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

Project NOSH is taking Manhattan. When we raise the curtain on our second New York-based strategy, growth and networking conference for entrepreneurial food businesses, we’ll do so at the Metropolitan Pavilion West, at 639 W 46th Street, on Monday, June 12. An afternoon “Boot Camp” for early-stage entrepreneurs will be offered the day before at a different location.

Primal Kitchen Restaurant’s first franchise in Los Angeles is expected to open this April.

Last week saw a pair of changes in Whole Foods global leadership team, as well as a spate of new hires in supplier companies and food brands alike.

Initially, it seemed like a perfect romance: the venture-backed producer of a protein-heavy flour made from renewable microscopic plants and an up-and-coming “meal disruptor” food and beverage brand meeting to create what could potentially be a monumentally hip “step toward sustainable food production.” But the breakup is real: the past month has found food and beverage producer/replacer Soylent and ingredient supplier TerraVia, engaged in finger-pointing over product problems that plagued Soylent and some of its consumers late last year.

More than 150 public and private companies took the stage during ICR’s investment conference this week — and among its presenters were some of the food industry’s most influential directors.

After five investments that have ranged from jerky to grass-fed dairy to pancake mixes, Sunrise Strategic is taking a bite of the youth-facing snack set with a minority investment in new brand Pure Growth Organic.

Here’s how brands and manufacturers, retailers, and entrepreneurs fit into the city’s vision for a more “inclusive, healthy, vibrant and resilient” Denver.

After launching in July 2016, eighteen94 capital, the venture arm of CPG giant Kellogg Company, has announced Kuli Kuli, a moringa-based brand of bars, powders and shots, as its first investment.

After six years helping develop nascent natural food and beverage brands in New York City, Michael Schwartz, founder of Organic Food Incubator (OFI), is hoping a recent move to a new location in northern New Jersey signals a new chapter for the company and its clients.

Today entrepreneur and investor Zubin Mehta announced the launch of Born Wild Brands. Mehta most recently served as CEO at Nourish Snacks, a better-for-you snack company founded by TODAY’s Joy Bauer.

Longtime Founder and CEO Keith Robbins sold Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream to Kenex Holdings, a Chicago-based investment company, after almost 32 years of business. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Today Ahold USA, parent company of Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover, Giant Carlisle and online grocery Peapod, announced a partnership with product discovery platform RangeMe. Ahold will use RangeMe for both inbound submissions as well as to scale its product discovery efforts.

The anonymous survey, conducted in September and October, asked participants to answer 15 questions about HPP safety, quality and efficacy, and to compare HPP to other pasteurization methods.

A recently published Innova Market Insights report found that global new product developments for fruit-based snacks more than doubled, from less than 8 percent to nearly 18 percent, over the past five years.