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

Yesterday, protein-centric brand Powerful announced the close of a $4 million round. The capital is a combination of equity investment from River Hollow Partners and asset based lending (ABL) financing through Gerber Finance. Currently the Miami, Florida-based producer of Powerful Yogurt and Powerful drinks, as well as an emerging product, high-protein Powerful Oatmeal, is in over 10,000 points of sale, including select Walmart, Target and Kroger stores.

Fast growing, high-protein, low-calorie ice cream producer Halo Top is popping out of pints and into the mall with the launch of a new scoop shop in Los Angeles, California. With its cult following, the brand hopes to provide its legion of fans a more experiential way to “indulge” with ice cream.

For every never-before-seen, patented piece of technology, there are numerous food brands developing well-branded, delicious versions of classic recipes that have been around for decades or longer. Investors are increasingly taking note and helping these brands grow to the next step of their development.

Inspiring Brands. Consumer Experts. Investors Galore. Famous Entrepreneurs. They’re all featured in our NOSH Live Winter 2017 agenda, which we’ve officially posted on the event site.

Lehi Valley Trading Company, producer of High Valley Orchard, Arizona Snack Company and numerous private label products, launched SnackWorthy, a clean-label snack brand, last year. Encouraged by positive response from consumers, the brand announced during this year’s National Association of Convenience Stores show in Chicago, Ill., that it’s converting one of its most popular — and money-making — SKUs to the new line.

Just like the brands they seek to partner with, investment banks working the food and beverage space need to stand out from the crowd. Within its consumer and retail practice, Cascadia, based in Seattle, focuses on emerging food and beverage brands and companies involved in contract manufacturing. The group has quietly brokered 50 deals since 2010.

Last week, the 18-month-old Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), in collaboration with the Soyfoods Association and Good Food Institute, hosted its first fly-in lobbying week in Washington, D.C. Representatives from dairy alternative producers including MALK, Good Karma Foods, New Barn and Oatly traveled to Washington to meet on Wednesday.

A week after finalizing the purchase of meat alternative company Sweet Earth, Nestlé USA today announced it’s widening its coffee portfolio with the acquisition of Chameleon Cold-Brew for an undisclosed sum.

The brand’s revamped packaging, designed by Nucleus Maximus, features a colorful design with a hand-drawn bear. To start, the bear will only be featured on GFB’s bar line, rolling out to 9,000 stores this month.

In a recent interview featured in this week’s episode of Taste Radio, Coogan, who recently stepped down as Soylent’s CTO, discussed how Soylent’s e-commerce-only model enabled the company to start collecting data on who its customer was, streamlining a path to retail.

In this interview recorded at NACS Show 2017, 4505 Chicharrones CEO and founder Ryan Farr discussed how he’s educating consumers about premium pork rinds, why consumers want natural options in c-stores and how the category fits into convenience retailers’ overall commitment to making healthier options more accessible.

Can collagen move from its fitness fan-base to mainstream? Vital Proteins and its new investor CAVU Venture Partners thinks so. Yesterday the the “collagen-boosting nutrition” brand announced a $19 million investment from CAVU to support its rapid growth.

The Kellogg Company and Mondelez Inc., the CPG leaders posted their first revenue growth in years on Tuesday during their respective quarterly earnings calls. While part of the growth is a result of the value of the dollar overseas, part of the success is due to how the two brands are innovating and strategizing.

Two coffee-forward brands are getting a jolt after receiving investments. Eat Your Coffee, an energy bar company using coffee as an ingredient and as its caffeine source, and Alpine Start, a maker of instant coffee, both announced last week that they raised funds.