Retail

Ancient Crunch, the company behind MASA Tortilla Chips and Vandy Potato Crisps, is bringing the latter brand into the frozen food aisle for the first time, today debuting Vandy Classic Steak Fries.

Cappello’s growth strategy – use innovation to make better-tasting products – has transformed it into a baked goods powerhouse that is now on the cusp of becoming profitable.

The Amazon-owned retailer highlighted eight key food and beverage trends it foresees playing a bigger role in consumers lives over the next year, with additional trends including a rise in Japanese comfort foods and beans as a center-of-plate meal item.

Frozen cinnamon roll brand Sunshine Buns is in the process of raising a $7 million round as it enters 1,000 Target locations nationwide.

Mexican seasoning and sauce brand EZ Bombs has raised a $25 million Series A round led by CAVU Consumer Partners as it scales further in retail.

Little Spoon is rolling out a regional retail growth plan just one year after entering brick-and-mortar with Target stores across the country.

Kroger is embracing the promise of AI, at the cost of around 3,000 corporate jobs over the next three years. An all-company memo describes the retailer as having “more layers, more handoffs and more overhead than we need.”

Food sales are suffering, although energy drinks and nutrition shakes are resilient, as high fuel prices “weigh on consumers” and depress convenience channel foot traffic, according to a new equity research report from investment banker Jefferies.

Roughly a year and a half after being acquired by Flowers Foods, better-for-you snack company Simple Mills is gearing up to make a significant c-store push — a move that was announced at the 2026 NACS Show in Las Vegas this week.

In the past four years, the snack business has been wracked by price increases, private label growth, changing consumer perceptions of both value and health, as well as plenty of new brands.