• 🍬 Ocho Candy Ceases Operations
• 🌱 Organic Certification Winning With Consumers
• 🚚 Costco Calls Up Innovative New Products
• 🫒 Filippo Berio Provides Olive Oil Harvest Update
• 🥜 Congress Wants More Plant-Based In Fed Facilities

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Organic confectionary maker Ocho Candy confirmed that it ceased operations in February after 14 years in business, according to an announcement made last week. Citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said it was unprofitable and had “no clear path to profitability.” 

🤝 The business will now be held for the Benefit of Creditors, executed on February 8, after Ocho transferred all rights and assets to an unnamed assignee for liquidation.

👀 The assignee will liquidate any assets and rights, wind down the company and distribute any net proceeds to creditors of the company that submit claims in a timely fashion. 

▶️ According to the announcement, the assignee has already begun selling off intellectual property including Ocho’s milk chocolate, dark chocolate and plant-based recipes. 

💭 In a LinkedIn post, Todd Kluger, former VP of sales and marketing at Ocho, said the company's “failure is due to a lack of funding and not from a lack of character, creativity or hard work ethic.” 

The USDA Organic seal is trusted by 70% of consumers, making it the most trusted agricultural label, according to new survey results from The Organic Trade Association (OTA) in conjunction with Euromonitor International.

🙋🏼‍♀️ Millennial and Gen-Z consumers are the largest demographics currently driving organic sales, the report notes.

💸 Despite the higher premiums for organic products, the OTA reported that the more consumers know “the more willing they are to pay the higher costs” with a 16 percentage point jump in sales from consumers formerly unaware of the attributes of organic food.

😟 Meanwhile, the least understood label claims were “fair trade” (58%) and “regenerative” (33%), according to the survey results.

Food entrepreneurs continue to carve out space on shelf for new innovations. Here’s a roundup of some of the latest distribution gains. 

🥣 Seven Sundays expanded to Costco stores nationwide this past week with its Sunflower Cereal SKU, made with cocoa, upcycled sunflower protein, Medjool dates, and coconut sugar. The 16 oz. cereal is available for $9.99. 

🌮 Vegan Mexican spice mix startup Todo Verde is launching at all Central Market locations after recently onboarding with KeHE; the products are now available through the distributor’s DCs in Dallas, Bloomington, Romeoville, Chino and the Northeast. 

🥚 Crafty Counter’s Wunder Eggs are going deeper into Costco through a new partnership that will bring the plant-based alt-eggs to 79 club locations spanning six states across the Southeast region and Puerto Rico. The products will join a new Costco program dubbed  "Plant-Based Focus."

🍬 Low sugar gummy candy brand Blobs will now roll out to Fresh Thyme stores in the Midwest; the partnership was foraged via the retailer’s local program and in conjunction with Pod Foods’ Box of Innovation initiative to support emerging brands. 

Global olive oil prices rang in at nearly double the average price last year as the impact of multi-year droughts and bad weather ravaged havests in top olive producing countries including Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. According to a recent update from olive oil company Filippo Berio, those prices aren’t going to drop anytime soon.

🔽 According to the European Commission, cited by Filippo Berio, while the 2022/23 crop yields were the lowest in 30 years, this year’s harvest was still “roughly 20% lower than the average of the previous five harvests.”

📈 The price of EVOO from Greece in March was up nearly 78% y/y and almost 73% for Spain-produced oil. 

💲 Overall, Filippo Berio said it expects price increases to continue due to the still-short supply; however, production has grown significantly in Argentina and Chile which may help offset the constraints. 

Congressman Jamie Raskin (D - MD), alongside 55 congressional leaders, penned an open letter to President Biden last month asking for expanded plant-based food options at federal facilities such as government buildings, military bases and national parks.

🖊️ The letter cites the multitude of health and climate benefits of plant-based diets and has been co-signed by lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee. 

💭 “A high-quality plant-based diet, rich in essential minerals, vitamins, healthy fats, and fiber, can bolster our immune systems, lower inflammation, and mitigate diet-related diseases,” the letter reads, adding that plant-based foods help reduce carbon footprints. 

👀 The goals outlined in the letter echo those emphasized in President Biden’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in September 2022. The conference worked through a five-pronged plan intended to serve as a roadmap for ending hunger and reducing the rate of diet-related disease in the U.S. by 2030.