• 🦾 Nature’s Bakery Plans New Production Facility
• 🧑‍⚖️ Starbucks Sued Over “100% Ethical” Sourcing Claim
• 🆕 Once Upon a Farm’s Pasta Meals & Extra Crunchy Cheeze-Its
• 🍳 The Cost Of An Omelet Is Going Up

Consolidation and liquidation is expected to come to the plant-based category this year after the inflationary period that was 2023, said Dimitra Rizzi, CEO of Elohi Strategic Advisors (ESA). This morning we are going to dig into how this is playing out in food spaces surrounding CPG. 

Yesterday, Next Level Burger (think: Shake Shack for vegans) announced its acquisition of Veggie Grill (VG), a distressed plant-based QSR chain, from vegan investment firm VegInvest. Late last year VegInvest rescued VG as it neared bankruptcy; the firm has retained a shareholder stake in the company. 

"Veggie Grill by Next Level will mean all sorts of changes: organic produce, non-GMO ingredients and ensuring living wages for our many team members across the country," said Next Level founder Matt de Gruyter, in a press release.

The first Veggie Grill opened in Irvine, Calif. in 2006 and the chain has expanded to Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts. (You may recognize two of its cofounder’s, T.K. Pillan and Kevin Boylan, from their roles at GroundForce Capital). 

But as VG looked to recover growth in a post-pandemic, hybrid-work world, it expanded its family of brands with new concepts that launched within its existing locations including Stand-Up Burgers (now defunct), Más Veggies Taqueria and Vegan Bowls For All. Those efforts spread VG’s resources too thin and in September, the company cut its 29 store footprint nearly in half. The remaining 17 locations have now become Veggie Grill by Next Level and more than doubled its new Oregon-based parent’s existing 10 store count. 

Over the years, VG has been an avid supporter of emerging plant-based alternatives, launching menu items that utilized everything from Hooray Foods bacon, to alt-eggs from Yo Egg and sandwiches with Prime Roots deli meat. It also still features a variety of Beyond Meat formats which are branded on-menu.

So what does this mean for Veggie Grill’s supplier partners? What role will the chain take in the emerging CPG plant-based food sector moving forward? Only time will tell but we will be sure to keep you informed. 

“I am sure there are pundits claiming that this is another example of the “plant-based is dead” messages,” said Stephanie Lind, founder of ESA. “To me, however, this deal is an example of how the industry continues to evolve… Plant-based hasn't died, but the consumer has matured.”

Mars announced yesterday that portfolio snack brand Nature’s Bakery will be moving into a new 339,000 sq. ft. facility in Salt Lake City. The $237 million “cutting-edge baking facility” is expected to be operational by July 2025 and add over 190 jobs to the region.

🧑‍🍳 The new facility will increase output capacity to 968 million granola packs and snack bars per year.

💵 Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Nature's Bakery was acquired by Mars subsidiary KIND (which had itself been acquired by the food legacy candy company just weeks before) in a deal valued at about $400 million.

🏭 Utah has become a bit of a destination for food and beverage production with Campbell’s Soup Co. investing $160 million in its Richmond, Utah manufacturing facility; Companies including Treehouse Foods, Oatly and Frito-Lay, among others, also operate facilities in the Beehive state.

The National Consumer League filed a false ad suit against Starbucks this week, claiming the coffee brand deceptively labels its retail products as “100% ethical” despite allegedly sourcing coffee beans and tea leaves from farms with documented human rights and labor abuses. 

📝 The 30-page complaint, filed in a Washington, D.C. court on Wednesday, alleges Starbucks is using these ‘deceptive’ ethical sourcing claims to command a premium price for its coffee and tea. 

⏱️ According to the complaint, the migrants worked excessive hours while carrying sacks weighing over 100 pounds on their backs.

⏪ This isn’t the first time the coffee chain has come under fire for its ethical sourcing claims. In 2022, Brazilian authorities filed a complaint that alleges one of Stabucks’ largest suppliers in the country illegally trafficked more than 30 migrant workers.

TGIF! It’s our favorite day of the week because we get to drop our weekly new products gallery – giving you a taste of the newest innovations hitting the market. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s inside:

🍝 Once Upon a Farm, has introduced a new line of pasta meals in Pomodoro and Cauli-fredo & Spinach varieties. The pastas aren’t actually saucy, and instead feature unblended individual components, giving kids the opportunity to see, feel and taste each ingredient.

📢 Cheez-It has launched its newest innovation: Cheeze-It Extra Crunchy. The line comes in two extra loud flavors – Cheez-It Crunch Bold Cheddar and Cheez-It Snap’d Extra Crunchy Sharp White Cheddar – which will hit stores this month.  

🍓 Frozen treat maker Enlightened has dropped a collection of Frozen Yogurt Bark in Triple Berry, Banana Peanut Butter and Pineapple Coconut varieties. The treat is available for purchase at Walmart and Raley’s with a SRP of $6.99 per 4.75 oz. bag. 

Keep an eye out for the full rundown of new products on Nosh later today. 

The cost of eggs is going back up as the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, makes a (very unwelcomed) comeback. Throughout 2022 and 2023, bird flu wreaked havoc on the egg-laying hen population, which negatively impacted food prices as egg prices were elevated to historic highs

📈 The price of eggs rose 8.9% from November to December, according to the Consumer Price Index, released yesterday. 

💸 According to the USDA’s December Egg Markets Overview, the wholesale price for large, white shell eggs in the Midwest has “increased $0.38 to $2.20 per dozen” while, in California, the “benchmark for large shell eggs rose $0.95 to $3.89 per dozen.” 

🥚 Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producing companies in the country, reported last month that avian flu recently affected 684,000 of its laying hens and temporarily closed a facility in Kansas that tested positive for the virus.