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

Asking the average consumer how their fish gets into stores likely results in blank stares– and that’s only one of the issues facing the seafood industry. Many seafood companies are working to revamp the category’s product offerings to better reel in consumers. But Fishpeople CEO Ken Plasse said he thinks his seafood-focused CPG brand and supplier may be able to provide some extra bait with the company’s Tuesday announcement of a $12M round of funding.

When owner Pascal Rigo bought back his bakery brand, formerly La Boulange, from the Seattle-based coffee company in 2015, he quickly got to work. Now, the beloved San Francisco-based chain is reopening its retail stores, rebuilding its private label presence, and launching its own branded CPG line in Costco.

NOSH Live Summer 2017 is only one week away, which means that a bash will follow! Interested in skyline views? They’ll both be at the NOSH Live Afterparty, powered by FoodForce. After a full day of best practices, war stories and case studies, the conference will culminate with the Afterparty, which will bring together the food brands, investors, and other NOSH Live attendees for a final drink after the June 12th conference.

While at the Sweets and Snacks Conference in Chicago, Illinois, IRI snack industry expert Sally Lyons Wyatt reported on the “state of snack,” sharing the group’s latest research on 2016 category performances and marketplace predictions for 2017. Here are five noteworthy takeaways from her report.

How’s this for a bonus course? James Beard award winning author Michael Ruhlman will speak at NOSH Live on June 12 at the Metropolitan West in New York, NY. Ruhlman will be discussing Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, which looks at the grocery store as a key lens into American food culture and commerce.

Tuesday morning, ECRM announced the acquisition of tech company RangeMe, a software that allows buyers to discover new CPG products based on specific criteria.

In this NOSH Voices column, Jake Calaba, the Head of Institutional Business at CircleUp, examines recent M&A trends and asks the question, “What’s happening in consumer markets for investors and businesses?”

Asian-inspired food brand Nona Lim announced Monday the closing of a $3 million round of funding. Led by Harbinger Ventures, the round also included Echo Capital Group, Navama & Kouffman LCC, CircleUp and Cambridge Companies SPG as investors

Last week, the NOSH team trekked through a real-life Candy Land during the 20th annual Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, Illinois, in search of the latest trends in treats– and now they’re sharing their findings with the BevNET podcast.

GeeFree was founded in 2013 by partners Susan Hougui, a food consultant, and Steven Leyva, a baker. The duo baked the business from there, growing the company to about $500,000 in sales in its second year. Then in March 2017, Billy Procida, founder of the multi-billion dollar real estate investment group Procida Funding & Advisors, invested $1 million dollars for half the company. Now post investment, the company said it’s already seeing a tenfold increase in its month-to-month sales from March to May thanks in part to a new COO and a ramped-up marketing campaign.

Big strategics looked to both invest and acquire in the past two weeks, looking to a fund, a coffee company, and a delivery platform for revenue expansion. Here’s a look at the deals:

A list compiled by market research firm CB Insights of the 15 most well-funded venture capital-backed food and beverage startups reveals the increasing value placed on brands that are offering healthier choices and disrupting established categories like meat and dairy and innovating with plant-based offerings.

At this year’s Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago, Illinois, Mars Chocolate, Wrigley, Nestlé, Ferrero, Lindt, Ghirardelli, Russell Stover and Ferrara Candy Company highlighted their new pledge to educate consumers about the portions and calorie counts of their treats. The five-year plan, led by the National Confectioners Association (NCA) and Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), recognizes that while candy is “always a treat,” sweets can still fit into a healthy lifestyle.

From patent restrictions and investor complaints to false labeling claims, these are the cases creating — or aiming to clean up — messy food dealings.