• 🔮 Fairtrade Releases 2024 Predictions
• 🍳 Alt Egg In Haute Cuisine
• 🥗 WSJ’s Eye-Opening Debate: Are Potatoes Vegetables?
• 🏆 New Hope to Host “Organic Oscars” at Expo West 2024

Benestar Brands – the makers of Mac's, 4505, Pretzilla, Turkey Creek, Cazo de Oro, PORQ and Chicas Tortilla Chips – has merged with Palmex, a better-for-you and Hispanic snack pellets manufacturer, according to an announcement today. 

💰 The new salty snack powerhouse will be majority owned by Palmex parent, Wind Point Partners; PE firm Highlander Partners, which owns Benestar Brands, will retain a minority stake in the newly combined businesses. 

🥨 Alongside the move: Benestar’s Pretzilla division will be spun off as a stand-alone business and remain under the sole ownership of Highlander. The division will continue to make its range of fresh pretzel bread and snack products and operate manufacturing facilities in Milwaukee, WI. 

🏭 As for the new snack pellets and pork rind powerhouse, there are plenty of efficiencies left to leverage. Benestar alone brings the muscle of seven production facilities with six in the U.S. and one in Saltillo, Mexico. 

Palmex, which is based in Monterrey, Mexico, brings the intermediate production power – in the form of snack pellets – in-house for Benestar; the pellets are necessary to produce snacks like veggie sticks and straws, wavy products, and other extruded snacks. 

👔 Palmex chairman and CEO Jose Luis Prado will lead the combined company; he brings over three decades of experience in the industry to the role having led PepsiCo’s snack segment in the U.S. and Latin America. Benestar President and CEO Bruce Myers will now serve as President of the Benestar division within the new organization. 

"The snack market is rapidly evolving, and this merger is a game-changer…. we're setting the stage for a new chapter of innovation and accelerated growth at the company," said Jeff Partridge, partner at Highlander and former Benestar Chairman.

The forecast for food and beverage in 2024 includes a heightened focus on ethical, verifiable, and more sustainable products, according to the minds at Fairtrade America. Here are the five rising themes to look out for:

✅ Sustainable products and brands will outperform competition. The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business has once again found that “sustainability-marketed products were responsible for one-third of market growth” and grew about two times faster than conventionally marketed counterparts.

🌱 Regenerative is buzzy but needs defining. Although more brands are leaning into the practice, the concept of regenerative ag lacks uniformity and clarity. It will need a solid definition to continue driving sales and avoid greenwashing.

🔍 Accountability and traceability are key. Consumers are demanding companies be more forthright about their environmental impact, human rights practices and supply chains.

💵 Businesses And Shoppers Will Prioritize Living Incomes And Wages. Consumers are asking for farmers to be paid fairly and have shown they’ll pay more for goods from brands that do just that.

🏷️ Rising Interest in Private Label. Be it high prices in stores or tightened consumer budgets, private label products will continue to grow in the coming year.

Michelin star restaurant Eleven Madison Park will now serve The EVERY Company’s precision fermented liquid egg in its multi-course tasting menu. 

📈 The news comes after nine years of product development and $233 million in investment from AB InBev and Grupo Bimbo, among others.

🥚 The liquid egg is made with black oak tree yeast that is brewed into an egg protein that is “indistinguishable” from real chicken eggs and can be used as a one-to-one substitute with eight grams of protein per serving, zero cholesterol, zero saturated fat and no artificial flavors.

🍯 This partnership marks first release of the EVERY Egg product; Earlier this year, Eleven Madison Park also was the first to debut MeliBio’s plant-based, bee-free honey product. 

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has unearthed a truly hot debate – should potatoes be counted as vegetables? 

🥔 White potatoes are currently classified as “starchy vegetables” but the committee could uproot that status and toss them into a broader carbohydrate category.

🤔 The debate comes as the USDA and HHS work to update national diet guidelines for 2025. 

🍟 Nutrition researchers argue that potatoes contain important nutrients – like potassium and Vitamin C – but those benefits are diminished when the food is fried. The USDA found nearly half of all potatoes consumed in the U.S. are frozen products, primarily french fries.

So, what are your tots on the matter?

New Hope Network announced it will be rolling out the [figurative] red carpet at Expo West 2024 for its inaugural “Organic Oscars.” The event, sponsored by ORGANIC VOICES and The Organic Center, will honor the companies and people championing and expanding the natural foods industry. 

🎤 An Organic Night Out will be emceed by actress and Once Upon a Farm co-founder Jennifer Garner and organic industry veteran Gary Hirshberg. 

📝 Applications for the awards are open to U.S. and international brands, organizations, companies and individuals now through January 19, 2024. 

⏪ In previous years, The Organic Center has hosted an annual Science Benefit at Expo West and donated funds raised to support the latest research and industry solutions to help organic thrive.