It’s June in New York City, so besides epic humidity, that means thousands of CPG brands, retailers, suppliers and investors have headed to the Javits Center for the Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show, going on from Sunday through Tuesday. Here are a few updates from the show floor. 

• Alt-cheese brand Armored Fresh is rolling out a new line of oat-based cheese products for the foodservice channel. The brand’s flagship line of slices and cubes are crafted with almonds, but food service providers told the company that they wanted an allergen-free cheese alternative. How do other alt-cheese producers respond -- let’s see. 
• B.T.R Nation’s CEO, founder and chief snack officer Ashley Marie told NOSH the snack brand has raised $600,000 in capital. In tandem with this raise, B.T.R.’s Republic equity-funding campaign brought in over $100,000. According to its Republic pitch, BTR is on track to hit over $2M in sales this year. B.T.R., which last year expanded from its line of zero-sugar, functional protein bars into chocolate truffles, also recently launched its newest bar flavor: Strawberry Shortcake. Making the jump from bars to confections seems like a popular play this year: bar maker Core Foods launched its own chocolate truffle product at Expo West. 
• Bravado Spice (which you may know from online sensation Hot Ones) showed off their rebrand, which rolled out late last year. Formerly sporting all black packaging across its line, the brand now has three colorways to segment out the different lines of business: black for extra hot offerings, a snazzy white and gold for premium options, and brightly colored for its retail-focused line of hot sauces. What’s stayed the same: A focus on culinary flavors, with its newest offering a blend of passion fruit, manuka honey (does that mean it has functional benefits!) and ghost peppers. 

Stay Tuned for more coverage of the Summer Fancy Foods show this week.

The world’s largest plant-based smokehouse operator Barvecue (so it claims -- are there others? Shoot us a line) added a new certification to its belt this past week after securing B-Corp status.

• The North Carolina-based food company also refreshed its packaging and will add a new SKU – Naked Shredded Chicken – to its retail lineup following the announcement.
• According to the faux meat smoker, which also makes Pulled BVQ and Carnitas, its newest SKU is a top performer in foodservice and those results drove its retail debut.
• The products are sold in over 1,000 grocery stores – including Sprouts – and the retail pack will now feature callouts like “Authentically Wood Smoked," "Crafted from Plants," and "Batch Made in North Carolina."

Siete Foods has more than quadrupled the total sum of its charitable grant program – the Juntos Fund – and increased the total number of recipients as it enters its third year.

• The Mexican-inspired better-for-you food company will distribute $200,000 to thirteen majority Latina-owned food trucks, bakeries, and eateries with “recipient Uno” pocketing $50,000, “dos” with $30,000 and “tres” taking home $20,000.
• The rest of the fund will be divided up to 10 more recipients with no single business receiving less than $10k. Applications are now open here.
• This is a record year for the Juntos fund, which distributed a total of $40,000 to three grantees last year.

Austin, Texas-based frozen treat maker GoodPop has been named the official summer treat of Major League Soccer Club Austin FC.

• To kick off the partnership, Austin-based GoodPop gave away one of its newest flavors, Mint n’ Fudge Chip, from its retro-style truck at H-E-B Plaza on June 21.
• The brand’s products will soon be available for purchase at select locations inside Q2 stadium. Additionally, GoodPop and Austin FC will join forces to create a community activation later this year, with more activities to be announced at a future date.
• The news comes on the heels of GoodPop’s expansion into Walmart stores in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Southeast and Southwest regions in April.

As further proof that pickles are one of the hottest ingredients in the CPG world at the moment (even if there isn’t a pickle emoji), this past week saw several brands thinking outside the jar with new product launches. After soft launching a pickle-inspired flavor at Expo West, nut brand Daily Crunch has announced the official debut of Dill Pickle Sprouted Almonds + Pepitas made in collaboration with fermented foods brand Cleveland Kitchen (a new ingredient partner for the brand). Additionally, Beehive Creamery announced plans to debut its latest innovation, Pickle Curds, exclusively at Trader Joe’s this summer. What do we think of pickle poutine -- no? Yes?

Check out the full gallery here.

Some of the world’s largest food companies have been quick to set sustainability goals aimed at 2030 – or worse, 2050 – but are slower in taking much-needed action. Startups are driving innovation, but the pressure to scale still creates a tension. Barnana founder and chairman Caue Suplicy shares three ways we can all begin to help bridge the gap in this installment of NOSH Voices.

Read the full story on NOSH

On this week’s show, the team airs grievances about the lack of natural product emojis, runs down some ice cream deals and discusses the impact of pouched products on Stonyfield’s business. Later, Carol and Jeff rehash key takeaways from BevNET Live including how investors are assessing growth and how brands can use their online identity to generate insights.

Listen to this week's episode here.