Big food manufacturers have increasingly recognized that their scale and robust supply chains aren’t enough to stay competitive and turn around years of little to no growth, and are refocusing their efforts on restoring consumer trust, says Rabobank.
The term ‘clean’ is popping up more and more in food branding and in consumer vernacular, but its definition is as foggy as ‘natural’ and ‘healthy,' according to Mintel.
Home Chef meal kits - which roll out in selected Kroger stores later this summer in standalone coolers – will target the significant subset of consumers that buy into the meal kit concept but don’t want to commit to a subscription, says Home Chef chief...
When Cedarlane Natural Foods launched its ‘plant-powered’ foods back in the early ‘80s, many retailers weren’t ready for hummus and tofu meals. Today, they are carving out reams of space for these kinds of items and the industry’s biggest CPG giants are...
While consumers still respond to the convenience of popping open a bag of chips, their mindset around snacking has expanded to products that promise a sense of culinary adventure, conscious-sourcing, unexpected ingredients, and satiating benefits.
HelloFresh, which recently edged ahead* of Blue Apron to take the #1 spot in the US meal kit market, has recently launched meal kits in 581 Giant Food and Stop & Shop stores and started experimenting with prepared food vending machines in Europe....
While entering a high growth category might be tempting, companies might actually have better luck – and longer-term success – if they launch “explosive innovation” into a “hibernating” category, according to a top executive at Kodiak Cakes.
Even though frozen pizza is notorious for being loaded with sodium, saturated fat and preservatives, plant-based brand Sweet Earth Enlighted Foods sees it as the perfect vehicle to improve the health of Americans as well as the planet.
Urban Remedy partners with Kate Upton to develop meal plans
Urban Remedy – a brand specializing in ‘ultra-fresh’ organic ready-to-eat meals, snacks, and cold pressed juices – grew sales by nearly 100% vs the previous quarter in the first quarter of 2018, driven by the rapid expansion of its ‘store within a store’...
PepsiCo Venture Group is on the lookout for emerging brands offering premium, functional products that also offer consumers benefits that they can easily understand and “feel” – two key indicators of long-term success, according to a company executive.
Colorado startup FoodMaven has an ambitious goal to reclaim some of the estimated $200 billion of revenue lost annually in America due to food waste by redirecting oversupplied food from manufacturers and producers to restaurants and institutions through...
At the intersection of the crowded cold-brew coffee category and the highly competitive energy drink segment, the founders of startup Bold Brew Coffee saw an opportunity to bring something new to each space.
It’s easy to look at the Annie’s brand now – which achieved double-digit household penetration during former president and CEO John Foraker’s tenure – and think the company never took a wrong turn on its path to center-store ubiquity.
Large food corporations growing through bolt-on acquisitions isn’t anything new and will continue, but what is changing are the structures and programs big companies are putting in place to tap into the mindset of emerging startup brands.
One in every five dollars spent at online natural and organic membership club Thrive Market is likely to be on private label products by the end of the year, predicts merchandising chief Jeremiah McElwee. “But we’re definitely not trying to be an online...
FORTO Coffee Shots, a two-ounce, single-serve coffee drink brand, is migrating from check-out counters populated by other energy shot brands and into the coffee aisles of 3,700 Walmart stores beginning this month.
When it comes to marketing on social media it is easy for companies to spread themselves too thin by trying to be everywhere and reach everyone, which is why the public relations experts at Konnect Agency recommend that firms pick one or two platforms...
No matter how fast entrepreneurs hustle or how good their products are, all companies inevitably hit plateaus that threaten to stall or even kill their businesses, and how quickly they can push through depends in large part on the strength of their branding.
While the US beverage industry is “fundamentally strong” with double-digit sales growth in the last five years, it also is experiencing “big swings” that are reordering the leaderboard as consumers revamp their daily routines to focus more on their health...
Wanting everything to be perfect when launching a new brand is understandable – but it is also a huge detriment that can delay the initial takeoff or hold back a product or company from reaching its full potential long-term, according to the CEO of ice...
Chobani’s mission to deliver better food to more people is about more than creating finished goods that are more nutritious and more accessible – it also is about making those products in a better way, which is one reason why it is adding a Food Tech...
“Much needed” federal funding for organic research, education and outreach could double in the next two years if measures in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft farm bill released June 8 make it into the final farm bill.
As new research suggests US consumers are warming to German discount retailer Lidl, with basket sizes and satisfaction levels increasing,* property developers in North Carolina paint a very different picture in a lawsuit alleging Lidl has left them “holding...
Food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers must actively reassure their partners abroad that they are reliable even as the US pulls out of key international trade arrangements and negotiations around the North American Free Trade Agreement hit the...
It’s been one year since German grocery chain Lidl made its US debut, and according to global consulting firm Oliver Wyman, American shoppers seem to have a growing appetite for the hard discounter’s prices and assortment.
The US Hispanic community spends more than $94.7bn on CPG products annually, making it the fastest-growing ethnic demographic which has key nuances and attitudes when it comes to food purchases, according to a new IRI report.
Hungry Harvest, a Baltimore-based “farm-to-kitchen” weekly delivery service of fresh produce, has expanded its reach to Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, as part of its multi-pronged mission to fight food waste and hunger while delivering convenience and...
Since making its US debut nearly a year ago, Huel has reached $10m in sales and found that its company mission of providing complete, convenient, and sustainable nutrition resonates with a global audience.
Porter Road, an online whole-animal butcher shop, is working to make buying meat online a habitual purchase for consumers by providing direct-to-consumer access to high-quality, pasture-raised, hormone-free meat sourced from sustainable farms.
The CPG industry registered a sluggish start for Q1 2018 despite the expectation that the Tax Cut and Jobs Act passed at the end of 2017 would result in extra income from lower withholdings and encourage spending, said Susan Viamari, VP of Thought Leadership...
Americans’ obsession with dieting is nothing new, but which diets are in and which ones are out is constantly shifting – creating a marketing nightmare for food and beverage brands that want to link their products to consumers’ desired outcomes.
Organic stakeholders are considering how they can promote their industry and raise funds for organic agriculture research and extension efforts after the US Department of Agriculture “blindsided” them by terminating the check-off program that many worked...
An infusion of $12 million in Series B funding will help better-for-you snack delivery service SnackNation connect emerging CPG brands with more of their key consumers “at their most engaged moments” by expanding its distribution and fine-tuning its insights...
Starting next month, a small but diverse group of organic stakeholders from across the supply chain will test-drive a rigorous set of fraud prevention, detection and mitigation strategies that once fine-tuned will become subject to the annual inspection...
Members of the Organic Trade Association went on the defensive last week when they met with Congressional leaders and their staff on Capitol Hill to lay out their legislative priorities for the coming year, and to ask for help protecting the integrity...
Demand for local food is climbing, yet our modern food distribution system is ill-equipped to handle small supply from local independent farmers, according to the founder of Foodshed.io, a new app using blockchain technology to solve for inefficiencies...
Kroger and Home Chef announced a merger agreement that will bring the Chicago-based meal kit brand to thousands of stores across the country signaling a massive evolution of meal kit companies vying for the in-store, non-subscription space.
Nearly 70% of in-store snack purchases are unplanned -- indicating that impulse snack shopping is a shared habit among most consumers, Euromonitor senior analyst Jared Koerten said at the Sweets & Snack Expo in Chicago yesterday.
Despite consumers spending more time and money online, more than three-quarters (78%) are wary of the freshness and 63% have food safety concerns for items that they buy online, according to Mintel.
High Brew Coffee of Austin, Texas, closed a $20m funding round led by investment firm Charles Street Partners, marking its third and largest investment since launching in 2014.
Teaming up with Ocado – a British firm using automated distribution centers to fulfil online grocery orders – could allow Kroger to “potentially leapfrog both Walmart and Amazon in this space,” argues one retail commentator.
60-second interview: Rich DeNardis, chief revenue officer, Home Chef
Home Chef has just struck a partnership with New England-based retailer Hannaford enabling shoppers to order its meal kits through Hannaford To Go and pick them up at their local store the same day, without committing to a monthly subscription. FoodNavigator-USA...
RangeMe – an online matchmaker connecting CPG buyers and suppliers – is fast becoming the ‘Google of CPG’ and the first port of call for retailers looking to research new products and identify new suppliers, says the firm, which has attracted 125,000+...
Startups that balance the health of consumers and the planet, as well as consider how their product impacts others up and down the supply chain are catching the attention of investors, according to industry insiders.
Based on emerging consumer concerns about their health and that of the planet, the future of packaged food must be both healthier for people and sustainable for the planet to succeed, according to the founder of the conceptual grocery store The Future...
Manufacturers and public health advocates hoping to inspire children to eat more healthily will have better luck if they partner with kids to deliver the message rather than adults who could be perceived as talking down to the target audience, delegates...
Mass. Rep. Jim McGovern and other members of the House Hunger Caucus are taking the adage of an apple a day keeps the doctor a way to a new level with the bipartisan Food is Medicine Working Group, which seeks to improve health outcomes by expanding access...
What's in your lunchbox? Healthy meals, snacks and drinks for children
Almost one in three American children is overweight or obese, and one in every 13 has a food allergy.* So how can retailers, packaged food brands and the foodservice industry address these concerns, and develop nutritious and delicious meals, snacks,...
Consumers aren’t shopping for seafood the same way they shop for other fresh category products, and it shows, with overall seafood sales remaining sluggish mainly due to unique barriers that don’t exist in other fresh food areas.
More often than not, better-for-you products are more expensive than their traditional counterparts – limiting their accessibility to those who can afford higher prices. But online grocer Brandless believes everyone deserves better and to make that possible...
