• 💰 Proper Good Raises Funds
• ⏪ Making Cottage Cheese Sexy
• ⚠️ FDA's Front-of-Pack Labels
• 📈 eGrocery Sales Jump 18.7%
• 🧑‍⚖️ Home Chef Facing FTC Review Over Ad Claims
• ♥️ How To Help: L.A. Fires Relief Efforts

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on a potential TikTok ban in the U.S. that would pose significant challenges for packaged food brands relying on the platform to reach its 170 million American users. 

If a law banning TikTok is upheld, it will disappear from app stores by Jan. 19. For existing users, the app could be prone to bugs and glitches over time and may become incompatible with certain operating systems. How can operators start to prepare? We asked the experts.

DO ensure you have downloaded and catalogued your brand’s highest-performing TikTok videos, which can be optimized and reposted on Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, said Jessyca Dewey, founder of The Y Collective.

DO begin posting content on TikTok that drives followers to engage and follow your brand on Instagram and other platforms. 

• “Some industry experts are expecting TikTok users will head to YouTube Shorts. However, we predict more people will turn to Facebook and Instagram than other platforms,” Dewey added.

DON’T resist the change; rather, “get curious and start experimenting with other platforms to reach new consumers,” suggested Emily Steele, co-founder of Hummingbirds. 

DO develop robust email marketing and website strategies to build owned media channels that don’t rely on third-party platforms, recommended Sara Heiden, senior strategy director at Sircle Media.

DO stay informed about social media trends and legislative updates so you can adapt your strategy quickly and effectively, Heiden said.

DO consider investing further in Facebook ads and Amazon to offset lost revenue if selling through TikTok Shop, Dewey said.

The bottom line? “Brands that have heavily invested in building TikTok-specific communities with platform-exclusive content — content that can’t be easily cross-posted — will… face losing their followers and impressions, which will present more long-term challenges if they haven’t also built significant communities on other platforms like Instagram,” Dewey said.

Nosh Insiders can access the full story for more strategies to prepare for a potential TikTok ban.

Ready-to-eat meal purveyor Proper Good, Inc. has raised $3.5 million in fresh funding from internal investors, according to an announcement Monday. The round closed in Q4 2024. 

💵 The new capital infusion will help fuel brick-and-mortar expansion and increase household penetration, per the announcement. Proper Good currently has 19 items across three categories in 2,500 Walmart stores nationwide. 

⏪ The company last raised $5 million from current and new investors, including YETI Capital, in 2023 to support retail growth and marketing. 

🗣️ What they said: “This support empowers us to bring an even wider variety of delicious, easy meals to Walmart shelves in 2025.” - Christopher Jane, co-founder and CEO of Proper Good

Nosh Insiders can learn more about the round and how capital will be deployed in the full story.

Not only did Good Culture reinvigorate the cottage cheese category by offering a new taste profile and simple ingredient deck, but the brand also intentionally seeded itself among influencers and creators to reach a younger demographic.

💪 That approach paid off, according to co-founder and CEO Jesse Merrill, who detailed the brand’s digital content strategy and viral success during a fireside chat at Nosh Live. 

🎥 Watch the full video for the scoop on Merrill’s journey from a former beverage marketer and first-time food entrepreneur to the so-called Big Cheese, plus his perspective on how to design and market a disruptive product.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released its proposal for required front-of-pack labels for most packaged food products, which will be known as the Nutrition Info Box.

• The proposal asks manufacturers to clearly identify saturated fat, sodium and added sugars contents per serving on front labels.
• Calorie information is not included in the requirements, however, producers are allowed to voluntarily include that information in the box. 
• The Nutrition Info Box is intended to complement information included in the required, back-of-pack Nutrition Facts label.

December’s online grocery sales climbed 18.7% year-over-year to $9.6 billion, according to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey, with all three fulfillment methods – delivery, pickup, and ship-to-home – posting gains.

👀 December marked the fifth straight month where online grocery sales were above $9.5 billion. 

🚚 The three fulfillment methods all reported similar shifts in sales performance between the first and second half of the year. Delivery grew from 4% in the first half to 25% in the second half, ship-to-home jumped from 5% to 20%, and pickup shifted from a 4% decline to an 8% gain. 

💭 “While subscriptions and memberships aren’t new, the deep discounts were new, and they resonated with customers by offering the opportunity for significant savings,” said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, in the report. 

The BBB National Program’s National Advertising Division (NAD) referred meal delivery platform Home Chef to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for noncompliance with an advertising claim. 

📺 The decision came after NAD conducted two compliance proceedings, in which the Home Chef agreed to modify or remove claims including “Don’t settle for HelloFresh” and “Home Chef provides better quality meals and superior service than HelloFresh.”

❌ However, Home Chef failed to discontinue the “#1 in Customer Satisfaction” and declined to make required changes.

👎 Thus, NAD has referred the matter to the FTC for review, potential enforcement action and will notify Home Chef platforms where noncompliant advertising has appeared.

One of PJ Monte’s early sales pitches startled a woman so much that she clutched her purse. A few weeks later, PJ’s tomato sauce was on the shelves of her husband’s influential grocery store. It’s one of dozens of stories that PJ, a streetwise, fedora-wearing entrepreneur, has about the development of his acclaimed sauce and pasta brand Monte’s Fine Foods. 

Listen to the episode now.