Between 1 to 3 million people in the United States follow the paleo diet, and yet relatively few packaged products comply with the regime – making it a market brimming with potential that once tapped could quickly drive brand awareness and sales, according...
Premium coffee and brain-boosting nootropics are big business in the US and by combining the two Kimera Koffee is cashing in on the trends while also offering consumers significant savings.
Startup Vega Coffee wants to create a “more equitable coffee experience” by empowering small-holder farmers to roast and sell their own beans directly to consumers through a subscription at a higher profit margin than their unroasted green beans would...
Three years after Sunwarrior set its protein powder apart from the competition by switching to a smaller, easier to grab and store square tub, it continues to lead the category in innovative packaging with a new collapsible scoop that clicks inside a...
The SmashMallow snackable marshmallow brand – launched by food & beverage brand incubator Sonoma Brands in August 2016 – is “charging towards a very visible $25m dollar run rate in the next six to 12 months,” with a flurry of new products to come,...
Boston-based Biena has raised $3.75m to expand its chickpea-fueled snacking empire from a series of high profile investors as it prepares to roll out its first major line extension: chocolate coated roasted chickpeas, new territory for pulse-based snacks,...
Savory oats pioneer Grainful has already convinced a growing number of consumers on the east and west coasts that steel-cut oats aren’t just for breakfast, and has now persuaded investors to part with a cool $3.3m to take that message to a wider, national,...
A “powerful and emotional brand connection,” “constant product innovation,” “attractive unit economics,” a “hard-to-replicate value chain,” and “proprietary technology and data,” help Blue Apron stand out in the burgeoning meal kit market, says the company....
In the highly-saturated bar category, Bobo’s nut butter filled oat bars stand out for balancing decadence and better-for-you ingredients for an easy to eat and satiating snack, but in our taste test they lost points for packaging elements.
Thanks to its unique partnership model, wider selection, and no subscription fees, customer acquisition costs at meal-delivery firm Chef’d are significantly lower than rivals,’ claims founder and CEO Kyle Ransford, who says Chef’d has been “first order...
Leonardo DiCaprio – who has already shown quite an interest in the food and beverage sector via investments in guayusa-fueled tea brand RUNA and seafood company Love the Wild – has poured an undisclosed sum into chickpea snack brand Hippeas, along with...
The seafood industry is “fundamentally broken” and crowded with businesses beholden to “old school thinking” that fails both the oceans and the consumers, according to Ken Plasse, the CEO of a Fishpeople, which claims to be a different kind of seafood...
Organic fruit and veggie snack maker Peeled Snacks has closed a private placement investment from Seurat Capital, while ‘superfood’ energy bar maker Redd Bar has raised early stage capital from a suite of high-profile investors, with Whipstitch Capital...
Incubators provide startups with more than access to heavy-duty machinery and production space at a reduced price, they also plug entrepreneurs into an active network of professionals, suppliers and potential investors who can help accelerate a company’s...
A strategic packaging redesign of Canadian start-up Jaswant’s Kitchen’s Indian spice blends reveals that consumers are willing to spend more for products that provide simple step-by-step recipes directly on the package than for products that require visiting...
Quinoa-based foods, bean-to-bar chocolate, innovative meat-snacks and plant-based convenience foods continue to emerge as on-trend products that consumers want as illustrated by exhibitors showcasing new packaged foods at SIAL Canada in Toronto May 2-4.
The idea of eating a burger grown in a lab rather than from a cow raised on a farm and slaughtered for its meat may sound like something out of a science fiction story set far in the future, but in reality the commercialization of so-called “clean meat”...
Right now, hydroponic and indoor grown lettuce account for around 4-5% of lettuce production in the US, but that figure will rise “substantially” in the coming years as more growers prove that water can give soil a serious run for its money, predicts...
Sparkling water brand Spindrift has raised $10 million in a funding round led by VMG Partners and supported by Prolog Ventures, Karp Reilly, and other existing investors.
Can you make money supplying fresh prepared food via vending machines? Not everyone was convinced when Luke Saunders launched Farmer’s Fridge in October 2013, but the fact he's just persuaded the former bosses of ZICO and McDonald's, among others,...
The clean label movement may have started as industry’s response to consumers who wanted foods and beverages made without artificial or “chemical” sounding ingredients, but overtime as brands continued to one-up each other, the concept morphed and metastasized...
Does selling up mean selling out? Not if you go in with your eyes open, say the co-founder of upmarket condiments brand Sir Kensington's, which has just jumped into bed with Unilever, but says the brand will retain its autonomy, its integrity, and...
For years kale has reigned supreme as the go-to superfood for many Americans thanks in part to its relatively low cost, nutrient density, broad accessibility and the plethora of ways to enjoy it from green smoothies to chips to raw salads and stir-fries.
Nutriati’s chickpea protein is white, odorless, and neutral-tasting
Commercial quantities of highly functional, neutral-tasting chickpea protein concentrates and a high-protein chickpea ‘flour’ will be available by the end of the year, says Richmond-based Nutriati, which has just closed an $8m financing round to help...
Unilever has struck a deal to acquire New York-based condiment maker Sir Kensington’s, under which co-founders Mark Ramadan and Scott Norton will continue to run the business from their offices in Manhattan.
Grass-fed cottage cheese brand good culture – which launched in August 2015 with organic ingredients and some edgy savory flavors - is confident it will be in 6,000 stores by the year end after bringing out a lower-priced ‘natural’ range (with more familiar...
“So why does the world need another [insert your product here]?” is a question entrepreneurs are well-advised to prep for before hitting the stage at any pitch slam judged by ZICO founder Mark Rampolla. So how does he answer his own question when it...
Are meal kits the next big thing in food, or a black hole into which to pour large sums of cash chasing the latest fad? Investors are in different camps on this, acknowledges Terra’s Kitchen CEO Mike McDeVitt, but there’s no doubt that meal kits meet...
Healthy Skoop, a Boulder-based nutritional product company, is capitalizing on the plant-based nutrition trend with new product launches and an expanded retail footprint.
It’s one of the biggest beverage success stories to emerge out of Canada in the recent years, but can naturally alkaline spring water brand Flow Water – one of a new breed of waters packaged in a Tetra Pak - hit the big time in the US market? Early signs...
From turmeric paste, barley couscous and konjac rice to cashew nut spreads, coffee leaf tea and adaptogen-laced juice drinks, CHFA West - Western Canada’s largest natural health and organics trade event (hosted by the Canadian Health Food Association)...
While crickets currently lead the edible insect pack, the grasshopper – which has a whopping 72% protein by dry weight with all the essential amino acids – has just as much potential as a protein source, claims Israeli start-up Hargol FoodTech.
What’s next for the €250k lab burger? Can bugs and canola really replace beef and chicken? And why might novel proteins come up short when it comes to shifting consumer behaviour? Five things we learned at last week’s Future Proteins summit.
Multinationals are investing in – or snapping up - smaller, more entrepreneurial brands in the natural and organic food and beverage space faster than you can say ‘because that’s where the growth is’. So will Spindrift – which is on a mission to disrupt...
Soy, rice and peas still dominate the plant-based protein market, but chickpeas could soon give them all a serious run for their money, predicts Israeli start-up CHiCK.P, which is seeking a strategic partner to commercialize its patent-pending process...
With the launch of 10 boldly and authentically flavored, ready-to-cook frozen whole fish fillets, premium seafood company High Liner Foods hopes to tear down several of the barriers that currently hold back many Americans from eating as much seafood as...
Virtually unheard of by many consumers as recently as just last spring, the bone broth category is “heating up” and there is “massive opportunity” for early movers in the space despite an early and mounting surge of competition, according to one player...
Califia Farms has rolled out its almond beverage and cold brew coffee ranges into Canada: a market where non-dairy alternative milks grew by 225% during a three-year period, with almond milk projected as the fastest growing segment, according to Allied...
As carbonated soft drinks’ long supreme reign over the beverage industry continues to slip amid fears of consuming too much sugar, sales and distribution of healthy, better-for-you and functional alternatives are gaining traction to fill the void.
Startup Misfit Juicery is taking a two prong approach to the growing threat to the juice category posed by consumers’ increasing concern about sugar, and in doing so is setting itself apart from the competition.
For Cissé Cocoa Co. selling baking mixes, hot chocolate and crunchy bites of super thin brownies is about more than just helping consumers satisfy their chocolate cravings, it is about making life sweeter for farmers, too.
Despite increasing competition in the meat snacks category, startup and recent graduate of the Chobani incubator Chops Snacks sees significant potential for its soft-chew jerky and future products, according to the co-founder.
Big Tree Farms has developed a paler, finer ‘golden’ organic Fair trade coconut sugar that can replace refined white sugar in applications where coarser, darker coconut sugars aren’t ideal, says the company, which has been selling coconut sweeteners for...
New ways to make and enjoy coffee and tea continue to flood the market with companies at Natural Products Expo West offering twists on pour over, cold brew and iced coffee, nitro-infused tea and coffee and plant-based creamers. There were even options...
Impossible Foods – which claims to have created a plant-based burger that precisely replicates the taste and texture of meat - will be able to produce one million pounds of Impossible Burgers a month when its first commercial-scale manufacturing facility...
Starting and growing a company is hard – especially in the highly competitive food and beverage industry, but Austin, Texas-based accelerator SKU is tipping the odds of success in favor of entrepreneurs with its “proven blend of mentorship, community,”...
McDonalds, Panera and other high profile food service companies took notable steps last year to introduce “healthier” chicken products, but frozen poultry product producer Hip Chick Farms thinks more can done and it is stepping up the plate to push change...
Growing awareness of the powerful health benefits of mushrooms as well as increasing demand for their rich umami flavor, is quickly elevating the ingredient from the lowly status of the occasional pizza topping or meat substitute for vegetarians to one...
Barnana carved out virgin territory in the healthy snacks segment with its chewy banana bites, but will its new banana brittle prove equally groundbreaking? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with chief marketing officer Nik Ingersoll at the Expo West show to...
Many successful entrepreneurs extol the value of work-life balance when they talk about getting a business off the ground, but at the recent graduation of Chobani Food Incubator’s first class of food and beverage companies, the yogurt company’s CEO and...
