• 💰 Bluestein Ventures Raises $45M Fund
• 🤔 Help Decide 2024's Nosh Notables
• 🌱 Mars Launches Unreasonable Food Program
• 🚢 Report: Food Supply Chain Thefts on the Rise
• 📈 SKU Selects Next Consumer Products Cohort

When I left the world of broadcast news and joined BevNET/Nosh nearly two years ago, I quickly established myself as the edit team’s resident sugar fiend. While that title has been an honor, I’ve recently found myself – like 75% of American consumers – trying to lower my sugar intake (gasp) while pursuing a healthier lifestyle. 

🍬 But that feat is easier said than done. There’s no sugarcoating the fact that excessive sugar consumption can lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, and heart problems – but there’s also nothing quite like the sugar high of tearing open a bag of your favorite nostalgic candy. Are better-for-you (BFY) sweets the solution?

⏪ I grew up in a family where candy wasn’t a once-in-a-while treat or a permissible indulgence, it was a snack. In some cases, it was even a meal – with my late Papa often consuming Tootsie Rolls or Bulls-Eyes for breakfast. What can I say? It’s in my DNA. 🧬Scientists at 23 & Me, a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company, have identified 43 genetic markers (DNA locations) associated with a preference for sweet or salty snacks. 

The confectionery industry at large has seen a significant shift over the past few years, with more and more BFY options cropping up – like Joyride, Snack Owl, and Better Sour – alongside conventional offerings. These products follow in the footsteps of pioneers like Justin’s and SmartSweets, who proved healthier alternatives to popular candies could, in fact, go mainstream. 

They’ve also benefited from a marketplace receptive to their approach. Mainstream retailers are beginning to catch on, with Target recently onboarding Better Sour and Rotten getting picked up by select Foxtrot and Hy-Vee stores. Meanwhile, the reverberating impact of appetite-suppressing GLP-1 drugs and allulose – a naturally occurring simple sugar used to sweeten BFY candies like SmartSweets, Small Wins, BEHAVE and Lily’s that has a similar satiety effect to Ozempic –  teases the prospect of more innovation to come. 

But, there are two primary deterrents preventing me from replacing my beloved Sour Patch Kids with BFY iterations: taste and price point. 

😝 In order to stamp a “low sugar” or “zero sugar” callout on front-of-pack labeling, some candy brands have turned to low or no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) or sugar alcohols, which often leave behind an unpleasant aftertaste. Personally, I’d like to see BFY brands formulate with low doses of cane sugar or not-so-terrible-tasting sweeteners such as the aforementioned allulose. 

🤑 Low-sugar and sugar-free candies tend to come with a heftier price tag than their traditional counterparts, likely due to their more natural, premium ingredients. Recently, I found myself choosing between a 3.6 oz. bag of Sour Patch Kids Watermelon that retails for $1.29 and a 1.8 oz. bag of SmartSweet’s Sourmelon Bites that costs $3.29. For me to pick the healthier, more expensive option, the taste needs to be nearly identical to the product’s conventional counterpart, though I realize that may be a lot to ask. 

I do believe that BFY candy has the potential to cure America’s insatiable sweet tooth and achieve mainstream adoption, but there’s plenty of room for improvement in terms of sustainability, taste and price point. I’m excited to see what’s next in the making of Candyland 2.0. 

Shauna Golden (sgolden@bevnet.com) is the editorial assistant for BevNET/Nosh.

VC firm Bluestein Ventures announced the closing of its third fund, Fund III, at $45 million with an expanded pool of LPs that includes strategics, family offices and food industry executives and entrepreneurs. Former RXBAR CMO Lindsay Levin has also joined as venture partner. 

📲 The fund’s investment themes are nutrition, sustainability and digitization. It aims to allocate capital to between 20 to 25 pre-seed to Series A stage companies. 

📂 Bluestein’s investment portfolio includes meal delivery service Factor (formerly Factor75), modern c-store chain Foxtrot, mycelium-based protein company Meati and animal-free cheese maker New Culture.

📈 Despite declines in both venture capital and food tech investment, Bluestein joins Kost Capital, Supply Change Capital and Joyful Ventures, which have all recently raised funds for food tech ventures. 

What do Barbie, Snoop Dogg and the chief forager at Sprouts Farmers Market have in common? They are among the powerhouses of the packaged food industry known as Nosh Notables. 

🥂 We created this distinction last year to celebrate the thought leaders, hard workers and positive forces across the consumer brands landscape, and this year, we want to make sure our readers and Insiders are helping direct the spotlight.

✍️ Here’s where you come in: Complete this form to nominate your top picks for the 2024 Nosh Notables. We’ve included some questions to help you guide our understanding of why you think this person, company or idea is truly notable.

📢 The 2024 Nosh Notables will be announced in July. Check out the 2023 Nosh Notables here.

International fellowship program Unreasonable Group has partnered with Mars’ snacking division to launch a new three-year partnership called Unreasonable Food. The program will support rapid growth companies that are disrupting the food system to become more regenerative, inclusive and equitable.

🌐 Each year the program will see Unreasonable unite Mars with relevant parties and new fellows from its network; Unreasonable’s platform currently includes hundreds of investment funds and pipeline partners as well as entrepreneurs spread across 180 countries that have generated a combined $10 billion in revenue.

🆕 The program will focus on four pillars: Shaping the Future of Food, Improving Farmer Livelihood, Transforming Food Supply Chains, and Reimagining Sustainable Packaging. 

🛡️ The first cohort will be announced later this Spring. Over the course of the three years, the companies aim to unite a portfolio of 40 solutions that can tackle and future-proof against Mars Snacking’s key sustainability challenges.

Food supply chain theft jumped significantly in 2023 – up 29% y/y – as price increases and inflation continue to plague the economy, according to BSI’s Supply Chain Risk Insights Report 2024. Food continues to be the most at-risk commodity in the global supply chain, the report claims. 

🔎 The analysis from BSI finds that food and beverage items now represent 22% of all thefts (up from 17% in 2022) and agricultural food products account for one in 10 hijacking incidents. 

🚚 Food is not typically shipped with tracking devices and anti-theft technologies. In fact, in 2023, hijackers managed to steal more than 52 tons of olive oil in Greece. 

👀 Though cargo theft remains high, primary types of theft have changed. Over the past year, there was a drop in thefts from facilities (26% to 21%) but a rise in theft of containers or trailers (4% to 14%). Rates of stolen food are highest in Europe (37%) and North America (23%). 

💭 “The shared experience of the global pandemic and subsequent geopolitical and economic challenges has taught us that no single organization can handle supply chain management on their own – collaboration is absolutely critical,” said Jim Yarbrough, BSI global director of supply chain solutions, in a statement. 

Five emerging food and beverage brands have been selected to participate in SKU’s upcoming 12-week consumer products accelerator program, beginning March 5. 

🤝 Entrepreneurs are matched with a team of mentors, and benefit from a tailored curriculum that covers operations, channel strategy, innovation, supply chain and fundraising. The program culminates with a showcase pitch event in Austin, Texas. 

🥂 This year’s cohort includes canned alcohol beverage maker Curation Beverage Co., dehydrated meals company Heather’s Choice, Oaxacan-inspired michelada mixes brand I Love Micheladas, nutrient-dense chocolate company Kelsi’s Kitchen, a maker of nutrient-dense chocolates, and vegan and top 10 allergen free snack maker Ohh! Foods.

🎓 More than 100 companies, including Siete Foods and Epic Provisions, have completed the SKU program since its founding in 2011.