Each day at 5 p.m. we collect the five top food and supplement headlines of the day, making it easy for you to catch up on today's most important natural products industry news.

May 12, 2017

2 Min Read
5@5: Unilever makes a bet on meal kits | Kroger testing convenience

Unilever is investing in the red-hot meal kit space

Sun Basket announced a $9.2 million addition to its Series C funding from Unilever Ventures, Baseline Ventures and Founders Circle Capital, bringing its total raised in the round to $24.2 million. Unilever says it looked at a variety of meal kits to invest in but settled on Sun Basket because of its strong customer retention rates—something that's been particularly challenging for many meal kit makers. Sun Basket's kits focus on organic produce and antibiotic-free meats. Read more at Fortune...

 

Kroger to unveil new convenience concept

Could Kroger be the next big retailer to go small? It's apparently running a small test of a new store concept called Fresh Eats MKT near Columbus, Ohio, which CFO Mike Schlotman described as a "different kind of convenience store" that will offer fresh produce, meat, bakery and dairy products. Read more at Supermarket News...

 

Food startup Salted is bringing its meal kits to Whole Foods

Shunning the traditional delivery model for meal kits, Salted is targeting retailers to get its kits into the hands of consumers. The kits include seven to nine ingredients (but not meat), have a shelf life of two weeks and cost $12 for two servings. Read more at Tech Crunch...

 

This guilt-free ice cream is a cult hit, thanks to Instagram

Halo Top, maker of not-really-ice-cream frozen desserts made from milk protein, plant fiber, egg whites, erythritol and Stevia, employs more than a dozen communications and marketing staffers who develop digital content for the brand. But those efforts apparently pay off—the brand has never paid influencers to promote its products, and until recently hadn't spent any money on traditional advertising. Yet sales grew more than 2,000 percent last year. Read more at Bloomberg...

 

Uncertainty ahead for farmers dependent on government climate research

Farmers and ranchers, whose livelihoods are closely tied to weather and environment, may not be able to rely on the government to study climate change and help them adapt if the new administration shifts resources away from such research. The government spent more than $11.6 billion on climate research in 2014, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the Obama administration oversaw the establishment of 10 Climate Hubs. The recently passed federal budget maintains most scientific research funding, but researchers are still concerned. Read more at KUNC...

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