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

CircleUp is hitching its growth fund to Helio. The online fundraising platform today announced the launch of a $125 million venture capital fund that will incorporate the proprietary machine learning platform as a tool to help guide investment in early-stage consumer and retail companies.

In the battle to attract consumers to clean label products, it’s about more than just ingredient certifications and claims. That’s what Irish global ingredient supplier Kerry Group found out as the result of research into labeling as the company tries to shape strategies that will guide its plans for customers’ innovation pipelines.

Over the past few years, center store brands have been hurting –canned foods in particular. Given consumers penchant for “fresher” foods, soup producers, including CPG leaders Campbells and Progresso, have been forced to come up with new lines to appeal to shoppers: First Campbell’s with its release of two lines of refrigerated soup and now Progresso with its recent launch of an organic canned soup line.

In this week’s episode of Taste Radio, we spoke with Hint’s Kara Goldin about how her experiences in the tech world helped shape the business strategy. Goldin also explained how she overcame early challenges of a food and beverage industry long dominated by legacy brands

Last week global food and beverage company Nestle finalized its purchase of plant-based food producer, Sweet Earth. Founded in 2011 by the former global VP of marketing for Calvin Klein and former CMO of Pepsi, the company offers over 50 frozen and refrigerated products, all using a variety of plant-protein sources, including beans, chickpeas, seeds, nuts and seitan.

The Project NOSH team works throughout the year to put together NOSH Live, an event where natural food brands can learn, breathe and find inspiration and partners to leap forward. The event is designed to create business conversations on stage that last through networking opportunities and on into the operation of their companies.

During last week’s National Association of Convenience Stores Show (NACS) 2017 in Chicago, Illinois, a panel evaluated the implications of a Trump-led White House for the industry, separating policy changes into “the good and the bad and the unknown.” Here’s how the panelists think Donald Trump’s presidency has shaped the convenience channel thus far.

During last week’s National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in Chicago, Illinois, the tea titans announced the launch of their first natural food line: Crazy Cowboy jerky. Crazy Cowboy debuted with five beef and pork SKUs, and will be sold in 1.5-ounce bags for $1.99 to $2.99.

In this NOSH Voices, James Richardson, Ph.D., a strategy consultant for emerging food and beverage brands, shares his insight on how food and beverage entrepreneurs can effectively nurture products into fully developed brands that consumers love.

NOSH Live, the business catapult event for up-and-coming Natural, Organic, Sustainable and Healthy food brands, will feature on-stage interviews with investors from a variety of market perspectives to guide entrepreneurs on what makes them ready to make a deal. The event takes place on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Loews Beach Hotel in Santa Monica, California.

The Software as a Service (SaaS) provider announced last month that it received a $4.25 million investment from mission-based venture capital firm Renewal Funds. It follows an undisclosed 2015 investment in the provider of traceability, food safety and supply chain transparency software.

Earlier this month the Taste Radio team met with GT Dave, the founder of best-selling kombucha brand GT’s Kombucha. He explained his belief that most “successful businesses come from a pure place” and stressed that brands should attempt to connect with consumers on a personal, intimate level.

One Bar is ready to pump up its sales. That’s what the company’s CEO Peter Burns and its backer, investment firm CAVU Ventures, believe. The two have spent the last nine months working towards a new look as part of the brand’s push into conventional grocers, and mass, convenience and club retailers.

When your company sells for millions just three years after its inception, you must have done something right. For Peter Rahal, RxBar co-founder, president and CEO, that success was directly tied to one thing: never thinking about selling his company.