• 🤕 Amia’s Quest Toward Migraine-Friendly Food
• 📉 General Mills Reports Q4 Sales 
• 📝 Bimbo Bakeries Receives FDA Warning
• 🆕 Renewal Mill Founder Lands New Role
• 🌱 TMRW Foods Joins Protein Project In Canada

Better-for-you bread is baking up to be big business. 

Today, Hero Bread announced the closing of a $21 million funding round co-led by Cleveland Avenue, DNS Capital and Composite Ventures. Existing investor Greatpoint Ventures also participated, and the round brings the company’s total funding to over $68.5 million to-date.

We don’t need to remind you that the climate for investment is tough right now. So how did they do it? Hero Bread CEO YuChiang Cheng said investors responded positively to the product’s disruptive positioning and market validation it has garnered in just two years since launch. The company was able to close this latest round in less than three months: “The numbers don’t lie,” Cheng stated. 

“As [our investors] dug into the market share, the repeat rates, the velocity at the retailers we have, the fact that we’re top of the category in all our sets and have a ton more demand from more retailers, they felt with that momentum, and that the product is really superior to everything else out in there, that it really stands head and shoulders above everyone else – and in a very large category that addresses everybody,” he continued.

While initially aimed at the carb-avoiding keto crowd, the brand has extended its appeal to the point where about 50% of its purchasers are non-keto folks. The product’s nutritional profile – between 0 to 2 grams of net carbs and no sugar, plus lower calories, but more protein and fiber per serving than conventional bread – has also helped.

As for its new funds, Hero intends to put the cash towards building up inventory, supporting existing retail partners (namely Sprouts, Fresh Thyme and Publix) and growing its footprint in physical retail; currently, the brand is on-shelf in over 4,000 doors nationwide – a large jump from 20 stores at the start of 2023.

It has now established a greater presence in conventional grocery stores than the natural space, the former of which contribute slightly more than 50% of retail sales in MULO. 

“We wanted it to perform in all the different channels, and it’s proven out to a larger degree than we would have thought,” Cheng emphasized.

Nosh Insiders can read the full story to learn more about how Hero’s position and product contributed to its latest raise.

Austin, Texas-based startup Amia is creating a new category of “trigger-free foods” for the millions of migraine sufferers in the U.S., beginning with nutrition bars. 

🚫 Developed with help from medical experts, the baked oat and seed bars are free from migraine-triggering ingredients like gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and cacao. 

🤝 This week, television actor Jennifer Morrison joined the company as a co-founder and chief brand officer. She will work with founder and CEO Jon Katz on product development and marketing initiatives.

Read the full story on Nosh to learn more about Amia’s ambitions to build a segment of migraine-friendly foods.

Chex Mix and Cocoa Puffs producer General Mills today reported a dip in Q4 sales as consumer demand trends downward due to inflation. Here’s the top-level view: 

• Net sales in the quarter were $4.7 billion, a y/y decrease of 6%, reflecting unfavorable net price realization and mix and lower pound volume.  
• Operating profit of $779 million was down 5% primarily driven by intangible asset impairments and lower gross profit dollars. 
• Diluted EPS of $0.98 was down 5%. Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.01 was down 10% in constant currency.

“As we move into fiscal 2025, our top priority is to accelerate our organic net sales growth, and specifically our volume growth, by delivering remarkable experiences across our portfolio of leading brands,” said chairman and CEO Jeff Harmening in a prepared statement.

Keep an eye out for a full earnings recap on Nosh later today.

Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc. has received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over food allergen labeling concerns that were misleading and, therefore, misbranded under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 

⏪ In 2023, the FDA found that some of the bakery’s products included ingredients that are or contain major allergens on their labels, but those ingredients weren’t included in the product formulations. 

🔎 The FDA found that certain ready-to-eat (RTE) bread loaf products made at a Phoenix, Ariz., facility, from brands like Sara Lee listed sesame in their “contains” statements despite there being no sesame in product formulations. 

🥜 In Kansas, the company’s Brownberry Whole Grains 12 Grains and Seeds RTD bread loaf listed walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts, but none of the ingredients were actually in the formulation. 

👀 Bimbo has 15 days to respond with a remedy to address the violations and prevent their recurrence OR providing reasoning as to why Bimbo Bakeries believes it didn’t violate the law. 

🥪 In other bakery business news: Florida-based commercial bakery St. Armands announced today it has been acquired by wholesale baker Engelman's Baking Co. (a Shoreline Equity Partners portfolio company). Hyde Park Capital served as St. Armands advisor for the transaction.

Caroline Cotto may have moved on from her upcycled baking mix brand, but that's not to say she is not still working to create a more sustainable food system based around technological innovation. Cotto, who was also a founding board member of the Upcycled Food Association, announced this week that she has set her sights on alt-protein as the director of NECTAR, a new initiative under the Food System Innovations (FSI) organization.

🤔 FSI is focused on finding solutions to the animal-based, industrial human food system by funding research in plant-based alternatives, according to its website.

👩🏻‍🔬 The organization established NECTAR to emphasize how alt-meats can be scaled using data and sensory panels of products.

📑 Supporting fuel: NECTAR released its inaugural Taste of the Industry report that aims to shed light how taste will be the biggest differentiating factor for scaling plant-based meat.

Protein Industries Canada announced a new project today that will “accelerate and optimize” the use of pea and fava protein ingredients in collaboration with ingredient processors, farmers as well as alt-meat maker TMRW Foods. 

💪 The project will also see support from Lovingly Made Flour Mills and Dutton Farms and seeks to develop optimal varieties that will improve the affordability, nutrition and consistency of the end products, particularly alternative meat products.

💰 The project is being funded by a $7.7 million investment with Protein Industries Canada committing $3.3 million and the partners contributing the remainder. 

🚜 What is the goal? This investment, and similar projects, are expected to generate a stronger domestic ingredient manufacturing industry in Canada.