Startup Company

Yaza spreads the word about labneh with brand launch

28-Aug-2023 By Ryan Daily

Tapping into the demand for snacking occasions and culturally inspired foods, food brand Yaza launched in the US last week, as it prepares to spread the word of labneh to a wider audience, Christian Karim Khalil told FoodNavigator-USA.

PepsiCo reveals Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos Edition finalists

07-Jul-2023 By Ryan Daily

This week, PepsiCo announced the top 10 finalists for the Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos (Together We Grow) Edition, an accelerator program that provides Hispanic-owned food and beverage startups and innovators in the space with financial...

Natural Products Expo West

The new investment landscape: Expect lower returns, longer exits but more sustainable growth

04-Apr-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

The era of food and beverage entrepreneurs scoring massive checks from investors with scant review to build and exit a business in three to five years is giving way to a new era of cautious consideration by venture capitalists seeking slower but more...

Exclusive: Frozen Chinese food brand XCJ rebrands as MiLa as it expands its portfolio, distribution

23-Feb-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

Xiao Chi Jie (XCJ), the modern Chinese food brand that helped put authentic soup dumplings on the US map by cultivating a cult-like direct-to-consumer following during the pandemic is ready to expand into brick and mortar stores this April with a new...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Project Potluck scales up to help more people of color in the CPG industry access capital, combat stereotypes and shift cultural norms

20-Feb-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

Since Project Potluck was founded in 2020 to support people of color in the CPG industry, the landscape and conversation around diversity and inclusion has changed dramatically, but according to the grassroots group turned non-profit a lot remains to...

Is ‘disruption’ no longer a virtue for start-ups? Newcomer Ryl Co argues an ‘additive’ approach is better for building businesses

10-Jan-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

Working from a foundational belief that the era of ‘disruption’ is dead, an industry veteran wants to usher in a new age in which start-ups focus on “adding to everything” with the launch of The Ryl Company and a line of ready-to-drink tea that offers...

Natural Products Expo East

Is the era of online shopping as the ‘great equalizer’ for small and large brands ending?

04-Oct-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

The lower barrier for entry to market for startups and emerging brands created by the surge in online grocery shopping early in the pandemic is creeping back up as consumers increasingly return to brick-and-mortar stores for the bulk of their shopping...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Brazi Bites’ Latino Entrepreneur Accelerator Program offers helping hand during ‘tough times’

12-Sep-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

Knowing entrepreneurs often dramatically underestimate the time it takes to validate their business models, are more likely to lose money or break even than make a profit and face abysmal failure rates, one successful founder is offering a helping hand...

SnackMagic’s CPGpulse platform ‘democratizes’ consumer, competitive data to fit emerging brands’ needs, budgets

20-Apr-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

Entrepreneurs at startups and emerging brands often innovate and build their businesses based on their intuition or anecdotal feedback from loved ones and early adopters, but as they scale so do their need for detailed data and analysis -- not just about...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: How has the pandemic permanently changed the startup landscape in food?

07-Feb-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

While some of the initial challenges that food and beverage startups experienced when the pandemic began have subsided, like restrictions on sampling and freezes on category resets, others remain and new ones have emerged – complicating the path to market...

‘The meal plan from the future’: SquarEat gives new meaning to a square meal

14-Jan-2022 By Asia Sherman

Foodtech startup SquarEat is reformatting food into 45-gram squares and making its move on the $6.9 billion meal delivery service market in the US.

Networking platform Brandjectory levels-up with two tier model that meets startups at their level

03-Aug-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

To better help early stage CPG, food tech and ag tech companies build more financially successful and appealing businesses, navigate the fundraising process and connect with investors focused on the natural products space, the networking platform Brandjectory...

Investing in the Future of Food: Foodbevy connects startups, industry players to close wealth, network gap

06-Jan-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

When launching a business, founders often are asked to rely on friends, family and their community for financial support and guidance until they have proof of concept – but not all networks are created equally and entrepreneurs without affluent or influential...

Golden Ratio takes coffee in new direction, turns ‘water into gold’ with a barely roasted bean

21-Dec-2020 By Elizabeth Crawford

As a long-time coffee lover, Golden Ratio founder Clark Nowlin was unwilling to forgo the beverage indefinitely even though its acidity caused him digestive discomfort and the “burnt and bitter taste didn’t jive” with his taste buds. When he discovered...

Investing in the Future of Food: Nature Preserve wants to take the processing plant to suppliers

15-Jul-2020 By Elizabeth Crawford

With 1.6 billion tons of food worth $1.2 trillion lost or wasted every year, the Danish startup Nature Preserve sees massive market potential for its miniaturized food processing plant to convert surplus produce into nutrient-dense powders across the...

Soup-to-Nuts Podcast: Orgain gives $150,000 to 3 startups with mission to help people lead 'vibrant, healthy lives'

15-Jun-2020 By Elizabeth Crawford

Even though Andrew Abraham has helped millions of people live healthier, more vibrant lives first as a medical doctor and then for the past 12 years as the founder of the organic protein shake and bar brand Orgain, he wanted to help more consumers learn...

Investing in the Future of Food: WeWork Food Labs helps level the playing field

29-Apr-2020 By Elizabeth Crawford

WeWork is helping to level the playing field between emerging and established brands in the competitive food and beverage space with the recent unveiling of its flagship Food Labs in New York City and the graduation of its first food and ag focused accelerator...

Startups in Food-X’s 11th cohort offer solutions to weaknesses in the food system revealed by COVID-19

14-Apr-2020 By Elizabeth Crawford

Rather than hit pause during the ongoing pandemic like many other investors, global venture capital fund SOSV’s Food-X accelerator is moving full steam ahead by welcoming to its 11th cohort eight companies that are directly tackling challenges coronavirus...

Investing the in Future of Food: Focus on ‘we’ not ‘me’ to build the strongest team

15-Jan-2020 By Elizabeth Crawford

Entrepreneurs just starting out may feel pressured to present a façade of perfection or else risk missing an opportunity, but the CEO of Lily’s Sweets, Jane Miller, argues the opposite is true – that failing to seek help managing weaknesses or bridging...

Can big brands survive the next 10 years? It depends on whether they can evolve with consumers

11-Dec-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

While iconic brands currently are losing the tug-of-war with niche startups for consumer engagement and spending, how they continue to play the game in the next ten years will dictate whether they regain ground or become obsolete, according to senior...

Investing in the Future of Food: Vite Ramen co-founder shares strategies for crowdfunding success

11-Dec-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Crowdfunding is a popular option for entrepreneurs looking for an infusion of capital without having to handover equity in exchange, but according to Kickstarter only 25% of food-related projects successfully reach their funding goals – a discouraging...

Investing in the Future of Food: Operating as Amazon seller – not a vendor – gives startups leverage

13-Nov-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

When launching a brand online, startups may be tempted to focus first on marketing direct-to-consumer from their website rather than through a third-party retailer, such as Amazon, but according to the founder and CEO of the fast-growing, plant-based...

Investing in the Future of Food: 3 strategies for startups to level the playing field with e-commerce

06-Nov-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Entrepreneurs hoping to disrupt an established category dominated by large companies and well-known brands could gain a significant strategic advantage by launching first online where they can leverage positive consumer reviews and social media, advises...

Startup Flightfūd launches beverage mix to alleviate physical stress of flying

25-Sep-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Modern airplanes can take people across the world in a matter of hours, rather than the days, weeks or even months once required, but flying also can take a toll on travelers’ health – a side effect that the co-founder of startup Flightfūd hopes to offset...

Investing in the Future of Food: Founder of Creation Nation shares tips for finding a co-packer

07-Aug-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

When starting out most entrepreneurs could use a hand, especially when it comes to making their products, but finding the right kind of help isn’t always easy and picking the wrong partner can negatively impact the brand – lessons that the founder of...

Investing in the Future of Food: Too much funding can hide damaging risks rather than solve them

24-Jul-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

The amount of capital flowing into the food & beverage industry is rising rapidly with recent research from Food+Tech Connect reporting a 34% increase in funding worth $1.45 billion going to startups in the space in 2018 compared to $1.08 billion...

‘No longer does the mass channel have to be the last piece of the puzzle,’ vendor rep says

08-Jul-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

As consumers increasingly demand natural, organic and innovative products across all retail channels, emerging brands are no longer restricted to the classic route to market that began with independent, natural retailers and slowly expanded to conventional...

Investing in the Future of Food: ForceBrands shares how to recruit & retain talent on a startup’s budget

19-Jun-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

In today’s strong labor market, many cash-strapped startups are unable to compete with big food for top talent based on salary, but according to the specialized recruitment firm ForceBrands that doesn’t mean they have to settle for second best.

AB InBev’s investment arm ZX Ventures seeks ideas the world ‘hasn’t yet even imagined’

18-Jun-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Anheuser-Busch InBev may be on a mission to be the “best beer company bringing people together for a better world,” but its innovation, incubation and investment arm, ZX Ventures, wants more: It wants to “make products, services and technologies that...

Investing in the Future of Food: Patient capital can give entrepreneurs a leg-up when seeking VC funds

29-May-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Routine headlines about multi-million – or billion – dollar venture capital investments into food and beverage startups may give the impression that VC funding is the best way to scale a business, but according to one insider the model is far from perfect...

IFT NEXT’s Start-Up Alley will showcase new solutions to stubborn problems plaguing the food industry

28-May-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

At IFT next week in New Orleans, entrepreneurs in the NEXT Start-Up Alley will show how they are combining “science, creativity and new thinking” to offer disruptive new solutions to some of the most persistent problems in the food industry, including...

Startup Steeped takes offers a single-brew coffee option with a third of the packaging of pods

14-May-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Mounting consumer complaints about the generally lower coffee quality or waste created by many single-serve brewing options, pushed startup Steeped to create an elegant solution that is more sustainable than the ubiquitous pods on the market and that...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Boulder Food Group shares how it hopes to invest its second fund of $100M in food & beverage startups

03-May-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Attracted to recent high-dollar acquisitions, consumer demand for healthy and sustainable options, and the opportunities created by a diversifying retail landscape, the number of investors flocking to the food and beverage industry continues to grow exponentially...

Founder of Proper Cookie Dough leverages social media, Kickstarter to market on shoestring budget

17-Apr-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Advertising on Facebook is about more than spreading the word about a new brand or product, it is also a tool for entrepreneurs to identify their core consumer base, which might not be who they initially thought, according to one entrepreneur who recently...

Investing in the Future of Food: Balance empathy & tension to break free from the ‘giant sea of sameness’

10-Apr-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

While the food and beverage industry is virtually oozing with innovation as entrepreneurs launch category-breaking and -making ideas at a rapid-fire clip, the full potential of many new products and companies is held back by lackluster branding that a...

Finding stevia 'polarizing', beverage brand Petal switches up its sweetener ahead of national retail launch this summer

27-Mar-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Sparkling botanical beverage brand Petal has had a busy first year as the company doubled its product line with three new flavors, underwent a reformulation (swapping out stevia and erythritol for organic agave), and is now primed for national distribution...

Chobani Incubator’s diverse new cohort illustrates new focus to lift up underrepresented entrepreneurs

18-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

“Disheartened” but “not surprised” that so little venture capital currently is invested in startups led by women and minority entrepreneurs, Chobani Incubator’s new program director Zoe Feldman says she wants to more intentionally support founders from...

Investing in the Future of Food: Mars’ new Seeds of Change Accelerator seeks entrepreneurs who share its vision for ‘better food today, better world tomorrow’

13-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Following the lead of many other established food & beverage players, Mars, Incorporated is launching a new accelerator to help early stage food-focused companies fast-track growth in exchange for access to the energy and ground-level market insights...

Investing in the Future of Food: Look beyond the obvious when fundraising, advises Kuli Kuli CEO

06-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

The frequency with which food and beverage startups in the US secure multi-million dollar investments in early fundraising rounds might lead some entrepreneurs to believe earning capital is easy – but the founder of the moringa company Kuli Kuli says...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: How is the flood of investment funds reshaping the food & beverage space?

01-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Whether through multi-million dollar investments in startups or high dollar mergers and acquisitions of larger, established companies, the food and beverage industry currently is being flooded with funding, and with it many opportunities as well as challenges.

Investing in the Future of Food: Unique technology can offer startups protection from competitors

27-Feb-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

As recently as a few years ago, the words food and tech were incongruous together, but today they signal a booming industry that is ripe for innovation, and according to the VP of business development at the Israel-based incubator The Kitchen, the combination...

Equity crowdfunding offers a way to raise funds without compromising values

31-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Conventional investors focused on the bottom-line or high returns may not be a good fit for small companies that are unwilling to compromise their values to increase their margins – but that doesn’t mean mission-based businesses are limited to bootstrapping,...

Investing in the Future of Food: Saying no and letting go enabled I Heart Keenwah to say yes to better opportunities

30-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Many entrepreneurs describe their startup as their baby, but just like parents they need to learn to say no sometimes and to let go – lessons that the founders of I Heart Keenwah learned early.

Investing in the Future of Food: Measure velocity – not doors – to determine early success

23-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

With new players entering the food and beverage space daily, entrepreneurs at startups may feel pressured to stake out their shelf space in as many stores as they can as quickly as possible – but this can be a recipe for disaster.

C.A. Fortune and JB Chicago converge to help level up early-stage brands: ‘The whole path to market has changed’

15-Jan-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The road from startup to category leader is not for the faint of heart, and there are few end-to-end resources available to an emerging brand that can guide food entrepreneurs on branding and packaging all the way through to sales and marketing strategy.

Free-from claims are out, clean label & transparency are in, says founder of Blake’s Seed Based

07-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

While clean label remains a top-priority for consumers, the litany of associated free-from claims that have dominated marketing the past few years are not, suggests the founder of allergen-friendly snack startup Blake’s Seed Based.

Brooklyn Bites cookie brittle seeks to forge path to national distribution: ‘I want to be a brand to the world’

02-Jan-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Since launching last October, Brooklyn Bites gluten- and dairy-free cookie brittle has gained distribution in 600 stores with the goal of becoming a national brand, co-founder Barbara Dayan shared.

Investing in the Future of Food: Chobani helps startups navigate food safety, picking partners and more

12-Dec-2018 By Elizabeth Crawford

Earlier this week, Chobani put out an open call for “big-hearted food and beverage startups” that make delicious, nutritious, natural and affordable food to help it “take on the broken food system” by participating in the fifth cohort of its highly competitive...

Investing in the Future of Food

Investing in the Future of Food: Being responsive – not perfect – is a key to RISE Brewing Co.’s fast success

05-Dec-2018 By Elizabeth Crawford

Given the importance placed on making a good first impression, many entrepreneurs and innovators may think they need to perfect a product before they introduce it to the market – but according a co-founder of the cold brew nitro-infused coffee company...

Innovative Brands Accelerator ‘embeds’ experts in startups through ‘shared resource model’ to drive growth

05-Dec-2018 By Elizabeth Crawford

All too often new food and beverage companies and brands are launched by “idea people” who are passionate and have identified a real consumer need, but they don’t know to sell their product or structure their company for growth – increasing the chance...