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

Financing growth takes money. Here is a look at four companies — Love Grown, Kar’s Nuts, Custom Made Meals and Passport Food Group — that have all been acquired or launched strategic partnerships in the last month to further grow and scale their brands.

The San Francisco-based Full Harvest, founded by Christine Moseley, a former head of business development at Organic Avenue, has raised $2.35 million thus far, having brought in $350,000 from The Impact Engine, Astia and Wilson last May.

With its one-year exclusive with Whole Foods ending, enhanced chocolate brand Good Day Chocolate has closed a bridge round to finance expansion into a new set of retailers.

Retailers like Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and 7-Eleven are redefining their strategies and expanding their store counts to see their profits bloom this spring.

Baby food brands like Pure Spoon, Once Upon A Farm and So Good are looking to push the category into a fresher, “chillier” direction. But the greatest uncertainty for refrigerated baby food is what exactly it will take for HPP purees to become “baby food 3.0” — and if retailers will be willing to invest the time and money to find out.

In the post-Expo West hustle, several industry leaders from brands and retailers alike have taken new positions with up-and-coming natural brands. Several of the additions come after recent rounds of funding, which have enable the companies to scale their hiring.

The BevNET Podcast crew recently visited Boston’s Fenway neighborhood to recorded a wide-ranging interview about the launch and development of Chew, a new food incubator focused on recreating legacy snack brands.

In one song from Martellus Bennett’s recently dropped EP, the tight end turns on-trend foodie phrases like “self checkout in my own lane / stacking bread that’s whole grain.”

The hens have come home to roost for pasture-raised egg maker Vital Farms, which has announced a new minority investment from Sunrise Strategic Partners. The investment will help the Austin-based egg company scale its operation and grow its distribution.

Just under a year ago, Alliance Consumer Growth (ACG), a private-equity fund, announced its investment in HannahMax Cookie Chips. Yet by the second half of 2016, it was apparent the brand needed a seasoned vet to help the company move into the next phase of it’s growth. Long-time natural products CEO Jane Miller was recruited for the role and recently told NOSH she is ready to take the company to the next level with a new look and sales strategy.

Corporate transparency, restorative agriculture and the rise of nut butters as a snack were among several emerging trends from Natural Products Expo West 2017 that were highlighted in a webinar from market research firm SPINS on Thursday.

How Goodie Girl Cookies’ Starbucks partnership — which got the brand’s best-selling line into more than 12,000 cafes nationwide — showed Founder Shira Berk that she was potentially missing out on a major sector within grab-and-go.

High Pressure Processing (HPP) has long been the hero of deli meats and, as of late, has become the innovation engine for a variety of beverage types. But a newly established trade group wants to push the technology beyond your turkey sandwich and green juice.

The Project NOSH team walked miles of the show’s booth-lined aisles, which were filled with 3,100 exhibiting companies and over 80,000 attendees. The goal: to find new products that embody the natural food industry’s hottest trends — and five in particular stood out among the sea of booths.