In the latest installment of our What do you do series, we caught up with Paul Niemann, who has been leading product development at quinoa snack firm eatKeenwa, on why new product development is more like problem solving, how many hats the EVP of a startup...
The Epic Seed is now available in 700 stores across the country
The Greek yogurt aisle was already pretty crowded by the time Jesse Rudolph started pitching his wares to the market around 18 months ago. But chia - the superfood of the moment - proved to be his secret weapon.
Odwalla founder: Large companies have to buy innovation
Launching a beverage brand is the easy part. The challenge is growing and sustaining it without running out of cash, steam or patience, delegates were told at the FoodNavigator-USA Beverage Entrepreneurs Forum.
While beverage’s biggest guns have pumped some serious cash into developing ‘mid-calorie’ versions of their iconic brands (Dr Pepper TEN, Pepsi Next, Coca-Cola Life), not everyone is convinced they will deliver the incremental growth to the ailing soda...
A mechanical engineer with a keen interest in semi-conductors, ips All Natural co-founder Sean Olson is not your typical food entrepreneur. But don’t let his résumé fool you. With an unusual product that taps into the protein trend, Olson reckons his...
Find out what's hot and what's next in the beverages aisle
Will tea replace 100% juice in your child's lunchbox? And what's the next $1bn beverage brand? Find out what our panel of beverage entrepreneurs thinks at our free-to-attend online forum kicking off at 11.30am EDT tomorrow.
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?
When consumers think about GMOs, they tend to contrast them with “some hypothetical alternative food that is pristine”, when in most cases, going ‘non-GMO’ just means returning to a food production system that is less efficient - and worse for the environment...
In the latest installment of FoodNavigator-USA’s What do you do series, we talked with Kai Sacher, head of global product development at leading yogurt manufacturer Chobani, about his roots on Austrian dairy farms, the importance of timing in new product...
During the IFT 2014 show in New Orleans, FoodNavigator-USA caught up with RIBUS Inc. CEO Steve Peirce for an update on its all-natural and organic rice-based ingredients and the sustainability of rice in a world that faces staggering levels of food waste.
Mars has flagged health as a leading priority and has named Debra Sandler, former Mars Chocolate North America president, as chief health and wellness officer for the global company.
Plant waters are all the rage - at least that’s what trend watchers keep telling us - but can artichoke water emulate the meteoric success of coconut water? Or is Arty Water - an intriguing mix of artichokes, mint and pandanus leaf sweetened with monk...
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi says she didn’t want a short-term ‘cut, slash and burn’ policy that would have seen the company make enormous earnings from 2006 despite the upset her long-term nutritional foods focus caused some investors.
Since it was created in 2012, Chapul Inc. has been on a mission to integrate edible insects into Western diets, using its cricket energy bars as the vehicle.
Will Keurig Cold really turn the soft drinks market on its head? Can natural sweeteners pull diet soda out of its funk? And what’s the next coconut water?
The Honest brand could extend well beyond the ready-to-drink tea category into a wider array of beverages and even foods, says the co-founder of Honest Tea, which posted a 27% surge in sales to $112m in 2013, and is growing even faster this year.
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz has admitted that the biggest disservice he has done for his audience is not identifying where to buy the quality products he talks about on his show.
“My background is in sales, so I’m used to dealing with disappointment,” observes the founder of quinoa-based snacking brand eatKeenwa. But for every door that’s been shut in Blake Niemann’s face in the past 18 months, another one has opened. And his...
The neuropsychologist behind cognitive health beverage Nawgan reckons his latest innovation 'ON powered refreshment’' - which combines caffeine and the fatigue-busting amino acid ornithine - has more mainstream appeal, bringing a fresh twist...
While Chobani, Dannon and Yoplait have been battling for supremacy in the US yogurt market (and at halftime at the Super Bowl), another equally ambitious player has recently emerged from the leftfield and served as a reminder that Greek isn’t the only...
In the latest iteration of FoodNavigator-USA’s What do you do interview series, we talk with the boss of organic ancient grain specialist Ancient Harvest about the challenges of long-distance (work) relationships, his move from banking to CPGs and what...
Becoming a target of opportunistic lawsuits is the price you pay for being successful, says Chobani’s marketing boss, who says he is “baffled” by a complaint filed by Dov Seidman accusing the yogurt firm of infringing his trademarks with its ‘How Matters’...
Jerry Bello - the founder of Veggie straws maker Sensible Portions (sold to Hain Celestial in a multimillion dollar deal in 2010) - remembers the exact moment when he stumbled across something he reckons could be an even bigger snack food hit.
Last month, longtime CPG executive John Haen took the reins as the new CEO and president of Fiberstar, replacing Dale Lindquist, who will now head up sustainable new business development at the River Falls, WI-based supplier of functional fiber ingredients. Three...
It’s not as well-known as yerba maté or guarana, yet, but another natural source of caffeine - the Amazonian leaf guayusa - is about to give them both a serious run for their money, predict the entrepreneurs behind Runa, who are on a mission to do for...
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...
There’s a reason why beef burgers are so popular, says Cluck ‘n Moo founder Steve Gold. They taste great and they are really succulent. But what if you could have the same great taste with less than half the saturated fat and 32% fewer calories?
What does it take to get to the top of a leading food and beverage company? Can you still make it from the shop-floor to the boardroom? Is an MBA essential? And do operations managers or R&D directors ever get to lead Fortune 500 companies, or do...
Guest article: Mischa Popoff, author, Is it Organic?
I worked for five years as a USDA-contract organic inspector after growing up on an organic grain farm in Saskatchewan. I had the pleasure of inspecting over 500 organic farms and processors, but I began questioning this career path when I realized the...
Check out who’s moving onwards and upwards as we head into summer with the latest FoodNavigator-USA round-up of movers and shakers in the food industry.
If biotech’s big guns want to seize the initiative in the GMO debate, they should ditch their defensive strategy (telling consumers why they don’t need GMO labels) and go on the offensive, launching a positive campaign about the merits of GM crops, according...
Big interview: Craig Lieberman, founder & CEO, 34 Degrees
When Craig Lieberman flew to Sydney to study for a Master’s Degree in International Relations in the mid-1990s, his goal was to be a diplomat. But not long after he arrived, the idea for another, very different, career started to take shape.
Microwave popcorn was a childhood favorite snack of Kristy Lewis; though her nostalgia turned to disillusionment when as an adult she learned that the chemical-, hydrogenated oil-laden formula hadn’t evolved alongside her growing awareness.
Ahead of the June 4 vote on whether New York City delis and restaurants should be allowed to serve large sugary beverages, FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Lisa Young, RD, PhD of New York University on the importance of more radical approaches to curbing...
Big interview: Noha Waibsnaider, founder & CEO, Peeled Snacks
Armed with an MBA from Columbia University, a great contacts book, and a keen understanding of the CPG market after a two-year stint working at Unilever, Noha Waibsnaider was probably better equipped than most to face the challenges ahead when she launched...
Big interview: Justin Gold, founder & CEO, Justin’s
He doesn’t have the celebrity status of Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya, but in the world of nut butters, Justin Gold has pulled off a similar trick, transforming a business that began with a food processor and some nuts in his kitchen into a multi-million...
If the size of the US gluten-free market is hard to pin down as everyone measures it differently, few doubt that its double-digit growth seems set to continue - at least for the next 2-3 years - according to experts at the FoodNavigator-USA Gluten Free...
Interview with Dan Belliveau, creator of coffee flour and co-founder of CF Global
A longtime executive at the likes of Starbucks, Frito-Lay and General Motors used his experience in improving supply chain efficiency to create a groundbreaking food ingredient traditionally left to rot as a byproduct of the roughly 17 billion pounds...
From coffee fruit-laced beverages (KonaRed) to plant-based meat (Beyond Meat) and funky popcorn (SexyPop), here's FoodNavigator-USA's latest pick of entrepreneurs to watch in the US food and beverage market.
Want to learn more about the gluten-free market? Click HERE to tune into FoodNavigator’s online forum to learn about celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, the size of the gluten-free prize, who buys gluten-free products, and why.
“We could have expanded our market massively and aggressively if we said we’ll deliver anything to anyone, anywhere at any time. But we’d also have lost a lot of money,” says the president and CEO of one of the most successful online grocery platforms...
Just over three months after launching in the US market, grocery coupon app Checkout 51 has attracted an eye-boggling 1.4 million users, and expects to attract tens of millions more. Why? Because it’s really easy to use, says co-founder Noah Godfrey.
In the latest edition of FoodNavigator-USA’s What do you do? series, we talked with head of the technical services, nutrition and regulatory departments at hummus manufacturing giant Sabra about the growing collaboration between human nutrition and food...
Exclusive interview: Pat Crowley, director and founder of Chapul
As one of the forerunners of the commercialization of edible insects in the US, Chapul, makes its first big push into the national market with its cricket protein bars, founder Pat Crowley caught up with FoodNavigator-USA on the enviable efficiency of...
Longtime friends and film and television industry colleagues Matt McKee and Melissa Reed’s plans for a locally sourced juice bar in downtown Los Angeles morphed into a beverage company whose flagship product is ready-to-drink prickly pear cactus water...
Being a minnow in a pool of sharks is both scary and exhilarating, admit the entrepreneurs behind caffeinated fruit juice Frava. But “in the worst case scenario, it’ll make the subject of a good business school essay” (presumably about biting off more...
In conversation with Goya VP Bob Unanue on the $250 mn US expansion
Historically a mainstay brand in ethnic grocery stores and the international aisle of supermarkets, Goya has grown into much more than an ingredient company—with a portfolio of more than 2,000 SKUs ranging from beans and olive oil to coconut milk and...
There are just two weeks to go until FoodNavigator’s live (and hopefully very lively) online debate on one of the hottest trends in food development: gluten-free.
Managing explosive growth is not a problem most entrepreneurs have to worry about. Most of them are too busy burning money, and wondering what on earth motivated them to give up the day job to compete for shelf-space with the likes of PepsiCo and Kellogg...
