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

Danone SA is making a move to acquire leading kefir manufacturer Lifeway Foods, offering $283 million, or $25 per share, for the publicly traded company, according to a Schedule 13D form filed yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

For years, leaders of the biggest packaged food manufacturers have been studying – and, in some cases, acquiring – emerging brands to gain insights on how to “innovate like a startup” with a focus on speed, agility and disruption. We spoke to industry experts about what Big CPG can teach brands at the entrepreneurial level, from product development strategies to mindset.

Months after leading Sovos Brands through its $2.7 billion acquisition by the Campbell Soup Company, Chris Hall has joined better-for-you mac and cheese brand Goodles as CFO.

Ever since the pandemic, consumers have been increasingly demanding transparency in food supply chains with health, safety and sustainability becoming top drivers of those requests. Here’s how brands are meeting those emerging needs.

After launching into grain-free granola, Three Wishes is entering a new category with chewy granola bars as it eyes opportunity in snacks and expanding its reach in mass and conventional channels.

As he prepares to hand over control of his protein snacks brand to a new licensee, IWON Organics founder and CEO Mark Samuel is taking on a new full time role at food and beverage growth equity firm Siddhi Capital. Samuel announced the move to Siddhi on LinkedIn this week, where he will work to support the growth of the firm’s portfolio brands.

In this week’s new products roundup, Stouffer’s and Rice-A-Roni enter the shelf-stable mac and cheese category, Ithaca unveils its latest hummus flavor and Graza teams up with RIND Snacks to create “Grazola.”

After weathering countless economic headwinds over the past five years, grocery retailers are again facing pressures to capture a greater share of consumers’ wallets. Here’s how they are approaching the task.

Puffed corn snack producer Like Air announced a new strategy today that will see it release limited-time flavors exclusively via TikTok Shop.

Don’t call it a comeback: Within seven years, Brad Charron transformed a distressed company into a profitable, employee-owned B Corporation with more than $100 million in sales.

On CPG Week, the podcast team talks co-branding, energy drink and protein supplement licensing with sweets makers, and the evolution of cannabis in sports recovery drinks.

After announcing the sale of its North American yogurt business last week, CPG giant General Mills plans to shift its focus to bolt-on acquisitions of “smaller size assets” to enhance growth, said chairman and CEO Jeff Harmening in today’s Q1 earnings report.

Wellness Bars are seeing some growth in sales. Meanwhile, granola & snack bars have seen a slight decline in both sales and units.

Daily Crunch has scooped up $4 million in a Series A funding round led by Launch Tennessee with participation from various strategic investors.