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

Maine is already known for its lobsters, but Ocean Approved wants the state to be known for another ocean crop: kelp. Led by new CEO Briana Warner, the company is launching a line of products under the Atlantic Sea Farms brand to bring awareness to this briny delicacy and has new investors and supply chain strategy to support this growth.

Candi Haas is the co-founder of Core + Rind, a company that has developed shelf-stable and clean label plant-based cashew cheesy sauce. As culinary nutrition experts, the founders are focused on serving healthy, all-natural foods to their target market of millennial women.

For the first time small companies with revenues under $1 billion make up more than half of IRI’s New Product Pacesetters report, which was released yesterday. The research firm’s 23rd annual Pacesetters report lists 2018’s most successful new food and beverage product launches in both major retail and convenience stores, as well as non-food by multi-outlet dollar sales.

Hummus maker Sabra named Jason Levine, former North America CMO for Mondelez International, as CMO last month.

As part of a wide-ranging interview, Mamma Chia founder/CEO Janie Hoffman spoke about the origins of her brand and how she created a foundation for its rapid ascent. She also discussed a painful lesson about hiring for experience versus cultural fit, explained her belief that “you can’t teach attitude” and why everyday happiness starts with a joyful spirit.

During its recent 2019 annual shareowners’ meeting and its 2019 first quarter earnings call, Kellogg, the largest cereal company in the U.S., shared details of its financial performance following a challenging year for the category.

Make your decisions about developing cannabis-infused products well-informed ones. At the Cannabis Forum for Food and Beverage presented by BevNET and NOSH, John Kagia, the Chief Knowledge Officer of New Frontier Data, will dive into the market and consumer data you need to grow your cannabusiness.

Governmental agencies made several new announcements this week that could impact how brands and suppliers approach food safety.

Yesterday plant-based meat brand Beyond Meat faced the heat and emerged sizzling. The popular protein play began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol BYND and served up the year’s best IPO debut. However, the question remains, what does the company have to do next in order run alongside fellow protein players and move beyond its current market position?

The consumer craze with cauliflower shows no sign of slowing down. Today, frozen food and snack brand Cali’flour announced the close of a round of capital led by Sunrise Strategic and a leadership transition in an effort to more heavily move the business into retail.

Food entrepreneurs: your brands are your babies. As they evolve, it’s hard to loosen the reins and let them fly. How do you know when you need help, specifically a CEO? And how do you learn to accept it? Jeni Britton Bauer and John Lowe join NOSH Live Summer 2019 to talk about their relationship over the years as founder and CEO and how it has developed.

The FDA issued new draft guidance last week for allulose, stating it intends to allow manufacturers to exclude the low-calorie sweetener from total and added sugars on Nutrition Facts labels, marking the first time a sweetener will be exempt from the total or added sugars list.

What are the outer limits of the cannabis business? Where is it succeeding, what are the consumers like, how does it move from a consumption experience to a culinary one? And from there, can it change our level of cultural understanding? The team behind 99th Floor aims to answer those questions and will present their thoughts and ideas about how “Fine Dining” can morph into “High Dining” at the Cannabis Forum, presented by BevNET and NOSH, on June 14 at CNVS in Manhattan.

Ellis Fried is the Founder & CEO of SMPL, a brand that aims to make health and wellness living simple with on-the-go snacks packed with superfoods and adaptogens. Its first SKUs showcase functional ingredients such as CBD, activated charcoal and pine pollen, and are free from dairy, soy, gluten and refined sugar.