• 🍕 Catch Up With Caulipower CEO
• 💪 Lifeway’s Strong Q4 Earnings
• 🧁 Wonder Dips Into Snacks
• 🤝 Optia Data Joins NielsenIQ Network
• 🔀 Monday Moves

How do the taste and texture of plant-based meat stack up against animal protein counterparts? Food System Innovations’ nonprofit initiative NECTAR is attempting to shed light on how meat alternatives can compete better on the plate.

Following an analysis of 14 categories and 122 products (taste-tested by 2,684 omnivore and flexitarian consumers) NECTAR released its Taste of Industry 2025 report, illustrating the successes and shortcomings of the plant-based meat category with insights whittled down to specific formats and product types. 

Notable Alternatives: Unbreaded chicken fillets, burgers, breaded chicken fillets, chicken nuggets and breakfast sausages proved to hold their own against traditional meat versions. 

But: Popular proteins like bacon, whole-cut steak, unbreaded chicken strips and chunks and bratwurst were “[disliked] more frequently than being rated ‘like very much’ or ‘like,’” the report stated.

“Texture is the biggest opportunity for improvement,” NECTAR director Caroline Cotto told Nosh. “With something like bacon, you’re really trying to make this perfect mix of fatty, crispy and chewy. It's a lot more challenging.”

Impossible Foods scored highest among the 20 products named as TASTY Award winners. The plant-based brand took the lead in six categories (unbreaded chicken fillet, hot dog, meatball, breakfast sausage, chicken nugget and burger). The win was determined by products “being the same or better than the animal benchmark on overall liking by at least 50% of participants.”

The Taste of the Industry report includes a public dashboard of the datapoints for each category to help guide brands and stakeholders through the sensory analysis of specific meat analogs and direct focus for gaps in innovation.

Big Takeaway: Taste is king, per both survey data and sentiments echoed across the plant-based category. Unsurprisingly, flavor moves the needle most and brands that have focused on innovating better-tasting products are seeing the most repeat purchases.

NECTAR is now working with a number of academic labs to apply its data and findings to train artificial intelligence models to support food science research and build better products.

Nosh caught up with industry vet Tyler Ricks at Natural Products Expo West to hear about his first year as Caulipower CEO.

🧊 The frozen foods business continues to expand its portfolio of gluten-free pizzas, chicken tenders and bites, pastas, meals and more, sold at 25,000 stores nationwide.

⚔️ Caulipower is focused on growing sales while maintaining profitability and fending off emerging competition.

Watch the full interview to learn more about Ricks’ objectives and the company’s innovation strategy.

Lifeway’s drinkable kefir continues to buoy the business, notching its 21st consecutive quarter of year-over-year sales growth as Q4 net sales rose 13% to $46.9 million, also marking its second highest-ever quarterly net sales.

🛒 Volume growth across its drinkables business, in addition to the benefits of “incremental placements” for its Farmer Cheese and ProBugs products, contributed to “robust growth and brand recognition” in 2024, said CEO Julie Smolyansky in a statement. 

📈 Full-year net sales grew 17% to $186.8 million.

💰 Lifeway is investing more behind key product lines to continue broadening awareness as it works to complement improved production capabilities following the development of its new factory in Waukesha, Wis.

Bakery brand Wonder is making its first move beyond the bread aisle and into the snack set. Today it debuted 11 new products spanning Crème-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes, Iced Honey Buns and Mini Donuts. 

• Product types include cupcakes, buns, donuts, cinnamon rolls and wafers.
• The products will be available at select grocery stores nationwide. 
• While demand for “permissibly indulgent” snack products holds strong, Wonder’s entrance counters recent category shifts with most products featuring artificial ingredients and flavors.

🗣️ "With the launch of our new treats, we're excited to bring that same sense of nostalgia and joy to a new category, giving consumers a delicious way to enjoy Wonder beyond the bread aisle." - Ashley Hornsby, director of brand management

Analytics provider Optia Data has joined the NielsenIQ Partner Network to enable data integrations across both platforms to generate faster, more comprehensive insights for CPG brands.

💻 The combination is expected to simplify workflows, helping brands combine reports to “create bespoke dashboards and extract critical insights,” per the announcement. 

💭 “Whether tackling one-off challenges or recurring pain points, our team provides tailored solutions that work,” said Dom Beary, CEO of Optia Data, in a statement.  

Here’s a taste of the people and products moving around the industry to start off your week. 

🍫 The Hershey Company named Stacy Taffet chief growth officer to drive growth strategies across the company’s snacks portfolio. 

🥣 Elias Aoukar joined snacks and cereal maker Catalina Crunch as chief supply chain officer. He previously served as COO at ByHeart and will oversee the efficiency and scalability of the company’s operations. 

💗 Gut health brand BelliWelli welcomed Nathan Underwood, former VP of domestic sales at Nuun Hydration, as its SVP of sales to help the brand expand its omnichannel presence into new markets. 

🍓 Amara landed in Target stores nationwide with an exclusive new product – Breakfast Oat Melts – in Blueberry and Strawberry flavors.

🥒 Fermented Food Holdings, Inc. brands Bubbie’s Fine Foods and wildbrine have introduced new products at select Whole Foods locations, with the former launching Kosher Dill Pickle Chips and the latter debuting Mild White Kimchi, Pickled Red Onions and Banh Mi Medley.