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

Award winning author Michael Ruhlman spoke about his new book, Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, while at NOSH Live Summer 2017 in N.Y.C. last month. In his on-stage discussion, which explored the changing landscape of retail stores, Ruhlman addressed how the importance of retailers responding to consumer needs creates new dynamics in the retail/consumer relationship.

Speculation that Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market might spark legal backlash came to fruition this week as U.S. Representative David Cicilline (D-RI), the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, called for the subcommittee to hold a hearing on the online retail giant’s latest acquisition.

Investment platform CircleUp has new offerings designed to service specific institutional clients and entrepreneurs who want more privacy around their capital raise. The new offering has gradually rolled out over the past year.

From deepening footprints regionally to increasing store counts with leading grocery retailers on a national scale, here are some of the biggest distribution wins the industry has seen over the past month.

KEEN Growth Capital told NOSH the firm has obtained a “significant” partnership interest in both O’Dang Hummus and The Jersey Tomato Co. The fund, led by managing partners Jonathan Smiga and serial entrepreneur Jerry Bello, is a group that invests in early-stage entrepreneurs. KEEN did not disclose financial terms for either deal.

More than 10 U.S. food companies issued voluntary recalls for products vulnerable to listeria last month — and the contamination is stemming from issues with a supplier, according to the individual recall notices. Bulletproof, GoMacro, Wildway, Trader Joe’s, Fresh Foods, Lantana, Marketside, Nature’s Path, Nature’s Promise, Woodstock, Market Basket, Publix and Wholesome Pantry were all affected.

Toosum Healthy Foods announced last week its acquisition of KUTOA, a non-GMO, vegan nutrition bar company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Toosum founder Peter Guyer told NOSH that Grassia will remain “very involved” with the business and will have minority ownership. Currently Garcia is focused on helping the two brands come together and continuing to build customer relationships with new and existing retailers.

Last week, Danone cleared the final hurdle in announcing Stonyfield’s acquisition by its fellow French dairy company, Lactalis, for $875 million. After enjoying over a decade of growth under Danone, the New Hampshire-based company is beginning a new chapter. In discussing the deal with NOSH, analysts and experts in the organic grocery space noted that while the deal was ostensibly about freeing Danone to secure the bigger prize of acquiring WhiteWave, it also affirms the long-term value of a strong organic brand.

One of the highlights from last month’s Summer Fancy Food was the sheer variety of options. Watch the video below to learn what the Project NOSH team chose as their staff picks and why.

As consumers continue to seek convenience, nutrition, and satiation from their beverages, drinkable soup and yogurt brands are seeing opportunity in marketing their products as meal replacement drinks or in-between meal snacks.

During the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City last month, Shelley Balanko, of the Hartman Group, and David Lockwood, of Mintel, gave a presentation on the current state of the specialty food industry, and spoke about how they think it will fare in years to come. The duo crunched the numbers, surveyed and conducted numerous focus group interviews to create sales projections for each category for the next five years. Watch to hear what they had to say.

Many showed off new-and-improved appearances during last month’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. From package redesigns to complete rebrands, here are four companies that are touting new looks this summer.

What do you do once you’ve sold your beverage brand to Coca-Cola for millions, written a book about the experience and started a new plant-based investment fund? If you’re Mark Rampolla, the answer is you take a job for free. Today Beanfields Snacks announced Rampolla will be joining the company as CEO but draw no salary in the role.

The yogurt aisle is getting a makeover in the wake of major strategic changes by three of the category’s biggest companies. The shift comes at a time when these players are not only trying to steal market share from each other, but also bring back growth to a category whose once fast sales are now slowing.