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

Business isn’t something to be left to chance; sometimes you have to make your own luck. Episode 70 of BevNET’s Taste Radio podcast spotlights a recent conversation with Jeff Church, the co-founder and CEO of Suja. At the helm since 2012, Church has guided Suja’s remarkable ascent as the leading brand in a highly competitive category.

When trying to establish and grow a brand, entrepreneurs have to think about product, people and persistence. Jason Cohen, the CEO and co-founder of Halen Brands, has all three top of mind. At NOSH Live this past June, Cohen sat down with Project NOSH Editor Carol Ortenberg for an inside look at his success in the industry.

The company announced Wednesday that it had received $2 million from previous investor Advantage Capital Agribusiness Partners, which will be used to help the brand move beyond the baby aisle with other “tummy friendly,” shelf-stable products that can appeal to older children.

Now under new — albeit temporary — leadership, a plant-based dairy leader is launching a new product set. Almond-based cheese and yogurt brand Kite Hill announced this week the launch of three new products to expand the brand’s presence in the dairy set.

The acquisition will bring Innophos deeper into the branded, functional ingredient space, and help the company launch a new health and nutrition platform of ingredients for brands.

Sprouts Farmers Markets, Natural Grocers, Kellogg’s and B&G all held quarterly earnings calls for investors last week. Here are three areas all four companies will be focusing on to fuel future growth.

Recently obtained documents from the FDA by The New York Times and the ETC Group, a consumer advocacy group that monitors the effects of new technologies on food and agriculture, reveal that in 2015 FDA officials questioned Impossible Foods about its use of soy leghemoglobin.

IRI’s Channel Performance Report released last month evaluates consumer shopping patterns across retail channels from conventional to convenience, and lays out a picture of the largest growth opportunities in retail for CPG brands.

Taste Radio is getting to the meat of Krave Jerky with the brand’s founder Jon Sebastiani. Recorded during the 2017 Summer Fancy Food Show, Sebastiani delved into his 20-year background in the food and beverage industry, and what spurred him to strike out on his own with Krave.

Brian Strom, cofounder of Crapola, launched the Minnesota-based artisanal granola company as “simply a joke.” Now, the company is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and Strom is reflecting on the pun-forward brand’s history while in pursuit of a different kind of throne: major retailers’ shelves.

Both The Hershey Company and Mondelez International announced they will be investing more in retailers’ click-and-collect programs and third party e-commerce channels during their quarterly earnings calls this week.

Today pulse-based pasta brand Banza announced the close of a $7.5 million series A financing round lead by Beechwood Capital. At Project NOSH Live this past June, Project NOSH Editor, Carol Ortenberg, sat down with Beechwood and Banza to discuss the round.

In a letter posted to business networking website LinkedIn, Annie’s President John Foraker announced he was stepping down from his post at the organic food brand.

It seems yogurt brands are agreeing to disagree on which of the category’s newest styles will spark the next “Chobani boom.” While all of them seem to be experimenting with innovation, the direction of that innovation is extremely varied, as can be seen most recently by launches from Hain Celestial and Dannon.