• 🫔 FILLO’s Expands Whole Foods Partnership
• 🤑 Chipotle Commits $50M To Venture Fund
• 🐟 Cell-based Locks In NFI Membership
• 🚚 McLane Launches Emerging Brands Platform
• 🫒 Graza Extends With LTO Chips

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FILLO’s has introduced two new Walking Tamales varieties, Corn Poblano Rojas and Sweet Corn Elotes, exclusive to Whole Foods. The Latin American-inspired food brand first debuted at the natural grocery chain in 2017 and has deepened its ties to its first retail account with the new launch. 

🚴 FILLO’s existing Walking Tamales collection features both sweet and savory flavors and the new offerings maintain the brand’s vegan and clean label standards. The shelf-stable products are meant to be consumed as an alternative to on-the-go bars.

🏪 While FILLO’s is working to disrupt the saturated bar market its unique format has presented a challenge – the tamales are often merchandised in different parts of the store depending on the retailer. 

💭 “Gaining consumer trial at the right time and in the right place is most important to us. When this happens, word of mouth spreads naturally for the product line” said co-founder and president Daniel Caballero. 

⏩ Looking ahead, the brand aims to increase velocities within existing retail partners such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, Publix and Walmart, among others. The company is also gearing up to activate several new distribution opportunities, beginning with DOT Foods in March.

Check out the full story on Nosh. 

Chipotle has doubled the capital in its Cultivate Next Venture fund with the addition of $50 million to continue investing in supply chain, agriculture and innovative food-related businesses. The fund launched in 2022 with $50 million; the total pool is now $100 million.

🍄 The fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain has allocated capital to seven businesses so far including plant-based protein maker Meati and fermented, sugar cane-derived cooking oil brand Zero Acre Farms. Both companies’ products are being piloted for widespread use by Chipotle.

🤖 The fund’s portfolio also includes local food sourcing platform Local Line, AI-enabled regenerative farming tech company GreenField Robotics, low-emission fertilizer company Nitricity and foodservice kitchen automation companies Vebu and Hyphen. 

🤝 "[This news] is a clear indicator that we are investing in the right companies that we can learn from and utilize to improve the human experience of our restaurant teams, farmers, and suppliers," said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer at Chipotle. 

BlueNalu announced this week it has become the first cell-cultured seafood developer to become a member of the seafood industry trade group, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI). BlueNalu expects to release a cell-cultured bluefin tuna as its first product.

🤝 “Cell-cultured seafood is not a replacement for traditional methods but a complementary solution. It represents a real and viable option that addresses challenges, including overfishing and climatic events, that impact the industry's growth today,” said BlueNalu founder, president and CEO Lou Cooperhouse in a statement. 

💲 BlueNalu raised $33.5 million last October in a round led by UK-based food tech venture firm Agronomics. The cell-cultured fish company has raised about $118.3 million to-date and expects to produce about six million pounds of seafood products annually in a yet-to-be built 140,000 sq. ft plant.

Retail and restaurant distributor McLane recently introduced Emerging Brands, a new platform for c-store retailers that enables them to diversify product ranges and quickly test new, innovative and trending items.

📦 The platform allows for low order minimums and quick processing with a unique drop-ship model; retailers can also use the same order and payment methods they use for standard warehouse orders through McLane. 

📲 Emerging Brands is powered by McLane tech partner Mable, which allows retailers to filter and sort product searches by location, dietary preference, brand values, category and more.

💭 “Our drop ship model and integration with McLane’s product systems allows customers to procure emerging brands the same way they do McLane’s warehouse brands,” explained Arik Keller, founder and CEO of Mable. 

Extra virgin olive oil producer Graza has put its favorite fat to work, launching a new line of limited edition potato chips made with the brand’s Sizzle oil. 

🆕 This is the first line extension for the agricultural supply chain-focused cooking oil company. Graza launched in 2020 and exclusively uses Picual olives from Jaen, Spain to make its oils.

🧂 The new chips are made with Galician potatoes and “flaky salt from the 6,000 year old Añana salt flats,” according to the brand.

🥔 Appropriately named “The Chips,” the new item is slow fried, which Graza claims allows each potato slice to soak up the flavor and health benefits of its EVOO while getting “super crispy.”

☑️ Comfy shoes

☑️ Hand sanitizer

☑️ Business cards

⬜ Nosh’s Unofficial Guide to Expo West

Before setting foot in Anaheim, read our practical primer for the biggest trade show of the year. It all drops March 4 at Nosh.com.