Pepsi to buy Granny Smith apple chips maker Bare Foods
Big CGP companies continue to snap up better-for-you food brands to diversify their portfolios as consumer tastes shift. This time it’s Pepsi buying Bare Foods (doing business as Bare Snacks), maker of baked apple, banana and coconut snacks. The company will remain independently operated and report into Frito-Lay North America, Pepsi said. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but CNBC cited a source saying that Pepsi paid less than $200 million. Read more at Reuters…
Kroger buys Home Chef for $200 million as meal kits continue march into grocery stores
Home Chef is reportedly the third-largest meal kit company, behind HelloFresh and Blue Apron, and has had two consecutive quarters of profit, according to Kroger. The retailer says Home Chef will continue to operate its e-commerce business and will take over Kroger’s meal solutions portfolio. A slew of meal kit partnerships with grocery chains, like Albertsons’ acquisition of Plated, and Chef’d and Blue Apron’s partnership with Costco, are giving these companies access to many new consumers in brick-and-mortar stores. Read more at The Spoon…
How this food startup put a healthy twist on waffles
Meet Swapples, a company that makes vegan and paleo-friendly waffles from cassava and other fruit and vegetable ingredients. All of the varieties are free of eggs, peanuts, soy dairy and grains, and they come in both sweet and savory flavors. They’re currently being carried in small natural food stores in New York as the company works to scale. Read more at The Bridge Brooklyn…
Generation Z: The power to upend the meat case
While many food companies focus on millennials, they should also consider Generation Z—the offspring of Gen X born after 1996. This generation has never known life without widespread internet access and tends to be bigger consumers of organic food, which means they could really continue the food industry shakeup. Read more at Ag Web…
What if school lunch programs promoted public health, good jobs and the environment?
More schools across the nation are jumping on board with school food programs that focus on health, wellness and sustainability. The Good Food Purchasing Program, which started in Los Angeles in 2012, is now in four cities and has demonstrated benefits including local job creation, reduced water use and more. Read more at The Nation…
