• 🍪 Inside Simple Mills’ Next Chapter
• 🤔 Eat Well Sues Superlatus For ‘Sham’ Sale
• 💪 OWYN Owner ‘Positioned Well’ for FY25 
• ✨ :INCLUDED Highlights Five Years of Impact
• 🔀 Brand Revivals, Ultra-Processed Ban & A Distressed Co-Man

Today, we’re taking a temperature check on how the state of the food industry last year will sway what’s to come, per market researcher SPINS’ 2025 Industry Update & Trends Predictions. 

Though fewer new products hit the market in 2024 compared to previous years, that doesn’t mean there was less innovation. Rather, brands are evolving innovation strategies with disciplined, quality launches, per the report, including shifting to larger pack sizes to offer better value while building routine use and capitalizing on gastrotourism (the desire to experience global flavors at home). 

• Wellness and snack bars and refrigerated meat, poultry, and seafood were the two categories that notched the highest rates of innovation in 2024.

Product innovations, particularly those in the natural sector, are driving growth across all retail channels, including natural (6.6%), regional/independents (1.1%), conventional (4.4%), and convenience (5%). 

• Comparatively, conventional products have lost share across all channels except in conventional retail (1.1%). 
• Ecomm has also flourished, with internet purchases gaining a greater share of consumers’ wallets compared to the prior year. 

How can a brand establish staying power in 2025? There are four consumer trends shaping the food industry over the next few years: Lifespan to Healthspan, Sustainability, New Global Notions, and Intentional Indulgences, per the report. As consumers lean into the idea of optimizing their biological age through “biohacking,” ingredients such as barberry/berberine (blood sugar support, weight management), colostrum (gut and immune health), and artichoke (gut health, liver support) will increasingly cross over into the food world.

• Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal examined the burgeoning blood sugar health craze among nondiabetic consumers earlier this year, detailing how those seeking metabolic and cognitive benefits have begun monitoring and minimizing blood sugar spikes. This signals a potentially powerful opportunity for CPG companies marketing low-glycemic products. 

Additionally, we cannot underestimate the likely impact that GLP-1s will have on the industry. We’ve already seen brands innovating around this trend, from Daily Harvest’s rollout of a GLP-1 Support Food Collection and Nestle’s launch of the Vital Pursuit line to Healthy Choice’s upcoming “On Track” badges

• Nutrient density and high protein levels are resonating with shoppers. Products in the snack and beverage categories with more than 15 grams of protein – such as Legendary protein pastries and Magic Spoon grain-free cereal – amount to 70% of the protein supplement categories’ sales volume, per the report. 

What’s next? Consumers are switching out products with energy, weight loss, and sleep support in favor of hydration, mood support, and performance enhancement. Additionally, they are seeking out product formulations that promote health and nutrition while curbing climate change. 

Nosh Insiders can get a complete sense of how consumption trends are influencing innovation across the industry.

Find out how food gets fancy at the Winter Fancy Food Show, where makers, buyers, and distributors get a first look at the products, flavors, and ideas set to reshape the food industry in 2025 and beyond. Register today and connect with the specialty food community at the kickoff party. Learn more

Flowers Foods’ management team sees plenty of upside for Simple Mills once that $795 million check clears. During a conference call on Wednesday, the company’s top executive outlined plans for growing the business.

🛒 Flowers chairman and CEO Ryals McMullian said there is significant opportunity to grow sales with the brand’s existing retail accounts by increasing the number of items carried at each store, noting “category leading brands offer more than twice as many items per store than Simple Mills does…”

🥞 The new parent company also aims to supercharge Simple Mills’ innovation timeline and expand the brand into away-from-home channels, where it has a limited presence.

Nosh Insiders can read the full story to learn more about Flowers Foods’ plans for Simple Mills – and the “Whys” that drove the deal.

Superlatus Foods, the platform that acquired numerous food tech companies in 2023 including Perfect Day’s CPG arm, The Urgent Company, Spero Foods and Sapientia Technology, is facing a lawsuit by Eat Well Investment Group, which alleges it fraudulently sold the plant-based food tech platform to avoid $10 million worth of cash and common stock obligations owed to the firm.

⏪ Quick rewind: Superlatus quickly gained momentum in 2023 when it announced a string of acquisitions and plans to merge with IT health company TRxADE Health. TRxADE later sold its  existing healthcare focused portfolio for $26 million and merged with Superlatus to build a publicly-traded, fully plant-based food focused platform. 

🤝 Eat Well, an investor in TRxADE Health Inc., Superlatus Inc., alleges that it was cheated out of nearly $10 million after the CEOs of the newly-combined company “colluded” to avoid contractual obligations and sold Superlatus to then-interim CEO Tim Alford for $1 (Alford is now COO of newly-established Superlatus Foods, per LinkedIn). 

💬 "This sale was a sham, designed to offload the entity that was contractually indebted to Eat Well, thereby evading Superlatus's obligations under the MIPA and hindering Eat Well's ability to recover the amounts owed. By disposing of Superlatus in this manner, defendants sought to defraud a known creditor and further deprive Eat Well of its rights under the MIPA," the complaint reads.  

Stay tuned for the full story on Nosh later today.

Beginning its first full year with nutritional shake brand OWYN in its portfolio, The Simply Good Foods Company is off to a “strong” start with gross margin coming in better than anticipated, president and CEO Geoff Tanner said in a press release. The company reaffirmed its FY2025 outlook and “expects organic sales growth to be driven primarily by volume” with “strong advertising and marketing plans in place.” Let’s take a look at the numbers:

• Net sales of $341.3 million, a 10.6% increase year-over-year
• Adjusted EBITDA $70.1 million compared to $62 million in the prior year period
• Net income was $38.1 million, compared to $35.6 million in Q1 2025

:INCLUDED, the largest collective of founders and CEOs of color in the food and beverage industry, celebrated five years in operation with a snapshot of its impact thus far. Here are some highlights:

• More than 150 entrepreneurs showcased in the Natural Products Expo trade shows
• Over 70 entrepreneurs showcased at the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food shows
• Generated over $5 million in direct value created for entrepreneurs via its sponsorship and partnerships
• 2,500+ brand-to-buyer introductions generated 
• 100+ articles, television spots and podcast features

In this week’s episode, the team discusses the revival of nostalgic beverage brands including this week’s announcement that Mexican beverage producer Grupo Jumex will relaunch Odwalla. The news follows the resurrection of Slice by Suja Life and Jolt Cola by Redcon1. The podcasters discuss these second act strategies and whether they could have some staying power among consumers.

The team then debates the implications of California’s new executive order investigating the potential health impacts of ultra-processed foods and synthetic dyes.The podcast wraps up with details on the abrupt closure of Canadian co-packer Joriki Beverages’ Pennsylvania production facility. 

Click here to listen to this week’s episode.

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