• 💰 More $$$, More (Cell-Based) Meat
• 🥪 J.M Smucker: Coffee, Uncrustables Boost Earnings 
• 🤔 Shareholders Revive Kraft Heinz Insider Trading Case
• 🐔 NUGGs’ CEO Switchup
• 🤔 Emma Chamberlain Admits Coffee Business “Regrets”

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Increasing consumer interest in GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy has left CPG food and beverage brands wondering about the lasting impact on consumer appetites.

Opinions range across the spectrum, but in general, the industry has decided that monitoring changes to consumer behavior is the best strategy available at the moment. Industry observers and thought leaders agree that taking a hard look at the behavioral themes will help decipher the bits of anecdotal data currently available.

📊 For the time being: Estimates about GLP-1 drugs’ impact range from about 1% volume decline over the next 10 years, according to Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put, to a 3% sales drop by 2035, per a report from Morgan Stanley.

Yet, diet-focused strategic Simply Good Foods (which manages Quest Nutrition and Atkins) and Nestlé (which owns OptiFast) have realigned brands to capitalize on this new weight loss diet trend with marketing campaigns and innovation.

Emerging brands see an opportunity as well. Supergut was established to support healthy eating habits and weight-control for diabetics. The demand for GLP-1 drugs could be seen as a boon to business for the meal supplement company which makes snack bars and smoothie mixes packed with prebiotic fibers to reduce food cravings and boost metabolisms. Those products also address some of the side effects of GLP-1 drugs – like vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and bloating.

💭 Supergut founder Marc Washington recently told NOSH that he sees “Ozempic as the catalyst. I don't see it as all a pharma-driven impact on health…It's just a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. Your body actually is meant to produce the GLP-1 hormone if you're feeding it the right things.”

Read more on the industry’s approach to GLP-1 drugs on NOSH.

Clever Carnivore has closed a $7 million seed round led by serial cultured protein and alternative meat investor Lever VC. 

💲The Chicago-based cell-cultured meat maker saw additional participation from McWin Capital Partners, Thia Ventures, Valo Ventures, Newfund Capital and Stray Dog Capital.

🐖 Clever Carnivore was founded in 2021 and produces cell-cultivated pork sausage; it anticipates unveiling its Clever Bratwurst prototype in early 2024.

🏭 The company also has plans to relocate from its current Lincoln Park plant to a larger facility that can support scaled production with 500 liter bioreactors and test kitchens.

🆕 Clever claims it has optimized its growth media and can replicate cell lines at a much lower cost than any other cultivated meat company.

Though margin improvements cushioned some of the impact, recent pet brand divestments pushed net sales down 12% at J.M. Smucker Co. during Q2, according to its latest earnings report. Here’s a quick look at the numbers:

• Comparable net sales were up 7%, or $121 million
• Volume/mix rose 4% in the quarter, primarily driven by a 22% boost in Uncrustable sales
• The company’s quarterly margin increased from 31.8% to 37.4% due to a drop in raw material coffee costs.

💭 “Our brands continued to outpace the category on a volume basis, which underscores the advantages of our broad product offerings across various formats and price points,” said Mark Smucker, board chair, president and CEO, in a statement. 

Read the full earnings recap on NOSH. 

A Kraft Heinz investor has revived a case against the CPG giant with a new suit that claims the court incorrectly dismissed prior allegations that Kraft made fraudulent statements, leading to $1.2 billion-worth of insider trading. 

📝 The new 116-page complaint was filed in Delaware Chancery Court on Friday with lawyers looking to reinstate claims thrown out in the 2021 derivative shareholder suit. 

⚠️ The shareholder reasserts that 3G Capital Inc., a controlling investor, sold $1.2 billion worth of shares after board members were given fraudulent, undisclosed information in 2018 stating that Kraft had missed its first six months earnings target. 

😠 The new complaint also alleges each defendant from 3G aided, abetted, contributed and indemnified false disclosures and insider trading by the fiduciaries.

📣 Kraft Heinz called the claims “misleading and inaccurate.” 

Ben Pasternak is no longer the leader of alt-chicken company NUGGs and its parent company Simulate, but will remain chair of the board, according to a report yesterday. 

🔀 Pasternak will be replaced by fellow co-founder and COO Sam Terris.

💰 The New York-based company has raised $57 million to-date, according to Pitchbook. 

💭 “I loved my time as CEO of Simulate. It was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all I loved working with such talented people. Will have more to say about what’s next later,” Pasternak said in a post on social platform X yesterday. 

The viability of celebrity-backed coffee brands to compete with the category’s traditional players has yet to be fully vetted, but the rapid rise of Emma Chamberlain’s eponymous brand (a 2x BevNET Award winner this year) has certainly helped. But in a revealing three-hour interview with YouTubers Colin and Samir, the brand’s co-founder said the process has taken its toll. 

❣️ According to a transcript posted by Sprudge, Chamberlain described the experience as “like my preview to what marriage is going to feel like.” Meaning? “Wow it felt good when we committed to each other and now it’s a few years in and it’s like, wow that feels different.”

💭 “Have I regretted it before? Yes,” Chamberlain said in the interview, calling it “the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

☕ Yet Chamberlain added that she’s “genuinely passionate” about building the brand. “I love building a business. I love being involved. I love the conversations with retailers, and big board meetings discussing strategy, and how we should improve this product or discontinue this product—I enjoy that piece of it the most.”