Innovation
Featured Innovation Content
After Miyoko’s Meltdown, Nuts For Cheese Sees Fresh Opportunity in Premium Plant-Based Set
A turbulent year for plant-based cheese is opening unexpected doors for the category’s next wave of potential winners. As legacy players stumble and retailers lose confidence in the category, Nuts For Cheese aims to fill a hole for premium, artisanal brands that can deliver on taste, ingredients and trust with retailers and shoppers alike.
Man Cereal Aims To Be The Liquid Death Of Breakfast
Creatine-laced Man Cereal is positioning itself as the irreverent, unapologetic option among other better-for-you, next-gen breakfast brands.
Seeding Its Future: Smackin’ Fuels Growth With Vertical Integration
Sunflower seed snack brand Smackin’ has prioritized flavor innovation and manufacturing control to position for long-term growth.
Additional Content
CPG Week: UNFI SNAFU And Beckham’s Buzzy Business Bet
This week, the podcast team digs into the disruption caused by a cyberattack on wholesaler UNFI’s information technology systems last week. Next, the hosts discuss Taste Tomorrow Ventures’ first food investment and why sour candy is whetting investor appetites lately. Finally, the podcasters highlight a soccer star’s foray into the consumer packaged goods field and a beverage brand’s latest partnerships.
Coffee, But Make It Like Skoal: New Formats Chase Caffeine Consumers
From pouches to sprays to pastes, on-the-go caffeine consumers searching for portable alternatives to coffee or energy drinks have new formats to choose from.
Food-as-Medicine Startup Raises $3.6 Million To Scale GLP-1 Solution
Lembas, which describes itself as an artificial intelligence-powered peptide discovery company, aims to offer a more accessible alternative to high-priced injectables sold under brand names like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy with its first solution, GLP-1 Edge.
Reviews: Kencko Snaps Into New Snacking Format; Plus, Pi00a, Forager Project
In this reviews roundup, we chomp into Kencko Fruit Snaps, pi00a frozen pizza and Forager Project’s new plain Greek-style yogurt alternative.
Crave New World Aims To Redefine Comfort Food
Will a Yuka-approved, high-protein, seed oil-free brand find favor with the everyday Kroger shopper? Crave New World is about to find out. The frozen food startup is charting a course into more than a thousand Kroger stores this fall after a successful soft launch in Pop Up Grocer and on college campuses in March.
Reviews: Eclipse Foods Mimics Milk; Plus, Smash Foods, Fancypants Baking
In this reviews roundup, we take a bite out of Smash Foods’ healthier twist on toaster pastries, Fancypants’ crispy cookies, and Eclipse Foods’ non-dairy milk alternative.
CPG Week: David’s Goliath Raise and Big Papi’s Big Bet on Rum
This week, the podcast team discusses big moves by protein bar startup David, plus industry reactions to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission’s recent report on ultraprocessed foods, fermented foods maker Cleveland Kitchen’s recent capital raise, and a former slugger’s new spirits venture.
MìLà Hits Retail ‘Inflection Point’, Expands In Frozen With Noodles
Frozen Chinese street food brand MìLà is platforming with noodle kits as it shifts its focus from DTC to a retail-first strategy.
Reviews: Talkback Heats Up Cookie Aisle; Plus, Utz, Mooski
In this reviews roundup, we gobble Talkback Snacks’ spicy shortbreads, Utz Lemonade Potato Chips and Mooski chilled oat bars.
‘Rubik’s Cube’ Innovation Addresses Vertical Farming Scalability
Opollo Farm is the first partnership project between food tech startup OnePointOne and robotic warehousing company AutoStore to automate and scale vertical farming.