5@5: How one Big Food company found success with content marketing | Instacart's big expansion plans

How BuzzFeed and Mondelez brought healthy food videos to the masses

Goodful, which posts quick, healthy food videos mostly on Facebook, is giving us an education in marketing in today's food world. It was started about a year ago as a partnership between snack food giant Mondelez—which realized that consumers were increasingly dodging advertising—and media brand BuzzFeed. Goodful found rapid, somewhat unexpected success, and now Mondelez is handing over the reins to BuzzFeed, although it will still sponsor videos. "As audiences become more empowered to control their viewing experience, the old model of interruptive advertising is rapidly becoming irrelevant," said a Mondelez spokeswoman. "This pilot gave us key learnings in terms of how consumers connect to content, enabling us to accelerate our content marketing capabilities." Read more at Wall Street Journal...

Instacart everywhere: Grocery-delivery service plans big expansion

Partnerships with new stores and expanding into different markets is grocery delivery service Instacart's strategy for continued growth in a tough business. But one roadblock could be a seemingly increasing discontent among its shoppers who fulfill orders. That, and competition. Read more at San Francisco Chronicle...

Amazing Grains to close; downtown co-op to begin phase out sale Tuesday

In a letter to members, the 45-year-old North Dakota organic grocer and deli said it is closing its doors. Amazing Grains has seen a 30 percent sales loss since Natural Grocers opened nearby in August. Read more at Grand Forks Herald...

Donald Trump is taking on Michelle Obama's healthy food legacy

The former first lady focused her efforts on improving nutrition and fighting obesity. But the new administration's anti-regulation stance may push back against some of those efforts. For example, incoming agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue just put forward an interim rule that gives schools more wiggle room for interpreting federal nutrition standards for school lunch. There's also been talk that the new nutrition labels set to be implemented by July 2018 may be delayed. Read more at Vox...

Another investor pushes Whole Foods to explore strategic alternatives, report says

In addition to Jana Partners, the New York City-based investment management firm Neuberger Bermann Group has also encouraged the board of Whole Foods Market to evaluate its strategic options. The firm owns 2.4 percent of the retailer's shares. Read more at Austin Business Journal...