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

Fresh off a year of retail growth, moringa company Kuli Kuli has closed a $1 million round of funding. Investors in the round include noted tech luminaries Brad Feld of the Foundry Group and venture capitalist Derek Proudian, as well as food entrepreneur Mary Walder.

Reading Steve Hughes’ biography is like walking down the aisle of a grocery store — you’ll see plenty of familiar brands along the way, from Healthy Choice, to Smart Balance and Evol, to any number of the products he oversaw as CEO of Celestial Seasonings. In this interview with Project NOSH, Hughes discusses his newest venture, Sunrise Strategic partners.

Over the past year, the meat-based snacking category has continued to grow with new innovations, new brands and lots of investments. While the meat may be, the category itself is far from dried up. In fact, it’s still smoking.

Proceeds from the round, which was raised on equity crowdfunding platform CircleUp, will go toward new sales and marketing initiatives designed to expand placement and awareness of Tio Gazpacho’s high pressure processed, ready-to-drink soups.

The Wine RayZyn Company announced that they’ve raised over $1 million to help develop the next superfood snack product. The company has a patented process that dehydrates grapes and caramelizes the nutrient rich wine seed in the grape’s own sugar.

While the news may be dominated with stories of bone broth, kale chips and avocado oil, after visiting Natural Products Expo West 2016, it seems that consumers are still saving room for dessert. Although that takes the form of more healthy options for some products, there are also still many indulgent products hitting retailer shelves this year.

Bonafide Provisions, a newly-renamed maker of frozen chicken and beef bone broths, has become a portfolio company of Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR), an investment firm founded by the former managers of Boulder Brands’ venture capital group, the company announced this week.

At BevNet Boot Camp, we’re offering an enhanced opportunity to spend one-on-one time with our speakers as well as an additional group of experts who will be on hand to help provide further perspective on the day’s topics, as well as what challenges may lie beyond.

While consumers may be trying to eat healthier then ever, snacking hasn’t gone anywhere. Chips, dips and cookies haven’t gone anywhere, they may just look a little different with the additions of superfoods, fermented products and yes, even crickets. The following slide show looks at many of the trends influencing the snack category.

Earlier this month, retailer Target detailed their continued plans to revamp their grocery department and focus on the perimeter of the store. One of the brands that has already seen the potential power of Target’s perimeter is yogurt brand Noosa. At Expo West, Noosa Co-Founder Koel Thomae talked with Project NOSH about the company’s history, the relationship with Target, and what’s next for the yogurt brand.

At this year’s Natural Products Expo West shortcuts for meal prep were seen across categories and day parts. Many of the products we spotted not only assisted with speed of preparation, but also provided an on-the-go option for busy consumers. While these options were fast and easy, the flavors were anything but basic, often pulling from global flavor profiles of dishes that take hours to cook (such as curries and slow simmered soups). Click through to view some of the highlights we featured on Instagram.

Although Natural Products Expo West, which ended on Sunday, has swelled to an amazing 3,000 exhibitors, Project NOSH spotted three macro trends (insect based protein, full-fat dairy and single origin products) that spanned numerous categories. In the following video, Project NOSH Editor Carol Ortenberg and BevNET Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman discuss these trends — and the brands and products that embody them.

Newly added speakers include Jeremy Halpern and Bob Stringer, investors with the Edible Ventures angel network, Debbie Wildrick of MetaBrand, and DrinkMaple founders Kate Weiler and Jeff Rose. Beyond the speakers, however, a special two-hour networking session at the end of the day will give attendees the chance to direct their questions to even more experts curated from across even more disciplines.

At this year’s Natural Products Expo West, it was clear that plant-based proteins are becoming a key ingredient class across almost all categories. In the following video, Project NOSH Editor Carol Ortenberg speaks with one of the entrepreneurs behind Healthy Skoop, which produces plant-based nutritional blends.