|
|
🚨NOSH INSIDER WEEKLY: Factor's GLP-1 Refresh, Invest-o-Rama, Bagged Milk Jacket & More |
This week, we're nominating ourselves for the Nosh Best Of Awards, uncovering how one VC identifies emerging brands to back, and putting our life savings into a pepperoni insurance scheme. But, more on all that below.
Texas governor Greg Abbott has signed an executive order creating a legal framework for hemp. What does it mean for CPG brands? Legal Eagles Brad and Lukas have the rolled-up skinny here.
Alright! On with the Sunday newsletter.
FIRST UP! The IT factor - meal maestro goes out with the old and in with the new - but is a No BS Officer what the doctor ordered? |
|
|
🤌 Factor Ushers in High Protein and GLP-1 Meals |
Ready-to-eat meal deivery biz Factor has undegone its largest menu overhaul to date as it welcomes in an era of high protein, GLP-1 friendly offerings writes Factor Falcon Adrianne DeLuca. | |
|
|
On top of over 100 new meals the HelloFresh-owned D2C dah-ling has also appointed influencer and cookbook author Kylie Sakaida to the position of No BS (Bad Science) Officer (I applied but never heard back). All of the new meals are hitting the 2025 bingo card - gluten-free, free from refined sugar and featuring 'premium proteins', so probably no mystery meat hot dogs. With rival Blue Apon having recently undergone a not dissimilar evolution, it's a sure sign that D2C meal businesses may be down but certainly not out. Open the corner and heat on high for 3 mins over at Nosh.com. 🥡 Key Takeaway: Recruiting a culinary influencer to lead the brand is a clever move - a survey carried out by Factor revealed that nearly a third of respondents find 'what I eat in a day' videos help them to eat healthier. Going straight to the source will surely help connect Factor to a viral video-centric audience. | |
|
|
🏆 Nosh Best Of Award Nominations Now Open |
| Nominations are now open for Nosh's annual Best Of awards, honoring the companies, brands individuals, products, ideas and trends across the exciting landscape that is the PG industry.
Categories include Best New Product, Favorite Sunday Newsletter Editor, and others that you could also nominate me for.
| |
|
|
| AND: the fun doesn't end there: nominations are also now open for the Nosh Live 2025 Pitch Slam - think of it like a 90s rage cage WWE match except everyone is throwing packs of ramen at each other.
Are you an emerging packaged food brand looking to share your story in front of an audience of industry leaders? Nosh is giving six brands just that opportunity.
Past participants include Partake Foods, Sunnie and Olyra, who all seemed to have done pretty well.
|
|
|
🗣 Nombase: How Santatera Backs Flavors and Margins |
How do early-stage VC funds decide what brand to back? For Santatera it's all about flavor, margin, and distro - qualities it uncovered in the recently invested-in Sunnie.
This week's Nombase Podcast sees Redwood Group and Santatera Capital Managing Partner Alejandro González discuss how the fund identifies brands, and why the fund supports founders with expertise such as research and recruiting guidance.
Hosted by BevNET & Nosh Director of Community Melissa Traverse, the Nombase Podcast is like a warm CPG hug direct to your brain.
| |
|
|
🔊 CPG Week Podcast: Invest-o-Rama with Bloom Nutrition, Tost and Magic Mind |
On this week's CPG Week podcast Nosh managing editor Monica Watrous and senior reporter Lukas Southard cover all the big recent investments - including Nutrabolt's majority stake in Bloom Nutrition and N/A early riser Tost's $1M bridge funding. Later, Monica explains how Factor and Blue Apron have reoriented themselves for the 2025 consumer, before Lukas big ups Magic Mind's $16M Series A. The duo round things off with a crisp can of Liquid Death.
Spin this week's podcast here. | |
|
|
🍓 Juicy Quote |
| "It was a little bit more transactional a couple of years ago, whereas now we have identified that run clubs have become a lot more mainstream"
This week's full marathon comes courtesy of Olympic Gold Medalist Lukas Southard who chased down brands targeting running clubs as way to embed themselves into a growing subculture. | |
|
|
Rather than targeting individuals, brands such as That's it. are interfacing with the clubs and groups that organise the regular events on a local level.
While dropping a few million on big ticket items is a realistic goal for conglomerates, for regional and startup brands the relatively low risk/cost of sponsoring a local marathon or getting involved with a local club can help create a groundswell. And for participants, seeing a brand go that extra mile to connect can have a meaningful impact.
But if 50 runners try your product, how can you convert that into paying customers?
What are your thoughts, Sunday readers? How can brands meaningfully connect with a target audience by way of club and event sponsorships? If it's a long-term play, what can the expected payoff be? Click here to send in your comments. | |
|
|
🥑 Quick Bites |
Seeing what's filling up the big rigs this moth.
Energy drinks (+10.3% in sales YOY) and chocolate (+5.7% during the last 3 months) bucked an overall downwards trend writes Convenience King Lukas Southard. |
|
|
📰 Jobs Market |
|
|
💰 Calbee Snaps Up Majority Stake in Hodo |
Japanese multinational Calbee has gobbled up a 58% stake in CA-based tofu torch bearer Hodo writes Fermented Soybeans Editor Shauna Golden.
The move is part of Calbee's Challenge 2025 initiative which sees the company target overseas expansion as a key pillar of growth.
For Hodo it marks the next step following a 2020 Series B investment and subsequent partnering with chains such as Chipotle, as well as Michelin-starred restaurants.
The move comes as the not-meat sector is seemingly regurgitating once star brands such as Beyond and Impossible in favor of cleaner ingredient alternatives. Hodo packs many of the essentials for the better-for-you movement including high protein content, minimal processing and plant-based.
🥡 Key Takeaway: Calbee is betting big on the US market - thanks in part to a recently opened R&D hub in Madera, CA. With ambitions to grow Calbee North America by double-digits annually by way of innovative R&D and authentic Asian flavors, the company is on the up. | |
|
|
👀 ICYMI 👀 |
| Over in the 'what the hell am I looking at' aisle big milk has brought Canadian bagged milk to the basketball court by way of Seattle star Skylar Diggins and her multi-bagged milk puffer jacket... thing.
Clearly designed by people who don't have cats, the bags jacket (of unknown volume) touts 422 grams of protein, because that's all anyone cares about anymore.
Best yet - the organization responsible, The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), is looking for a museum interested in housing the jacket. Yes, really, and I'm emailing them now. | | | Eh?! |
|
|
| AND FINALLY: it's like life insurance except I might actually get something out of it: Hormel is giving away free packs of pepperoni as part of its Pepperoni Insurance activation.
Ever order pizza and had your toppings snatched by some greedy fingers? No? Well don't ruin the fun because Hormel is saving the day by giving away 10,000 packs of pep. To round things off, you can pick up a 'pepperoni thief' t-shirt from the merch store - a bold move given it's porcelain white. | |
|
|
| If you'll excuse me, Shipley Donuts has colored me intrigued with this cold brew donut - a caffeinated feast for the senses. Until next week, your host, |
|
