• 🏆 Mochi Love Wins Pitch Slam 15
• 🍫 Mondelēz Explores Hershey Takeover
• 📰 Khloud Snacks, Pretzelized’s Investor 
• 🛒 Kroger CEO: Albertsons Deal Not Essential
• 👔 Nestlé USA Names New CEO
• 🐄 USDA to Require Testing of Milk for Bird Flu
• 🛒 You Got Into Erewhon. Now What? Plus, The ‘Madre’ Of Kefir.

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The second and final day of Nosh Live culminated with plenty of words of wisdom, a look inside novel retail platforms, confessions from the cottage cheese king, discussions of on-trend sectors such as GLP-1s and regenerative agriculture and more. Let’s dive into what went down during day two: 

Brad Charron saw potential for success when he became the “re-founder” and CEO of ALOHA in 2017. Fast-forward seven years and the company is a profitable, employee-owned B Corporation with more than $100 million in sales. How did Charron turn ALOHA around?

“Get excited about your ideas, get excited about the future, innovate in your heart and execute with mental focus,” he told attendees.

Later in the day, we took a tour of TikTok Shop with the platform’s head of food and beverage, Cameron Gould-Saltman where he explained how the shop is more about discovery and awareness building than an Amazon-substitute. 

“I am happy to play a role in driving awareness of your product, driving trial of products and getting those first few sales to a consumer who then might go elsewhere for the product,” he said.

Speaking of TikTok and awareness generation… the cottage cheese king Jesse Merril (also known for his role as founder and CEO of Good Culture) took to the stage to talk about how the brand has capitalized on the ingredient’s rise to fame following a handful of viral recipes earlier this year. 

That effective social strategy helped the brand pave its way to $100 million in revenue in 2023 (as well as winning Nosh 2024 Brand of the Year) while it’s on pace to double that revenue this year. How did they do it?

Nosh Insiders can check out the full recap to capture all of the insights shared during day two.

Mochi Love emerged victorious from a field of six other-early stage CPGs including Doosra modern Indian snacks, Brune Kitchen clean label cookies, Harken functional, better-for-you candy bars, NOOISH instant matzo ball soup and Chutni Punch finishing seasoning powders.

The judges unanimously praised Mochi Love for its taste and for standing out in an increasingly saturated space: “I’m not sure I’ve seen the two-pack carrier before, so that in itself already feels disruptive alongside the refrigerated approach you’re taking. And the flavor absolutely delivers on the descriptor,” said judge and Siddhi Capital SVP Arnulfo Ventura.

Check out the full Pitch Slam recap for all of the details on Mochi Love’s win.

Mondelēz International is exploring an acquisition of candy and snack rival Hershey, according to Bloomberg News. The combination would bring together such brands as Oreo, Ritz, Reese’s and Twizzlers and generate sales of almost $50 billion.

⛔ This isn’t the first time Mondelēz has tried to buy Hershey, which in 2016 rejected a $23 billion takeover bid by the snack giant. 

💰 According to Bloomberg, Hershey Company has a value of roughly $45 billion, including debt – making a potential deal bigger than Mars’ agreement this year to snap up Kellanova for nearly $36 billion. 

Go Deeper: Your Big Merger Playbook: Hookups Can Have Ramifications, Here’s What They Are.

🍿 Khloe Kardashian is reportedly seeking to raise $10 million for a new company known as Khloud that covers categories spanning popcorn, granola, protein supplements and other snacks, per an SEC filing. Will we see her sister Kim’s firm Skky Partners (and minority owner of Truff) make its second investment?

🦁 Food Lion president Meg Ham announced last week that she will retire at the beginning of 2025 after 35 years with the organization. The retailer has not yet named her successor.

🥨 Pretzelized has notched its newest investor. Co-founder Jason Cohen shared a photo to Instagram last week noting that actor and comedian Larry David has joined “the pretzelution.”

🛒 Organic and super-premium retailer Erewhon has entered the clothing category. Last week, the company released a holiday collection including hoodies, crewnecks, sweatpants, socks, hats and bags in five appropriately-named colors: Tomato, Butterscotch, Plum, Coconut and Chaga.

Kroger president and CEO Rodney McMullen told analysts during the company’s earnings call last week that its proposed mega-merger with Albertsons is not essential to its future success, despite vigorous efforts over the past two years to defend the deal. 

🗨️ “We’ve always made sure that we don’t need to do mergers to make our business successful, and that was one of the reasons that we’ve always been proud of what Kroger has done,” McMullen said during the call. 

📉 Kroger’s third-quarter sales declined to $33.6 billion from $34 billion in the prior-year period. Net earnings slipped to $618 million, or $0.85 per share, from year-ago earnings of $646 million, or $0.89 per share.

Catch Up Quick: Kroger/Albertsons: Add Stores, Assets To Divestiture Plan

Nestlé USA has named Martin Thompson as its new CEO, effective January 1. Thompson got his start at Nestlé after the Swiss company acquired the Starbucks consumer packaged goods and foodservice business in 2018 and has served as president of Nestlé Coffee Partners since 2020. 

• Before coming to Nestlé, Thompson held the CEO and president role at Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in addition to a variety of roles at Clorox and Procter & Gamble.
• Nestlé has shaken up its leadership this year, promoting Laurent Freixe, the former EVP and CEO of Zone Latin America, to CEO of Nestlé S.A.

💭 “[Thompson] was instrumental in doubling our Starbucks business globally in just four years and leading the expansion of Nescafé in the U.S. market. He understands that our business, regardless of category, is all about the consumer – knowing them and delighting them at every turn,” said Nestlé Zone Americas CEO Steve Presley.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new federal order today requiring the testing of the nation’s milk supply for the bird flu virus (H5N1). The news comes roughly one year after the virus began spreading amongst dairy cattle. 

👀 The new federal order requires that raw (unpasteurized) milk samples nationwide be collected and shared with the USDA for testing, facilitating comprehensive H5N1 surveillance of the nation’s milk supply. 

🗣️ What they said: “This testing strategy is a critical part of our ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of individuals and communities nationwide. Our primary responsibility at HHS is to protect public health and the safety of the food supply, and we continue to work closely with USDA and all stakeholders on continued testing for H5N1 in retail milk and dairy samples from across the country to ensure the safety of the commercial pasteurized milk supply.” - Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health & Human Services 

When in Los Angeles, you know the hosts are making an Erewhon run. As they sift through bags of new, innovative and unusual beverages and snacks purchased at the high-end retailer, the hosts discuss Erewhon’s reputation as a launching pad for emerging brands. We also sit down with Nicola Hart and Leon Pullin of Agua De Madre, a London-based brand of water kefir and other functional beverages.

Listen to the episode now.