• 🍌Blender Bites Buys Into CBD With First Acquisition
• 🤝 Dirty Hands Acquires Burgess Strategic Advisors
• 🚨FDA: Select Schnucks, Weis Applesauce Pouches Added to Apple Products Recall
• 🍬OCHO CEO Departs. Is Change Coming To The Candy Brand?

With only four years of manufacturing and two years of brand building under its belt – Nevada-based pretzel maker Stellar Snacks is already working to bring a second, East Coast manufacturing facility online.

Construction will begin in March and Stellar expects to begin baking by September. Located in West Louisville, Kentucky, the company anticipates it will invest over $137 million to bring the facility to maximum productivity over the next decade. At that point it expects to employ 350 individuals, with a goal of 290 employees by the five-year mark. 

How did an emerging brand get this big, this fast? The short answer is self-manufacturing. The long answer entails a 30-year history of snack manufacturing, the eventual trouble of sourcing West Coast pretzels and the entrepreneurial spirit of mother-daughter duo Elisabeth and Gina Galvin. (Give the full story on NOSH a read for all the backstory.) 

The vegan, non-GMO pretzels are made with “sustainably harvested” wheat and barley flours, but they aren’t steeped in adaptogens or buffed up with pea protein. In a snack category flooded with functional ingredients, the Galvins have built their emerging pretzel empire with a four-SKU line of braided snacks featuring flavors like Maui Monk (Maui Onion Seasoning) and Sweet & Sparky (Spicy Buffalo Blend). 

Here’s an overview of where Stellar is today:

• Available in 6,000 doors nationwide including Sprouts, Whole Foods (Florida region), Bristol Farms and Central Market as well as 1,700 CVS Health Hub locations.
• Products come in a range of sizes from 1.5 oz. single-serves (SRP: $1.49) to 16 oz. bags ($7.99).
• Over the past 52 weeks, Stellar’s sales have grown 162%, according to recent SPINS data; in the Natural Enhanced category, Stellar’s dollar sales velocity recently surpassed that of Frito-Lay’s flagship Rold Gold pretzels.

As for the new facility, the Galvins didn’t pick Kentucky out of the blue(grass) – the geographical location as well as its physical blueprint are deliberate choices to allow Stellar to tap increased operational and logistical efficiencies as it continues to scale over the next ten years.  

Read the full story on NOSH to learn more about the efficiencies Stellar Snacks will unlock, its commitment to new factory workers and what sales channels the brand is eying next. 

Entrepreneurs have a love-hate relationship with big CPG. While most say they make and sell better products than the big CPG companies, they are often in the business to sell those companies they start to the very same corporations they’re trying to outwork.

At NOSH Live Winter 2023, attendees will hear from executives who are familiar with both ends of the industry spectrum, having spent time at global companies before going on to lead or launch their own brands. Panelists will include Arnulfo Ventura, who was formerly the CEO at Alter Eco and Beanfields after working at PepsiCo, as well as Denise Woodard, who started Partake Foods after six years at Coca-Cola.

Register today to hear our panelists will share the tactics they’ve carried with them from big CPG as well as the practices they shed after making the jump.

On Friday, Dirty Hands announced it had acquired Burgess Strategic Advisors (BSA) in a partnership years in the making, according to Dirty Hands president Will Ahearn. Founded in 2013, Dirty Hands has built its CPG food and beverage merchandising and brokerage business in the specialty and natural channels. 

• The addition of BSA brings connections to conventional distributors while also adding an “impressive” structure and reporting system that will benefit the two companies’ combined client roster.
• Dirty Hands will expand its client services by adding a more robust sales infrastructure capitalizing on BSA founder Grant Burgess’ extensive experience drawing from a career that includes sales positions at Unilever, General Mills, Cadbury, Fiji water and leadership roles at IGNITE Sales Management.
• After the acquisition is completed, Burgess will take the title of chief growth officer with Ahearn continuing to serve as president. The combined organization will have around 180 employees with about 140 merchandising positions and over 30 sales representatives.

Read the full story on NOSH.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded its applesauce pouch recall to include select Schnucks and Weis private brand products. The pouches are under fire for containing elevated levels of lead.

• The impacted products include Schnucks and Weis store brand cinnamon-flavored offerings; the products are sold at Schnucks, Eatwell Markets stores, and Weis grocery stores. 
• Last week the FDA announced that heightened levels of lead had been detected in WanaBana’s Apple Cinnamon products – impacting all lot codes and expiration dates.
• An investigation into all three brands’ products conducted by the FDA remains ongoing.

Imposing lead limits on apple-containing products like juices and purees has been an ongoing priority for the FDA. In 2022, the agency issued draft guidance to establish a new industry standard around safe levels of lead in juice products. The guidance is part of the agency’s larger “Closer to Zero,” action plan, which aims to reduce babies’ and young children’s exposure to toxic elements in food.

After more than 13 years as CEO of better-for-you chocolate brand OCHO Candy, Scott Kucirek has departed the Northern California-based company. 

• OCHO has seen $100 million in retail sales under Kucirek’s tenure, according to a LinkedIn post. 
• The company produces Fair Trade, organic candy and, due to its cleaner ingredient deck, is a frequent supplier for holiday offerings from natural product retailers like Whole Foods Market. 
• In an email to NOSH this weekend, OCHO founder Denis Ring’s signature included the title of CEO. Ring declined to answer specific questions about Kucierk’s post at this time, but noted the former CEO was a “smart, trusted, energetic partner.”
• Ring, the former VP of corporate brands at Whole Foods Market, also is the founder and CEO of Bode International, which helps brands partner with retailers to create new private label options. 

What’s the scoop with OCHO? Stay tuned. Kucierk’s LinkedIn post noted the company has a new pipeline of innovation, “assembled a talented team,” and “partnered with a capable and supportive strategic company.”

Last week, Magnolia Bakery ventured into the world of cannabis through a new collaboration with Incredibles. Together, the pair created a two-SKU line of cannabis-infused chocolate bars featuring Red Velvet AHHH Cake and Swirled Famous Banana Pudding flavors.

Based on the bakery’s signature dishes, the products contain 10mg of THC per piece (100mg of THC per bar). Magnolia Bakery x Incredibles chocolate bars are now rolling out to dispensaries in Illinois, Massachusetts and Nevada.

Check out the full roundup of new products on NOSH.

Frozen smoothie kit maker Blender Bites is set to make its first corporate acquisition, announcing Friday it has entered a share purchase agreement to buy CBD athletic recovery business Advanced Sports Nutrition (ASN) Inc. 

• ASN holds IP rights to the results of an ongoing human clinical trial studying the use of CBD for athletic recovery. 
• The trial is being conducted at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan and has been funded with a $500,000 grant from the NFL.
• The move will allow Blender Bites to target the “athletic drink market” in North American retail channels, said CEO Chelsie Hodge.
• Canadian Blender Bites was founded in 2017 and only made its U.S. debut this spring at Natural Products Expo West 2023, expanding to Albertsons and Walmart stores in the past two months.

Certainly a fruit-based frozen smoothie kit brand and a CBD sports recovery business appears to be an unexpected pairing. Blender Bites said the deal will provide it with a “one-stop solution” product for sports training and recovery, in the release. The deal, with its NFL connection, will also give the brand “exclusive access to data from elite athletes.”