Covid-19

While the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to rise worldwide, the food and beverage industry has been forced to swiftly adjust to the crisis. Just as consumers have changed their shopping habits by racing to grocery stores to stock up before indefinite periods of self-quarantine, many brands and entrepreneurs have fast begun tailoring their messaging to comment on the virus. Others are seizing the moment to promote products with immunity boosting properties, through social media posts, press releases and eblasts.

Oakland, California-based plant-based meat company Impossible Foods today announced the close of an approximately $500 million Series F funding round, led by South Korea-based firm Mirae Asset Global Investments. To-date, the company has raised to nearly $1.3 billion, including $300 million closed last May.

An aid package that includes help for employees of small businesses is making its way through Congress as the coronavirus pandemic known as COVID-19 spreads across the U.S.

In an email to attendees late this afternoon, Natural Products Expo West producer New Hope announced it would cancel the natural products trade show in favor of focusing on its next large show, Expo East. New Hope has also launched an FAQ page to answer the most pressing questions it has received from the industry.

With consumers stockpiling pantry items in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), research firm Nielsen is studying their shopping habits during this unique time — both globally and in the U.S. This week, Nielsen identified six key consumer behavior patterns that tie directly to coronavirus updates and appear across multiple markets.

In the week since the Natural Products Expo West trade show was postponed, the food industry has seen several other shows cancelled or delayed due to the fast moving virus COVID-19. Yesterday, Expo West producer New Hope and Fancy Foods Show producer The Specialty Food Association (SFA) updated their respective attendees with show updates. Meanwhile, Supply Side East was postponed until the Summer.

Industry trade shows continue to face delays and cancellations due to the spread of COVID-19 (also known as the novel coronavirus.) Today, the upcoming SNAXPO convention, scheduled for March 22-24 in Charlotte, North Carolina, was cancelled, while Shoptalk was postponed until September.

Just a few days after Natural Products Expo West, yesterday another trade show for the food industry was postponed. The Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing Expo North America conference and trade show, which was scheduled to be held in Boston March 15-17, was expected to bring 1,329 exhibitors from 49 countries for a total of more than 22,150 attendees to the city’s Seaport area.

Dogged by key cancellations from retailers and big brands, followed by social media protests before yesterday postponing Natural Products Expo West, New Hope Network today put the big question front and center: “What’s next?” That question, posed in a statement from New Hope at 5:30 today, is being asked by the event’s exhibitors, attendees and City of Anaheim partners, showing the ongoing chain of uncertainty that remains.

Sunk costs. That’s what a lot of food and beverage companies facing the potential of a Coronavirus-reduced Natural Products Expo West show were regretting over the weekend as they wondered whether they could do enough business with the show’s drastically-reduced retailer contingent to justify the money they had already laid out.