WILDE CHIPS’ Post

Since the beginning, our goal at SkinnyDipped has been to create delicious products that are low in sugar, made with real ingredients, and are blood-sugar friendly.   Our CEO and co-founder, Breezy Griffith, recently spoke with Modern Retail about the critical role of simplicity and authenticity in today’s consumer market and how it’s informed our new look.  "Health concerns about sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners means people are reconsidering returning to regular sugar in moderation. She said the brand gained a following of pre and diabetic people due to its low-sugar recipes, who help inform future product launches. The new SkinnyDipped packaging will also feature the sugar and plant protein content more prominently, along with the slogan “snack with no strings attached.” See below to read the full article #skinnydipped #lowsugar #diabeticfriendly #womenfounded #betterforyou

Here’s a deep dive from The Hain Celestial Group and the company’s efforts to advance the #betterforyou category. New President of North America, Chad Marquardt, shares insights on the ‘Hain Reimagined’ strategy, as the company’s knowledge of the #healthyliving consumer is helping them work with their #foodretail customers to advance rhe category. #foodandbeverage #cpg #grocery #healthyfood #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing #b2bmarketing SmartBrief

How many of you knew Kellogg's had split their brand in 2 approximately a year ago???? I'll be honest, I wasn't following this one. This is an interesting case study in what can be required when a brand gets TOO big for its own good. When you go to the grocery store, have you ever noticed how long the cereal aisle is? Now, check how many of those cereals are Kellogg's brand. Kellogg's has 6 core brands under their banner (Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Special K, Raisin Bran, Froot Loops, Frosted Mini Wheats and Rice Krispies) that account for 70 % of their sales, but it's those spin off varieties like Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Krave and All-Bran) as well as Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, Cracklin’ Oat Bran, Smart Start, Crispix, Mueslix, Vector and Extra cereals plus Kashi cereals and Bear Naked granola that takes up real estate in the store. Kellogg's also had a global snack enterprise under the same banner which resulted in 6 large factories that all come with a large operating expense. The decision was made in October of 2023 to split the brand and it is paying off big time. This is a pivot for a company that hadn't fallen yet. They got ahead of it. https://lnkd.in/eWUf6iG2 🔔 What is your favorite Kellogg's cereal?

Sometimes all you need to stand out in the crowd is to turn your product upside down. 💰 Quite the story, this one. Ends with a 600$ deal. Picture yourself standing in front of the cereal aisle. Chances are you're gonna see dozens of packages. Different brands, same concepts. 🥡 Now. Those who care would turn the package around and glance over nutrition values. That's the power of insight that helped RxBar achieve its stellar success. ⚔️ You see, RXBAR was a newcomer battling for customer attention with all the big brands. The ones we all have memorized and would pick without thinking too much about it. So they had to be bold. To make it count. And to be on brand. RxBar positions itself as a clean and healthy snack. Minimum processing, no artifical stuff. Almost scientific. 👩🔬 And that's exactly what this packaging screams. 💬 "Hey, you! Put down that thing you buy every week. There's more to cereal than that!" The result? Shortly after the redesign: 👉 They got their first national distribution 👉 Their sales went from $2 million to $160 million in 1 year 👉They were acquired by Kellogg's for $600 million Not bad for a single packaging tweak, right? #ads #packagedesign #design #sales #branding #brand #cereal #marketing

We beat Heinz 🙌 Any challenger brand on Linkedin will no doubt have moments where you feel like the under dog, it drives us to make a change and gives us purpose in what we do. For us, it's providing healthier swaps (We see you Heinz & Hellmanns - clever/deceitful use of "real & good") that are free from seed oils, refined sugar and chemical preservatives like EDTA. For the first time ever on Online Grocery retailer X (you can probably guess who 😜), our best selling mayo sku beat Heinz's BEST selling mayo sku in ROS & Value terms and we also beat the ROS of all Hellmanns light sku's too compared to just 1 of our skus! We are also growing much faster, unit growth as a total brand at 64% YTD vs -3.9% for Hellmanns in the same time period. The underdogs are rising up 🎉 let's go fellow challenger health led brands - we got this!

Launching a successful challenger brand demands a fearless approach in the face of established, household names that may dominate market share. In a landscape driven by changing preferences, particularly from demographics like Gen Z and the increasingly health-conscious consumer market, challenger brands are now finding more opportunities than ever to disrupt existing norms. These brands leverage their agility, creativity, and a deep understanding of emerging trends to introduce novel concepts that align with shifting consumer values. Hunter & Gather Foods is a great example of this, with their best-selling mayo SKU beating a leading brand in ROS and Value terms. 👏 Take a look at this post from the brand's co-founder & CEO, Amy Moring. #challengerbrands #newproducts #disruptorbrands #fmcg

I stumbled upon a thought-provoking post by John Foraker, CEO of Once Upon a Farm and former CEO of Annie's, that really hit home. 🎯 It’s a powerful reminder that the biggest bets require not just vision but forward-thinking and strategic patience. As John aptly put it, "The signs were certainly there, if you looked FORWARD rather than at today," which I admit can be challenging amidst the pressures of our annual budget cycles. Many of us have faced those nail-biting decisions, just like the category expansion at Annie's. As leaders, it's crucial we rise above the minutiae and stay true to our visionary selves, even when the short-term pressures are shouting louder. That's often when the magic happens. 🚀 Cheers to nailing the present, keeping our sights on the future, and inspiring our organizations to chase those big bets. 🌟

To all the buyers currently in review for our products for 2025: Thank you so much for taking the time to try our new innovations. We know how many products get sent your way this time of year, it can be quite overwhelming. The decision to buy a product and take on a new brand for your store is exciting and nervous. It’s not easy to pick one over another sometimes and it can be stressful for a variety of reasons. We count on you to diversify the grocery shelves for every day consumers so they have options for healthier and better tasting foods. Startups are what change the landscape and without you it wouldn’t be possible. Without you, brands like ours wouldn’t be able to delight consumers and shape the future of grocery. Without you consumers wouldn’t have new and exciting products to share with their families. Without you, consumers would have fewer options to choose from. You are important to us and all entrepreneurs working to feed America. So whether we make on shelves this year or another year, thank you for giving us a chance. I know the decision isn’t easy and we appreciate you. #kroger #meijer #wholefoods #sprouts #giant #wegmans #publix #albertsons #heb #harristeeter #gianteagle #hyvee #reasors

In 2010, Annie's Inc. almost extended our brand into pouched shelf-stable baby food, as part of a broader idea in the baby aisle. We decided not to do it. We were already in 10 distinct categories with HH pen of just 2.3% & just over $100MM in revenues. Too many categories at our size, LOL (topic for another post). But baby was VERY interesting and it was a tough call. Whether we'd have been successful or not is debatable. But for me what is most memorable about this episode is the lesson I learned about category expansion assessment. At the time, organic was just 10% of the category and pouches were a just emerging format at <1%. We figured we'd play there first & with these #'s our takeaway was that the category opportunity was too small. This was the major factor in our deciding to pass. What we missed was where the consumer/category puck was going and why. Today organic is >45% of the puree category & is dominated by pouch format. We missed a MAJOR category disruption wave that led to very lucrative 2013 M&A transactions for #emergingbrands friends Shazi Visram at Happy Family Brands (Nurture Inc), Neil Grimmer at Plum Organics, and Paul Lindley OBE at Ella's Kitchen. When evaluating category expansion, spend the most time on where the category is going and why it should go there for consumers, more than on the current category state. What disruption will your brand bring to that needed wave of growth and why? When I was assessing investing with Ari Raz & Cassandra Curtis in Once Upon a Farm in 2015, and then joining it in 2017, it was clear that refrigerated format baby food should be a huge category but it was basically zero. Up to half of potential buyers were actually opting out of the baby food category almost entirely & making their own fresh/refrigerated product at home. The signs were certainly there, if you looked FORWARD rather than at today. Didn't make the same mistake twice. PS historical fun fact, I wanted to buy Happy into public Annie's but Danone beat me to it, had much admiration for what the Happy team had done and the future potential of it.

MERGER FEVER RISING AS GROWTH COOLS FOR HIGH-PRICED GROCERIES “Any board member of a consumer-packaged-goods company who is watching Kellanova-Mars play out would have to assess whether that could be a path for their future,” said Robert Moskow, a TD Cowen analyst. By Jesse Newman, The Wall Street Journal Mars’s nearly $30 billion deal for Kellanova would push the company, known for M&M’s and Snickers, into supermarkets’ chips and cracker aisles, handing Mars a larger share of a growing global snacks business. The agreement, one of the biggest on record among food makers, comes as consumers are balking at higher grocery prices and scrutiny is growing over the potential health impacts from processed food. Conditions are ripe for a fresh wave of consolidation as food companies’ sales growth slows and their stock-market valuations are depressed, according to Wall Street analysts and consultants. Pandemic-era pantry stocking and sharp price increases that continued in its aftermath fueled a sales boom for food companies. That growth has cooled, prompting executives to search for new ways to boost their businesses and cut expenses. “Everybody’s kind of getting their mojo back, but looking for growth,” Kellanova Chief Executive Steve Cahillane said in an interview Wednesday. Smaller food deals are already underway. - Soup-and-snack giant Campbell Soup this year purchased Sovos Brands, the owner of Rao’s pasta sauce, for $2.7 billion.  - J.M. Smucker paid $4.6 billion for Twinkie-maker Hostess Brands. - In recent months Kraft Heinz has been evaluating a potential sale of hot dog and bacon brand Oscar Mayer, The Wall Street Journal has reported. - Food-industry analysts have said companies like potato-chip supplier Utz, as well as Simply Good Foods and BellRing Brands, are other possible takeover targets. Many of Mars’s recent acquisitions have focused on foods perceived as healthier, though Mars CEO Poul Weihrauch said Wednesday that Mars was drawn to Kellanova’s broad portfolio. He said brands like NutriGrain and RX Bar fit well into Mars’s plan to boost its healthy offerings. At the same time, Weihrauch said he is a big fan of sour-cream-and-onion-flavored Pringles, sold in telltale green canisters in grocery aisles. https://lnkd.in/eN-QyDPz