• 🤝 Salad Kit Deals and Growing Granola
• 🎧 Steve Aioki Mixes It Up At Cheddies
• 📝 Lamb Weston Investors Demand Change
• 💰 One Bio Nabs $27M 
• 🏈 Pop-Tarts Unveils Toaster Trophy

Scaling any startup is complex, but there’s an added level of complexity when the company requires a wide array of inputs and produces all of those ingredients themselves.

That is the situation that four-year-old, refrigerated snack pack brand Sunnie has been navigating over the past year as it worked to move beyond its shared commercial kitchen space and ramp up capacity via a web of co-manufacterers. 

However, co-founders Katy Tucker and Lissette Howard saw the complexity, cost and logistics of that network as a problem the brand could mitigate, and as it entered a significant period of growth, it had also worked to simplify and centralize that web by shifting all manufacturing to one facility in the Midwest. 

While centralized production helped reduce the company’s shipping and logistics costs, the co-founders said the shift led to a lower quality product that did not meet their standards. That experience ultimately pushed the emerging brand to retool its scale-up strategy with quality at the forefront and brought a shift back to a more complex co-manufacturing network. 

“We have taken this time to really reevaluate who can manufacture for us now [and] who could possibly manufacture for us later at the scale that we would need,” said Tucker, in response to a question about the potential for the company to self-manufacture again in the future. “I only say never say never, because who knows? We did it once, but there was a reason that we stopped doing it.”

Nosh Insiders can access the full story to learn how the brand navigated the shift, reversion and where it plans to look next for growth.

🏭 Agriculture and food processing company Richardson International Limited has announced the expansion of its South Sioux City, Neb., oat mill and processing plant. The project will more than double the site’s granola packaging capabilities. 

🥗 Taylor Farms, a North American producer of salads and fresh foods, has invested an undisclosed amount in Hessing, a Netherlands-based fruit and vegetable processor. In a statement, Taylor Farms CEO Bruce Taylor said the partnership will help both companies “accelerate the development of fresh food innovations and capitalize on new opportunities in Europe.” 

🍝 Platinum Equity has acquired a majority stake in pasta condiment and vegetable preserve maker F.lli Polli S.p.A. The Polli family retained a minority stake in the business together with CEO Marco Fraccaroli, who will continue to lead the company. 

🍅 “Value-added” salad kit producer Fresh Express has acquired McEntire Produce Inc., a fresh-cut processor, repacker, and wholesaler supplying the foodservice industry. According to the announcement, the companies’ shared goal is to reduce total food miles and carbon emissions while lowering route-to-market costs for McEntire products.

DJ and music producer Steve Aioki has joined Cheddies as chief snacking officer. In this role, he will collaborate with the brand on new product development, giveaways and other promotions.

🧀 Cheddies produces a line of cheesy crackers crafted with simple ingredients including organic cheese sourced from regenerative dairies. 

🗣️ "As a global touring musician, healthy snacks are essential to keeping me fueled on the road. When I discovered Cheddies, their savory taste and satisfying crunch had me hooked right away. That's why I'm excited to join the team as Chief Snacking Officer. Together we are going to remix snack culture through rich flavors and bold ideas,” Aioki said in a press release.

JANA Partners, which alongside strategic and operating partners owns more than 5% of frozen food company Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc., is calling for a “significant” board and leadership changes in the business.

👀 In a letter sent to the food company today, shareholders allege Lamb Weston’s board and management have wasted the chance to sustain and grow stakeholder value in a high-quality business. They claim that total returns in the past five years have trailed the S&P 500 and trailed in the bottom quartile. 

⛔ Shareholders outlined three key failures of Lamb Weston: significant financial and operating deficiencies, failed oversight of capital allocation, and questionable use and disclosure practices of aviation assets.  

💭 “The current board and management have overseen a multi-year period of uncorrelated failures across many major elements of operating the business, damaging the company’s reputation and leading market position. This has impaired performance and dissolved confidence among customers, investors, and stakeholders,” reads the letter. 

⏩ JANA Partners hopes that Lamb Weston will use its Q2 2025 earnings call on Dec. 19 to address the necessary board and leadership changes. However, if unwilling to make these changes, shareholders believe the company should explore a sale.

Sacramento, Calif.-based biotechnology company One Bio has secured a $27 million Series A funding round led by Alpha Edison with new investment from Leaps by Bayer, Mitsui E12, Morado, ReMY, DSM-Ferminich, and Better. The food tech company aims to be an ingredient provider of anti-inflammatory, short-chain fibers.

📋 One Bio has built a proprietary catalog of plant fiber compositions called a Glycopedia used to tailor different bioactive fibers for various health outcomes.

🧁 The company cites its fibers as an “offramp to reduce the population’s reliance on GLP-1s to treat chronic metabolic diseases” and reduce the use of sugar in food and beverage.

💬 "Modern food processing techniques strip plant fibers from our foods and starve the microbiome of the nutrients it needs to make us healthy. One Bio works to help us restore core functionality to our diet like blood glucose regulation and mood & energy balance," said One Bio co-founder and CEO Matt Barnard.

Over the weekend, Pop-Tarts and GE Appliances unveiled the first championship trophy in sports to include a working toaster. The one-of-a-kind prize, to be awarded to the winning team at the 2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28, builds on the brand’s bizarre activations at last year’s game, including an edible mascot that was promptly devoured by ravenous football players.