod.

The playbook for growing a startup food and beverage brand has shifted during the past half-decade. During that time, there’s also been a major shift underway at the strategic players once seen as an exit door for those upstarts.