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

2019 saw brands take a step beyond better-for-you, seeking to infuse healthy products with additional (functional) benefits. The year also featured acquisitions, investments and product launches as brands both large and small try to better align themselves with an increasingly engaged consumer base.

From plant-based innovation to increased focus on mission and sustainability, in 2020 brands will have to stay on their toes to power consumer appetites. Here are five natural food trends experts say brands should consider in 2020.

In the latest distribution news, Costco adds Beyond Burger and Atlantic Natural, Walmart takes on Keen One and Everipe and Veggies Made Great expands its offerings at four retailers.

Dinesh Tadepalli is the co-founder of Planeteer, a company that is helping to solve the plastic pollution problem by replacing plastic cutlery with edible cutlery. The brand’s first products are non-gmo, all natural spoons that stay firm for 25 minutes in hot soups and 45 minutes in ice cream.

In this presentation at NOSH Live Winter 2019, Junea Rocha, Brazi Bites’ co-founder and CMO, described the company’s five year-long “epic grind” — which eventually led to an appearance on Shark Tank and a big boost for the brand.

Chickpea brand Hippeas has always wanted to move beyond its initial line of puffs and become a “lifestyle” platform brand. Now the brand is taking its first steps in that direction; last week it launched a line of chickpea-based tortilla chips nationwide in retailer Whole Foods Market.

Kroger tests new plant-based meat section, federal bill funds CBD research and regulation and more in this week’s Checkout.

This week, members of the BevNET and NOSH editorial teams joined us for a discussion of some of the major news stories, trends and innovation from 2019. Among the topics of conversation were developments in the burgeoning cannabis CPG segment, explosive growth in the oat milk and sparkling water categories and the evolution of frozen food and plant-based meats.

Confection brand Little Secrets is ready to give consumers their chocolate fix — while also fixing conventional candy offerings. The brand launches today a line of Cookie Bars (a Twix Bar alternative), a new almond butter flavor of its Crispy Wafers (which are similar to Kit Kats) and multipack bags of mini Crispy Wafers.

Following a year plagued by out-of-stock issues and high shipping costs, plant-based food and beverage brand New Barn is scaling back retail distribution for its product portfolio to service only the West Coast as it focuses on integrating an omnichannel strategy in 2020.

In a presentation at NOSH Live Winter 2019 this month, Brigette Wolf, SnackFutures’ head of innovation, and Mel Gaceta, Mondelez’s director of ventures, shared how the CPG giant is addressing the future of snacking.

CPG studio Brandable sees an opportunity to disrupt the food industry via distinctive brands catered to young shoppers. Its most recent launch, Veggiecraft Farms, is the first case of Brandable springing into the plant-based CPG set — taking a fresh route through center-store.

Nadeem Srouji is the founder and CEO of Kips, the maker of dehydrated kale chips seasoned with flavorful spices and ingredients. The company is looking to expand beyond kale chip consumers, reaching the average snacker through farmers’ markets, bars and coffee shops, as well as offering options for vegan, keto and gluten-free eaters.

While other yogurt brands are looking to adjacent categories to see sales growth, Siggi’s still sees plenty of room for innovation within the set. It’s this strategy that is driving the skyr brand to launch three new products nationwide in January: plant-based skyr, kids’ pouches and nut butter enhanced yogurts.