Outtakes from our bi-weekly newsletter. To get on our list, email warren@frbuyer.com.
King Charles III sells organic frozen and dairy foods under the Duchy Originals brand. Across the pond, you can find them exclusively in Waitrose, the supermarket chain. Lots of frozen, dairy, ice cream, eggs, meats, teas and more. Charles established the company in 1992. As one source puts it, “It isn’t the cheapest brand around.”
Totino’s is now a $1B brand. “There are some categories we have seen significant increases in household penetration, things like Totino’s. So General Mills had – before the pandemic— eight brands with $1 billion in retail sales. And now Totino’s is the ninth. And am I confident Totino’s will continue to grow and grow faster coming? Yes, I am, because we’ve grown the number of households for Totino’s.” —Jeff Harmening, chairman and CEO, General Mills, speaking in the context of business since the pandemic began.
Beyond Meat’s “Beyond The Original Orange Chicken” has gone nationwide in Panda Express locations. The vegan Chinese food menu items were initially tested in pilot programs at Panda Express in New York and Southern California beginning in 2021. Meanwhile, Taco Bell is testing a Beyond Carne Asada Steak product in Ohio.
Look, ma. No milk! “Cereal lovers can now add cold water to new Kellogg’s Instabowls to get real milk instantly,” according to the company. Consumers like the portability, and ease of just adding “cold water to the fill line and the instantized milk turns into real milk with a quick stir,” the company says.
Plant-based food sales grew three times faster than total food sales, with market value at an all-time high of $7.4 billion, according to the Non-GMO Project, Bellingham, Wash. In a new case study covering 2019-2021, SPINS found that Non-GMO Project Verified frozen plant-based meat alternatives rose 71.7%, as opposed to only 10.4% for unlabeled products in the same category. n
