Strategies and planning for new food business success
The 2024 Food AI Summit on the UC Berkeley campus brought together speakers from AI (artificial intelligence) technology startups, plant-based food manufacturers, food service robotics companies, food developers, nutritionists, makers of AI-driven recipe tool BakeBot, capped by a thought-provoking session with Cal Poly philosophy professors (pondering ethical issues related to AI and automating various aspects…
I’d always seen Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP popcorn at Expo West and of course at supermarkets everywhere. But not until I heard the founders’ journey on Guy Raz’s NPR podcast How I Built This, from their quandary as to how to make a living through finding success years later, did I become entranced with the brand and…
FoodDive offered this tasty headline in September 2023: “Mondelez leans on startups to help fuel ambitious growth plans” The scoop: Food brand conglomerate Mondelez said SnackFutures, its venture capital arm, plans to at least double the number of companies in its portfolio by 2030. What is SnackFutures? SnackFutures is Mondelez International’s innovation and venture hub….
Didn’t make it to 2023 Natural Products Expo? Here’s what you missed… Grain free, gluten free, organic foods and beverages will always be among the thousands of food company booths lining the floors at the Anaheim Convention Center each March for Expo West. Every year there is some ingredient or packaging twist that appears and…
What do you think when you hear: Keurig SodaStream Bartesian ? I hadn’t heard of Bartesian either, but it follows in the footsteps of other home drink-making machines…only for artisan cocktails. Brilliant! Why is a home cocktail-making machine based on flavor pods so genius? Once someone invests in buying the Bartesian, they’ll have to make…
If you’ve been waiting to start a home-based, packaged food business to sell food on Etsy, to retailers and wholesalers, or directly to food lovers across California, well now is the time… Here’s the full scoop on California homemade cottage food laws and our Micro Enterprise Home Kitchen Operator law (MEHKO) for homemade meal…
Looking for healthy, delicious snack ideas? I drove almost 8,000 miles in the dead of Winter and never stopped to buy food…for real! My list of foods that didn’t require cooking or heating is more timely than ever! Don’t wait till next winter. Don’t wait till your next road trip. Or a once-in-a-generation snowstorm. There’s…
In 2016, a report from Zillow determined that new Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s grocery stores increased neighborhood home values within a mile of the supermarkets.* This was before Amazon acquired Whole Foods, and their data spanned many years, finding “etween 1997 and 2014, homes near a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods appreciated an average…
In Septemeber of 2019, Nancy Chang contacted me to ask how to get her soup business started. She explained: “We are creating nutritionally dense and herbal teas for people who are recovering from treatment for cancer in Oakland and delivering to them starting in the East Bay. This concept has been a passion and purpose…
“You have a remarkable flair for the obvious.” Sometimes I don’t. And sometimes the Internet doesn’t either. And this leads to my fruit fly story. Recently, I heard I wasn’t the only one for whom clusters of flies mysteriously appeared despite my not having any food around. I went online and discovered all sorts of DIY…
