Suzanne Sengelmann

https://lnkd.in/gzdsPiVB - Thom King, chief innovations officer at Icon Foods, Portland, OR, says that functional carbonated beverages with prebiotic fibers, such as poppi, OLIPOP PBC, Mighty Pop and Perfy, have benefited. Beverages containing electrolytes also have reaped the benefits of clean label interest. “Nutrient-dense, high protein, ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages are also growing with the clean label trend,” King notes. “Many are more than 30 grams of protein per serving, with no added sugars, prebiotic fibers, as well as some with greens.” He suggests that RTD, clean label, protein meal replacement beverages are a big trend that will continue to grow. Icon Foods is here to help you clean up your ingredient declaration and nutritional fact panel with sweeteners, fibers, sweetening systems, and sweetness modulator all design to make deep clean cuts to #addedsugar

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If you are curious about the nutritional quality of plant proteins, check out our expert panel tomorrow! Registration info in the post below. Plants are such a great source of essential amino acids. I know that nutrition science has evolved a lot since I played college sports (which was at this point a LONG time ago!!!!) but we still have a ways to go to overcoming some myths about plant proteins, especially in performance nutrition. Excited to see what this panel has to say!!

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At Narrative Food, each of our gifts is designed to tell a story. We have worked with hundreds of vendors over the years, listening to their stories and sharing them with you. In this new series, we are honored to spotlight a few of our favorite small-batch makers in their own words. Read our interview with Jeanette Greenlaw, the Director of Business Development at Bona Furtuna. #bcorp #b1 #1percentfortheplanet #wethechange,#storytelling,#sustainablefood #eatkind,#sustainableshopping,#businessasaforceforgood #consciouscapitalism,#esg #environmentalsocialgovernance,#giftsthatgiveback #giftwithpurpose #impactfulgiving

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“Growing a CPG company, especially in the food and beverage space, ‘is astronomically harder today,’. ” Paul Voge you said it, man. So many truth bombs dropped in this article about the challenges and difficulties growing and scaling a CPG brand in today’s world. The cruel reality is that it takes a whole lot of money or a whole lot of time (and most times both) along with a fair amount of luck to have a chance at making it. If you dont have a ton of money then you better have a ton of time, some good fortune, and a product that can withstand many changes of the seasons (and "trends"). For most emerging brands today its all about survival and just finding a way.  There are lots of traps out there– lots of shiny objects– lots of vanity metrics hoping to be noticed and cared about–but at the end of the day sometimes its just about living to see another one. Here’s to all you day-to-dayers and week-to-weekers out there that are all just finding a way. Keep finding it.

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🚀 The rise of functional beverages is more than just a trend—it's a movement reshaping how we think about what we drink. 📖 Great piece by Keren Landman at Vox on why the better-for-you beverage category is surging, with the market set to surpass $200 billion by 2027. Millennials are leading the charge, consuming these beverages at twice the rate of other age groups.   🌱 This is just the beginning. The rapid innovation and demand we’re seeing are a testament to consumers seeking healthier, more mindful alternatives to traditional drinks.   🌵 We look forward to continuing to pave our own unique path forward for MAGIC CACTUS and provide consumers with a refreshing, healthier beverage that can be enjoyed by a broad base of drinkers nationwide. ✨   Link to full article below:

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Most aspiring entrepreneurs will look at today’s Ghost sale to Dr Pepper headline and compare themselves or their journey. Some may even ask themselves what they are doing wrong or why its not happening to them. All of which is pointless. While I am super happy for the founders of Ghost, its best to focus on your own path, then look for opportunity. If you read closely enough, there will be over 250 DSD distributers losing this brand. Who wants to fill that? 🙋‍♂️ There will be raw ingredient suppliers, logistics and packaging companies needing to find new brands to fill this void, with aggressive offers. 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️ My point is, opportunity exist everywhere and by focusing on your own journey without comparing to others, will lead you to them much faster. #mindset #opportunity #sale #joy #compare

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Look Ma, we made it to Sprouts Farmers Market ! 🥂 3 flavors are landing in 30+ select locations in Southern California as part of Sprouts’ Innovation Table and we are thrilled! Big shoutout to the team at Pod Foods for including EATABLE INC. in their Box of Innovation which was instrumental in having us be part of this launch alongside other fab CPG brands. As much as we’re celebrating today, I also wanted to take a second to call out (esp to my non-CPG friends who may not realize this)… The road to mass grocery and retail is HARD AF. 😅 It has always been a dream of Vincent Li and I as founders to see EATABLE popcorn on the shelves of major grocery stores. But truth be told, this journey to bridge EATABLE’s brand identity from a premium gift/department store brand to mass grocery brand has been chock full of headwinds. We’ve pivoted countless times over the last 2 years to tweak: - Pricing (one of the BIGGEST hurdles for emerging brands) - Pack size - Pack design and branding - Distribution model - Logistics and supply chain - Channel strategy - Trade marketing support strategy - Balancing a lean marketing budget between online and offline to drive sellthrough and velocity Getting on shelf is an important first step, but there’s lots of heavy lifting to be done to ensure we sell OFF the shelf too! 🛒 Our journey has been full of small tests, lots of failures and rejection along the way, which have resulted in a TON of learnings (for future posts!) In the meantime, if you or someone you know is in SoCal - Please shop EATABLE INC. at your local Sprouts and grab a bag of popcorn that will POP a party in your mouth, and start conversations at your next gathering! How we perform in these next 90 days at their Innovation Table will determine whether we get to stay on the shelves for the long haul! 🥳 Any CPG friends who have experience selling into Sprouts I’d love to connect and learn from you! And if you happen to see us in store, help a girl out and send a quick photo or “shelfie” with EATABLE - it’ll make my day in more ways than you know! 🍿+🥂 #EATABLE #CPGbusiness #CPGfounder #foodstartup #RetailLaunch #Sprouts #SoCal

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Great time with Elanie and Kay from the Renegade Nutrition Podcast! Their content is always so timely related to changes in the science of nutrition, it's impact on our wellness, and how we can all be better at 'biohacking'. We discussed the importance of polyphenols in the diet for longevity, data from blue zones, and Goode Health. Give it a listen (if you have an hour or listen at 1.75x speed) and follow Renegade!

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The holidays are fast approaching. Give yourself an early holiday gift - a detailed roadmap outlining how to reduce your energy costs for your business. Details below.

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I think consumer feedback is often under used by emerging CPG brands… Coming from a Kraft Foods general management upbringing and then experiencing start-ups for many years, I’m often thinking about which “big company” practices could bring value to young emerging companies while not screwing up their great entrepreneurial culture and founder brilliance. The one area I continue to see a gap in is “entrepreneurial” consumer feedback/market research—the lack of fast/low cost consumer research options (or even confirmation research) discussed to prevent a low velocity SKU to get delisted, to maximize brand communication, and avoid wasted spend or lost opportunity on the back end. There are some great research companies out there, but their costs (while valid and worth it) are just not in the ballpark for what many founders want to spend for or go through the time on. Sometimes it’s a lot more natural for founders to go with their gut and not get bogged down by research. And I totally get this, and it does work in many instances.   I just wish there were more options out there to efficiently confirm purchase interest between two packages or between new innovation ideas to complement founder gut. In the end, it could save the emerging brand money…. Thought I’d reach out to the linkedin community, PLEASE not from research companies selling their research, but from founders/emerging brand marketers who have been through this dilemma and have found some consumer feedback very helpful and fitting for emerging brand bootstrap budget and speed (even if their own tools or alternative ways they’ve brought in consumers more)?  This sharing might help more companies maximize their moves in the future…so hope it helps… thanks! #ConsumerFeedback #jcbgrowth

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https://lnkd.in/gNP2uN7N - Thom King, CIO and chief food scientists at Portland, Ore.-based Icon Foods, states #reducedsugar and better-for-you options are still trending. “With frozen desserts, inclusions can add significantly to the #addedsugar. We’re seeing an uptick in demand for low or #nosugar inclusions, such as chocolate flavored chips and sprinkles, as an easy way to reduce overall sugar. Homemade ice cream is also seeing a revival, especially as a way to make a healthier version with frozen fruit or by adding protein powder,” he says. Market research from Innova states that more than one in four consumers globally choose healthier alternatives for desserts and ice creams. Icon Foods is here to help you make deep clean cuts to your frozen dessert formulation with our line of inclusions, fibers, sweeteners, sweetening systems, and sweetness modulators.

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https://lnkd.in/gGfYijbj Fabulous article by Alexandra Frost for Food Dive . These nuisance lawsuits are the worst. The only people who benefit are the lawyers that create these garbage cases. I think where this gets stuck in the mud is inulin type fibers are stool softeners. Yes, they can contribute to that. But the far great benefit is the production of butyrate or short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) which is vital to the production of ATP (food for your mitochondria) as well as building the mucosa which lines the wall of the gut. A breakdown in this lining can lead to leaky gut syndrome which leads to inflammation. I don't think these better for you soft drinks are making any promises but, any amount of fiber that will get you to your daily intake of 22 grams is a win.

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Garrett McBride, SPSM, thanks for sharing insights on the Fall Harvest in this video!

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This deal has the potential be an interesting one. On the surface, Mars acquiring a snacking business like Kellanova makes strategic sense— complementary, fast(er) growing snacks category with nice margins for food; however, on the surface, Kellanova appears dilutive to Mars on growth and margin, so there need to be significant synergies to make a deal work. Here's a hypothesis…  Mars will spin out Kellanova’s cereal business, returning it to WK Kelloggs. The Kellanova portfolio still derives ~25% of global sales from Cereal outside North America. Cereal has slower growth and lower margin than Kellanova’s snacks portfolio; however, Kellanova depends on Cereal for scale operations outside the US where it accounts for ~45% of sales. Under a scenario where Mars acquires Kellanova, the scale problem is solved and cereal is no longer needed. For WK Kelloggs, re-integrating the international cereal business would restore the synergies lost (R&D, ops, innovation, brand management—it’s a long list) when the portfolio was split by the creation of Kellanova. There is value here. I remain critical of Kelloggs’s transition to Kellanova + WK Kelloggs. It’s nothing more than financial spin that damages the brands and brings no value to consumers. If this Mars play is perhaps the endgame that the Kellanova architects had in mind, then I may owe them an apology. If not, then it’s a fitting end to the short and unremarkable chapter that was Kellanova. www.avenirstrategies.net https://lnkd.in/eVipvXFF

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Pulses are the perfect food for consumers and the perfect crop for farmers and the environment. If you’re not a pulse farmer, consider putting them in your crop rotation.

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Latest Episode on Fresh Takes on Tech: Revolutionizing Crop Protection with Ben Cicora Join Ben Cicora, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing at Vestaron Corporation, to explore game-changing innovations in agriculture. Discover how Vestaron is leading the charge with peptide-based technologies that prioritize safety and sustainability in the face of climate change while addressing pest issues and resistance problems. In this episode, Cicora shares insights on the transformative potential of peptide-based crop protection. Learn about the differences between peptide technologies and traditional synthetic insecticides, the trials and testing procedures to test for effectiveness, and how pricing is worked out for these newer technologies. Cicora also discusses the biggest challenge of acceptance, how Vestaron engages with growers to understand their evolving needs, and who their main competitors are. Finally, discover how Vestaron's products help with biodiversity and climate change. Listen to this episode to gain a deeper understanding of the cutting-edge solutions and innovations that are revolutionizing crop protection. #agriculture #sustainability #peptidebasedtechnologies #cropprotection #innovation #climatechange International Fresh Produce Association

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📰 America’s economy is on track for a historic "soft landing," balancing inflation without recession—an achievement only matched in the 1990s! But here's the twist: consumer sentiment and actual spending behaviors are diverging. While sentiment research suggests caution, spending in retail and food service remains strong! 📈💳 This disconnect might just be the key to understanding our current economic resilience. Follow Culinary Tides, Inc. for more insights. 🌟 🛒 #SoftLanding #EconomicTrends #USEconomy #ConsumerSpending #CulinaryTides #FoodIndustry

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If you're in the food or ag business.  If that business has any connection to nuts whatsoever. Then you need to join us, July 11, 2:00 Est for the 6 Seeds Intelligence on nut consumption. We'll cover: → Consumer Preferences → New Product Development → Industry Challenges Secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/dzdJMC9A #foodinnovation #futureoffood #fooddevelopment #foodtrends

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https://lnkd.in/g2vdDTfb Thom King, chief food scientist and CIO of Icon Foods, Portland, Ore., highlights how crucial fiber is to supporting overall well-being. “Fiber is an unsung hero for weight management — it aids in satiety and is metabolized into butyrate which impacts mitochondrial function to power your cells and give you energy,” he explains. “It’s also necessary for a healthy microbiome to support your immune system, as well as dopamine and serotonin production. “Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid that is a major metabolite of the bacterial fermentation of indigestible carbohydrates commonly known as prebiotic fibers,” King continues. “It’s also reputed to have anti‐inflammatory properties and positive effects on body weight control and insulin sensitivity. This coincides and aligns with a lot of what our beverage customers and our formulations target.” As an example, King points to functional sodas that contain no sugar, but incorporate prebiotic fibers to satiate, while serving as a source of fiber for butyrate. Moreover, King points to the importance of specifically formulating beverages that support active lifestyles. “People engaging in an active lifestyle need to restore hydration from fluid lost during their workout, as well as electrolytes, especially potassium, magnesium and sodium chloride,” he says. “As it is, a majority of the public has low magnesium. Potassium can help with muscle cramps.  “A perfect hydration system includes electrolytes and fiber, with no added sugar, because spiking blood sugar levels is a pathway to inflammation, gut issues, metabolic disease and more, as well as counterproductive to hydration,” King continues. Nerd out!

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