• 🍳 Cal-Maine Invests In Crepini
• 🍪 Cooper Street Expands With M&A
• 🍄 Smallhold Emerges From Ch. 11 
• 👀 Marketing: Smartfood Links With Flavor Flav
• 💻 eComm News Alert

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Buckwheat is bringing in the big bucks.

Today, buckwheat-based snack company Lil Bucks announced the closing of a $3 million Series A round led by Proterra Investment Partners. The new cash will do more than just bolster its bank account. The PE firm, which spun off from Cargill in 2016, will serve as a strategic partner, helping scale the company’s U.S.-based regenerative buckwheat supply chain. 

“We are so aligned on the growth plan…They're bringing the value add. They're bringing in agriculture and operations and finance expertise as well. And they've [said], ‘you do the brand, you do the sales, we're not going to get any way on the CPG side of things.’ [They are] genuinely a strategic partner,” Griffith told Nosh.

The women-led snack producer will use the cash to continue growing its retail footprint, expand its farmer network, add key new hires and bring more buckwheat snack innovations to market. This year Lil Bucks rolled out its Clusterbucks line nationwide with both Whole Foods and Target, and the new capital will go towards continuing to support those launches; Griffith noted that the brand took a “scrappy” approach in order to finance those initial inventory commitments.

Additionally, Lil Bucks has also added a COO to its executive team, hiring Kailey Donewald in July, which Griffith said has been “crucial” to scaling the operational side of the business as it has entered a period where growth is coming in from all angles. 

“We've transformed our entire operation in like three months: new 3PLs, scaled manufacturing, a new accounting process,” Griffith detailed, among other growth initiatives. “It all needed to happen… we just grew really quickly. We started selling double what we thought in Whole Foods, and [there has been] just a lot more opportunities, so we have to seize the day. The funding is coming at a really good time.” 

The brand has tripled its revenue so far this year and is on track to see a fivefold increase by the end of the year. 

Nosh Insiders can read the full story for all of the funding details and more insight into Lil Bucks big moves.

Egg giant Cal-Maine Foods announced it has made a strategic, $6.75 million investment in egg-based pancake maker Crepini and now holds a 51% stake in the new venture; Crepini has maintained ownership of the remaining 49% and will now be called Crepini Foods.

🤝 Cal-Maine’s controlling stake in the company will go towards purchasing new equipment with Crepini adding its existing infrastructure to the new business partnership.

🥚 Founded in 2007, Crepini makes low- and no-carb, egg wraps. Currently, the brand is sold in about 6,000 stores and will leverage Cal-Maine’s expertise to expand into new markets.

💭 “We have a unique opportunity to leverage the established Crepini brand of quality products and extend our market reach to major retailers across the country… As consumer demand for affordable protein options, including egg products, continues to grow, Cal-Maine Foods is well positioned to meet this demand,” said Cal-Maine CEO and president Sherman Miller in a press release.

Cooper Street Snacks has acquired Harvest Valley Bakery, a private label manufacturer of cookies, brownies, bars and bites. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

⏭️ Following the close of the transaction, the facility will be rebranded as Cooper Street Bakery, operating independently from the Cooper Street Snacks brand while bolstering the company’s production capabilities.

👪 Family-run Cooper Street Snacks produces Twice Baked Cookies and Granola Bakes based on generations-old recipes.

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Specialty mushroom producer Smallhold announced today it has restructured and exited Chapter 11 protections following an investment from existing shareholder Monomyth Group. Both of the company’s co-founders resigned from their positions in February as part of the reorganization. 

⛔ The new structure also brought a closure of the company’s farms in Texas, New York and California as it shifts to a partnership model. Smallhold will now work with independent, Certified Organic farms nationwide as it works on “improving supply chain efficiency, lengthening shelf life for fresh mushrooms at stores and future-proofing the overall business,” a press release stated.

➕ Despite the new approach, Smallhold will continue to focus on value-added products – like its previous mushroom pesto – that reduce food waste in its supply chain. Smallhold products are available at Whole Foods and Sprouts stores. 

🗣️ What they said: “The Smallhold team has built the leading specialty mushroom brand in the U.S. We have now put in place changes needed to execute on that vision. We are focused on evolving and scaling our national operations to deliver the same category-leading products and service through a profitable business model.”  – Chip Dunn, founder and CEO of Monomyth Group 

🍿 Rap icon Flavor Flav is swapping his iconic clock necklace for an oversized popcorn kernel (the Pop Clock) in Smartfood Popcorn’s latest campaign, “Flavor You Can Feel Good About.” The new campaign aims to reintroduce Smartfood’s lineup of light-textured, air-popped popcorn, available in flavors like White Cheddar, Movie Theater Butter and Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn, among others. 

🪑 JELL-O is seeking to evoke Y2K nostalgia with its latest drop, “The Jelly Collection,” a line of inflatable furniture inspired by JELL-O molds. Available in four colors – yellow, green, red and orange – the chairs are fitted with a built-in JELL-O cup holder. 

🧀 Say cheese! Annie’s Homegrown unveiled a new, cheesier recipe for its Shells & White Cheddar and Shells & Real Aged Cheddar products. To celebrate the launch, Annie’s created a TikTok effect, “Say (Extra) Cheese,” allowing families to show off their cheesiest smiles for a chance to win a free box of the now-cheesier Annie’s.

The online grocery sector continues to advance and bring upgrades to how it services its customers. Here’s a look at recent moves made by Hungryroot, Thrive Market and Instacart today:

🛒 Grocery delivery service Hungryroot has introduced SmartCart, an AI system designed to help consumers live more healthily. The service integrates 10 machine learning models that find the best food and supplements for consumers based on their goals, lifestyles and budgets. Hungryroot claims that 90% of SmartCart customers reported progress in their health goals since joining the service. 

🤝 With more than 1.5 million members signed on, Thrive Market announced a partnership with Instacart today that will leverage Instacart’s Carrot Ads to create a more personalized member experience. Brand partners will now be able to target specific campaigns to consumers shopping on Thrive Market to drive further growth.

Tero Isokauppila, the founder and CEO of Four Sigmatic, a pioneering brand of mushroom-infused coffee, tea and supplements, talks about navigating an ahead-of-its-time trend, how he overcame “making every mistake a founder can make,” and how the company aligns category insights and innovation.

Listen to the episode now.