• 🍄 Meati Faces Setback In IP Suit
• 🍬 Actress Busy Phillips Invests in BEHAVE
• 📺 Albertsons To Take Wonder Out of TV Ads
• 🇯🇵 Kikkoman Brings Japan To Wisconsin
• 🟢 Two-Year-Long Amy’s Kitchen Boycott Ends

The Planting Hope Company announced this week it is implementing a strategic review over the next few months to realign the business for profitable growth. The owner of the Hope and Sesame, RightRice, Mozaics and Veggicopia brands said it will explore commercial alliance partnerships, divestitures and other opportunities that will allow it to grow without burning cash.

The company, which has offices in Chicago and Vancouver, B.C., also is reshuffling its leadership team: 

• Julia Stamberger, founder, CEO and chairman of the board, will step out of the CEO role and transition to president and continue on as a board director. 
• Kevin Phelps, a board director and audit committee chairman, has been named chairman of the board. 
• Directors Scott Carter and Qing Meyerson will support the commercial operations of the company and the review, respectively. 
• Shelley Diamond has resigned from the board of directors for personal reasons.

How did we get here? Well, Planting Hope, which has been a publicly traded company since November 2021, hasn’t released a financial statement in six months. In April, the company applied for a voluntary management cease trade order with the British Columbia Securities Commission to delay filing its annual financial statements for FY 2023 and Q1 2024, citing delays in hiring a new chief financial officer. (Tony Sansone took the post in February.)

In its last reported quarter, Q3 2023, Planting Hope revenue declined 48% to $1.9 million, driven by selective cutting of unprofitable accounts, promotional programs and products primarily at grocery retail as the company shifted its focus to foodservice. Additionally, the company narrowed its quarterly net loss to $2.7 million from $5 million the year before. 

As part of its accelerated foodservice channel development, Planting Hope in August acquired the assets of Argo Tea, a distressed tea cafe company, and took over its master agreements with managed foodservice providers. A year prior, the company also acquired alt-grain brand RightRice.

Founded in 2015, Planting Hope’s portfolio consists of a range of plant-based products made from less resource-intensive crops like sesame, peas, lentils, chickpeas and beans. Its products are sold online and in grocery retailers and foodservice operators throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

In a statement, Stamberger said the strategic review process is intended to refocus company resources on its “largest opportunities,” particularly the sesame milk alternative brand Hope and Sesame, noting there has been “little meaningful competitive innovation” but strong demand in the plant milk category.

What’s next for Planting Hope? We will continue to follow this story. In the meantime: Catch up and learn why Planting Hope shifted focus to foodservice.

The latest wrinkle in a three-year-long intellectual property (IP) dispute between alternative meat brands Meati and Better Meat Co. (BMC) has swung the pendulum largely in favor of Better Meat. The suit was originally filed in July 2021 after Meati claimed that Better Meat had developed its mycelium-based meat alternatives with stolen IP.

🥩 Over the years, the two plant-based protein brands have traded litigation surrounding the claims that Meati’s founders Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley should be listed on BMC’s patents.

👨🏼‍⚖️ On June 7, Eastern District of California Judge Kimberly J. Mueller shot down many of Meati’s claims saying that the company had “not supported its opposition” to BMC.

🤔 Mueller did allow some of Meati’s lawsuit claims to go forward but has rejected the core complaint over BMC’s four patents.

Catch Up Quick: Plant-based Meat Companies Feud Over Fermentation Tech.

Actress Busy Phillips announced yesterday her latest business venture, becoming an investor in better-for-you candy brand BEHAVE. As part of the new partnership, the Girls5eva star will “weave her entrepreneurial spirit” into the brand’s operations, from content creation to product development. 

💭 “I’m trying to be a little bit more conscious about the things that I put into my body. And so I’ve been looking for alternative ways to get the fix,” said Phillips in an Instagram post. 

⏪ Founded in 2019, BEHAVE produces a line of lower-sugar, PCOS- and diabetic-friendly gummy candies. All four varieties – Sweet Stars, Sour Stars, Sweet Bears and Sour Bears – have 5 grams of net carbs and 19 grams of fiber per serving. 

👀 Earlier this year, the brand showed off its revamped product line – made in partnership with chef Elizabeth Falkner as well as a food scientist – at the Sweets & Snacks Expo. 

The retail media arm of grocery giant Albertsons, Albertsons Media Collective, introduced a new platform dubbed Collective TV that aims to simplify the process and pathway to television advertising. 

🔄 The platform is intended to help brands execute and optimize omnichannel campaigns with “build-it-yourself capabilities” that can flex between streaming platforms, digital and linear TV.

🔊 “Advertisers need a smarter, more effective way to execute CTV and video campaigns. With Collective TV, we’re removing the silos between publishers, demand-side platforms, and identity solutions by offering an outcome-driven TV solution that is flexible, scalable and measurable,” said Kristi Argyilan, SVP of retail media for Albertsons Media Collective.

The largest manufacturer of soy sauce, Kikkoman, has broken ground in a $560 million new production hub in Jefferson, Wis. The soy sauce supplier has been tied to the Badger State since 1973 when it opened a facility in Walworth. 

2️⃣ The company is not only opening a new production center but will also be expanding the Walworth facility with over $200 million invested in both of the new plants.

🏭 Once complete, the Jefferson facility will cover 240,000 sq. ft. and will bring about 80 new jobs to the area. The plant will not only produce soy sauce but other soy-sauce-based products like teriyaki sauce and is expected to open in fall 2026. 

💲 The company was granted about $15.5 million in performance-based tax credits by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Vegan food justice organization Food Empowerment Project has formally ended the boycott of natural food brand Amy’s Kitchen it has supported since January 2022, which began in order to improve workplace safety, increase wages and provide health insurance for the brand’s employees.

🏭 The food company, known for its organic frozen meals, has been in talks with employees for about eight months to improve working conditions in its Santa Rosa, Calif., plant.

😠 In 2022, Amy’s Kitchen abruptly closed a two-year-old facility in San Jose, Calif., following a host of allegations filed citing unfair workplace practices and conditions.

💭 "Working to improve working conditions and increase wages for all Amy's Kitchen workers has had a great impact. With the help and support of Food Empowerment Project, we've seen safety improvements, and we hope these changes will remain and keep improving,” said longtime Amy’s Kitchen employee Cecilia Luna Ojeda.