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The just-completed Winter Fancy Food Show ran Sunday-Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center with numerous new products on display that tapped into consumer demand for culinary convenience, ranging from premium frozen items and chef-crafted pantry staples. Exhibitors also showed off new brand identities, a variety of improved plant-based formulations, and more. 

🍝 Elevated Convenience spanned product types from instant chutney mixes from Chutnefy to frozen plant-based Mozza Fritto by Sunday Supper. For the latter brand, the mozzarella-like sticks mark its first expansion beyond meals and into snacks and appetizers. They believe this product type can also help generate trial beyond plant-based consumers.

🎂 And for dessert, Gateaux developed a line of Take & Bake Frozen Cakes with a French-trained chef that come in four varieties. They are packaged with a garnish, packed and ready to bake in an oven-safe paper pan.

🍪 Elsewhere on the floor, snack brands Woah Dough and Krack’d Snacks (formerly Keto Krack’d) showed off new looks – and for the latter, a new brand identity – with food photography front and center. Outside of snacks, century-old Sabatino Tartufi has introduced a new logo and dropped “Tartufi” from its name as it looks to go deeper into U.S. grocery, beginning with a new marinara sauce line this spring. 

🧀 It wouldn’t be a proper Fancy Food show without plenty of cheese and meats, but this year, plant-based charcuterie boards were set for an upgrade. Prime Roots partnered with legacy brand Three Little Pigs Charcuterie to utilize a traditional process that improves the creaminess of its now co-branded, koji-based Foie Gras. Schuman Cheese’s plant-based subsidiary Vevan also elevated its formulation, swapping oils and starches for pea protein and introducing fermentation to the production process.  

For even more Fancy Food Show news, read our full reporter’s notebook on Nosh. 

🍪 Craveworthy Brands – the parent company of several casual and fast-casual dining brands – has acquired a “significant stake” in gourmet cookie brand Dirty Dough following the end of the Utah Cookie Wars. The deal makes Dirty Dough Craveworthy’s first snack brand. 

• Craveworthy’s founder and CEO Gregg Majewski has been appointed CEO of Dirty Dough to strengthen its mobile franchise fleet and expand its brick-and-mortar footprint.

🥛 Boston-based private equity firm New Heritage Capital has sold its investment in food ingredient company Revela Foods to ADM as the global food company expand its dairy flavor ingredient solutions. Revela was created in 2016 via the merger of Welcome Dairy and Gamay Food Ingredients.

🧑‍🍳 Saco Foods, LLC has expanded its portfolio – which includes Dolci Frutta, California Sun Dry and Saco Pantry – with the acquisition of specialty baking ingredient brand Solo Foods, LLC from custom food ingredient manufacturer Sokol & Company. The news comes just days after Saco itself was acquired by Fengate Private Equity. 

Frozen yogurt startup Sweetkiwi has inked a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal, valued at $1.4 million, with rising basketball star Mercy Miller. 

🍨 Miller, a 4-star shooting guard at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California and son of hip-hop artist (and former baller) Master P, was brought on to help inspire young athletes to enjoy healthier dessert options.

💭 “Our alliance with Mercy Miller is a pivotal move to influence the younger generation. His widespread appeal will enable us to extend our reach and promote a healthy, active lifestyle,” said Michael Akindele, director of growth and partnerships. 

⏪ Founded in 2011, Sweetkiwi’s products are currently available in over 2,000 stores nationwide including Whole Foods Market and Walmart. 

The FDA announced yesterday it has found “no indication” that the lead contamination issue of WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis-branded Apple Cinnamon Puree pouches extends beyond the current recall. However, the recall was recently expanded beyond lead contamination after heightened levels of chromium were also detected in the products. 

📋 As of January 22, the FDA has received 90 confirmed complaints or reports of health issues potentially linked to the recalled products.

❌ The issue was first detected in October after health officials in North Carolina noticed numerous children with elevated blood-lead levels during routine screenings and traced the source to WanaBana products. The recall was quickly expanded to the two store brand lines, produced by the same Ecuadorian manufacturer. 

👨🏼‍⚖️ WanaBana is currently being sued over the issue on behalf of a one-year old who has suffered from GI issues and “serious developmental indications” after consuming the product. 

NotCo is going directly for its conventional competition’s throats with a new ad campaign called “Not So Happy Animals” that challenges the narrative that animal-based foods come from happy creatures.

🐔 As part of the marketing ploy, the Chilean plant-based brand launched a website where users can scan logos with animals and, using AR, the animal will be brought to life revealing a message about the animal in song form.

😝 "If we really want to change the conversation, we need to be bold. We are using this simple yet powerful insight: 'why do logos of [brands with] happy animals actually sell dead animals?’ and start a proactive dialogue around the source of our food,” NotCo CEO and co-founder Matias Muchnick said in a statement.

🥣 In the past, NotCo has used partnerships to gain more of a foothold among conventional consumers, including through a joint venture and co-branded product launches with Kraft Heinz.