Covid-19

The plant-based meat category was already growing before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, many plant-based brands have seen huge sales upticks since pantry loading began in March. Now, they need to figure out what comes next.

As many states begin to reopen businesses, IRI reflected on the 2008 recession to help brands prepare for the months ahead, while the FDA and USDA announced plans for supply chain management collaboration. Here’s the latest COVID-19 news from around the industry this week.

Rebellyous Foods has more than a nugget’s worth of plans. With a new plant-based chicken nugget launching into limited retail this week, the company hopes its proprietary technology will eventually be adapted by other manufacturers.

Over the past decade, consumer interest in immunity boosting products and ingredients has been steadily on the rise. But the outbreak of the coronavirus has pushed that into overdrive: Between January and April, social posts mentioning “immunity” increased 134%, according to flavor provider FONA International.

As the food industry adjusts to some version of ‘new normal,’ legislation was introduced this week to extend food workers’ financial protections during COVID-19, while the SAFE Banking Act for cannabis businesses was added to the House’s latest stimulus bill. Here’s the latest COVID-19 news from around the industry this week.

In this video, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg spoke with Alex Marx, director of category management for KeHe, about how he has seen the retail industry shift and how innovation has a key role to play in helping the market to recover from disruption.

What do you do when your revenue practically disappears overnight? For healthy office snacks and meals startup Oh My Green, the shuttering of offices across the US at first left the company with a highly uncertain future. Now, the company is pivoting, launching a direct-to-home snack box model that the company hopes will help it survive and hire back many of the employees it had previously laid off.

Consumers’ salty snacking appetites seem to grow with more time spent at home — and brands, facing decreased store trip frequency, have quickly had to adjust their retail channel strategy and product mix to help keep them satisfied.

PepsiCo is pivoting to meet consumer demand online with the launch of two new ecommerce platforms — snacks.com and pantryshop.com. The two storefronts will allow the company to give consumers easy access to the familiar and “comforting” brands they are seeking out during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Gibu Thomas, SVP and head of ecommerce for PepsiCo.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems many Americans are strapping on their aprons and marching to the oven with a goal of learning to bake. But why have sourdough breads, brownies and chocolate chip cookies captivated the nation? And is the “made from scratch” ethos similarly powering the baking mix brands that allow kitchen dwellers to cut out a few steps?