Operating on the premise that the best way to get ahead in today’s competitive to market is to “utilize a customer-oriented approach,” the founders A La Mode are tweaking their allergy friendly ice cream and packaging to meet the growing demand for all...
Canadian startup Yellofruit is using the same principles of ice cream food science to make its non-dairy frozen banana desserts that founder Andrew Kinnear says closely mimic the experience of eating traditional dairy ice cream.
Alarmed by the exponential increase of adults diagnosed with type II diabetes and disproportionate toll the chronic disease takes on food insecure individuals, a regional health care provider and food bank serving Pennsylvania decided to test whether...
FDA draft guidance allowing allulose to be excluded from the total and added sugars declarations on the Nutrition Facts panel could generate a surge of interest in the rare sugar, predict formulators.
One of the main goals of effective branding and packaging is to set a product apart from the competition, but how this is achieved is fundamental to whether a product will be embraced or shunned by consumers.
By James Richardson, PhD, founder, Premium Growth Solutions
I continue to meet a remarkable number of founders who are trying to go it alone. They aren’t shut-ins either. I believe this is a strategic mistake that undercuts the ability of any young food business to stay disciplined and focused.
The rideshare service Lyft is looking for capital investment and community partners to improve access to affordable, nutritious food by expanding an ongoing grocery access program that it is piloting currently in Washington, DC, with the non-profit Martha’s...
Unmanned micro-markets that blend the convenience of a vending machine with the fresh, healthy selection more typically found in the prepared section of a grocery store or a quick service restaurant “are the wave of the future,” according to an executive...
A breakdown in trust between public, private and government stakeholders is the most significant challenge hindering the creation of a sustainable food system that is healthy for people and the planet, according to Sandro Damaio, CEO of the EAT Forum....
Running a startup can be thrilling… and an energy-sapping trial by ordeal. But mentors and judges at Rabobank’s Foodbytes! pitch competition in San Francisco last month were at hand to offer tips, help entrepreneurs ask investors the right questions,...
By 2050, the Earth’s population is predicted to reach upwards of 10 billion people who will require significantly more food than is produced today, which many predict is not feasible without drastic changes in the way food is produced, transported and...
Private label continues to give national brands a run for their money with over half of consumers saying they shop a store specifically for its private brand, according to a report by Daymon, a private brand innovation and development firm.
Effective branding traditionally has empowered, inspired and informed consumers, but in the current era of distrust and heightened anxiety branding needs to evolve to account for consumers’ rising self-reliance, increasingly rational approach and their...
In response to the public’s growing aversion to sugar, manufacturers across categories have reformulated and launched products made with alternative sweeteners, but increasingly consumers don’t want those either – but they also can’t as easily identify...
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...
Ultra-filtered milk brand fairlife (backed by Coca-Cola) is increasing its production and distribution capacity with plans to build a $200m, 300,000-square-foot facility in a suburb outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The new facility is slated to be operational...
The options available to those with a lactose intolerance have expanded with the boom of non-dairy alternatives to lactose-free milk products, but until now, there hadn't been a premium lactose-free ice cream made with dairy ingredients and free...
Using tactics such as “sin taxes” and a new bold-faced call-out for added sugar on the revised Nutrition Facts panel, public health advocates and regulators have targeted sugar as a primary caloric contributor in the ongoing obesity epidemic in the US...
Evolv Ventures, the $100m venture fund backed by Kraft Heinz, has made its first investment in fast-growing GrubMarket, a startup that connects local farmers directly with restaurants and businesses to sell their wares.
FDA will push forward with its Nutrition Innovation Strategy despite the departure this month of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb who championed the initiative as a way to reduce the burden of chronic disease through improved nutrition, according to an...
After losing several high profile members and suffering a backlash over controversial policy positions, the Grocery Manufacturers Association is trying to regain the industry’s – and consumers’ – trust by rebuilding its mission around four main pillars...
Chr. Hansen’s latest enzyme for cheesemakers, the CHY-MAX Supreme, is ‘a game changer’ in the production of cheddar, continental and mozzarella cheeses, the Danish bioscience company told FoodNavigator when we caught up last month.
What are the key elements of a great pitch, and what might send potential investors running for the hills? FoodNavigator-USA editor Elaine Watson headed to San Francisco to ask judges and mentors at Rabobank's FoodBytes! pitch competition what they're...
Shaka Tea, Bushel, and Toast Ale scooped the top prizes at FoodBytes! San Francisco 2019, Rabobank’s 15th global pitch competition for food and ag startups, after wowing judges with their innovative products and business models.
If areas of the grocery store were to be placed in a figurative bracket based on annual volume growth over a three year period (2015-2018), which departments would come out on top? According to Nielsen's "Total Store Bracket" ranking 16...
As consumers learn more about digestive health and all the implications that it has for the wellbeing of their bodies and minds, they are looking for products that go beyond probiotics – creating a booming digestive health category that is ripe for innovation....
Despite efforts by the largest food and beverage manufacturers in the United States to tackle obesity and diet-related disease in the market, nearly 40% of adults and 18.5% of children in the US are obese – putting them at risk of Type 2 diabetes, high...
Consumers want more natural, less processed, ‘clean’ foods. But do they give certain brands – and categories – a pass? And what cues are they looking for? Checkout what our consumer and legal experts had to say in the opening session of our Natural and...
In order to feed a nutritious, sustainable diet to the predicted 10 billion people who will populate Earth by 2050, environmental advocates and food & beverage industry stakeholders must work together rather than apart from – or even at times against...
Food and beverage brands targeting kids often promote their low sugar content, or highlight calcium for bones and protein for growing bodies. But what about the nutrients kids need to support the development of arguably their most important asset: the...
Reimagining base brands, cultivating the M&A pipeline, and developing new innovation models
Will big food companies increasingly buy in innovation and serve simply as scale up platforms for smaller, more 'authentic' brands they didn’t create, or can they come up with their own cool stuff that will resonate with new generations of consumers?...
If harnessed appropriately, rapid advances in digital technology could offer much-needed solutions to some of the unintentional negative diet- and nutrition-related consequences from otherwise positive Industrial Revolution era developments, according...
The splits in the organic movement have given birth to a new initiative to regain the soul of the concept, according to an executive with a major retailer.
For some time, Amazon has been the dominant player in online grocery, but that lead may be starting to slip as brick-and-mortar retailers have been steadily winning back share in the competitive ecommerce race, says Nielsen.
Bulletproof360, Inc. (maker of Bulletproof Coffee) has named Cameron Kinloch (former CFO at Ripple Foods) as CFO, and Brian Watkins as the company's VP of ecommerce, reporting to Bulletproof president and COO, Anna Collins.
Are we approaching ‘peak plant milk’? Will ‘designer proteins’ created via synthetic biology catch on? And should dairy milk serve as the nutritional benchmark for plant-based ‘milk’? Elaine Watson caught up with Ripple Foods cofounder Adam Lowry at the...
While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, says German startup Harvest Moon, its founder was not amused when he saw the packaging of Chobani’s new coconut-based non dairy range, which he claims is the “spitting image” of his coconut dairy...
CBD far and away stole the show as the hot new ingredient at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim last week, but it wasn’t the only notable trend with promising market potential or significant recent development.
Clio Snacks, which makes chilled Greek yogurt bars dipped in chocolate, sees itself as supplementing a declining Greek yogurt category by expanding usage occasions and answering the consumer call for a permissibly indulgent snack.
As Tillamook County Creamery Association marks its 110th anniversary, the farmer-owned cooperative is growing faster than ever with new products, a fresh look and rapidly expanding distribution.
In recent years the idea of doing well by doing good has grown beyond a few niche brands with pet projects to become a must-have for startups and established companies alike as consumers increasingly shop based on their values.
We clocked a number of brands using terms from 'clean candy' to 'clean protein' on the showfloor at Expo West, but what does 'clean eating' mean, is 'clean' a term that brands should use on product labels, and where...
While snacking has become more acceptable, many consumers still bring some baggage to the trend – usually in the form of guilt – but a new ad campaign for Whisps cheese crisps wants to relieve shoppers of this burden.
Checkout who is moving onwards and upwards in FoodNavigator-USA's latest new hires gallery, featuring PepsiCo, Tyson, Nestle Waters North America, The Jackfruit Co, KIND Snacks, ROAR Organic, PureCircle, Icelandic Provisions, Litehouse, BrightFarms,...
'What we're wrestling with is whether CBD is an ingredient play, or something huge brands can be built around'
The fact that CBD is not a legal ingredient in foods and supplements - at least not yet - did not deter scores of exhibitors at Expo West, who added it to everything from soda to protein bars (absent any claims), with some opting for isolates, but most...
With newcomers launching practically every day in the food and beverage industry, the pressure is on for legacy brands to up their innovation game – and according to industry giant Unilever the best way to do this is to start with modern consumers’ core...
Stakeholders from the dietary supplements and food industries have been reacting to the resignation of Scott Gottlieb, MD, with many pushing for the Agency to follow through on the key initiatives started during his leadership.
The number of class action filings against food and beverage companies rose 9% to 158 in 2018, with firms vulnerable to legal action on a host of fronts, from slack fill to natural claims, says law firm Perkins Coie.