• 🤝 Hain Celestial Sells Thinsters
  
• 💲 Plant-Based Chicken Co. Lands $3.5M
• 👻 Ghost Haunts the Breakfast Table
• 🪱 Rotten Unveils 2.0 Formulation 
• 🔐 Voyage Locks In Cargill B2B Partner
• ⛔ SF Floats Policy To Curb Grocery Closures

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Laird Superfood’s business prospects one year ago seemed a little grim. As of today, the plant-based food and supplement brand’s future is a tad brighter, but it has been a slow path to recovery.

Highlighted by shifting to a co-manufacturing production model, executing a significant reduction in marketing spending, and bringing a renewed focus on its ecommerce and direct-to-consumer business, in its most recent earnings report on March 12, the company happily announced a 40% gross margin, a 21-percentage-point swing from the same period a year ago. 

For the first time in Laird’s history as a public company, the business achieved profitability and positive cash flow. That allowed leadership to remove the “growing concern disclosure” from its financials and generate estimates that it has enough cash to “fund operations through 2026.”

How did the turnaround come about? For starters, Laird’s decision to close its Sisters, Ore., production facility in late 2022 allowed the company to eventually reduce its cost of goods sold from $30.6 million in FY 2022 to $23.9 million in FY 2023.

Additionally, the coffee creamer and adaptogenic supplement maker has adopted a new ecommerce strategy by putting resources towards turning one-time customers into subscribers, effectively reducing the amount of capital burned for digital advertising.

It's not all ecommerce sales either; the brand has begun prioritizing its wholesale retail business adding SKUs at key natural channel partners, like Sprouts Farmers Market and Whole Foods, while also building out more of a presence in conventional chains like Harris Teeter, H-E-B, Publix and Target.

But it hasn’t all been easy surfing to better waves. Laird Superfood has written down the value of the Picky Bars business it purchased in May 2021 and endured a “quality event” (rancid coconut milk powder from a supplier) that forced Laird to pull all inventory from Amazon and set back its ecommerce business by months.

Get all the insight on Laird’s positive turnaround in the full story on Nosh.

The Hain Celestial Group has sold cookie brand Thinsters to Icee and Dippin’ Dots owner J&J Snack Foods in an all-cash transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

👀 The sale, which closed Monday, aligns with Hain’s multi-year transformation plan aimed at refocusing its brand portfolio across five growth categories: snacks, baby and kids’ food, beverages, meal preparation and personal care. 

⏪ Hain acquired Thinsters in 2021 as part of a $259 million deal with That’s How We Roll. The transaction also included oven-baked cheese snack brand ParmCrisps.

💭 “Divesting Thinsters further streamlines our supply chain network and strengthens our ability to focus our efforts on driving greater reach and scale of our core better-for-you brands across our categories of focus,” said Wendy Davidson, Hain Celestial president and CEO, in a statement. 

Read up on all the transaction details in the full story on Nosh. 

Making the jump from the U.K. market into the U.S. is not always easy, but Shicken just got a financial vote of confidence in the form of a $5.3 million investment from Veg Capital. The new capital brings the plant-based food company’s total investment to $7.9 million.

🍛 Shicken makes plant-based, refrigerated South Asian meals like Tikka Masala, Jalfrezi, Butter Curries and Tikka Kebab Skewers; the dishes use a soya-, wheat- and pea protein-based chicken-alternative.

🛒 Founded in 2020, the family-owned and -operated brand has quickly scaled distribution in its home market while also expanding into Iceland, Sweden, France and the U.S., where Shicken is sold at Sprouts Farmers Market stores.

🍽️ U.K.-based investment group Veg Capital has previously invested in bee-free honey company MeliBio, plant-based chicken and bacon maker This, and Hooked vegan seafood, among others.

In more deal news: European-owned Vandemoortele announced it will acquire a majority stake in New Jersey-based frozen croissants, Danishes and pastries maker Banneton. Founders Victor and Alex Litinetsky remain invested and will continue to lead Banneton after the deal closes. 

Last week, news broke that energy drink maker Ghost Lifestyle had partnered with General Mills for the launch of a new Ghost branded protein cereal. For CEO and self-described “cereal aficionado” Daniel Lourenco, the partnership was an easy move.

🥣 The new cereals come in Peanut Butter and Marshmallow varieties with 17-18 grams of protein each, retailing for $9.99. Lourenco said the brand aims to provide a nostalgic, better-for-you experience for adult consumers, with flavorful alternatives to products like Special K while competing with startup brands like Three Wishes and Magic Spoon.

💪🏼 Ghost has always aligned itself with the cereal occasion – it sells a variety of “Cereal Milk” flavors for its whey protein supplements line. Lourenco said an actual cereal was a natural next step for the business.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The partnership with General Mills provides more opportunities for the brand to grow its food platform, including additional cereal launches and other categories. Lourenco also hopes to license some General Mills cereal flavors for its sports nutrition products.

Read the full story on Nosh.

Low-sugar gummy worm brand Rotten announced this week it has reformulated its 2-SKU candy line to more closely replicate the “classic gummy worm texture” and improved the product’s flavors and colors.

🍒 The new formulation uses a greater amount of gelatin; it also swapped out its Mango flavored worms in favor of adding two new varieties to the mix – Cherry and Lime.

🛒 Rotten gummy worms are available in Original and Sour varieties and sold for $4.49 at retailers including Foxtrot.

🆕 Founder and CEO Michael Fisher said in a LinkedIn post that alongside the new recipe rollout, the brand will also announce a packaging refresh, new retail partners and updated marketing plans in the coming weeks. 

Allergen-friendly food tech company Voyage announced it has secured Cargill as a B2B partner to help scale up the business and get its nut- and dairy-free spreads into a range of new food categories including ice cream, sweet bakery and chocolate confectionery.

🥜 Voyage currently makes a range of allergen-friendly products including a Peanut-free spread (i.e. peanut butter sans the peanuts), Hazelnut-free spread (think Nutella minus nuts) and a Cocoa-free confectionery ingredient (a.k.a. chocolate with no cocoa). 

🍫 Cargill will serve as the exclusive B2B global distributor for Voyage; the cocoa-free products will first be available in Europe with other regions to follow. 

San Francisco city supervisors Dean Preston and Aaron Peskin proposed a new regulation this week that would allow its constituents to sue grocers who abruptly close up shop. According to CNN, about 40 retail stores have closed in SF’s downtown district since the pandemic. 

📝 Under the proposed ordinance, consumers would be able to sue grocers for damages and potentially remediation if they shut down a store without giving the public at least six months notice; the policy makes exceptions for circumstances like the impact of natural disasters. 

⏪ Rewind: Whole Foods closed its year-old downtown SF location last April, citing a need to protect the safety of its team members after strings of theft and crime at the store.