To kick off the Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas on Sunday, The Specialty Food Association (SFA) announced that – after a nearly five-decade run – a new event will take its place. Winter FancyFaire* is set for January 2026 in San Diego with a reimagined format that includes opportunities for earlier-stage innovation and interactive experiences.

While specific details of the event are scarce, the SFA says it aims to appeal more to millennials and Gen Z, who will represent three-quarters of trade show attendees by 2030, according to industry research.

“The expectations of these generations include more experiential product discovery; identification of trends before they hit the mainstream; immersion and inspiration from local culture; and more data-driven, real-time wayfinding, matchmaking, and socializing. Winter FancyFaire* has been developed from the ground-up to meet these expectations,” said Phil Robinson, SVP of member development at the SFA, in a statement. 

Following next year’s debut in San Diego, Winter FancyFaire* will move to San Francisco in 2027 – the previous home of the Winter Fancy Food Show for many years. According to the SFA, the event will provide activations and experiences beyond the convention center to “immerse participants in the local retail and culinary scenes.”

The Summer Fancy Food Show in New York will remain unchanged.

The industry trade show landscape has become more competitive in recent years, leaving organizers scrambling to evolve. Newtopia Now replaced Natural Products Expo East last year, offering a more intimate setting with curated product discovery halls, matchmaking sessions and networking opportunities within and outside of the convention center.

Another goal of Winter FancyFaire* is to make these shows accessible to early-stage brands once again. There will be lower-cost prices to participate including tabletop booth formats and day passes to address that need, Forbes reported. 

Winter FancyFaire* will be held January 11-13, 2026, at the San Diego Convention Center for qualified members of the specialty food trade, industry affiliates and media. 

Stay tuned for our coverage of trends, new products and standout brands at the very last Winter Fancy Food Show. 

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The SEC has slapped Celsius with a $3 million fine over what the commission said were materially inaccurate and misleading financial statements made by the company around stock-based compensation expenses.

😣 This isn’t a recent offense. According to the cease-and-desist order from the SEC, Celsius understated compensation expenses for six employees who left the company in 2021, who were allowed to keep their stock awards instead of forfeiting them when they resigned. 

📉 Celsius later corrected reported financial statements to include those expenses, which turned reported net income into a net loss for parts of that year. The company has agreed to pay the $3 million, but is neither admitting nor denying that it did anything wrong.

❌ Celsius is also under fire elsewhere for other alleged misleading statements, this time in the form of a proposed class action lawsuit by a stakeholder claiming that throughout 2024 the company misstated the growth opportunity of its partnership with PepsiCo.

Coconut water maker Zico Rising has closed a $9 million Series B, according to a recent SEC filing. The brand would not comment on the details of the investment round but the date of first sale was on December 11.

💸 Most recently, Zico announced a $14 million raise in January 2023, according to a separate SEC filing.

🙋🏻 In September, the brand brought on Christopher Gallant as its CEO replacing Tom Hicks who stayed with the brand as chief commercial officer.

↗️ In aseptic juice, the brand’s dollar sales rose 36.4% to $8.8 million in the most recent 52-weeks ending October 6, according to Circana scanner data. Volume sales were up 26.8% with pricing elevated 7.6%.

Read the full report on BevNET

Heads up bev-alc suppliers, more requirements may be coming to your labels – but now is the time to let the TTB know how you feel about that. 

🍺 The U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has proposed new rules for nutrient and alcohol content labeling on wine, beer, and spirits, including a mandatory statement with details on alcohol content, calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein per serving. 

🆕 The proposed rules will give suppliers five years from the publish date to change their labels. Despite some trade groups pushing for changes to include electronic means of delivering the information (QR codes), the agency is proposing that all the info appear on the bottle.

🤔 Comments on the new rules are open for 90 days, however, the Beer Institute CEO expects that the Trump Administration will halt all regulatory initiatives issued at the end of the Biden Administration, which could delay the process. 

Get the full recap on changes and how other trade groups are responding.

As of this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) no longer considers coconut and cola/kola nut to be tree nuts for purposes of allergen labeling. The update is included in the agency’s finalized “Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Food Allergen Labeling (Edition 5).” 

👀 The FDA has also removed beechnut, butternut, chestnut, chinquapin, ginkgo nut, hickory nut, palm nut, pili nut and shea nut from its list of ingredients considered tree nuts. 

🏷️ Therefore, brands are no longer required to include the aforementioned ingredients in their “contains” label statements as they “do not have a robust body of evidence to support inclusion as a major food allergen,” per the agency. 

Refresco Beverages’ breach of contract lawsuit against Prime Hydration over a failed production deal was dismissed by a Delaware court last week after the Court of Chancery found that the complaint was outside of its jurisdiction.

🧑‍⚖️ The court argued that because Refresco was only seeking damages and not “an equitable claim” or “equitable relief,” the complaint was not within its purview.

🥤 Refresco sued Prime last year alleging that the sports drink brand had backed out of a contract agreement following a dive in retail sales. It’s not over yet: the complaint is still subject to transfer.

Don’t miss your chance to showcase your brand in the 2025 Functional Beverage Guide, the go-to resource for the latest in adaptogens, nootropics, energy drinks, hydration, and more. This year’s guide will feature exclusive editorial content highlighting emerging trends and innovations, along with clickable listings that drive traffic directly to your website. Plus, we’ll promote the guide through a targeted digital campaign. Early Bird Pricing ends February 13, 2025. Purchase now, submit your details anytime before March 12, 2025. 

Secure your spot today!

What lessons can we extract from the acquisition of Simple Mills and majority sale of Spindrift, valued at nearly $1.5 billion combined? The hosts talk about what these better-for-you brands did right and what made them attractive to strategic companies and investors. We also sit down with Marcin Malyszko and Amit Singh, the co-founders of purpose-driven cocktail brand Mission Cocktails.

Listen to the episode now.