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🚨NOSH INSIDER WEEKLY: Hain Sells Thinsters, Anti-diet Dietitians, Chocolate 3.0 & More |
| This week we've let the robots take over as Brad 'Terminator' Avery goes deep into the world of A.I. in CPG, while funding mavens will have lots to digest in the latest FABID report. But, more on all that below.
Alright! On with the Sunday newsletter.
FIRST UP! Cool as Ice(e) - J&J Snack Foods is slicing things up with its latest acquisition. |
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🫰 Thinsters Sold to Icee Owner J&J Snack Foods |
| | Hain celestial has sold cookie brand Thinsters to Icee and Dippin’ Dots owner J&J Snack Foods Co in an all-cash transaction writes Flattened Foods Editor Shauna Golden. |
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| The sale is part of Hain's transformation plan which aims to refocus the company across better-for-you snacks, baby and kids’ food, beverages, meal preparation and personal care.
Hain acquired Thinsters in 2021 in a $259M deal that included ParmCrisps, before writing down half the purchase price of both brands in 2023. Ouch.
J&J meanwhile has been successfully acquiring and scaling over 30 snack brands in recent years including SuperPretzel and M̶a̶r̶i̶o̶'̶s Luigi’s Italian Ice. Its existing bakery lines, including branded and private label, should provide a strong fit for Thinsters.
🥡 Key Takeaway: The short term impact of Hain's realignment has been a 3.3% Q1 '24 sales drop however long term the company is moving away from keto and into better-for-you and other emerging trends. And, it's looking at upwards of $150M in annualized operational savings by FY27.
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📈 Funding up in Q1 as Investors Look to Bigger Brands |
Nosh Strategic Investments Executive Martín Caballero has the hot take this week on FABID's investment report, showing that while deals continue to shrink in quantity, the value is up. Grab these quickfire stats:- Q1 '24 was the strongest quarter in 2 years, up 8.5% YOY to $573M
- Average investment was $1.1M - nearly double from Q1 '23
- The bulk came from four investments - Bloom ($90M), Truff ($80M), Aloha ($69M) and Liquid Death ($68M)
Generally the trend away from startups is continuing and, as Nosh editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman wrote recently, it will be a while yet before the tides begin to turn again. | |
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🔊 CPG Week Podcast: Momofuku Fallout, Anti-diet Dietitians |
| On this week's CPG Podcast the Nosh trio of managing editor Monica Watrous and reporters Brad Avery and Lukas Southard discuss the blowback Momofuku is receiving for its controversial cease-and-desist letters.
Later, Brad gets into revelations around Trader Joe's private label innovation stream. Monica rounds things off with the WaPo's story on how food conglomerates are paying registered dietitian influencers to push anti-diet messaging (yes, really).
Spin this week's podcast here. | |
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🍓 Juicy Quote |
| "We may find, through the use of A.I. [...] how better to address consumer preferences"
This week's deep dive comes from Robocop Editor Brad Avery who scoured the lands and talked to numerous CPG companies about their use of A.I. and how it has given them a leg up. | |
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| In a wide-ranging piece Brad talks to the likes of Xeba Zareie of Preme Foods who discovered an essential missing ingredient via ChatGPT, to Chilean plant-based brand NotCo which uses proprietary software hone in on ingredients.
Others, such as coffee and matcha brand Taika, are hoping to use A.I. models to more efficiently analyze data sets.
Get this: Pietra recently launched a service that creates a new product, ingredients and all, from the ground up using text-based prompts - a process that CEO Ronak Trivedi claims distills months of work into a ten minute search.
What are your thoughts, Sunday readers? A.I. is creeping into every aspect of every business, but what has your experience been to date? Has it helped with analytics, or even helped build a brand? Click here to send in your comments. | |
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🥑 Quick Bites |
A look at some of this week's new product launches.
It's time to get ripped with bowls of Lucky Charms marshmallow-infused cereals, writes Head Coach Brad Avery.
The retail brand is part of parent company MeliBio's three pronged approach (including foodservice and ingredient supplier), writes Nosh Beekeeper Adrianne DeLuca. |
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📰 Jobs Market |
USA
Long Island, NY
Portland, OR |
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🍫 Chocolate 3.0: Awake Looking to Lead an Evolution |
| Ontario-based caffeinated chocolate brand Awake has secured CAD $5M from Btomorrow Ventures (the venture arm of British American Tobacco) as it continues its expansion in the US and Canada, writes Awake All Night Editor Shauna Golden.
Founded by PepsiCo vets Matt Schnarr and Dan Tzotzis, Awake aims to give an energy drink-level caffeine boost without, you know, that taste. Individually wrapped bites feature 50mg of caffeine while full bars are packed with a lovely 100mg.
Its primary market is universities through suppliers such as Aramark while D2C is catching up, thanks to a 40% repeat purchase rate. It had been shy on retail after the FDA made noises about the effects of caffeine on children - although a decade later it seems stores are warming up again.
🥡 Key Takeaway: Caffeine is a growing market as consumers look to find it in nontraditional places (move over, cup of Joe). Moreover, consumers are seeing chocolate as a vehicle for additional benefits. By seeing chocolate as a functional food, Awake may be awakening a big market.
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👀 ICYMI 👀 |
| If last week's Froot Loops Crocs weren't enough, we got you(r feet) covered: Pringles is getting in on the act with these rather whacky Pringles x Crocs Classic Crush Boots.
What's a Crush Boot? Imagine someone strapped a mini tube of Pringles to your ankle, security bracelet style. So you can truly pop whenever, wherever.
Up next - does it tallboy?
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| AND FINALLY: over in the interesting branding aisle color me intrigued with these new Bikini Island RTD mixers from Atomic Brands. Perfect for the inevitable binge watching of Fallout we'll all be doing tonight. | |
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| If you'll excuse me, I'm off to buff up my resume - Daiya is looking for a new VP of Melting and I reckon I'm in with a shot. Until next week, your host, |
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