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

If you were at this year’s Institute of Food Technology (IFT) show, held this week at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, you likely caught a glimpse of the future. The venue hosted over 20,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors showcasing a range of ingredients, flavorings, colorings, sweeteners and everything in between, painting a broad portrait of the current state of the industry and pointing the way towards further developments and innovations that are only just beginning to emerge.

Capital can come in many forms. At some stages, cold hard cash has its role, but some, entrepreneurs are looking to investors who can also bring social capital and strategic advice to their companies. Darren Rovell, a sports business reporter at ESPN, sought to meet that need when he brought together a group of 25 high net worth investors and family offices to make up his new investment group, Tastemaker Capital Partners.

During the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) 2017 show this week, BevNET spoke with analysts from leading market research firms Mintel and Innova Food Insights about their observations on the macro-trends in this space that are helping shape the next wave of consumer food and beverage products.

Gary Hirshberg, the co-founder and chairman of dairy company Stonyfield Farm and a highly influential figure in the organic food movement, shares war stories ranging from the company’s pastoral beginnings, to its decade-long struggle for financing, and on to its eventual sale, mining them for wisdom that will resonate with any food and beverage professional.

Many industry leaders are adding new titles and companies to their resumes after a stint of hiring sprees the past few months. Here’s the lowdown on these execs’ new gigs and what they are doing there.

During the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City this week, LeAnn Chuboff, the VP of Technical Affairs for the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute, and Robert Garfield, the chief food safety assessment officer and SVP for Food Marketing Institute, spoke about food safety’s newest trends and technology during a presentation at the newly debuted Level Up Experience. Here are four takeaways from the panel to keep your food safety nightmare from turning into a reality.

Lots of money changed hands this month across the food industry. From convenient meal kits to a premium pasta sauce line with history, here’s what some of CPG’s biggest companies and players are betting on.

At first, few suppliers weren’t sure what to make of the deal, with numerous food and beverage companies reserving their comments. Now, after more than a week’s reflection, many have told NOSH they are excited about the potential sales opportunities the partnership could provide, expressing enthusiasm for how it will maintain or even enhance Whole Foods’ reputation as a launching pad for small brands.

As the retail landscape becomes more crowded, having the right distributor is key to a brand’s success– especially during a brand’s formative years. At NOSH Live Summer 2017 earlier this month, Jeremy Isenberg, President Chex Finer Foods, reflected on the history of distribution, as well as looked forward at what the future of distribution may hold.

Over 20,000 CPG manufacturers, marketers and formulators will gather next week (June 25-28) at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas for IFT17, the annual show for Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

In previously scheduled appearances, Sprouts CFO Brad Lukow presented at the Jefferies 2017 Global Consumer Conference Tuesday and Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman addressed investors at the Oppenheimer Annual Consumer Conference Wednesday. Schlotman addressed investors again during Thursday’s annual shareholders meeting. Though their talks didn’t focus on Amazon’s Friday announcement that the online retailer is acquiring Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, that didn’t keep the elephant out of the room.

June has been quite a month for Small Axe Peppers, the makers of Bronx Hot Sauce. Last week the mission-driven hot sauce brand won the second annual Project NOSH Pitch Slam, and now the company announced that it’s extending its community garden business model to a new borough: Queens.

Following the Friday announcement that e-commerce pioneer Amazon would be purchasing natural products retailer Whole Foods Market, there has been rampant discussion over what the merger means for the retailer and industry. In communications to team members, both through email and a “town hall meeting” at Whole Foods headquarters, some information has come to light.

Three days prior to the blockbuster announcement that Amazon would acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, Matt Jimenez, the senior category leader for Whole Foods’ global grocery team took the stage at BevNET Live Summer 2017 and discussed recent changes to the company’s grocery management structure and buying processes.