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

The food industry has been making headlines for more than its profits this month as brands and retailers work to focus their missions and better exemplify their values. This week’s Press Clips highlights companies who are doing just that by standing up for their brand, their consumers and, yes, even a goose.

When Jason Cohen entered the business world as a life insurance salesman, he knew one thing: you’re only as good as the relationships you have with your clients. Now as a successful entrepreneur and investor, he’s capitalized on that knowledge, and added to it another rule: that to support that success you need a solid team and a product that appeals to the consumer. At NOSH Live on Monday, June 12 in Manhattan, Cohen will give attendees an inside look at his success in the industry.

This week, Unilever, PepsiCo Inc., The Hershey Company and Pinnacle Foods released their quarterly earning reports. But beyond sales numbers, the companies shared insights into their wins, losses and goals for the rest of 2017 that will help set trends across categories in the months to come. Here are the main strategic takeaways from these CPG giants’ quarterly earning reports.

Plant-based products are one of the hottest trends in food and beverage, and investors have taken note. Last week, several funds and venture capital firms came together to back Nutriati, a food technology company whose first products are a chickpea flour and chickpea protein concentrate.

From ice cream and chips to drinkable veggies and matcha, these NOSH brands are furthering their consumer reach with some newly expanded retail relationships.

Emphasizing environmental and nutritional transparency for the labels and ingredients in both its chocolate and snacking lineups, the confectionary giant announced a sweeping set of changes from sourcing to packaging that the company hopes will give consumers more choices.

Getting kids to eat their vegetables can be a tricky proposition, even for venture capitalists. Recognizing this challenge, some investors are betting on brands, like Kidfresh, that help parents make mealtime a little easier. Kidfresh announced Monday it’s taken in a roughly $10 million Series B equity round for its line of frozen foods with hidden vegetables.

Earth Day is observed each year on April 22 to raise awareness about climate issues spanning from technology and energy to agriculture and food. But for some companies, one day a year isn’t enough. These seven brands — like others in the industry — exemplify what Earth Day is about the other 364, too.

The Illinois-based brand introduced its new line of USDA organic powdered bone broth on Wednesday. The launch comes less than two weeks after the company announced its expansion into over 790 Vitamin Shoppes nationwide.

Few consumer brands have gone from zero to $1 billion as fast as Chobani yogurt. Kyle O’Brien led the sales charge at Chobani, leading its revenue growth and transformation into the largest yogurt brand in the U.S. — and he’ll lead a discussion on fast growth at NOSH Live, taking place in Manhattan on Monday, June 12.

PowerPlant Ventures has looked to coconuts, greens, pea protein and algae, and now the private equity group is betting on beans — and rehabilitation. The venture fund announced today it had acquired Beanfields, a line of rice and bean-based chips. The brand was acquired by a coalition of investors including Zico founder Mark Rampolla, media and CPG investor Bruce Friedman and PowerPlant Ventures, where Rampolla is a partner.

When Mark Ramadan and Scott Norton, the co-founders of high-end condiment company Sir Kensington’s, were introduced to Kees Kruythoff, President of Unilever North America, they went into the meeting with the mindset that their company was not for sale. Five months later, the seven-year-old company announced today that it had been purchased the CPG giant, which owns some of the largest brands in the world — including erstwhile competitor Hellman’s, as well as Ben & Jerry’s, Lipton and Breyer’s.

Now armed with cash and plans for growth, plant-based nutrition bar company D’s Naturals is taking the next step in its “no cow revolution” with the hiring of health and wellness veteran Chris Hickey as CEO.

With consumer desire for healthy and natural items firmly solidified, Hy-Vee announced it is ready to expand its HealthMarket to a wider array of its stores. The expansion is part of several corporate restructuring efforts at the company’s West Des Moines headquarters.