• 🍓 Oishii Raises Additional $16M
• 👎 Lifeway Rejects Second Danone Offer
• ▶️ Holly Adrien Joins GoodPop
• 🥫 Campbell’s No Longer The Soup Co.
• 🥗 T. Marzetti Adds New Factory

Consumers are driving growth in the refrigerated bar space as they increasingly seek out fresh, better-for-you snacking options. Now, overnight oats brand MUSH is hoping to get in on the action with the debut of its refrigerated protein bars. 

Co-founder and CEO Ashley Thompson said the inspiration for the new line – which includes Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate Chip, and Maple Cinnamon varieties – stemmed from a conversation with a Whole Foods buyer just eight months ago. 

“A buyer who enjoys our [flagship] overnight oats asked if we could translate the product into bar form. I think had she not leaned into the project with us, we wouldn’t have had as much confidence in moving through the process so quickly,” said Thompson. 

Priced comparatively to the brand’s flagship product, MUSH’s refrigerated protein bars also boast a similar ingredient deck. However, the bars contain milk protein concentrate – a diversion from the brand’s previous use of only plant-based inputs. According to Thompson, the bars incorporate milk protein concentrate to achieve an “ideal” texture that’s “not soft and sticky but not hard either.”

Why refrigerated over shelf-stable? MUSH’s internal infrastructure was already set up for cold supply chain and, since the brand is focused on using fresh and clean ingredients, a cold product was necessary to preserve the items’ quality and shelf life. The new product launch follows MUSH’s rollout of kids pouches earlier this year in three varieties. 

How does the brand approach innovation? According to Thompson, MUSH’s entire portfolio has “very stringent guardrails” around which ingredients are used and which are left out, but it also prioritizes on-the-go occasions to generate trial in grab-and-go settings.

That approach has proven fruitful thus far, as 90% of consumers purchasing the protein bar and kids pouch products have never tried the brand’s core product. 

“We’re getting that amplification and reach with the brand, so now it’s [about] continuing to refine and hone in on our brand’s message and key promise. That will be our key to success in 2025 and beyond,” said Thompson.

Nosh Insiders can access the full story for more information on MUSH’s plans for the new product and the brand’s growth strategy.

Vertical farming startup Oishii announced it has tacked an additional $16 million to its previously announced Series B, bringing the total round to $150 million. 

💸 Climate tech fund Resilience Reserve, co-founded by the Head of TED Chris Anderson and entrepreneur Rob Reid and Japanese venture firm Miyako Capital joined the round right before closing, alongside a slate of existing investors.

🛒 The new cash will be used to fuel the premium strawberry grower’s expansion into new markets and fund additional R&D to help “further mainstream the practice of vertical farming.”

🗣️ “We’re excited to support the Oishii team, both for the deliciousness of their existing produce and even more importantly for the extraordinary model they’re pioneering, which enables agricultural innovation at breakneck pace,” said Chris Anderson, co-founder of Resilience Reserve.

⛔ The news comes on the heels of numerous closures and bankruptcies in the vertical farming space including the shuttering of Bowery Farms earlier this month.

Go Deeper: Oishii’s $134M Investment Round.

Lifeway Foods spent little time weighing a second acquisition offer from Danone North America, and the answer is still “no.” The kefir producer officially rejected Danone’s proposal this morning, which included acquiring all remaining Lifeway shares for $27 per share – around $307 million total. The rejection came just five days after the French conglomerate upped its offer on Friday.

⏪ Danone is a minority stakeholder (23.4%) in Lifeway and initially moved to acquire the company outright in late September at a price of $25 per share, around $283 million. After more than a month of consideration, Lifeway’s board of directors rejected that pitch on November 5 and adopted a “poison pill” shareholders’ rights plan as a precaution against any hostile takeover attempt. 

⛔ Lifeway said it has rejected the second proposal after “careful and thorough consideration, conducted in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors,” believing Danone’s higher pitch still “substantially undervalues Lifeway.”

📈 It would appear that Danone is looking to strike while it’s hot: Lifeway has reported 20 quarters of consecutive growth, with total shareholder returns of 788% in the past five years.

⚔️ While Lifeway’s leadership is bullish that it can continue to drive high growth, shareholders Edward and Ludmila Smolyansky – respectively the brother and mother of CEO Julie Smolyansky – are unlikely to be happy with this latest news. Two years into a public family feud in which they sought to oust Julie from her role, the pair have been highly supportive of Danone’s motion to buy the business.

Following her nearly two-decade career with The Kroger Company, Holly Adrien is joining frozen dessert brand GoodPop as its first director of engagement and advocacy. For the past four years, Adrien served as natural and organic strategy and innovation manager at Kroger.

✊ At GoodPop, she will lead advocacy efforts focused on labeling transparency and improving consumer access to healthier foods. Her responsibilities will include collaborating with industry partners to create a coalition dedicated to elevating the standards for front-of-pack labeling regulations.

💬 “It is an honor to join the GoodPop team in their mission to do good. I’m thrilled to lead engagement and advocacy and leverage my background working with brands to better incorporate consumer insights and help build a stronger, more accessible natural food industry,” she said in a statement.

Campbell’s shareholders voted unanimously to drop its hero category callout from the corporation’s official name this week. The name change was first announced in September. 

🍝 Now simply known as The Campbell’s Company, the name is meant to reflect the company’s broader portfolio including Goldfish crackers and Rao’s pasta sauce.

❣️ “We love soup and always will,” stated president and CEO Mark Clouse, while emphasizing that the brand’s iconic soup labels will be on shelves forever.

Lancaster Colony Corporation, which owns dressings and dips brand T. Marzetti Company, announced plans to acquire a sauce and dressing facility in Atlanta, Ga., from Winland Foods this week. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2025.

🏭The company purchased the facility for $75 million, which includes about 300,000 sq. ft. of production space with approximately 250,000 sq. ft. designated for manufacturing. Current plant employees will join the Marzetti team.

💬 “This facility will benefit our core sauce and dressing operations through improved operational efficiency, incremental capacity, and closer proximity to certain core customers while enhancing our manufacturing network from a business continuity standpoint,” said Lancaster Colony CEO David Ciesinski.

🍞 Lancaster Colony services both retail and foodservice accounts with brands including New York Bakery garlic breads, Sister Schubert’s dinner rolls and growing lineup of licensing deals including Olive Garden dressings, Chick-fil-A sauces and dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, Arby’s sauces, Subway sauces and Texas Roadhouse steak sauces and dinner rolls.