• 🤝 Forward Consumer Partners Acquires Xochitl
• 😋 Nestlé Dives Into GLP-1 Companion Trend
• ⛔ FDA: Tara Flour Not GRAS
• 🔍 General Mills Is Seeking Founders For G-Works
• 🍔 Carl’s Jr., Del Taco Toss Back Beyond Meat
• ☕ Patrick Mahomes Drinks A Lot Of Coffee. And He Wants To Share

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The Nosh team was busy at Sweets & Snacks last week, scouring the show floor for the latest confectionery and snacking trends. Here’s a quick look at what you’ll find in our latest recap:

As a testament to TikTok’s influence across an array of categories, the show floor was flooded with new freeze-dried candy offerings from a multitude of emerging brands. The term “freeze-dried candy” now features 238 million posts on the social media platform, and several brand founders we spoke with credited TikTok for turning this specific candy format into the latest craze. So, what are the exhibiting brands doing to differentiate in this rapidly growing candy category?

• Florida-based AstroFreeze highlighted a cosmic space cowboy theme across its packaging and product names – like Gravity Taffy, Rainbow Space Rocks and Lunar Lemons.
• Kanpai Foods has leveraged its YouTube channel to amass a sizable following of 53,100 subscribers for its candy lineup.
• Sow Good showcased its line of freeze-dried candies produced in its own 20,000 sq. ft. facility in Irving, Tex.

Though Sweets & Snacks isn’t a major showcase for new product launches, several candy creators used the show to highlight recent product improvements. Better-for-you gummy worm producer Rotten showed off its new Rotten 2.0 formula, which features a classic gummy worm texture, six different flavors, all-natural colors and a sourness that has been “cranked up to an 11.” 

Meanwhile, Joyride, which “relaunched” earlier this year with a 4-SKU line of sour strip candies (Pink Lemonade, Blue Raspberry, Green Apple, and Strawberry), has slightly tweaked the formulation in preparation for its launch in 1,300 Target stores next month. According to CEO Tyler Merrick, “little tweaks here and there” were made based on consumer feedback.

On the snacks side, it was evident that puffs are becoming a major player in the better-for-you category. Madison, N.J.-based Like Air has launched a new flavor of its “puffcorn,” Sour Cream & Onion, exclusively available at BJ’s Wholesale Club in a 14 oz. bag. 

Elsewhere on the show floor, Harvest Snaps by Calbee America debuted its new line of Crunchy Puffs – available in White Cheddar Jalapeno, Loaded Taco, and Honey Dijon flavors – crafted with farm-picked navy beans. The snacks feature 4 grams of plant-based protein and 3 grams of fiber per serving. 

Read the full Sweets & Snacks recap on Nosh.

Xochitl has become the second brand to join investment firm Forward Consumer Partners’ portfolio, one month after it scooped up Washington, D.C.-based Firehook Bakery. The PE firm acquired a 50% stake with the salsa and tortilla chip brand’s founder, CEO and chairman, Carlos Salinas, retaining the remaining 50%.

⏳ We May Be Sensing A Common Theme. Both Firehook and Xochitl have been around for multiple decades, building their businesses slowly and steadily under their original founders with unique and focused product portfolios. And yes, both also play on the premium side of the snack space.

🪑 The deal will put Forward founder and managing partner Matt Leeds in the chairman spot and bring two new board members to Xochitl: Carl Lee (former CEO of Snyder’s Lance; former executive at Frito-Lay and Nabisco) and Maura Mottolese (CEO of Firehook Bakery; former CEO of Cholula and Tate’s Bake Shop).

💬 What they said: “As I looked for the right partner for our next chapter, it was essential to find a team with the experience, ambition, and character to match the mission we’ve honored for three decades. Forward brings the vision and execution to help achieve our aspirations, and I couldn’t be more excited to embark on this journey together.” - Carlos Salinas

Multinational food maker Nestlé announced a new product line this morning designed for users of GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Vital Pursuit, the new line of frozen foods, is intended for consumers who are focused on weight management and will launch in Q4 2024.

🍝 The 12 portion-controlled SKUs range from bowls to pizzas and pastas and sandwiches. The products will carry a SRP of $5 or less.

💪 Vital Pursuit products have been designed to incorporate high levels of protein and fiber; the meals will be enriched with essential nutrients including potassium, calcium and iron. Gluten-free options will also be available.

🛍️ Brands like Supergut have leaned into the trend expanding its retail footprint in chains like Sprouts and GNC, the latter of which has built out a GLP-1 Nutritional Support set in all 2,330 stores.

Learn More: Ozempic & CPG: Fear & Loathing, Or False Alarm?

The FDA has deemed tara flour not Generally Recognized as Safe for consumption nearly two years after the ingredient sickened hundreds of consumers who ate Daily Harvest’s French Lentil + Leek alt-meat crumble which utilized the ingredient. 

🤢 As you may recall, nearly 500 consumers who ate the alt-meat product after its launch by the plant-based food company reported cases of gastrointestinal illness and liver dysfunction. (Multiple customers required gallbladder removal).

🌱 Tara flour is derived from the seed germ of the Tara spinosa plant, grown in South America, and has a high protein content.

👍 The FDA maintains the safety of tara gum, a commonly used thickening agent and stabilizer in foods.

Go Deeper: Daily Harvest Identifies Tara Flour As Illness-Causing Ingredient.

Wanna go corporate, but maybe not TOO corporate? We noticed an interesting flier over on the Nosh Job Board this week – General Mills is seeking a handful of corporate entrepreneurs to become co-founders in its G-Works venture studio. 

✨ According to the post, these visionaries will “bring passion, grit, agility and innovation to General Mills” and work in three-person startup teams to “identify, create, validate, and operationalize new businesses.”

📝 Do you fit the bill? The job’s formal title will be Commercial Co-Founder, and the individuals should have experience both in commercial leadership (think: brand or general management) as well as business facing leadership (i.e. as a founder/CEO/etc…) along with meeting a few other prerequisites. 

Want to learn more? Check out the listing here.

Fast-food chains Carl’s Jr. and Del Taco are scaling back the number of locations that carry Beyond Meat plant-based beef products, as reported by Bloomberg. The move may reflect an ongoing decline in consumer demand for plant-based meat products.

👋 Most of Carl’s Jr.’s 1,000 locations have removed the Beyond Burger from the menu as of April 24, a restaurant spokesperson told the news outlet. The chain first offered Beyond Burger to its customers in 2019 as one of Beyond Meat’s first fast-food restaurant partnerships. 

👀 Del Taco took Beyond Meat off its menu from all 600 locations last spring, with a spokesperson citing “low sales.” Like Carl’s Jr., Del Taco began selling Beyond products in 2019, at the time calling the partnership “the future of tacos.” 

🥩 Earlier this year, Beyond Meat announced the launch of its new retail-exclusive Beyond Burger and Beyond Beef products as part of the company’s Beyond IV platform designed to improve slumping sales.

NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes and former BodyArmor executive Michael Fedele, the lead investor and founder, respectively, of better-for-you coffee brand Throne Sport Coffee, explain how a genuine connection helped formalize a business relationship, why Throne’s target audience includes both health-minded athletes and blue-collar workers, and the company’s initial focus on C-stores.

Listen to the episode now.