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

After of a year of fast growth, plant-based dairy brand Lavva has undergone a rebrand that places a greater emphasis on taste as it seeks to expand its consumer base in 2019. The brand has enjoyed success since launching roughly a year ago, growing to 1,000 doors in retailers and closing $5.8 million in investment.

The complete lineup of presentations from NOSH Live Winter 2018 is now available to watch on the NOSH YouTube channel. Nearly 350 natural food industry founders and executives gathered at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica, Calif. on November 29-30 to discuss the evolving marketplace, discover what’s next and explore how they can work together to fuel growth for their businesses and the natural food industry.

At NOSH Live Winter 2018, Kathryn Peters, EVP of retailer services at SPINS, and Brian Reed, principle at IRI, revealed that for food brands, simply being “natural” is no longer enough to capture consumers. However, the duo said, there’s plenty of white spaces for brands to seek out.

Slice of Sauce co-founder Emily Williams has transformed traditional condiments. With an innovative new format, the mess free slices of ketchup don’t skimp on quality ingredients and are set to launch in spring of 2019.

Lantana Hummus CEO Matt Gase says he was “born into big food.” In both his time responsible for some of the top food and pet brands as well as CEO of emerging brands, over the years Gase learned “there are tremendous advantages to big food, but there are vulnerabilities as well.”

Highlights from interviews with a few of the leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs and who joined us on the podcast during the second half of 2018, including Kobe Bryant, Angie Bastian of Angie’s Boomchickapop, Andrew Zimmern and America’s Test Kitchen/Milk Street creator Christopher Kimball.

2018 was filled protein, plant-based innovation and, perhaps not surprisingly, lots of deals. But perhaps what readers paid most attention to was how those deals are paying off — namely RXBAR, which was acquired in 2017 for $600 million. Want a quick reminder of the whirlwind that was 2018? Here are the most read stories on NOSH over the past year.

In this episode, we explore trends that may shape the food and beverage industry in 2019 through the lens of our BevNET and NOSH editorial teams. We also sit down with HotShot Coffee founder Danny Grossfeld, who discussed the development of his innovative brand of heated, canned coffees and his memorable appearance on “Shark Tank.”

Paleo Powder founder Dustin Gersch built his seasoning company on the foundation of using clean ingredients to offer convenient flavor for consumers with dietary restrictions. Paleo Powder differentiates from other seasonings by focusing on lifestyle versus use case, offering a line of all-purpose seasonings that are suitable for the paleo, keto, and FODMAP diets.

CB Insights has dubbed 2019 “the year of getting closer to the consumer,” predicting that the next year will see brands and corporations seek a more direct connection with consumers through e-commerce platforms and personalization.

Puff producer Hippeas this week closed an $8 million round of funding from previous investors. Hippeas has previously raised $14 million, with the last round of $4 million closing earlier this year.

The former members of shared kitchen space Pilotworks were dealt another blow this week as Nursery, the incubator set to reopen in the space, ultimately decided to not move forward with its plans. Nursery founder Adam Melonas cited “conditions” found during pre-inspection.

Condiment company Sir Kensington’s is spicing things up with a new product line and sales channel. The brand, which was acquired by Unilever in April 2017 for $140 million, last week launched a spice kit that is sold direct-to-consumers via a microsite. Eventually the line may be sold in retail

Novamex has acquired Tio Gazpacho for an undisclosed sum, the company announced today, more than a year after the Hispanic-focused beverage marketer first invested in the drinkable soup brand. Primarily an importer of Mexican brands such as Jarritos and Mineragua, Novamex said in the announcement that it is focusing on becoming a growth platform for natural and organic beverages, such as the organic certified Tio Gazpacho.