• 🏠 Basemakers Lays Broader Foundation
• 🥧 Rise Baking Company Snags Pie Maker
• 👨🏼‍⚖️ Motif Tallies A Win Over Impossible Foods
• 🌱 Vegan Food Bank Opens in Los Angeles
• 🐔 Tyson CFO In Alcohol-Related Trouble

Better-for-you has become the new normal among CPG innovations, according to a new report from market researcher SPINS. That has pushed disruptive brands to increasingly lean into sustainability and international flavors to expand category lines. But not all areas of the store have seen the same shakeups. Let’s take a look at all of the insights.

The report – titled CPG Disruption in 2024: Where Disruption Happened, What’s Next, and What’s Driving Change – outlines how segments including frozen desserts, soda, hot dogs/dinner sausages and candy have all seen a “better-for-you-ization” in recent years, but have yet to universally adopt “enhancing attributes” like sustainability and global flavor, leaving whitespace in the market. 

The report points to brands like Bachan’s and Immi as examples of globally-inspired category enhancers as well as Northwest Wild Fine Foods and Force of Nature sustainably sourced meat products. But in the aforementioned categories, a handful have already managed to tap into expansionary characteristics: take Better Sour’s globally inspired gummies or Impossible Foods’ alt-hot dogs as examples. 

What’s ripe for disruption? Functional juice (if it taps less sugar, embraces the inherent health halo), pickles (if it calls out its naturally probiotic positioning and works to “snack-ify” the category) and pantry staples (pasta has shown what can be done, these lessons could carry over into pancake and other baking mixes).

SPINS also emphasized that brands can disruptively innovate around four major sustainability pillars: mission-driven alignment, certifications, ingredients and packaging. 

• For mission driven innovation, the product should add value beyond its commoditized alternative – like Pitaya Foods’ frozen fruit sourced from its 800+ smallholder farming network. 
• High-impact certifications at the moment include Upcycled Certified and Regenerative Organic, the report noted.
• On the ingredient end, the report pointed to seaweed’s rise from supporting act to hero add-in and, looking ahead, the condiment furikake is gaining steam across multiple categories. Honey is experiencing similar stardom.
• As for packaging, brands can elevate recyclability with glass or Terracycle products, remove unnecessary wrappings, and adopt fiber-based or paper-based pack materials. Some have gone above and beyond with 100% compostable or fully recyclable vessels, the report notes. 

What’s next? A likely reinvention of the ingredients in beverages to include more sustainable fruit, seeds and perennial grains (think: Kernza) as well as significant growth in kid-positioned items. Globally positioned brands are also seeing a spike, “taking 82% of all growth in food and beverage categories over the past 52-weeks,” compared to their non-global counterparts.

While Mexican, general Hispanic and Italian brands are still leading the global set, Korean foods and Indian cuisine are gaining ground. Regionality is also coming to Hispanic foods, with Venezuelan and Uruguayan-positioned products growing nearly 78% and 30%, respectively, in the past 52 weeks.

As for whitespace: The frozen burrito and breakfast entree sets are strong candidates for globalized premiumization. Across categories, convenience cooking-aligned items (like single-serve meal cups and squeeze bottles) are sure to see a rise. 

Go Deeper: Learn what it means to be an Insurgent Brand.

CPG sales agency Basemakers has focused on supporting emerging brands’ retail execution since 2015. Now, the company is looking to build a full house of brand building services, starting with a new brokerage arm launching this summer.

🕺 Basemakers has grown to over 100 clients in 35 states, with 85 full time employees and plans to expand the team to over 100 by January 2025. The firm works with companies such as Olipop, Poppi and Guayaki, among others.

🛒  Building A Base In Brokerage. CEO Max Baumann said the expansion spawned from hearing partner brands’ frequent frustrations with the traditional broker models, and aims to provide a service that is more attentive and dedicated to individual clients.

🎤 Beyond brokering, Basemakers is also extending into content creation and is preparing to launch a podcast later this year. Eventually, Baumann hopes to add venture and in-house brand incubation wings.

Read the full story on Nosh.

Rise Baking Company has acquired Table Talk Pies, a Worcester, Mass.-based producer of snack-size and full-size dessert pies. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

🍪 Based in Minneapolis, Rise supplies premium cookies, icings, cakes, pies, muffins, brownies, dessert bars, artisan breads and flatbreads to retail bakeries, foodservice operators and distributors throughout North America. 

🏭 A portfolio company of private equity firm Olympus Partners, Rise now has 20 manufacturing facilities and 3,700 total employees across the U.S. and Canada with the addition of the pie maker.

A three-panel judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated over a dozen claims on Impossible Foods food tech patent for the use of heme in alternative proteins to affect taste and aroma. 

🏛️ Impossible’s claims were deemed invalid due to prior patents and applications that have been filed. The ruling gives Motif a big win in the long-running battle, which dates back to 2022 when Impossible sued Motif for patent infringement.

😶 Motif subsequently filed a petition for review with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over Impossible’s heme-based meat substitute ingredient patent. The petition was originally denied, but Motif refiled and the review board began an investigation last June. 

Go Deeper: What Impact Impossible’s “Infringing Burger” Lawsuit Could Have On Alt-Protein

The Vegans of Los Angeles Food Bank announced its opening this week with the aim to create food security and ensure Southern Californians have greater access to healthier food options. The food bank is expected to serve 25,000 people annually.

🍇 Every third Thursday, the food bank will serve in-season, local farm fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, grains and beans. It will also offer donated plant-based products from brands like Whoa Dough, Chobani, Just Egg and more. 

🛍️ These collaborations and donations will help each person “Build-A-Bag” of groceries to support their families. At times, there will also be hot food provided by Support + Feed. 

💭 "I believe that there should be free food resource centers in every zip code like there are fast-food restaurants and liquor stores. The Vegans of LA Food Bank is a solution to those who are experiencing the challenges of meeting their basic dietary needs,” said founder Gwenna Hunter in a statement.

Tyson Foods CFO (and heir to the chicken throne) John R. Tyson was arrested for driving under the influence last week in his second alcohol-related incident in Fayetteville, Ark. 

🍗 The 34-year-old executive has been suspended, and Curt Calaway, an 18-year veteran at Tyson who most recently served as treasurer and SVP of finance and corporate development, has been appointed interim CFO.

😱 The incident occurred early Thursday morning last week when he was pulled over for multiple traffic violations and proceeded to fail a sobriety test. He was released on a $1,105 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on July 15.

🤦🏻 Tyson is the great-grandson of the company founder and was arrested in November 2022 for a different public intoxication event when he was found passed out in a stranger’s apartment.

💭 On the company’s Q4 2022 earnings call, the former CFO said that he was “embarrassed” by his actions and was “committed to making sure this never happens again.”