NOSH

NOSH Nosh.com covers the world of packaged food.

NOSH, a product of BevNET.com, Inc., covers the world of entrepreneurial packaged food companies and services that are expanding rapidly due to interest in Natural, Organic, Sustainable and Healthy (NOSH) products and businesses. The growth of these kinds of products has created an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, consumers, suppliers, employees, distributors, retailers, investors, regulators, and serv

ice providers: The goal of NOSH is to become the leading source of informed, comprehensive coverage and context in regard to this growing community of businesses and the larger trends affecting it, both internally and externally. Become a BevNET & NOSH Insider to read our comprehensive daily news coverage, receive discounts to our two-day event series for the natural food industry, NOSH Live, and access networking opportunities to move your business forward.

David Protein is extending its high-growth portfolio beyond pure performance with Bronze, an indulgence-positioned bar l...
01/05/2026

David Protein is extending its high-growth portfolio beyond pure performance with Bronze, an indulgence-positioned bar line built around decadence and “the most decadent protein on the planet” claim. 🍫

The new coated bars, featuring a whipped marshmallow core and crunchy inclusions, come in four dessert-inspired flavors and clock in at 20 grams of protein, 150 calories and zero grams of sugar, positioning them as a sweeter counterpart to the brand’s flagship Gold bar. Yet the formulations lean on a controversial fat replacer that’s currently at the center of an antitrust lawsuit against the company. The launch caps a period of rapid expansion for the Peter Rahal–founded brand, which has raised $75 million, acquired Epogee and is projecting more than $100 million in first-year revenue.

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/david-protein-launches-indulgence-positioned-bar-bronze?utm_social=li_nosh

The latest “masterpiece” – to borrow the brand’s words – in the David Protein portfolio is Bronze, an indulgent line of coated bars that debuted today.

Frozen waffle brand Evergreen is kicking off the new year with a fresh $15.2M funding round as competition in the frozen...
01/05/2026

Frozen waffle brand Evergreen is kicking off the new year with a fresh $15.2M funding round as competition in the frozen breakfast aisle accelerates. 🧇📈

The Illinois-based, better-for-you brand—known for its fruit- and veggie-forward waffles and a growing presence in over 8,000 retail doors—filed a new equity raise with the SEC at the end of 2025, adding two industry investors to its board. The round marks a continued bet from New York VC firm Melitas Ventures and follows a year of brand evolution, product resets and a sharpened focus on its core waffle lineup. As new entrants and legacy players crowd the freezer case, Evergreen is positioning this capital to take on both upstarts and category giants in its own way.

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/frozen-waffle-brand-evergreen-begins-year-with-15m?utm_social=li_nosh

🛒🥞

Frozen waffle company Evergreen reported a $15.2 million investment with new board members from Melitas Ventures and Critical Mass Group.

Luxury bakery brand Lexington Bakes is reshaping its strategy with a new pack size, price point and protein boost aimed ...
01/05/2026

Luxury bakery brand Lexington Bakes is reshaping its strategy with a new pack size, price point and protein boost aimed squarely at retail growth. 🍪📈

The Los Angeles-based company has trimmed its chilled oat bars from 2 oz. to 1.65 oz., a move that allowed it to drop SRP to $3.99 while preserving its “super indulgent” thickness and margin profile. Alongside the size and price shift, Lexington Bakes is rolling out three new protein cookies — including a co-branded SKU with BTR Nation — and has upped the protein in its Chilled Oat Bars from 4g to 6g per serving. New opaque packaging with food photography and recent retailer wins at Central Market and Mariano’s signal a broader push into the national natural channel, with bigger conversations now opening up with Sprouts.

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/lexington-bakes-readies-retail-growth-with-new-price-pack-size-and-protein?utm_social=li_nosh

Lexington Bakes is rolling out a slightly smaller pack size to lower its price point and save on costs without “heavily” sacrificing margin points.

From ice cream to instant mashed potatoes, 2025 may be remembered as the year protein showed up in nearly every aisle of...
01/05/2026

From ice cream to instant mashed potatoes, 2025 may be remembered as the year protein showed up in nearly every aisle of the grocery store 🧬🍦

Protein claims are now attached to soda, pasta sauce, popcorn and even Pop-Tarts, with Google searches for “protein” surging over 56% and a majority of Americans reporting they’ve upped their intake. At the same time, new brands are testing how far the macronutrient can stretch into indulgent formats like frozen desserts and fresh pasta, while ingredient suppliers quietly shift the narrative from muscle-building to metabolic health, women’s wellness and healthy aging. Yet insiders are split: has the market hit “semantic satiation,” or is there still plenty of shelf space left – and could fiber, combinations with creatine and collagen, or personalization reset the stakes for what comes after peak protein?

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/the-year-protein-hit-its-peak-and-what-comes-next?utm_social=li_nosh

America’s protein obsession seemingly scaled to new heights in 2025, popping up in everything from instant mashed potatoes and pasta sauce to popcorn, chocolate bars and even Pop-Tarts.

Snacking and beverage brands are leaning hard into nostalgia, functionality and flavor mashups in the latest wave of CPG...
01/02/2026

Snacking and beverage brands are leaning hard into nostalgia, functionality and flavor mashups in the latest wave of CPG launches. 🍫☕️

Righteous Felon is building on fresh investment from GroundForce Capital with a new Honey Heist BBQ beef stick that aims for “backyard cookout vibes,” while Barebells turns a classic lunchbox combo into a high-protein Peanut Butter & Jelly bar. Ritz is testing how far the sweet-and-salty trend can go with drizzled mini crackers, and ActivatedYou is betting on mushroom-powered instant coffee featuring multiple functional varieties. One frozen novelty brand is also quietly positioning its latest mini pops as a hydration play.

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/new-products-righteous-felons-honey-heist-bbq-ritz-does-sweet-and-salty?utm_social=li_nosh

In this week’s notable new products roundup, Barebells takes inspiration from a lunchbox staple for its newest protein bar flavor, Ritz taps into the sweet-and-salty trend, and ActivatedYou unveils a mushroom-infused instant coffee.

CVS is refining a national playbook for taking better-for-you food brands from discovery to scale in the pharmacy channe...
01/02/2026

CVS is refining a national playbook for taking better-for-you food brands from discovery to scale in the pharmacy channel. 🧭

At Nosh Live 2025, Lauren Castro, lead director of healthy consumables and grocery at CVS Health, outlined how the retailer vets emerging brands, what makes a product “CVS-ready,” and why flavor now leads while health benefits are non-negotiable. Categories from high-protein snacks to gluten-free, plant-based and “better-for-you indulgence” are seeing outsized traction, especially when products blend familiar formats with functional twists. Castro also detailed how CVS backs young brands post-launch with curated rollouts, premium placement, targeted promos and a visibility push that many startups are not expecting. 🛒📈

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/inside-cvss-playbook-for-scaling-better-for-you-food-brands?utm_social=li_nosh

At Nosh Live 2025, Lauren Castro, lead director of healthy consumables and grocery at CVS Health, discussed how the retailer identifies new products, evaluates which brands are ready to launch and scale in its nationwide footprint, and supports young companies as they enter a channel that looks a li...

Frozen breakfast is getting a shakeup as The DropOut Companies moves into the morning daypart with a Target-exclusive la...
01/02/2026

Frozen breakfast is getting a shakeup as The DropOut Companies moves into the morning daypart with a Target-exclusive launch of Bronco breakfast bagels. 🥯☕

The new frozen handhelds—Turkey Bacon, Egg & Cheese and Turkey Sausage, Egg & Cheese—offer 15–21 grams of protein per sandwich and are made without seed oils, rolling out now to frozen endcaps at Target nationwide at $6.99 per 2-pack. Backed by proprietary bagel IP and an 18-month R&D process, Bronco aims to deliver bagel shop-style quality from the microwave or air fryer, targeting next-gen consumers who have largely abandoned legacy frozen breakfast options. The move comes as frozen breakfast sandwiches hit $2.3B in early 2024 sales and as DropOut doubles down on the freezer case following its Jams PB&J-style line and a new operating partnership with Poppi co-founder Stephen Ellsworth.

https://www.nosh.com/news/2026/the-dropout-companies-expands-frozen-portfolio-with-target-exclusive-launch-of-bronco-breakfast-bagels?utm_social=li_nosh

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Consumer products house The DropOut Companies is expanding its frozen handhelds portfolio with the Target-exclusive launch of Bronco breakfast bagels this month.

From blockbuster deals to abrupt collapses, Nosh’s most-read stories of 2025 chart a turbulent year for emerging food an...
12/31/2025

From blockbuster deals to abrupt collapses, Nosh’s most-read stories of 2025 chart a turbulent year for emerging food and beverage brands. 📊

This year’s top 10 list spans massive funding rounds, cyberattacks disrupting national distribution, high-profile acquisitions by strategics like Chobani and Flowers Foods, and one alt-protein startup that went from a $650 million valuation to a multimillion-dollar fire sale. It also highlights a disappearing founder, a fast-growing sour candy upstart backed by a creator, and the quiet wind-down of a frozen PB&J challenger after legal and financial strain. Together, the stories offer a snapshot of where money flowed, where it vanished, and how quickly fortunes can change in CPG. ⚖️🥫

https://www.nosh.com/news/2025/the-top-10-most-read-nosh-stories-of-2025?utm_social=li_nosh

From multimillion-dollar valuations to sudden shutdowns, the stories that resonated most with Nosh readers this year reveal just how dynamic the packaged food landscape has become.

How is the “Make America Healthy Again” movement reshaping Big Food’s playbook in 2025? 🍽️ In this CPG Week episode, No...
12/31/2025

How is the “Make America Healthy Again” movement reshaping Big Food’s playbook in 2025? 🍽️

In this CPG Week episode, Nosh’s reporting team unpacks the year’s defining trends: from major manufacturers rethinking controversial ingredients to landmark M&A, including PepsiCo’s nearly $2 billion bet on Poppi. They also examine how restructuring at leading conglomerates is rewriting competitive dynamics across the aisle. Plus, a closer look at where h**p and cannabis-infused products really stand amid shifting regulations and investor sentiment. 🎙️🌿

https://www.nosh.com/news/2025/cpg-week-podcast-maha-ma-and-more-2025s-top-stories?utm_social=li_nosh

This week on the podcast, Nosh managing editor Monica Watrous and senior reporters Brad Avery and Lukas Southard reflect on the top stories of the year, including the rising influence of the Make America Healthy Again movement on the food and beverage industry, the biggest merger moments, and notabl...

Brand-to-brand collaborations are quickly becoming one of CPG’s most powerful growth levers — but only the best-planned ...
12/31/2025

Brand-to-brand collaborations are quickly becoming one of CPG’s most powerful growth levers — but only the best-planned collabs actually move the needle. 🤝

From Fly By Jing using flavor mashups to fuel earned media, to Fishwife treating collabs as fan-engagement engines, emerging brands are redefining what “partnership” really means. Social strategist Kendall Dickieson points to Graza’s ice cream collaboration as more than a stunt — it doubled as a live test for future innovation and proof that social buzz can translate into strategy. In this panel, Dickieson, Fishwife’s Becca Millstein and Fly By Jing’s Jing Gao unpack how they choose partners, measure ROI and turn limited drops into long-term brand advantage. 🍦📈

https://www.nosh.com/news/2025/how-to-finesse-the-art-of-the-collab-and-earn-media-attention?utm_social=li_nosh

Collaborations have become an essential growth lever for emerging brands this year, but planning and ex*****on make or break whether they have a tangible impact.

Food and beverage dealmaking reshaped the landscape in 2025, as global conglomerates, emerging brands and private equity...
12/30/2025

Food and beverage dealmaking reshaped the landscape in 2025, as global conglomerates, emerging brands and private equity all moved aggressively to reposition. 📊

From the breakup of the former Kellogg’s empire and Kraft Heinz’s unwinding into two separate public companies, to billion-dollar cereal and private label transactions, legacy portfolios were carved up while others doubled down on snacks and alt-dairy. At the same time, a wave of brands — from Zego and Seven Sundays to Laird Superfood — turned to vertical integration and co-manufacturer acquisitions to lock in production. Deals around Simple Mills, LesserEvil, Daily Harvest, Caulipower, Bubbies, Justin’s and Miyoko’s underscore how many brands are now on their third or fourth owner, raising new questions about where value is really being created in modern CPG. ⚙️📦

https://www.nosh.com/news/2025/a-look-back-on-ma-deals-in-2025?utm_social=li_nosh

In 2025, food companies, both big and small, restructured and acquired new brands to stay competitive amid a reframing of priorities.

Strategic capital in food is shifting from “growth at all costs” to disciplined, return-driven investing. 🍽️📊 At Nosh L...
12/30/2025

Strategic capital in food is shifting from “growth at all costs” to disciplined, return-driven investing. 🍽️📊

At Nosh Live 2025, investors from Rich Products Ventures and FF2032 unpacked how corporate-backed funds are rethinking early-stage bets in a tighter capital environment. Both pointed to founder quality, unit economics and margins as non‑negotiables, pushing back on assumptions that corporate money is primarily about “strategic” plays. And while each fund takes a different approach to structure and alignment with its corporate backer, both are recalibrating what it takes for emerging brands to get a yes in 2026 and beyond.

https://www.nosh.com/news/2025/why-strategic-capital-looks-different-in-foods-next-growth-era?utm_social=li_nosh

At Nosh Live 2025, Brian Bernstein of Rich Products Ventures and Axel Malbrain of FF2032 – both backed by large, established food companies – outlined how their funds operate with a financial-return-first mindset, despite common assumptions about corporate venture capital.

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About NOSH

NOSH is the leading media platform for the Natural, Organic, Sustainable, and Healthy (NOSH) packaged food community. NOSH offers comprehensive daily coverage though nosh.com and industry innovation and growth events through our NOSH Live series.

Published by BevNET.com, Inc.