• 📈 Kraft Heinz Reports Q2 Earnings
• 🥟 MìLà Sued By Early Backer
• 🧑‍🌾 Kroger Puts Local Produce Into Private Label
• 🍔 Impossible Foods' Pending E.U. Invasion
• 🎙️ Now Streaming: CPG Week

The founder of a media company-turned-natural products investor. A lending expert. A personal trainer reforming gas station nutrition. A couple of venture capital investors, several repeat entrepreneurs, and an intrepid, conscious community leader. 

What brings this diverse slate of industry players together? They’re just a few of the names in this year’s Nosh Notables Class of 2024.

We debuted this distinction last year to celebrate the influential individuals within the dynamic, interconnected food business ecosystem. To offer a salute to the thought leader, the hard worker, the positive force. 

This year, we asked our readers and Insiders to help run the spotlight. And you delivered, nominating dozens of movers and shakers, a number of whom weren’t on our radar. 

These honors represent both recent headline grabbers as well as lifetime achievements. And of course, it’s not a complete list. In fact, if you’re reading this, you are likely an important part of the industry, and we are so grateful for your contributions. 

So, without further ado, dig in and learn more about the 24 in ‘24. The 24 (well, technically 25) folks who comprise the Nosh Notables Class of 2024. In true yearbook fashion, we’ve designated senior superlatives to each of our honorees – from “Most Popular” to “Most Likely to Succeed… Again?” – and sprinkled in a few notes from their peers highlighting what makes them so special.

Peruse the full list of Nosh Notables to see who made the grade.

Kraft Heinz reported lower-than-anticipated results during the second quarter as net sales, operating income and earnings per share all marked declines. Carlos Abrams-Rivera, CEO, attributed the results to “cautious” consumer sentiments at the grocery store. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

• Net sales dropped 3.6% to $6.5 billion; organic net sales decreased 2.4%
• Gross profit margin gained 180 basis points to hit 35.4% while adjusted gross profit margin added 210 basis points to 35.5%
• Operating income declined 62.1%
• Diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.08, down 90.1%, while adjusted EPS dropped 1.3% to $0.78.
• The company also adjusted its full-year outlook, now expecting net sales to be between -2% to flat versus the previous flat to +2% range. 

For the second half of the year, the company said it is focusing on “innovation and renovation” across its North American Retail segment, coupled with increased marketing investment.

“In Away From Home and Emerging Markets, we expect to increase distribution through our go-to-market strategy and global activations. Finally, understanding that the consumer is looking for value, we will selectively increase investments in promotions,” Abrams-Rivera said. 

Nosh Insiders can check out the full recap for a complete understanding of Kraft's challenges and the strategy it is hoping will right the ship.

The latest episode of Elevator Talk features leaders from Globowl, Cien Chiles, Lottie’s Meats, Darë Vegan Cheese and Laoban.

Watch founders and CEOs introduce their brands and provide a recap of recent news and updates. This week’s special co-host is Brandon Partridge, a principal with 202 Consumer Ventures, who shared his thoughts, questions and feedback with the participants. He is joined by Ray Latif, the Editor and Producer of the Taste Radio podcast. Apply for future editions of Elevator Talk.

Watch the full episode now.

Frozen Chinese soup dumpling brand MìLà (formerly Xiao Chi Jie, or XCJ) is embroiled in a legal battle with an early investor who claims founders Caleb Wang and Jennifer Liao acted in bad faith, according to a case filed this week in the Washington State Court of Appeals Division I.

💰 Per the complaint, Li “David” Yi invested $70,000 into the company’s friends and family round back in 2017, when it was operating as a restaurant in Bellevue, Wash. 

🔀 During the pandemic, the company shifted its focus from in-person dining to a direct-to-consumer frozen dumpling business. The brief states Wang and Liao excluded XCJ’s original investors from its newfound profitability following that pivot.

👎 When Yi sued XCJ last year, the trial court granted the company’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing. The appeal argues “the trial court erred by disregarding well-pled facts demonstrating the company’s bad faith in rejecting demand.”

The Kroger Company unveiled its new Field & Vine store brand this week that will bring lines of fresh produce grown by U.S. farmers in California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington to its stores. 

🚚 Field & Vine will be housed under Kroger’s private label Our Brands platform. The seasonal products will be locally sourced to reduce transit time.

🫐 Current products include blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries that are “picked, packed and delivered in stores during peak seasonality.”

📈 The private label sector is growing fast. According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association, store brands saw unit market share increase nearly 23% and dollar share rise 20.4% over the past year, per Circana data as of June 16.

Catch Up Quick: Kroger: Q1 Sales Top Estimates, Digital Sales Growing

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has provisionally ruled that Impossible Foods’ genetically modified soy leghemoglobin additive does not raise safety concerns. The decision comes about five years after Impossible Foods first submitted for regulatory approval to sell its plant-based burgers in the European Union (EU).

📝 The EFSA asked Impossible Foods in December 2021 for more information about its GMO product. Impossible has already entered the European market in the U.K. with its heme-less plant-based chicken nuggets and sausages.

🧬 Through the EFSA, the E.U. has historically banned all GMO food products, providing a tough barrier to entry for Impossible’s “heme” ingredient derived from yeast genetically engineered with the gene for soy leghemoglobin.

What is Notable about the CPG Week podcast this week? Well, for starters, Nosh managing editor Monica Watrous and senior reporters Brad Avery and Lukas Southard share their own Nosh Notables honorable mentions, including a nod to Omsom, Netflix’s Unfrosted and one iconic hot honey maker. 

💰 The team then dives into some news from the week including a rundown of Oats Overnight’s recent Series B funding.

💊 Later in the show, the podcast hosts discuss the Brightfield Group’s exclusive BevNET/Nosh Q2 Report: The GLP-1/Ozempic Craze and reflect on food brands’ marketing strategies around the growing demand for weight loss solutions related to GLP-1 drugs.

Listen to the full episode on Nosh.

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