• ⏪ Nosh Live: Navigating Booms and Busts
• 🥯 BetterBrand Provides Business Update
• 🥕 Instacart Brings Carrot Ads to Foodservice
• 🫖 TreeHouse Closes Harris Tea Acquisition
• 3️⃣ Day-Lee Foods Acquisition Trio

The overlap in the Venn diagram between California food policy and the incoming Trump administration might seem sparse upon first glance, but a recent executive order out of the Golden State shows some alignment around regulation of processed foods.

On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued his first executive order of the new year, instructing state agencies to provide recommendations to “limit the harms of ‘ultra-processed foods’ and food ingredients that pose a health risk.” 

• The directive calls for an investigation of adverse health impacts of synthetic food dyes and to explore ways to improve access to “fresh, healthy foods” as part of school meals and in state hospitals.

The move aligns with campaign rhetoric and the food policy views of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

• RFK Jr. has been an outspoken critic of processed foods and U.S. food policy, coining the phrase “Make America Healthy Again” when he dropped his own presidential bid and aligned with Trump.

California’s order also follows on similar initiatives spearheaded by Newsom over the course of his governorship including…

• The California Food Safety Act (passed in October 2023) which effectively banned common food additives like red dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and propylparaben.
• A ban on six additional food dyes from food sold on public school campuses in September 2024. 
• That most recent law also updated regulations on fat and sodium content of school meal food products.

Newsom’s campaign against “ultra-processed foods” is aimed at improving accessibility of nutritious food to California schoolchildren and residents. While a handful of government organizations have published reports on the “negative health outcomes” of consuming the loosely-defined category, it lacks any formal categorization, which makes the implementation of restrictions even more challenging.

• In California, Newsom called out “packaged snacks, chips, crackers, cookies, candy, sugary beverages and highly processed meats like hot dogs and lunch meat” as the most common products of concern. 

Nosh Insiders can access the full report to learn more about the executive order.

By examining previous boom and bust periods, entrepreneurs can gain a clearer understanding of what to expect and how to build a durable, sustainable business for the long term.

⛈️ Rodney Clark, co-founder and managing partner at Aspect Consumer Partners, crunched heaps of data to offer insights on how food and beverage brands can operate best even during the worst conditions.

🎥 Watch his full presentation at Nosh Live to draw lessons from the past quarter-century of financing cycles and glean key takeaways to adequately prepare for the inevitable downturn.

New year, new plan. Controversial low-carb bagel producer BetterBrand kicked off the new year with a Q&A session for consumers that laid out its distribution plans moving forward and clarified some concerns about its ambient shipping process.

🛒 The brand’s Classic will be back on shelf at Sprouts stores in Florida later this month; it will also make its Cinnamon bagels available at the retailer later this year. It expects to have the Classic flavor stocked at Target stores in California and Florida in the second half of the year. 

💻 The post also claims that the brand’s online community has doubled in the past few months while emphasizing that it will continue to focus efforts on the ecommerce channel where it has decreased shipping and processing times. 

🧊 According to the brand its products will always be shipped at ambient temperatures and should be refrigerated or frozen upon receipt. The post also teased the potential return of its Pretzel variety next week. 

B2B ecommerce ordering platform Cut+Dry is working to connect distributors and other foodservice providers with potential customers via a new partnership with Instacart, implementing the delivery service’s Carrot Ads platform to give foodservice companies “direct access” to CPG brands advertising on the platform.

🤝 Carrot Ads works with nearly 220 retail partners and aims to “optimize the placements” for ads on ecommerce sites, using AI algorithms to develop personalized advertisements. This new partnership with Cut+Dry marks an expansion for the platform’s reach within the foodservice sphere.

💬 What they said: “Foodservice distributors have been left out of the rapidly growing digital advertising space. By integrating Instacart’s market-leading advertising capabilities with Cut+Dry’s scale and influence in foodservice distribution and digital commerce, we’re creating one of the largest digital advertising opportunities in the industry.” – Mani Kulasooriya, Cut+Dry co-founder and CEO

Private label manufacturer TreeHouse Foods completed its previously announced acquisition of Harris Tea for approximately $205 million late last week. The transaction will bring further vertical integration across TreeHouse’s tea business, giving the company an “immediate leadership position in private label tea,” according to CEO Steve Oakland. 

🏭 The deal includes Harris Tea’s manufacturing facilities in Moorestown, N.J., and Marietta, Ga., as well as 300 employees. 

💵 According to the announcement, TreeHouse funded the acquisition primarily with cash on hand and expects the deal to be accretive to revenue and profitability this year. The purchase price equals roughly 8.5 times trailing twelve-month adjusted EBITDA. 

Day-Lee Foods, Inc., a subsidiary of Japanese food processor NH Foods Ltd., has had a busy start to the year. Last week, the company announced its acquisitions of B and D Foods, Mountain View Packaging and Tamarack Foods.

🏭 Each of the businesses will maintain operations at their current locations, expanding Day-Lee Foods' portfolio and manufacturing capabilities. Executives for the combined business emphasized that the focus will be on continued growth and expansion looking ahead. 

🗣️ What they said: "This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for our company. By combining our strengths, we will build a more robust and diversified organization that is better positioned to meet the evolving needs of our customers." - Hideki Fujii, president and CEO of Day-Lee Foods