It’s early days, but SmashMallow snackable marshmallows – launched by food & beverage brand incubator Sonoma Brands in August 2016 – are already in 2,000 stores and growing at an “explosive” pace, claims founder Jon Sebastiani.
MAIO, an indulgent tasting yet better-for-you alternative to conventional mayonnaise, is the latest test product to come out of C-Fresh's innovation team and its unique approach to incubating products on a small scale before expanding.
Many ‘legacy’ food and beverage brands are losing market share because they have “lost touch with where the consumer is going,” delegates at Food Vision USA were told.
From purveyors of ostrich meat and Kenyan purple tea to fruit- and vegetable-infused whey protein, lupini bean snacks and pizza crusts packed with veggies, the entrepreneurs entering our 2016 trailblazers challenge are at the cutting edge of food &...
We’re searching for trailblazing, entrepreneurial start-ups to present their red hot food and nutrition innovations at Food Vision USA in Chicago on November 9, 2016.
Having the right team to execute on an idea is the key to attracting investment capital, experts say. But finding the right idea, that’s a bit more of a stretch and can provide a bigger payoff.
Boston-based start-up Farmwise – the maker of veggie fries - has triumphed at New Hope's pitch slam event at Expo West, which pitted entrepreneurial food and beverage brands against each other in a range of categories from bone broth to HPP babyfood.
Start-ups are changing the food industry from trailblazing new ideas to providing new growth models, and both big businesses and small start-ups need to collaborate to innovate. The benefits are mutual, says Jeremy Basset, founder of Unilever’s incubator...
KRAVE Jerky founder Jon Sebastiani - who sold his business to Hershey last year – has already identified some entrepreneurs he hopes to mentor – and fund – as part of his new incubator, Sonoma Brands.
'We’ll be incubating our own brands and investing in other early stage brands'
KRAVE Jerky founder Jon Sebastiani - who sold his business to Hershey in January – is going back to his entrepreneurial roots next year with the launch of a CPG incubator he hopes can recreate the magic he felt in KRAVE’s early days with groundbreaking...
A great product, deep pockets, and entrepreneurial zeal are critical to the success of any food start-up, but there’s always an element of luck, says Dang Foods’ founder Vincent Kitirattragarn, who impressed his first major customer with his toasted coconut...
Mark Rampolla: ‘The best time to raise money is when you don’t need it’
What are investors really looking for when they assess a food and beverage business? When it comes to gross margins, is there a magic number? And can you really be in decline when your sales are growing strongly?
The day when any entrepreneur decides to sell his business is “always bittersweet” KRAVE jerky founder Jon Sebastiani tells FoodNavigator-USA. But joining a company with the horsepower of Hershey will enable it to lead, rather than follow, the renaissance...
Will Pepsi True & Coca-Cola Life revitalize the cola market, or are today’s more demanding and sophisticated consumers looking for more than refreshment and ‘no-artificial’ claims from their beverage calories these days?
Food-X - a new food business accelerator program backed by venture capital firm SOSventures that runs twice a year - is seeking the ‘best and brightest disruptors in the food space’ to join its second accelerator program starting in New York in early...
From kombucha to craft beer, US consumers are demanding more sophisticated beverages, and they don’t get much more sophisticated than Jin+Ja, a spicy ginger concoction that looks like it belongs in a swanky cocktail bar, but has also proved it can sell...
The BevNET Food & Beverage University heads to LA on Sept 11
Want to avoid rookie mistakes when you take your new food or beverage brand to market? Or perhaps you’ve been in business a couple of years and are looking to take your brand in a new direction, secure new financing or utilize new sales and marketing...
Consumers are tired of bars, says quinoa 'snack in a bottle' founder
While a scary percentage of new food & beverage brands end up quietly disappearing when their backers run out of cash, luck, or endurance, a small number succeed. But what distinguishes the winners from the losers?
In the latest edition of FoodNavigator-USA’s What do you do series, we talked with Mike Helser, who heads up General Mills’ Worldwide Innovation Network, on his transition from oceanographer to food scientist, the challenging job of bringing innovation...
What are the hottest trends in food and beverage? And are the big bucks really in blue-sky innovation, or have the most successful firms played with an existing concept and just done a better job at executing, marketing and selling it?
A large chunk of the growth in the beverage category in North America over the next decade will come from products in categories that do not even exist today, predicts Coca-Cola’s Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB) team.
