It's been a tough couple of years for first-gen alt-meaters Beyond Meat but the story is far from over. This week the company launched Beyond IV, its latest beef and burger formulations that feature a simplified ingredient deck, lower sodium, red lentil and faba bean protein and avocado oil.

And, the slider slinger is working on a documentary or short film or something - we just don't know what - for release later this year. The tense, dramatic trailer gives little away. H/T Adrianne from the Nosh cookout social.

Alright! On with the Sunday newsletter.

FIRST UP! Kroger/Albertsons Vs. The Feds: Round 56 - is an FTC clothesline incoming?

It seems to heavies are weighing in to the proposed Kroger/Albertsons merger with the FTC reportedly due to file a lawsuit to block the deal as early as next week writes Grocery Acolyte Adrianne DeLuca.

The merger faces a Feb 28 deadline for regulators to assess the legality of the deal under anti competition law, so the lawsuit will likely be filed before then. Multiple state attorney generals are expected to continue to pile in on the shenanigans.

Speaking of, the hits keep on coming: Washington state AG Bob ‘Robert’ Ferguson, who had initially attempted to block a contentious $4BN dividend, filed a suit to stop the deal in January, followed by Colorado state AG Phil ‘Phillip’ Weiser on Feb 14. Ouch.

Read the fine print over on Nosh.com.

🥡 Key Takeaway: Opposition to this merger is seemingly limitless - aside from multiple state AG lawsuits over various aspects of the proposal, consumer groups and unions have also strongly objected. According to Bloomberg, reps from the retailers are looking to meet with the FTC to prevent the suit. Fun fact: if approved the combined company would employ over 700k people - more than the population of Wyoming.

With Expo West just over two weeks away we’re looking to steal a march with your news and company updates.

Want to showcase your planned product launch? Maybe you have a big acquisition looming - or a total brand refresh. Submit your press release here and tell us all about it.

This week’s Community Call sees industry veterans Ken Sadowsky and Gerry Khermouch share their framework for maximizing your resources as the sector continues to weather a difficult fundraising climate.

Join the power duo as they discuss dialing in DSDs, honing your product-market fit, when to say no, and how to approach growth opportunities.

Listen up: Community Call open meetings are free to take part in and are as easy as hopping on a 30min Zoom call - except way more exciting, obviously.

Click - hey! - here to register.

On this week's CPG Week podcast the Nosh c-suite of Editor in Chief Jeff Klineman, Managing Editor Monica Watrous and reporter Brad Avery discuss rumors of Poppi’s acquisition and the difficulties large brands face in snapping up emerging competitors.

Later, the team discusses what investors want from companies in 2024, whether consumers really understand functional mushrooms, and what the next holy health grail might be post-antioxidant.

Spin this week's podcast here.

"If you’re a manufacturer who runs a brand and you just have capacity [...] we’ll sell the line time for you"

This week's thought piece comes from Robotics Editor Lukas Southard who recently sat down with Oisin Hanrahan, the co-founder/CEO of Keychain, a B2B tech biz looking to connect brands with manufacturers who have excess line time.

Manufacturing is more complex than ever - between private label brands cutting into co-manufacturer line time and an increasingly varied dietary landscape, brands are increasingly finding it difficult to find suitable partners.

Keychain lets brands search for manufacturers through an AI-powered database of thousands of processes and capabilities, shedding light to a typically opaque world (and potentially delivering cost savings to consumers).

The big sell for manufacturers is that this does the job of selling your line time for you - opening up huge additional revenue at no cost.

Read the full interview over on BevNET.com.

What are your thoughts, Sunday readers? Have you investigated similar services for your brand, like PartnerSlate, or are you a manufacturer frustrated by machine downtime but with no clear way of filling the gap? What's the path forward, and what are the barriers? Click here to send in your comments.

Notable new products: gluten-free Goodles, Guy Fieri Donkey Sauce.

A roundup of some of the more interesting product launches this week.

Four Sigmatic is getting in on the adaptogenic trend with a new functional mushroom-infused tea line.

Each tea blend is made with mushroom extracts including lion's mane, turkey tail and m̶o̶n̶k̶e̶y̶ ̶p̶a̶w reishi.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates has released allergy-friendly Hot Cocoa Bombs.

The bombs are made in the company's own manufacturing facility, ensuring tighter control over potential allergen contamination.

Full Time Brewer - Origami Sake

Hot Springs, AR

Territory Manager - South Florida - Joker's Juice, LLC

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Key Account Manager - Z.T. Distribution, Inc.

Waukesha, WI

Just two weeks into his tenure mycelium-based not-meat slinger Meati has promoted CFO Phil Graves to CEO while at the same time announcing another round of layoffs, writes Adrianne DeLuca on-site at the Mega Ranch.

It's the latest twist in the Meati story. Having raised $150M in 2022, the company's much-talked about Mega Ranch opened in January 2023 - followed by cutting about 5% of its workforce. Similarly a $50M raise last September was met with a 10% staff cut and the closing of its pilot production plant.

Read the full report on Nosh.com.

🥡 Key Takeaway: Meati launched just as first-gen not-meat maestros like Impossible began stalling - but that's not to confuse Meati's shroom-based protein with Beyond's pea protein or Impossible's soy approach. Clearly, the company isn't afraid to tweak operations in order to gate crash into profitability (which founder Tyler 'Crispy Cutlet' Huggins believes will be in sight by the end of 2024). We may indeed be entering the age of Meati's MushroomRoot.

Fresh from the This Totally Happened Department: Got Lay's? Because apparently David Beckham and Thierry Henry don't - and instead they want to steal them from unwitting soccer fans.

In a new video campaign the soccer legends scour the San Siro with the Lay's Chip Cam (a.k.a. the camera crew) before finding a couple with a bag, who are then invited to watch the game with the duo. H/T a cynical Adrianne.

AND FINALLY: When Irish eyes are crying - Diageo has teamed up with Tipsy Scoop to offer boozy Guinness ice cream, available via Goldbelly.com.

Forged in the spirit of St. Patrick himself, the Lucky Sundaes combine a classic ice cream base with Guinness draught stout and - here's the real eh?! moment - maple pancake crunch. As a proud Dubliner, I can tell you this would start a riot in the Irish capital.

Interestingly the ice cream contains 5% ABV, making each pint of ice cream a, well, pint. And a 21+ only purchase.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the kitchen experimenting with some Narragansett ice cream mix. Until next week, your host,

Mark Murphy

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