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

Although plant-based products may be on an upswing, there’s still room for dairy. To support its growth, today cultured dairy brand Good Culture announced the close of an $8 million investment round. Previous investors CAVU Venture Partners and 301 Inc, the venture arm of General Mills’ led the round with Almanac Insights also taking part.

Having conquered rice and pizza, cauliflower is coming for the snack aisle. Vegetable-based snack brand Real From the Ground Up (RFFTGU) announced today that it will expand beyond its current lineup of pretzels and cheese crackers, adding eight new products to fill other snacking occasions and reach new demographics.

After having to make the hard choice to discontinue its Drinkable Veggies beverage line last year, today Bonafide Provisions announced the launch of a line of Keto Broth Cups, which are frozen, heat-and-drink cups of bone broth and MCT oil. The cups come as the company also unveils a new rebrand.

In this episode, we spoke with Michele Simon, the founder and executive director of the Plant Based Food Association, about the changing landscape for plant-based foods.

With much more to discuss and an overwhelming positive response, BevNET and NOSH proudly present The Cannabis Forum for Food and Beverage Summer 2019, a one-day event in New York. It will be hosted on Friday, June 14th at CNVS, following NOSH Live and BevNET Live.

Plant-based protein company Beyond Meat and cereal and gardening company Back to the Roots both announced new investors this week.

Jasmine Singh is the co-founder of Nomad Eats, a company that is focused on creating plant-based whole food products that taste like “liquid gold”. The brand has developed vegan nacho and mac and cheese sauces aimed to change consumers’ minds about how healthy vegan products taste.

Compass Diversified Holdings (CODI) announced yesterday it has reached an agreement to sell hemp food manufacturer Manitoba Harvest to Canadian cannabis company Tilray for C$419 million.

CytoSport, founded in 1998, was acquired by Hormel in a deal valued at $450 million in 2014. The company markets a variety of protein-focused sports nutrition products under the Muscle Milk brand, including powders, ready-to-drink beverages and bars.

The bar set is ever growing, and even familiar brands are looking to change up their looks in order to stay competitive. Today snack company PROBAR announced an outdoor-inspired rebrand of its packaging — one of the first major changes by the company’s new president and investor, Matt Fuller.

The rice category is starting to stretch with even more ingredients trying to define the staple. Today Banza, which is known for its chickpea pastas, announced it will expand into the category with its own line of rice — the company’s first major new product since introducing a line of macaroni and cheese in 2016.

Chickpea snacking brand Biena is ready to stretch out. The company is about to launch a new line of chickpea-based puffs and has made over its packaging to unify the portfolio. To support both initiatives, Biena closed a $2.35 million round in April 2018 and a second internal round of financing later in the year.

In 2007 snack innovator Keith Belling felt guilty eating potato chips and decided to do something about it. The result, which spawned a slew of imitators and helped revolutionize the snack set, was Popchips.

After spending $500 million to acquire a majority stake in Blue Bottle Coffee, it might be surprising to hear that Nestlé is content to let the premium roaster and retailer “just be.” Blue Bottle CEO Bryan Meehan spoke about the company’s relationship with Nestlé, its purposeful innovation strategy and efforts to enhance consumers’ experience with coffee. Also in this episode: an interview with former N’Sync star Lance Bass, who recently launched a cocktail mixer brand.