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Following a year plagued by out-of-stock issues and high shipping costs, plant-based food and beverage brand New Barn is scaling back retail distribution for its product portfolio to service only the West Coast as it focuses on integrating an omnichannel strategy in 2020.

In a presentation at NOSH Live Winter 2019 this month, Brigette Wolf, SnackFutures’ head of innovation, and Mel Gaceta, Mondelez’s director of ventures, shared how the CPG giant is addressing the future of snacking.

CPG studio Brandable sees an opportunity to disrupt the food industry via distinctive brands catered to young shoppers. Its most recent launch, Veggiecraft Farms, is the first case of Brandable springing into the plant-based CPG set — taking a fresh route through center-store.

While other yogurt brands are looking to adjacent categories to see sales growth, Siggi’s still sees plenty of room for innovation within the set. It’s this strategy that is driving the skyr brand to launch three new products nationwide in January: plant-based skyr, kids’ pouches and nut butter enhanced yogurts.

In this video, recorded at NOSH Live Winter 2019, Whole Foods’ VP of Grocery, Dan Epley, spoke to how the retailer has changed its strategies around category management, pricing, promotions, planograms and merchandising. He also shared how the company is prioritizing working with local vendors, what a path to store shelves looks like for emerging companies, and what brands need to think about in order to be successful in the store.

Two ingredient development and innovation companies are joining forces: International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) and DuPont Nutrition & BioSciences announced yesterday that the two will merge via a $26.2 billion deal.

Establishing hemp and cannabis guidelines is falling into the hands of states and industry groups, recent grocery acquisitions and divestitures, and unwrapping snacking trends in this week’s Checkout.

Megan Bent, founder and managing partner of Harbinger Ventures, spoke about why launching the investment firm was about “rethinking some of the fundamentals in how capital is invested,” why funding decisions are “probably more relational than anything else” and why she encourages “bite-sized actions” to support greater diversity in business.

A federal court yesterday blocked the state of Arkansas from enforcing a meat label censorship law against meat-alternative brand The Tofurky Company. Additionally, the Plant-based Foods Association (PBFA) created a set of labeling guidelines for the industry.

Although many consumers began recognizing sustainability as a personal responsibility, they are increasingly considering the “greater good” and turning to brands to take action, according to research firm The Hartman Group’s 2019 report, “Sustainability: Beyond Business As Usual.”