Summer is knocking and the beverage aisle is already sweating. Three things are colliding this week: a protein drink wave that’s bigger than anyone expected, a can market tighter than most launch timelines account for, and a social food culture that keeps rewarding the bold and the bizarre over the polished and the safe.

The thread running through all of it? Value pressure is real, but the attention economy still rewards a clear benefit, a format people clock in three seconds, and something worth posting. That’s the narrow gate every CPG founder is trying to thread right now.

Also, the Sweets & Snacks Expo just wrapped in Vegas (May 19–21). We’re watching what came off that floor all week. And we hosted our first-ever Hackathon in Atlanta. The recap videos are up, subscribe to our YouTube.

We’ve gone more technical (still cool) and broken our newsletters out. Here are our themes:

Hit reply and let us know which one interests you most. We are scanning your reading data and dropping your account into groups to receive targeted emails based on the category we think most interests you - starting next week.

More below on what we’re tracking … and what we think it means.

🌱

New Signals in Food

Fiber is having a moment, cans are tight, and the creator economy just became a distribution strategy.

The SipMargs lesson: Alix Earle didn’t go pitch margaritas on TikTok. She made the brand part of her life content. That’s the difference between an ad and a cultural moment - and Sazerac just paid real money to learn it. (@alixearle / @sipmargs)

Meanwhile #fibermaxxing is the format on TikTok right now: daily fiber intake posts, gut-health “what I eat in a day” videos, high-fiber product reviews. OLIPOP just walked into the middle of it with a full rebrand: new packaging, a “Feel Good Soda” campaign on CTV and social, and a national launch into all 174 Fresh Market locations across 22 states via UNFI starting May 13. (Parade, Wholesome Goods)

The take: Fibermaxxing is not a niche — it’s the next proteinization wave. If your formulation has a fiber story you haven’t told yet, now is the time.

The Can Is Tighter Than Your Q3 Launch Plan Assumes

Ball, Crown, and Ardagh are all bracing for elevated summer demand while managing inflation and higher material costs. (Food Dive) Summer demand historically compresses lead times by 4–6 weeks — and in a year where input costs are already elevated, that window is shorter than usual.

If you have a summer RTD launch in the pipeline: a beverage, a functional shot, anything carbonated. The question worth asking right now is whether your can allocation is confirmed. Brands that treat packaging as a final step will feel this in July. Brands with sourcing visibility built into their development timeline won’t be surprised.

The take: Packaging is strategy, not logistics.

Sazerac Bets on RTD Margaritas — And Creator Brands as a Portfolio Play

Sazerac Bets on RTD Margaritas — And Creator Brands as a Portfolio Play

Sazerac [the Fireball people] just took a stake in SipMargs, Alix Earle’s canned margarita brand, after an earlier bet on Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila. (Reuters)

When a legacy spirits company treats influencer-founded brands as a portfolio strategy, the playbook has officially crossed the chasm.

🎤 Culture

Sports x Food: The Athlete Brand Formula

The athlete-backed food brand is no longer a vanity play, it’s a distribution formula: athlete credibility + functional benefit + massive retail reach. Tom Brady’s has GOAT Gummies (organic, real fruit, no artificial anything) and Jams. There’s the protein PB&J backed by Alex Morgan, CJ Stroud, and Micah Parsons, rolling into 3,000 Walmart stores all proving the same thing.

With WNBA season hitting its stride, the intersection of women’s sports and wellness is the most underserved aisle in America right now. Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu. These athletes move culture. The brands that figure out authentic partnerships there first are going to look very smart very soon.

Who Built That

Let’s talk about passion fruit for a second. The market is projected to hit $775M by 2033. And suddenly everyone has a functional beverage deck featuring it. But ask your Caribbean or Brazilian auntie and she’ll tell you passion fruit has been in the blender since before it had a market report.

The same pattern plays out with tamarind, jackfruit, hibiscus, calabaza, mole-spiced snacks. The “trending ingredient” was somebody’s grandmother’s pantry staple first. When Black and Brown founders bring these flavors to shelf, they’re not riding a trend. We seeing a shift where they’re finally getting credited for one.

The frozen aisle still has almost no authentic representation of Black and Brown home cooking at scale. That’s not a gap - that’s a runway.

Social Cues

What’s actually on TikTok this week:

• 🌶 Spicy pickle bowl: a literal bowl of brine, pickles, jalapeños, sausage, and hot sauce. It sounds unhinged. It has millions of views. The pickle renaissance is not a phase. (Watch it)

• 🎂 Chaos cakes: maximalist, intentionally messy, completely unashamed. Up on Instagram and spreading to TikTok. The aesthetic is brat summer applied to buttercream. (See the trend) / (TikTok: @sweethart.cakes)

• 🍌 Banana coffee: went viral after BTS Jungkook was spotted sipping banana milk; now hitting cafe menus. Banana-cinnamon lattes, banana cold foam, cold brews with fermented banana. Starbucks tests in motion. (TikTok discover)

• 🥒 Dill pickle dip: in the top TikTok recipes of 2026. The format is simple, the ingredient pull is real.

• 🥟 Dumpling lasagna: trending Feb–May 2026. Fusion formats that are postable and easy to replicate at home are consistently winning.

⚡ Quick Hits

Hit the Sweets & Snacks Expo Floor This Week

These are real, this-week links worth 5 minutes of your time:

• Sweets & Snacks Expo 2026 Award Winners The best signal of where retail buyers are paying attention for the next 12 months. We love the sweets a little too much and also try to hack sugar with algorithms. The Sweets & Snacks Expo in Las Vegas this — meat snacks, sweet treats, salty snacks — right as the Expo announced its 2026 Most Innovative New Product Award winners. (PR Newswire) (Sweets & Snacks)

  Worth watching what won. Award winners at trade shows are often the best early signal of where retail buyers’ attention is going over the next 12 months.

• This Week in CPG — May 19 Stone & Skillet $5M, Roxberry $4M, and what else moved this week

• Produce Headlines: May 18, 2026 — Blue Book FDA leadership appointment, food price pressure, Kroger Memorial Day moves

• CPG Guys Commerce Riff — May 19 Grocery inflation, quarterly earnings, Starbucks layoffs, Target board battles in one pod

For more insights and updates, follow us on social media or visit Journey Foods.

*Disclaimer: Our newsletters are focused on trends, callouts, engagement testing, and true impact. We do not take money from brands for coverage.

Hey snackers,

Morgan Stanley just put a date on the Hormuz closure. If it runs into June, the oil shock that hasn’t happened yet starts happening fast. Crude, fertilizer, packaging, freight, all of it.

Translation for procurement: this is a Q3 sourcing decision that needs a desk this week, not next month.

Also somewhere in here: a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that scientists are quietly calling a climate story. Because of course we’re doing that too now.

Below: the cockpit view, and what to do before the buffers break.

The pressure point

The June window is when the Hormuz buffers break.

Morgan Stanley’s commodities team, led by Martijn Rats, put a name on what procurement teams have been quietly modeling. The oil market is in a race against time. The factors keeping crude below 2022 levels stop holding if Hormuz stays closed into June. Nearly 1 billion barrels of supply lost, and prices still haven’t broken out. Buffers held. Three of them: market expectation of a reopening, U.S. crude exports filling the gap, slowing Chinese demand softening the shock.

All three are fragile. The reopening expectation is calendar-bound. Every week without a deal erodes it. U.S. export capacity has ceilings. China’s slowdown is cyclical, not structural. If closure runs into June, buffers don’t just weaken. They invert. The oil move that hasn’t happened starts happening fast.

For CPG procurement, this is the timing call that matters more than any single ingredient price. Crude is upstream of fertilizer, packaging, freight, and the petrochemicals running through half your line. A delayed oil shock isn’t a delayed problem. It’s a compressed one. The brands moving on alternative sourcing this week are pricing in Morgan Stanley’s window. The brands waiting are betting the strait reopens on someone else’s schedule.

Commodity · Fertilizer

If the June window doesn’t hold, fertilizer is where you see it first.

A third of global fertilizer raw materials move through Hormuz (UN News, April 2026). Urea, the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer on the planet, jumped from $475 to $680 per metric ton in nine weeks. That’s a 43% move. The World Bank now projects fertilizer prices up 31% on the year, with urea up 60%. If Morgan Stanley’s window breaks, that 60% becomes the floor.

The downstream timeline matters more than the price. Spring planting in rice-producing regions is already disrupted. Bangladesh is the most-cited example. Same pressure hitting U.S. maize sowing decisions, where farmers are now choosing between less fertilizer (lower yield) and eating the cost (compressed margin). Either path lands at the CPG ingredient deck by late summer harvest.

This isn’t a price spike. It’s a planting-season distortion. It shows up in your COGS in September and stays through 2027.

Chokepoint watch

The rerouting is now the baseline.

Container traffic that used to move through Hormuz is now rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope. Adds 10 to 14 days per voyage (Global Trade Magazine, 2026). For perishable categories like citrus, dairy, and some vegetable oils, that’s not a cost increase. That’s a viability problem.

The petrochemical side is the quieter story. Plastics, packaging films, chemical inputs for food manufacturing, all moving through the same disrupted complex. If your packaging supplier hasn’t sent you a Q3 price update yet, they will. The brands that already locked alternative sourcing are sitting on a 60 to 90 day advantage.

Commodity

Vegetable oils are the most exposed category in your kitchen.

FAO Food Price Index hit 130.7 in April. Third straight monthly increase, highest reading since February 2023 (Reuters, May 8). Vegetable oils are the single biggest driver. Palm and soy flows still disrupted from Iran and Hormuz. The FAO’s vegetable oil sub-index is now well above the broader food index.

The substitution math is brutal. Palm to soy doesn’t work. Soy is also up. Soy to sunflower runs into Black Sea supply still constrained from 2022. Sunflower to rapeseed runs into European weather and biofuel demand. The brands navigating this best aren’t substituting. They’re reformulating to reduce vegetable oil dependence entirely, or locking multi-origin contracts now. The FAO outlook through Q3 shows no relief.

If you’re a formulator: every SKU with a vegetable oil line is exposed. Every one.

Regional exposure

Three regions are absorbing the worst of it. Bangladesh and South Asia, where rice fertilizer shortages will cut 2026 harvest by some unquantified margin. Brazil, where dry sowing is layering on top of fertilizer cost and threatening maize and soy output (Reuters, May 8). U.S. Midwest, where farmers are making fertilizer decisions right now that determine the September harvest you’re sourcing against.

For procurement: your supplier’s regional concentration is now a risk indicator on a different timeline. A supplier with 80% of an input from one region was always concentration risk. In 2026, that’s climate risk plus fertilizer-shock risk plus shipping risk, stacked.

USDA moved its 2026 food price forecast to 3.6%, up from the 3.1% projection from a few months ago. That revision is still trailing the FAO data.

Policy move

Tariffs are still passing through, slowly.

The Q1 tariff structure is still working downstream into shelf prices. Alcohol, dairy, confectionery, and packaging-heavy categories are most exposed. Steel and aluminum tariffs are hitting food-system infrastructure (cans, equipment, packaging lines) in addition to direct ingredient costs (FMI, 2026).

Tariff pass-through isn’t a one-time event. It’s a 6 to 9 month wave that compounds with the commodity moves above. CPG is squeezed between rising inputs and consumers fatigued by years of price increases. The brands holding margin without more shelf price moves are the ones running reformulation, SKU rationalization, and supplier intelligence in parallel.

P&G’s Q3 FY2026 was a useful tell. Net sales $21.2 billion, up 7%, organic sales up 3% across all 10 categories. The biggest house in CPG is holding. The question for mid-market brands is whether they have the same sourcing flexibility P&G is using to absorb volatility without passing it through.

Also worth reading

The hantavirus outbreak is also a supply chain signal.

A month into the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak, infectious disease researchers are making a parallel argument. Hantaviruses live in rodents. Rodent ranges shift as the climate warms. Climate-driven instability pushes reservoir hosts toward grain stores, warehouses, and dry goods facilities. A 2022 Nature Climate Change study found more than half of known infectious diseases have already been worsened by climate hazards. Hantaviruses aren’t tropical, so this isn’t a range-expansion story. It’s a habitat-displacement story.

For procurement: nothing in your Q3 plan changes. What changes is what “supplier audit” means. Next time you walk a co-packer, dry storage facility, or grain handler, pest management protocol isn’t a checkbox. It’s a climate-resilience indicator.

The lesson

This is closer to 2008 than 2022.

2022 was a single-vector event. Ukraine grain, with downstream effects. What’s happening now looks closer to 2007 and 2008. Fertilizer, energy, vegetable oils, and shipping all moving together, layered on top of climate-driven planting disruption and tariff pass-through. That pattern took roughly 18 months to fully unwind. The CPG winners coming out were the brands that locked alternative sourcing, reformulated dependence on single-region inputs, and built multi-origin networks before the worst hit shelf.

The brands that wait for clarity lose 12 to 18 months of margin to the brands that move on incomplete information.

What you do now

Three moves before the June window.

1. Price your top SKUs against the Morgan Stanley scenario, not a hope scenario. Model COGS for a Hormuz closure that runs past June 1. If the math doesn’t work at that floor, forward-buys and alternative-sourcing decisions need a desk this week. Not after the buffers break.

2. Lock multi-origin contracts on every vegetable oil line you have. Substitution doesn’t work category-to-category in 2026. The only durable hedge is geographic diversification within each oil type. If your current supplier can’t source from at least two regions, the supplier is the risk.

3. Get your packaging supplier on a Q3 cost call this week. The petrochemical pass-through hasn’t fully hit yet. The brands getting the conversation in before late July are locking 60 to 90 day advantage. The brands that wait are negotiating into a floor that’s already moved.

The brands coming out of 2026 with margin intact aren’t the ones predicting the next move. They’re the ones with the sourcing intelligence to absorb three or four moves at once without rebuilding their supplier network mid-quarter.

Stay sharp,

Riana & Team

Brands paid $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime ($266,666 per second) targeting 30-60% bumps in brand recall and up to 1000% spikes in site traffic. But here’s the story that wasn’t in any Super Bowl ad: Puerto Rico imports 85% of its food.

For an island with year-round growing seasons and rich agricultural heritage, this isn’t natural—it’s manufactured. Colonial policies systematically pushed people off the land, prioritized imports, and stripped the infrastructure that once sustained a thriving farming economy.

The result? Extreme food insecurity and vulnerability every time a hurricane hits or supply chains break.

This is an American food security issue. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory with 3.2 million American citizens. It also has tremendous opportunity to become a regional exporter to Caribbean countries and the Southern U.S.—that’s economic power we’re leaving on the table.

Bad Bunny’s platform consistently centers Puerto Rican identity. While brands spent millions on Super Bowl spots, his halftime performance brought visibility to an island where farmers are fighting for food sovereignty. That’s the kind of cultural authenticity you can’t buy with ad spend.

In this article we are also exploring Black creator jingles, candy consumer uproar, Food Pyramid recap, and more.

At Journey AI, we process over billions of CPG data points on efficiencies - daily. But data alone doesn’t solve systemic issues like food dependency, safety gaps, or the cultural disconnects between what consumers want and what the industry provides. That’s why we’re exploring stories that show how food systems change: through farmer-led resilience, consumer-driven accountability, and creators who shift how we consume with more joy.

🇵🇷 FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: Puerto Rico’s Fight for Independence

The Crisis: 85% Import Dependency

Puerto Rico imports approximately 85% of its food. For an island with rich agricultural tradition, year-round growing seasons, and biodiversity that once sustained a thriving farming economy, this dependency isn’t natural—it’s manufactured.

How We Got Here

Colonial policies systematically pushed people off the land, prioritized imports over local production, and weakened agricultural infrastructure. The result: limited food security and extreme vulnerability during crises. When hurricanes hit, when supply chains break, when global disruptions happen, Puerto Rico suffers disproportionately.

The Resistance: Farmers Rebuilding Resilience

Across the island, farmers are reclaiming food independence—not by controlling the land, but by working with it. They’re growing traditional crops, creating regional distribution networks, and proving that food sovereignty is possible when communities invest in their own agricultural futures.

Why This Is an American Issue

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory with 3.2 million American citizens. Yet its food system operates like a colony—dependent on imports, stripped of the agricultural infrastructure that once sustained it. It also has a tremendous amount of opportunity to be an exporter to other caribbean countries and the Southern mainland US - that is economic power. This isn’t just a Puerto Rican problem. It’s an American food security issue and a question of how we value communities, support resilience, and honor agricultural knowledge.

The Path Forward

Food sovereignty requires investment in local farming infrastructure, support for traditional agricultural practices, and policy changes that prioritize local production over import dependency. The island that gave us sofrito, plantains, and coffee traditions deserves a food system as vibrant and self-determined as its culture.

“Girl Dinner” Goes Mainstream

What started as a TikTok joke has officially hit store shelves. Multiple grocery chains are now selling pre-packaged “Girl Dinner” meals featuring the iconic combo: sardines, crackers, grapes, and a canned beverage.

The internet’s reaction? Mixed. While some celebrate the convenience of this perfectly curated snack plate, others can’t help but laugh at how a meme became a monetized reality. One user perfectly summed it up: “whoever’s idea this was deserves a raise stat!!!!”

The Takeaway: Viral food trends are moving from social media to supermarket aisles at unprecedented speed. Brands that can spot and act on these cultural moments are winning big—but the question remains whether monetizing internet culture enhances or exploits it.

Heavy Metal Candy

A recent study tested 46 popular candies for heavy metal contamination, and the results are alarming. Nerds candy was found to contain up to 20x the acceptable limit of arsenic. This isn’t an isolated incident—it follows a pattern of consumer advocacy groups discovering concerning levels of lead, cadmium, and arsenic in products marketed to children.

Parents and health-conscious consumers are demanding better testing protocols, clearer labeling, and accountability from major candy manufacturers. The clean label movement is evolving from a focus on artificial ingredients to fundamental safety concerns.

What This Means: Food safety testing can no longer be treated as an internal quality control issue. Consumers expect—and deserve—third-party verification and transparency about what’s actually in products.

Is Parmesan the New Protein Bar?

Could parmesan cheese replace protein bars? A growing amount of social reels are highlighting dairy’s benefits for heart health and bone density, positioning aged cheese as a whole-food protein alternative to processed supplements. And watchers are jumping on board.

This reflects a broader shift away from lab-formulated nutrition products toward nutrient-dense traditional foods. Consumers are seeking familiar ingredients with proven health benefits rather than proprietary blends and synthetic compounds.

The Shift: Clean eating is circling back to ancestral foods. Cheese, eggs, and dairy are being reframed as “nature’s protein bars”—complete nutrition without the processing.

🎵 CULTURE WATCH: From Super Bowl Stages to Social Media Jingles

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Moment

Today, Bad Bunny performs at the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl halftime show—ten years after working as a grocery store bagger in Puerto Rico. His Grammy-winning success and global platform have consistently centered Puerto Rican identity and culture, bringing visibility to the island at a moment when farmers are fighting for food sovereignty. It’s a reminder that cultural representation and material conditions are connected—when Puerto Rican heritage is celebrated on global stages, it creates space to discuss the systemic challenges facing the island.

The Dr Pepper Jingle That United Brands

When a Black creator’s Dr Pepper Snapple Group jingle went viral, it sparked a wholesome brand pile-on. Popeyes, Buffalo Wild Wings, Denny’s, Tic Tac, Wingstop, Panera Bread, and King’s Hawaiian all jumped into the comments requesting their own jingles. As one reshare noted: “She’s proof that Black creators are shaping culture in real time. When talent meets visibility, doors become wide open.”

What It Means: Authenticity is the new currency in food marketing. Brands are learning that cultural fluency and genuine participation matter more than polished corporate messaging. The creators setting trends—whether through music, social media, or food content—are increasingly driving how major brands position themselves.

Experimentation Without Borders

Egypt’s Weirdest Food Inventions of 2025: Scene Eats showcased vibrant, boundary-pushing creations—from neon purple desserts to unexpected fusion dishes—highlighting how regional food scenes are experimenting with color, texture, and tradition.

Mexican Guava Oreos: Limited-edition Delicias de Guayaba Oreos continue to generate buzz, proving appetite for authentic international flavors in mainstream products.

The Opportunity: Global experimentation is the new normal. Brands willing to push boundaries with regional flavors and bold aesthetics are capturing attention.

🔺 RECAP: Policy Shit: MAHA Flips the Food Pyramid

The “Make America Healthy Again” movement is challenging conventional nutrition wisdom by inverting the traditional food pyramid, prioritizing protein, dairy, and healthy fats at the top, with whole grains at the base.

The movement notes: “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans have officially been updated, and they are a mixed bag of science-based advice and industry-influenced misinformation.”

Food for Thought: As consumers become more skeptical of traditional dietary guidance, there’s growing demand for transparent, evidence-based nutrition information that acknowledges industry influence on public health recommendations.

📊 WHAT WE’RE TRACKING AT Journey Foods

• Food sovereignty movements in U.S. territories and beyond

• Meme-to-market acceleration in CPG product development

• Consumer-led food safety accountability and third-party testing demands

• Whole food proteins replacing processed supplements

• Cultural creators driving brand strategy and marketing approaches

• Global flavor innovation and visual maximalism

• Nutrition guideline skepticism and alternative frameworks

• Agricultural resilience in vulnerable regions

Stay hungry for insights,

Riana Lynn

The Pie is your weekly digest of food trends, viral moments, and industry shifts that matter.

First - thank you! 🌱.

We started as Journey Foods because food was where we saw the most broken systems, the most wasted potential, the most need for intelligence over guesswork. But this year, we realized something critical: the problems we’re solving aren’t unique to food. The same supply chain chaos, the same data gaps, the same need for smarter decisions—they exist across the entire CPG landscape.

So we evolved. Welcome to Journey AI.

In 2025, here’s what changed:

We crossed 70+ billion ingredient and supply chain data points—but we didn’t just collect them. We learned how to tell their stories. We supported 17,000+ product and SKU changes across not just food brands, but beauty, personal care, supplements, and beyond. We expanded our supplier network by 3x, unlocking resilience across categories that matter to real people every day. We worked with teams across 21+ countries on 4 continents, proving that better data creates better products, period.

The result? ~180% year-over-year growth, driven by brands that refused to settle for “close enough.”

But here’s what I’m most proud of:

We stopped just organizing data. We started translating it—into narratives that connect supply chains to consumer impact, ingredient decisions to real-world outcomes, volatility to opportunity. We went deeper into the infrastructure that actually moves products from concept to shelf. We built tools that don’t just inform decisions—they illuminate the path forward.

And we stayed relentless. We wrote, we researched, we shared the patterns others were missing:

• The Real Cost of Ingredient Volatility – How climate, geopolitics, and pricing shocks are reshaping formulation decisions across CPG

• Why Supply Chains Are the Next Competitive Advantage – Infrastructure, not branding, will define the next decade of consumer products

• Building Better Products Starts Before the Recipe – Why data-first formulation beats trial-and-error in every category

What’s ahead:

More predictive intelligence. More creative ways to make complex data accessible and actionable for every team size. More bridges between what happens in supply chains and what consumers actually experience. More growth, more impact, more categories solved.

The shift from Journey Foods to Journey AI isn’t just a rebrand. We’ve actually been using it for years, since our first patent and launch. But now, it’s a commitment to solving bigger problems, for more people, with the same depth and rigor you’ve come to expect from us.

The CPG world is changing, and you’re not just watching it happen—you’re building the future with us.

Thank you for trusting us when we were focused on food. Thank you for coming with us as we expand into what’s possible across consumer products. Thank you for demanding better, pushing harder, and believing that intelligence beats guesswork every single time.

Onward, with gratitude and an even bigger vision 🧠✨

Riana Lynn
Founder & CEO, Journey AI

Read more from 2025:

The Top 5 CPG and Supply Chain Data Signals from 2025

Top Signals Rolling into 2026

This isn’t disruption. This is transformation.

Up until now, the industry moved like a freight train—massive, powerful, but slow to turn. Today? It moves like the internet. Culture clocks CPG cycles. Data drives formulation. Biosecurity threats shift sourcing overnight. The brands winning aren’t those adapting to change; they’re the ones building systems designed to move with it.

We are tracking more shifts; where food, technology, culture, and commerce collide. Because in 2025, these things aren’t separate. They’re the new ecosystem.

🌱

Let’s dig in.

🍳 AI Chef’s Table

The AI cooking show space just hit an inflection point. These aren’t gimmicks anymore—they’re distribution channels that move commerce in real time.

Picture this: an AI cooking show watches what’s in your fridge, knows your macro goals, understands you have 20 minutes, and generates a recipe right now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. It then auto-populates a grocery list, syncs with your smart kitchen, and logs nutrition data. For viewers, it’s seamless. For the food industry, it’s a new demand signal that nobody’s fully equipped to interpret yet.

The market is responding fast. The AI cooking show space grew from $2.08B in 2024 to a projected trajectory of $8.23B by 2030—a 30% annual expansion fueled by personalization engines, smart appliances, and the rise of vision AI that can actually identify food in your cabinet. But this isn’t just about entertainment; it’s about vertical integration. These platforms are becoming the closest thing to real-time consumer demand data that exists. Miss this shift, and you’re flying blind.

Subscribe now

🥗 Sweetgreen x Olandria Reality Drop

Culture moves faster than CPG, and Sweetgreen just proved they understand the memo.

Their “Ranchy Baddie Bowl” collaboration with influencers Olandria and Nic wasn’t a typical product placement. It was a real-time culture play: influencer-designed, community-tested, and limited-edition enough to create urgency. The result? Lines around the block and real revenue impact in a category (salad) that’s notoriously low-friction.

What makes this relevant: the playbook is now replicable. Brands that can compress the gap between cultural moment and consumer purchase—from months to weeks to days—are winning. Sweetgreen proved you don’t need a six-month product development cycle to move cultural capital into sales. You need speed, community, and the ability to read the room. That’s the new competitive advantage.

🥩 Beef, Protein & Biosecurity: A System Under Pressure

The protein story is the clearest indicator that food systems are in flux.

Demand is surging. GLP-1 adoption is accelerating protein consumption (70% of Americans are actively increasing intake), but it is mostly in chicken. Global indicators tell a different story: High-protein diets are mainstream now, not niche. But U.S. beef supply can’t keep up. According to JBS’s Wesley Batista, domestic cattle herds are at multi-decade lows. The result: a 30% surge in beef imports (predominantly from Brazil) and record-high prices that are reshaping everything from fine dining to school lunch economics.

Then add biosecurity into the equation. The New World screwworm—a parasitic larva that hasn’t been a threat to U.S. livestock in 50 years—has reemerged near the U.S.–Mexico border. The USDA has issued biosecurity alerts. Livestock imports are facing suspensions. Farmers are scrambling. Supply chains that seemed stable three months ago now have weak points nobody anticipated.

Leave a comment

This matters because it’s not an isolated crisis; it’s a preview of a more fragile system. Climate volatility, emerging pathogens, demand shocks, and geopolitical disruption are now regular variables. Brands that don’t have supply chain visibility, traceable sourcing, and ingredient flexibility built into their operations aren’t resilient—they’re vulnerable. Agility isn’t optional anymore.

🏀 Women’s Sports & Food Culture: The $450M Signal

Here’s an expanded and clarified section highlighting Ellie and the role of the Caribbean bodega menu in the New York Liberty’s arena—contextualizing the intersection of food culture, community, and women’s sports business:

The New York Liberty’s valuation soared from $14M in 2019 to over $420M by 2024—a dramatic signal that women’s sports have exited “niche” status and now anchor mainstream entertainment and commerce. This value surge mirrors the rise in TV ratings, merchandise sales, and packed arenas, but the experience goes beyond the game.

Ellie, Liberty’s star guard, is both a fan favorite on the court and an ambassador for local culture off of it. With leadership from athletes like Ellie, the Liberty partnered with a Caribbean bodega to curate arena menus that celebrate the city’s multicultural roots—offering dishes like jerk chicken, Trinidad doubles, and plantains alongside classic stadium fare. The bodega menu isn’t just about food; it’s about building a sense of home and belonging for diverse fans and embodying what’s unique about women’s sports: deep audience engagement and loyalty.

Local, multicultural, and authentic food partnerships like these help turn arenas into true culinary destinations. They differentiate venues from “cookie-cutter” stadiums and foster community connections—especially critical since female fans drive 85% of household purchasing decisions. For CPG brands, participating in these partnerships gives direct access to highly engaged consumer segments, where brand loyalty translates into household buying choices.

This template—the Liberty’s bodega menu, curated by stars like Ellie—shows how organizations can compress the gap between culture and commerce, using food to turn fandom into repeat engagement and real market share. In the new wave of women’s sports, the fusion of game-day experience, local food heritage, and cultural storytelling is not just a trend; it’s now a competitive advantage and a model for the next decade of CPG and entertainment strategy.

Share Journey Foods

🧠 Inside Journey Foods

At Journey Foods, we’re building the intelligence layer for this new reality. Our platform powers smarter formulations, compliance tracking, traceable sourcing, and supply chain resilience—the foundational capabilities that allow brands to move at the speed of culture without sacrificing safety, integrity, or sustainability.

Because moving fast without intelligence is just chaos.

Crumbs

AI and entertainment are merging food with real-time commerce and data. The line between what we watch and what we buy is disappearing. Brands that master this dynamic will own the consumer relationship.

Culture moves faster than traditional product development. Speed, community, and authentic storytelling are the new competitive advantages. The Sweetgreen model is the template for the next decade.

Supply chain resilience isn’t a side project anymore—it’s a survival requirement. Biosecurity threats, protein demand shocks, and global trade volatility demand visibility, traceability, and ingredient agility. Fragile systems are failing. Intelligent systems are winning.

Women’s sports and food culture are the next frontier for meaningful brand engagement. Authentic partnerships with high-engagement audiences drive loyalty and open doors to new market segments.

The food system is moving at internet speed. Brands built for stability are losing. Brands built for intelligence and agility are winning.

Share

Eat well,

📬 Subscribe to The Pie: journeyfoods.substack.com 🔗

Follow the conversation: @journeyfoods

We’re unpacking the latest collision of culture, commerce, and technology. It’s time for a deep dive on why cult-grocery store Erewhon sees Atlanta as one of its next cultural launchpads (we made a chart of how other brands skip this city too often).

Beyond this, take a look at a few quick bites on how packaging is reclaiming its role as experiential theater, and what Walmart’s red dye elimination signals for the entire supply chain. These announcements roll out as we tribute to the great Jane Goodall who once said “Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?”

We’re also spotlighting shifts in dollars and habitat, from legacy branding pivots to new storytelling strategies, because narrative is the key to consumer trust and longevity.

This is your signal check on where CPG culture is headed.

Let’s dig in.

🥤 Erewhon ATL: From Local Grocer to Global Fuel 🌍

Erewhon has its eyes on Atlanta, surprising some since the city doesn’t even have a Soho House. But this isn’t about private clubs, it’s about influence. Atlanta is one of the most important cultural capitals in the U.S., where trends in food, music, and wellness travel far beyond the city.

Atlanta’s Black community, nearly 47% of the population, drives global culture through music, entertainment, and entrepreneurship. The metro also ranks #1 for Black-owned employer businesses, creating a strong ecosystem of innovators and founders. For a grocer that thrives on celebrity smoothies, Black-owned CPG collabs, and aspirational wellness culture, this is fertile ground.

The metro’s Asian growth corridors, especially Gwinnett County and Duluth—the “Seoul of the South”—are also booming. With over 13% Asian populations in some areas and thriving Korean, Chinese, and Indian communities, Atlanta is a direct line into K-inspired functional foods, herbal tonics, fermented beverages, and beauty crossovers.

Beyond demographics, Atlanta offers something harder to measure: influence per square mile. From megastars in hip-hop, R&B, and film to a rising wave of social media creators, trends born here scale nationally and globally. For Erewhon, a flagship in Atlanta means owning the megaphone that amplifies wellness culture out of the South.

Finally, there’s whitespace. Atlanta lacks both a Soho House and a luxury grocer with Erewhon’s cultural aura. This gives room to create more than a store: a lifestyle clubhouse where shopping, dining, and social culture intersect.

The takeaway: Atlanta is not just another city on the map. For Erewhon, it’s a bridge connecting Black and Asian influence hubs, a testing ground for packaging and product experiences, and a chance to cement itself as more than a grocer—a cultural platform with global reach.

📦 Packaging Is Back

TikTok is reminding us: consumers crave experiences, not just products. Smart brands are turning packaging into theater—QR unlocks, bold textures, interactive campaigns. Packaging is no longer the afterthought; it’s the stage.

Bose makes butter

Sounds as smooth as a stick of Sade cream.

🎲 McDonald’s Monopoly: The Blueprint

Decades later, the peel-off Monopoly game remains the OG packaging experience. It gamified fries and drinks, driving repeat sales and making packaging a cultural event. McDonald’s Monopoly is officially relaunching in the U.S. on October 6, 2025, for the first time in nearly a decade, featuring both classic physical game pieces and new digital elements integrated into the McDonald’s app. Today’s CPGs are rediscovering that magic—every SKU is a chance to play.

Digital Tools for Traceability, Trust & Transparency

In a Food Tank recap of one of our recent Climate Week events in NYC it was very clear that digital influence and human influence are coming to a head, and they must be leveraged creatively and responsibly. Digital tools are essential to strengthen transparency, traceability, and consumer trust in the future of food, with technologies like AI, distributed ledgers, and on-farm digitization allowing brands to trace products from origin to shelf—making hidden supply chain steps visible, verifying claims, and closing the trust gap. As one panelist noted, in today’s climate there’s no place to hide.

For grocers and CPGs, this is more than a trend—it’s a structural shift. Brands that lean into these tools can turn transparency into competitive advantage, not cost burden. Whether it’s leveraging supply chain intelligence, embedding traceability into packaging, or powering personalized wellness journeys, digital storytelling is no longer optional. The brands that master the integration of data, storytelling, and operations will pull ahead. We’re watching the collision of food, tech, and culture unfold in real time. More here.

Subscribe now

The Line: Long-term dollars

📰 Maxwell House Rename: Branding Signals Matter

Recently, Maxwell House — the century-old coffee brand — announced it will rebrand itself as Maxwell Apartment. The shift is more than cosmetic: it’s a repositioning play to feel more modern, lifestyle-oriented, and rooted in “home and living” culture rather than just commodity coffee.

• Even legacy brands feel pressure to adapt identity to culture, place, and experience, not just product.

• The name “Apartment” evokes intimacy, curation, and design—not bulk commodity.

• It signals that premium food & beverage brands see themselves not as line items, but as cultural assets tied to daily life and habitat.

🛒 Walmart’s Swift Move from a Red State

Walmart is drawing up a plan to eliminate Red Dye 3, and some other fillers, aligning with consumer health demands and state-level bans. This is a major signal: when the largest U.S. retailer moves on an additive, the ripple effects are massive across suppliers, private labels, and national brands. Time to throw some beets in the back of that Ford.

Share

Last Crumbs:

1. Why America’s Fridges are Overflowing with Sauce: Bloomberg

2. What the shutdown does to local economics IG

3. Bentley and Joe & The Juice celebrate coffee culture and craftsmanship Copenhagen

🌱 Jane Goodall on Food & Supply Chains

RIP to the nature GOAT. Few voices consistently brough moral clarity for decades like Jane Goodall. She once warned about looking back on our era of agriculture and questioning how we ever thought growing food with poisons was acceptable. Her message is clear: every link in the supply chain matters. For brands, ethical sourcing isn’t just an aspiration; it’s a differentiator. And for consumers, it underscores that each purchase is a vote for more just systems.

🙏 Thank You for Building Digital Futures

And last but not least: Thank you for everyone that supported our recent events, and exploring digital futures with us. At Journey Foods, and across the ecosystem, we’re grateful for every partner, creator, and founder pushing boundaries. From grocery aisles to TikTok feeds to AI dashboards, we are working hard on new products, partnerships, and integrations that are shaping not just consumer choices but the future of consumption itself. Gracias!

Share Journey Foods

Eat well, friends.

Read more

Extending to our community an invite-only evening at WNYC–NPR’s Greene Space that brings together global leaders, innovators, and creators to explore how technology, transparency, and regenerative practices are shaping the future of food. Presented by Food Tank, Wholechain, Journey Foods, and Better Food Future—in support of the UN Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition—the event blends powerful conversations with immersive tasting experiences from mission-driven producers. With performances by Grammy-nominated artists like Jidenna and Nana Kwabena, a Broadway opening, creative TikTok leaders, and insights from chefs, entrepreneurs, scientists, and changemakers, it promises to be a night of bold flavors, visionary ideas, and unforgettable connections.”

Join us?

Food Tank, Better Food Future, and Journey Foods present:

Digital Futures: A Better Food Future Celebration at Climate Week NYC

📍 WNYC–NPR’s The Greene Space
44 Charlton St, New York, NY 10014
📅 Thursday, September 25, 2025
🕖 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Evening Program

• 7:00 PM | Guest arrival, music, and reception

• 7:30 PM | Program featuring integrated tastings

• 8:45 PM | Reception continues

• 10:30 PM | Event concludes

Presented & Supported By

Co-hosted by TikTok, Kerry Dairy, Wholechain, the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT, and Atarraya, in support of the United Nations Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition.

Made possible with the generous support of Meat Institute, Acme Smoked Fish, and Regal Springs.

Access

🎟️ Registration: Eventbrite Link
🔑 Ticket Code: Email hello@journeyfoods.com for an invite code
📺 Livestream: Watch Here

Reporting this week from one of our favorite places to eat, Mexico City. The city of endless cafés where style is non-negotiable but a genuinely hot cup of coffee is apparently off the menu. We used to complain…until this study landed, showing that actually hot drinks can raise cancer risk. Suddenly, lukewarm feels like foresight.

Back in the U.S., CPG execs have taken on an air of fatalism. Nearly half admit their current structures won’t survive another decade, yet a third aren’t changing course.

And Serena Williams isn’t helping them. Her admission this week that she’s lost over 31 pounds using a GLP-1 drug only accelerates adoption of the appetite-suppressing meds.

This week’s stories prove science, culture, and supply chains can’t stop colliding: Jakarta’s Butter Baby lures cosmic-themed dessert fans, Campbell’s soups get spiked with beer 🍻🥣, chocolate flavor is reinforced in fermentation, olives are upcycled into flour, and India shrugs off U.S. tariffs with Russian oil deals. The thread through it all? Innovation—sometimes engineered, sometimes improvised, always disruptive.

🌱

Culture

The nerve of them.

Butter Love 🧈
Butter Baby has become Jakarta’s dessert sensation, with fans lining up at its Blok M store for selfies with the alien mascot and to sample cosmic-themed donuts. With viral soft serve and merch drops, Butter Baby proves there’s no such thing as too much butter or whimsy, especially when all that decadence comes from real New Zealand dairy. One wonders if they’d ever consider swapping it for carbon butter, the Bill Gates-backed invention that, like their mascot, seems not quite of this earth.

Game, Legacy, Profit | Serena Williams on GLP-1s
Williams’ drug endorsement is splitting opinion, empowerment for some, a corporate Ro ad (with family ties) for others.

Queues > Reviews
The Guardian just published an excerpt from Ruby Tandoh’s new book, where she unpacks a fascinating shift in food culture: it’s not critique that moves us anymore—it’s queues. Tandoh, a food writer, model, and Great British Bake-Off finalist, frames TikTok‑driven lines as the modern stamp of desirability.

💐Bouquet of Flavor
Floral flavors bloom in 2025—57% of consumers say botanical ingredients sway their choices. Rose, chamomile, chrysanthemum, and especially hibiscus are popping up across sodas, yogurts, bars, water, and frozen treats. Brands are leaning into these aromatic notes, blending sensory appeal with perceived wellness benefits and crafting sophisticated flavor profiles.

🍨Drama in the Dairy Aisle
Jeni Britton‑Bauer, founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, claims The New York Times “stole” her signature cream cheese ice cream base, published in 2011 and patented with a James Beard nod. The Times counters that their version, with different ratios and techniques, is wholly original.

CPG’s Flavor Stunts: Sweet Heat & Beer Soup
Skittles is leaning into the “swicy” craze with Gummies Fuego, chewy, chili-dusted fruit mashups debuting now on TikTok before a nationwide rollout in 2026. Not to be outdone, Campbell’s Chunky teamed up with Pabst Blue Ribbon for beer-infused soups, priced under $3 at Walmart this month. CPG innovation often means spectacle first, nutrition second.

Four-Legged Superfood Shift
The human–pet food gap is shrinking from years to mere 6 months. Owners now demand the same superfood ingredients for pets that they’d choose for themselves. Collagen, probiotics, etc. are popping into pet formulations, and functional treats are emerging. It’s pet food evolving with the nutritional literacy of humans.

Science

One mocha, iced, with room for glyphosate.

Your “Organic” Coffee May Not Be So Pure
A Clean Label Project study found that 100% of organic coffee samples contained AMPA, a glyphosate breakdown product despite it being banned in organic farming. They also discovered that packaging, roast level, and origin (Hawaii vs. Africa) significantly affect levels of acrylamide and heavy metals. Consider it a caffeine-fueled wake-up call.

The Secret Sauce for Perfect Chocolate
Researchers at the University of Nottingham have pinpointed fermentation, not roasting or bean origin, as the main driver behind chocolate’s flavor. Microbial activity, pH, and temperature during cocoa fermentation shape aroma, texture, and bitterness. But spontaneous ferments vary wildly by farm and region. So the team crafted a lab-based microbial “starter culture” that reliably reproduces profiles, bringing precision to craft chocolate production.

Carcinogenically Hot
A massive UK study of nearly half a million people found that drinking four to six cups per day of hot tea or coffee nearly doubles the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and a scorching eight cups? That’s nearly a six-fold increase, especially when paired with alcohol or smoking. The culprit isn’t what you drink; it’s how hot it is.'

Supply Chain

Flour and power.

🫒 Waste? Meet Olive Flour.
Israel’s PhenOlives has tackled the 85% of olives that never become oil. Their patented, chemical-free system stops oxidation at the mill and upcycles the pomace—pulp, seeds, and “black water”—into olive flour, antioxidants, fiber, and energy ingredients. The result: a gluten-free, high-fiber flour rich in polyphenols, ready for healthier, circular-economy snacking.

🇮🇳 India & Russia Double Down on Energy Ties Amid Tariff Tensions 🇷🇺

India is leaning hard into its energy partnership with Russia, even as the U.S. slaps 50% tariffs on Indian goods in retaliation for oil imports🇮🇳. At a recent Moscow meeting, both foreign ministers pledged to deepen cooperation across energy, trade, and regional ventures. India also plans to boost exports in pharmaceuticals and agriculture. All while navigating mounting pressure from the U.S. with strategic swagger.

Share

Thank you for joining us today for a slice.

Eat well.

We hope you are summering, because the industry isn’t taking a break. Dollar stores, now the fastest-growing food retailers, are reshaping grocery access rapidly.

Despite headlines, Ultra-Processed Food consumption climbs 15% year-on-year. The number of people eating them regularly slipped only 1–2%. And, CDC data still pegs 55% of adult calories, and 62% for kids, on unhappy calories.

You have to watch these dollar store facts only comedian Josh Johnson could make funny, which he did precisely in Cleveland just this week.

It turns out that recent rumors of Beyond Meat’s bankruptcy are overcooked. Despite a 98% stock decline since 2020, they’re still standing. Conversely, the Halal market is projected to grow soon from $1.5 to 2.8 trillion, as the certification's appeal broadens beyond Muslim consumers.

This week, science and supply chains are pulling surprises too: oysters cleaning oceans, appetite circuits mapped in the brain, Brazil proving hunger is policy, and Scotland curing vanilla in the rain. Toss in pine-flavored soda, robot waiters, and bacon-cereal collabs, and it’s a semester of strange pairings worth a second helping.

🌱

Culture

M(eat)y goodness, meal kits in question, predictive sci-fi.

Cereal’s Wild Semester
Back-to-school breakfasts are getting unpredictable. Cornell’s Eggsential Cereal mixes egg yolk and chickpeas for a protein-packed crunch. Cinnamon Toast Crunch x Hormel Bacon is a sweet-and-savory mashup that sold out instantly. Man Cereal is loading bowls with creatine and keto fuel. This season, cereal’s playing less “balanced breakfast” and more “anything goes.”

Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
Despite headlines, Beyond Meat flatly denied filing (or planning to file) Chapter 11, but challenges remain. So, no, the alt meat pioneer isn’t going bankrupt, but at least 7,729 people were ready.

Lab-Grown Just-Some-Other-Stuff
Lab-grown meat is quietly shifting its pitch. Instead of promising to replicate a steak, companies now talk about creating “entirely new culinary experiences.” The poster child? A spreadable Japanese near-quail foie gras closer in form to Nutella than ribeye. It’s not quite the steak replacement once promised, but rather a move into substances craved by no one in history that now require a market. Even Beyond Meat has taken notice, dropping “Meat” from its name to emphasize whole-food proteins instead.

Meal Kit Pivots
Meal kit giants reinvent themselves as subscription fatigue sets in. Blue Apron has ditched its subscription-only model, rolling out à la carte meals and a mascot named Sous. Meanwhile, HelloFresh is betting on flavor, variety, and nutrition with its new “ReFresh” menu. Both face the same slowdown, but Blue Apron is leaning on convenience and ease, while HelloFresh courts loyalty through flavor and wellness.

So Fresh, Too Clean?
Pine is emerging as a bold, refreshing flavor in beverages, offering a crisp, aromatic twist that evokes the outdoors and natural freshness. ZIRBE is a non-alcoholic soft drink that promises "the full flavor of the alpine forest." Made in Germany.

Robots on the Menu
Beijing’s latest dining spectacle features humanoid robots that don’t just serve food, they perform. With AI, motion sensors, and a flair for theatrics, they turn meals into entertainment. The concept enters territory that human-robot interaction experts call the “uncanny valley” where machines look and act almost human, but not quite, creating both fascination and unease.

Sci-Fi Reality
Offshoot wrote a piece about Andor, the Star Wars prequel that first aired in 2022, arguing that its rebel storylines echo today’s realities of surveillance, land grabs, and exploitation. From Cassian Andor navigating an over-policed galaxy to farmers in India resisting digital blackouts, the parallels are striking: empires tighten control through technology and narrative, while grassroots resistance finds ways to endure. For Offshoot, Andor isn’t just sci-fi. It’s a reflection on how small, collective acts can ripple into liberation.

Science

What MFK Fisher didn’t consider about the oyster.

Appetite Controls via the Brain 🧠
A new breakthrough from UHN researchers has pinpointed a powerful appetite regulator in the brain called TGR5. Activating it in lab models decreased food intake without inducing nausea, while also boosting sensitivity to leptin, the hormone that signals fullness. This discovery opens a promising path for tackling obesity by targeting the brain’s wiring for hunger, not by changing diets.

Oysters at Work
Oyster farming is booming, with the global market set to reach $159 billion by 2033. Beyond being a protein-rich delicacy, oysters filter up to 190 liters of water a day, improving clarity and reducing nitrogen and phosphates. Low-impact, feed-free, and climate-friendly, they’re a rare win for taste, sustainability, and ecosystem health all in one shell.

Subscribe now

Supply Chain

East meets West, North meets South.

Halal Market Momentum
Halal certification is no longer just about religion; it’s about reach. The market is powered by both consumer demand and regulatory mandates in places like Indonesia. For F&B brands, certification expands export potential, unlocks B2B supply chains, and signals third-party trust to a wider base of consumers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. In a crowded CPG landscape, Halal isn’t just compliance, it’s differentiation.

Grocery Delivery Gets an Update
Amazon is now offering same-day delivery of perishable items. Think milk, meat, strawberries, and frozen meals direct to doors in 1,000+ U.S. cities, with plans to expand to 2,300 by year-end. This move tightens the pressure on rivals like Instacart and Walmart+, forcing faster deliveries and lower order thresholds into the standard playbook, shifting the grocery supply chain toward maximum convenience.

Strength of the Dollar Store
Dollar stores have transformed the retail landscape with at least 37,000 physical locations nationwide. Known for carrying a range of products, these retailers also sell packaged foods and beverages that are high in calories and low in nutrients. A Tufts University report says families are balancing these purchases with more nutritious items elsewhere.

🇧🇷Brazil+Korea🇰🇷 Food Security Policy in Action
Brazil has shown that hunger isn’t inevitable, it’s a policy choice, slashing food insecurity through robust access programs. Meanwhile, Korea used its role in hosting APEC to push for innovation-driven agri-food systems, spotlighting AI, smart farming, and global partnerships. Together, they underline two sides of supply chain resilience: political will and technological progress.

💰Bagged Lunch Just Got Pricier
Deloitte’s latest data shows the average packed school lunch now costs $6.15, up 3% from last year.  With back-to-school budgets already tight, this rising lunch tab adds pressure on families and school food programs. Schools need to rethink sourcing and supply strategies to keep meals affordable without sacrificing nutrition.

Food Irradiation — Safe But Unseen
Despite being backed by the FDA, CDC, WHO, and USDA as a safe and effective method to reduce foodborne pathogens, awareness of food irradiation is surprisingly low. Older adults know more than younger ones, but overall understanding remains limited, even as irradiation could significantly enhance food safety for items like leafy greens and beef.

☔ Scottish Vanilla, Seriously🍦
Vanilla Farms has just cured the first-ever batch of Scottish-grown vanilla at ONE SeedPod, the country’s new food innovation hub. Thanks to agritech and controlled curing, Scotland now boasts a terroir-driven, traceable vanilla. With the global vanilla market topping £3 billion, this precision-grown crop could make Scotland an unlikely, but savvy, player in stabilizing a volatile supply chain.

Share

Thank you for joining us today for a slice.

Eat well.

Fast food’s secret ingredient used to be the Latino community’s spending power, at 19% of the population, and a multi-trillion dollar economic force.

Now, chains like Jack in the Box are feeling the heat, with a stinging 7.1% same-store sales drop, driven sharply by loss of Hispanic customers in places like Texas and California. Why the retreat? Enforcement-heavy immigration policy has made everyday purchases a risky prospect, and till receipts are tanking as a result.

Add in tariffs hitting 60% of businesses and driving 10%+ cost spikes for a third of them, and you’ve got supply chains and storefronts under pressure for all the wrong reasons.

Inside: culture mashups, vegan drive-thrus, and the latest food fads. If you’re looking for American resilience, you won’t find it on the value menu.

🌱

Culture

Mac'n'cheese wants to stand out, vegan burgers fit in.

Limited Edition Conglomerates
Last week, Kraft Mac & Cheese launched a limited-edition pizza-flavored mac complete with scented pizza boxes and a $1 price tag, delivered via Gopuff in NYC, Chicago, and Detroit. Cue nostalgia (and probably indigestion). But not even garlic-dusted noodles and playful packaging can disguise what’s bubbling under Kraft Heinz’s surface: plummeting market value and gloomy profit forecasts. This blue box band-aid, while SNAP-eligible, might not be enough to revive the food giant.

Molly’s Game
If you thought Ayoh was keeping Molly Baz busy, think again; she’s also the recipe mind behind Face Plant, a North Portland vegan drive-thru built in a former McDonald’s. The menu leans into burgers, nuggets, fries, and shakes designed to feel like classic fast food, not vegan evangelism. Business is booming with average tickets running 50% higher than projected and more than double McDonald’s benchmarks.

Beyond Prison Food Porn: The Real Story
A recent piece from Prison Journalism Project pushes back on the trend of viral “prison food” content that treats terrible meals like quirky curiosities instead of serious problems. Behind the resigned humor and clipped photos lies a deadly reality: poor nutrition isn’t just unappetizing. It endangers health and amplifies inequality. This isn’t about jailhouse memes. It’s about hunger, dignity, and accountability.

Bloody Mary, Hold the Vodka
The brunch crowd’s favorite cocktail just crashed the condiment aisle. Chicago-based Zing Zang—best known for Bloody Mary mix—is rolling out America’s first Bloody Mary Ketchup. What started as an April Fool’s gag became the brand’s most viral post ever, and fans demanded the real thing.

Eating Out Loses Its Shine
The U.S. dining-out habit is slipping as more consumers trade takeout for home-cooked meals. In Q1 alone, Americans ate 1 billion fewer restaurant meals than last year. With inflation making eating out climb 3.8% versus 2.4% at home, value deals are multiplying, but so is the cultural shift toward the kitchen.

Certified for Sport®
AG1’s new Tropical, Berry, and Citrus blends stick to its plant-based formula, while Argentine soccer icon Lionel Messi launches Greatest Grape, an antioxidant-packed electrolyte drink. Whether it’s supplement powders or sports hydration, brands are betting that bold flavors can win over consumers who want health benefits without sacrificing enjoyment, proof that wellness now has to taste as good as it works.

Science

Old and new foods hold promise.

From Folklore to Formulation
Botanicals are stepping out of the anecdotal shadows and into science-backed legitimacy. New tools like metabolomics and advanced extraction are isolating active compounds in ashwagandha, lion’s mane, and grape seed—tying them to benefits for mood, cognition, immunity, and gut health. The payoff? A surge of credible, functional products ready for the mainstream.

🐄⛔🥛Cell-Based Dairy Has Officially Left the Test Kitchen
Canadian innovator Opalia has signed a two-year exclusive deal with Hoogwegt, one of the world’s largest dairy suppliers, to launch the first cell-based dairy products. Opalia’s serum-free process grows milk from mammary cells without animal inputs. With Hoogwegt’s reach in 130+ countries, regulated tasting events are next, bringing lab-grown milk closer to mainstream shelves.

The DNA of Chocolate
Mars has licensed Pairwise’s CRISPR gene-editing tools to develop climate- and disease-resilient cacao plants. This cutting-edge technology will accelerate crop improvement, helping Mars address climate challenges, safeguard global chocolate supply chains, and boost sustainable cacao production through precise, faster modifications than traditional breeding methods.

Subscribe now

Supply Chain

Today’s woes and tomorrow’s solutions.

Local Health 🔗 Local Food
FreshRx Oklahoma is rewriting the prescription pad, swapping pills for produce vouchers redeemable at local markets. By sourcing from nearby farms, the program strengthens regional supply chains, creates predictable demand for growers, and links healthcare directly to food access. It’s a model where better health and a stronger local food network go hand in hand.

Tariff Tactics
With tariffs driving up costs—some by 10% or more—food brands are adapting fast. Moves include switching packaging (Coca-Cola to plastic bottles), nearshoring suppliers, trimming assortments, and using bonded warehouses. Transparency about recipe or price changes is key to keeping shoppers onside.

Small Packs, Big Shift
As inflation and tariffs squeeze lower-income shoppers, brands are downsizing. Coca-Cola, Molson Coors, and fast-food chains are pushing smaller pack sizes and sub-$5 deals to keep value-seekers engaged. For supply chains, it’s a pivot toward tighter margins and inventory tailored to budget-conscious buying.

💅🏾 Beauty’s Networked Advantage
Beauty brands are ditching the old linear supply chain playbook for something smarter and more agile. The latest insights from Glossy spotlight how forward-thinkers are building networked, composable manufacturing systems that flex instantly when disruptions, or trends, hit.

Digital Transformation in Procurement
Procurement is moving beyond a cost-control role to become a frontline driver of resilience, innovation, and agility. Key strategies for AI integration include:

1. Onboard everyone, from leadership to staff, and emphasizing ease of use

2. Prioritizing systems that empower real-time insight, not just automation

3. Focusing on tools that contribute to performance, not just cost cutting

Share

Thank you for joining us today for a slice.

Eat well.

We are betting on the young leaders with no college degrees, and vibe coding their guts: Why Gen Z might save UPFs from their doom spiral. Click the link to see why we are going all in.

In an age of chips with gut health claims, AI-designed snacks and soft drinks with electrolytes, the most radical thing we could do is stop hiding the fact that food is processed and start celebrating it - when intentional, and clean.

This week’s mix is as tangled. We’ve got celebrity snack raids, candy rivals teaming up, and desserts bulking up with protein macros. But it’s not all culture - labor and policy are reshaping the aisle, too.

On the refreshing side, SoCal grocery workers just secured major wins that could steady store operations, while the USDA’s looming Dietary Guidelines may flip school lunches, labels, and retail sourcing on their heads.

Even fast food is shifting; when $100k earners treat McDonald’s as a lifestyle choice, you know the economy’s rewriting itself in real time.

🌱

Culture

The vibes are collaborative but complicated.

Stars Raid the Snack Aisle
Over 350 celebrity-affiliated alcohol brands existed by late 2022, skyrocketing from fewer than 40 in 2018, but now celebrities are eyeing grocery shelves. The problem? Food requires deeper authentic connection than alcohol. Consumers ask "Why would I believe this celebrity knows anything about pasta sauce?"

Unlike spirits where people proudly display five different tequilas, nobody wants twenty different celebrity hot sauces in their pantry. Translation? Your kitchen cabinet isn't a trophy case, and food credibility hits different than bottle bragging rights.

When Corporate Rivals Play Nice
America's #1 candy (Reese's) and #1 cookie (Oreo) finally answered fans' decade-long pleas for a collab. The Reese's Oreo Cup and Oreo Reese's Cookie hit presale August 18, nationwide in September. Why now? Sluggish snack sales and rising cocoa costs apparently make strange bedfellows of Hershey and Mondelez. Sometimes desperation breeds the best innovations.

Milk Bar Gets Swole
Christina Tosi is bringing protein to dessert, because apparently even cookies need to hit the gym. Milk Bar's new limited-time menu features high-protein treats like Blueberry Pancake Super Cookies (10g protein). The kicker? Free samples during "Protein Power Hour" (3-4 PM daily) all month. When pastry chefs start optimizing for macros, you know the protein trend has officially jumped the shark.

Six Piece Nuggets 🫶🏽 Six Figure Nuggets
Plot twist: Among those earning more than $100,000 per year, over one fourth say they're eating more fast food now than a year ago, while 40% of those earning less than $50,000 reported they're eating fast food less often than last year. The wealthy are treating McDonald's as a lifestyle choice while broke people can't afford it.

Science

A visual: Utter hydration.

When Healthy Food Isn’t Enough
A new analysis from Purdue’s Center for Food Demand Analysis finds access to healthy food doesn’t guarantee healthier diets. While consumers value nutrition, taste, price, and convenience win out. The study underscores that availability alone isn’t enough; affordability and clear labeling are critical to turning access into action.

Sports Drinks Get Serious
GoodSport is riding the wellness wave with milk-based hydration that's positioned as the "better-for-you" alternative to traditional sports drinks. With consumers increasingly scrutinizing ingredient lists, dairy-derived electrolytes are having a moment. The Journey team was an early service-provider on this company pre-launch. This was a bold mission mixed with traditional industry support from the Dairy Alliance. Watching more here…👀

Subscribe now

Supply Chain

Groceries are a continuing gripe: Labor wins and MAHA ripples.

45,000 Grocery Workers Win Big in SoCal
After months of rallies and petitions, SoCal grocery workers ratified a 3-year contract with Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions. It delivers raises, better healthcare, a new pension plan, and union input on staffing. It’s a major labor win, with talks ongoing at El Super and Stater Bros. The ratification of this contract impacts supply chains by stabilizing the labor force in a critical region for food retail, reducing disruptions in store operations and restocking.

📦 AI Supply Chains Are Getting Buff.
Forget “just-in-time.” Today’s AI-ready supply chains are flexing with digital twins, predictive analytics, and autonomous decision-making. Turns out, robots make great risk managers (and never call in sick when a canal gets blocked).

🤖 GenAI: Big Hype, Mild Hangover.
Yes, GenAI can revolutionize your operations... if your data isn't a hot mess. Gartner says we’re in the “trough of disillusionment,” where dreams of AI utopia meet the cold, hard reality of integration headaches and change-averse teams.

💄 Beauty Brands x AI = Supply Chain Glow-Up.
Major brands are cozying up to AI vendors to boost traceability, slash waste, and track emissions—all in the name of end-to-end sustainability. Think less “carbon footprint,” more “carbon kitten heel.”

Policy Shift as Supply Chain Reset?
Proposed MAHA-driven dietary guideline changes could jolt supply chains:

• School & Military Meals: Contracts may pivot to full-fat dairy, red meat, and warnings on ultra-processed foods.

• Retail & Sourcing: Shelves could shift toward fresher, less processed goods.

• Reformulation & Marketing: Brands may overhaul recipes, labels, and seed oil use.

If enacted, these changes would rewrite food sourcing, pricing, and production at scale.

Share

Thank you for joining us today for a slice.

Eat well.

A strong dose of culture, science, and supply chain news from our team’s readings and meetings this week. The World Economic Forum just dropped a reminder: food demand will climb 50% by 2050, water 20–30%, and energy nearly 20%. No wonder our plates feel geopolitical.

This week’s Pie has our favorite humor bites, sugar-cutting tech that sounds like a Transformer, flour safety risks you probably ignore, AI printing edible art, the FDA ditching 1930s-era food rules, empty shelves, a federal UPF definition, and an avocado-powered AI campaign snagging an ad award.

🌱

Culture

Guac is not a recession indicator.

AI, Avocados & Awards
Three of our favorite things collided in the best way: avocados, AI, and ad awards. Avocados From Mexico, a Super Bowl ad staple, handed the reins to its innovation partner, 270B, for a fresh play. The result? A personalized, AI-powered celebrity experience built around guacamole’s Big Game clout. The campaign just snagged Best Use of AI, Silver at Ad Age’s 2025 Small Agency Awards.

Is oat no longer the GOAT?
Them writer Lex Goldstein talked with a bunch of queer people drinking dairy milk to find out. "What I found suggests that the latest niche pendulum swing is indeed a consequence of the broader climate: It’s a recession indicator, a reflection of increased awareness surrounding protein and nutrient intake, and arguably a sign that the cultural shame around dairy milk consumption is beginning to abate," they write.

So many good ones this week…

Gen Z Wants to Turn Everything into a Sauce, Including Soda
That’s right; sodas have evolved from mere soft drinks to full-fledged sauce ingredients, according to the results of the latest NEXT Flavor Report by Rubix Foods.

Science

Sugar and flour, safety, and nutrition.

AI: The New Standard for Food Innovation
A recent IFT report has us feeling like an ice-cold functional beverage on a hot summer day. It confirms what we know: AI boosts the success of new food formulations, especially for flavor, texture, and nutrition, cutting months—or even years—off R&D. It’s exactly what we do: using AI at the intersection of taste and health to launch smarter, faster. AI isn’t just efficient—it’s the new standard for food innovation.

Reducing Added Sugar in Baked Foods
A Danish innovation cuts sugar in baked goods without the usual bitter aftertaste, a major win for better-for-you treats. Named like a Transformer, it’s easy to imagine Optiva LS Prime leading the charge against overly sweet recipes. It comes from Novonesis, sister company to Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk, a reminder of how pharma and food increasingly cross paths.

Edible Art Gets Portable: Meet the EdiBot
If food is being printed, maybe money really does grow on trees. The iKoffy EdiBot is a handheld, AI-powered food printer turning cookies, coffee foam, and cakes into edible canvases, giving us a glimpse of food’s playful, high-tech future.

Flour Safety: A Tough Sell
We know the risks of raw meat and dairy—but flour? Not so much. Despite better safety protocols, consumer awareness around raw flour contamination remains low. Flour can carry E. coli because it isn’t treated to kill bacteria from the field or production. It’s a tough message, but flour-related outbreaks prove the risk is real.

Climate Change Effects Nutrient Contents
Climate change isn’t just threatening crops, it’s altering their nutritional value. Rising CO₂ levels and extreme weather are reducing protein, vitamins, and minerals in staple foods like wheat and rice, deepening risks of malnutrition worldwide.

Supply Chain

Shortages and other chronic conditions.

Market Empty, Frustration Full
A new PYMNTS Intelligence report shows nearly half of U.S. shoppers face product shortages in-store and online. From essentials to specialty items, shelves are thin, and tariffs and trade policy are taking the blame. These shortages cut across categories, disrupting routines and fueling frustration—reminding shoppers how closely their weekly grocery run is tied to global supply chain tensions.

Subscribe now

Behind the Label: Who’s Really Approving Our Food Chemicals?
An Environmental Working Group analysis found that nearly 99% of food additives since 2000 were approved by industry, not the FDA, using the GRAS loophole. With minimal oversight and slow reassessments, even decades-old

FDA Axes 52 Obsolete Food Standards
The FDA has revoked 52 outdated Standards of Identity, rules once defining foods like jam, cheese, canned veggies, and more. Created in 1939, many no longer reflect modern food science or market realities. The move clears the way for innovation across categories like dairy, bakery, and canned goods, but also shifts more responsibility onto consumers to scrutinize labels as formal definitions disappear.

Federal Agencies Move to Define Ultra‑Processed Foods
The Trump administration is launching a formal effort to define “ultra‑processed foods”. FDA and USDA jointly seek input to develop a consistent, measurable definition. The move follows mounting evidence that UPFs, which are estimated to make up 70% of packaged foods, are linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions.

Share

Thank you for joining us today for a slice.

Eat well.

How are you feeling? This week feels like hump day, but, like, summer. Does that make sense?

Well, as industries continues to shift, we’re diving into the latest promises and trends—from cutting-edge innovations to the viral behaviors that are shaping the future of what we consume. And we are finally moving bites on Substack - welcome!

This edition of The Pie takes a look at the latest in lab-grown chocolate technology, as cocoa prices topped $12,000/ton this year before settling just below $10,000. We also explore how just 5–10% of retail surplus currently becomes animal feed, despite the potential for a much more sustainable approach.

Cheez seals a viral moment on court during the WNBA All Star Game in our culture section. We are also covering more on the protein boom in snacks and supplements to the changing landscape of food aid.

We must admit - it’s a sweet summer. And in case you missed it, Coca-Cola’s sugar has officially become a political football. After being criticized for its use of high-fructose corn syrup, now it’s Donald Trump himself pushing the brand to switch to cane sugar. Ah, the sweet taste of policy.

🌱

The Journey Foods Dye Audit
Our Tracker is Live!

When the new Instagram influencer health government drew a line in the sand on petroleum-based food dyes earlier this year, major CPG companies knew change was coming—and they’ve been scrambling ever since. With so many pledging to eliminate food dyes from their products, it’s been tough to keep track of who’s committed to what, and by when. We figured you might be feeling the same way, so we created the Journey Foods Dye Tracker. It's live, meaning you can check it out now, and later, for a weekly status report when we launch the first full updates on July 29. Share your feedback now!

Science 🥧

Protein demand and scientific ingenuity are ramping up.

GLP1's & Protein

With a growing number of Americans turning to GLP-1s and the rise of 'proteinization' in snacks and supplements (just take a look at our Culture section below), we felt it was the right moment in this week's The Pie to explore how these trends are converging. This is a conversation that’s hard to ignore, and we believe it’s essential to understand the impact on our health and diets.

• GLP-1s control appetite and aid in weight loss.

• Protein helps preserve muscle mass during weight loss.

• Slower digestion makes higher-protein meals more satisfying.

• Increased GLP-1 use drives a focus on protein-rich foods.

• Protein supports weight loss goals and overall health.

• Longitudinal studies are still pending on the impact of gut and digestive organ health impact.

Subscribe now

Eclipse Ingredients, a startup out of Australia, is using precision fermentation to produce human lactoferrin—an immune-boosting, iron-regulating milk protein—at commercial scale. Backed by AUD $7M in funding, Eclipse programs yeast to grow human-identical lactoferrin in fermentation tanks, reducing the need for cow’s milk and offering a scalable, cost-effective solution.

Barry Callebaut has teamed up with Zurich University to explore cocoa cell culture, the tech behind lab-grown chocolate. With cocoa prices recently hitting record highs and climate change, disease, and labor issues threatening supply, alternatives are gaining traction. The company isn’t replacing traditional farming but aims to “augment” it, offering more sustainable and potentially healthier options.

Researchers are concerned about the effects of artificial and natural sweeteners on children. New research suggests that aspartame, Sucralose and glycyrrhizin could increase the risk of early puberty.

Supply Chain

Too much and not enough.

1. Surplus Food: Animal Allies, Not Waste
   Retail surplus isn’t just landfill fodder. It can feed animals, too. Sandra Vijn highlights a startling fact: only 5–10% of retail surplus currently becomes animal feed. Barriers include consumer misconceptions (“Is it safe for animals?”), food safety rules, and logistical gaps in collection, drying, and distribution.

   But scale matters. With proper sorting, standardization, and infrastructure, like regional networks and dehydration hubs, surplus can become consistent feed.

   In short, turning unsold apples into chicken feed isn’t just smart, it’s sustainable circularity. And with smarter supply chains and clearer policy support, it could scale up fast.

2. Rethinking Food Aid: Time to Move Beyond Wheat Sacks?
   With U.S. food aid programs on the chopping block and hunger rising globally, questions are mounting about how—and what—we give. For decades, the U.S. has shipped American-grown crops like corn and wheat abroad. But that model, known as in-kind aid, is costly (up to 34% more than local sourcing), slow, and can undermine local food systems.

   Critics say it’s time to invest in regional trade and cash-based models that build local resilience. Even USAID’s own data highlights inefficiencies. But with deep budget cuts looming and food policy shaped by “America First” politics, recipient countries may have no choice but to find new solutions themselves.

3. As priorities shift, the real question isn’t just how much food gets delivered, but who gets to decide what counts as aid.

“Zero waste” has become a widely recognized – and widely interpreted – claim in the FMCG landscape. Appearing on everything from toothpaste tablets to pet food pouches, the term evokes a powerful vision: eliminating waste across the product lifecycle. While the ambition resonates with consumers, the application of the claim varies significantly.

2nd Nature, which specializes in clean ingredient solutions, has introduced AgWaste Portal, an AI platform designed to optimize the upcycling of food processing leftovers into functional ingredients.

Banning the Imaginary: Lawmakers vs. Lab-Grown Meat
Bloomberg’s Deena Shanker is calling out U.S. legislators for banning something that barely exists: lab-grown meat. Her critique? It's not just premature, it’s performative.

Despite the fact that cultivated meat isn’t available on grocery shelves (and may never be, thanks to huge technical and cost barriers), at least seven states have already moved to ban or restrict it. Florida, Texas, and others say it’s about safety and protecting traditional agriculture. But Shanker suggests the real motivation is fear of change not public health.

The irony? While climate, food access, and real safety issues go unaddressed, lawmakers are spending political capital on a hypothetical product most Americans have never seen, tasted, or had the option to buy. It's regulation theater and a potential setback for food innovation that could one day help feed a hotter, more crowded planet.

Culture

WNBA All Star weekend and more addictive white powder

What are the All Stars snacking on? The Midwest game was dippin’ on Cheddar and not just snacks but pockets 💸. Here is an epic moment with A’ja Wilson and Cheez hype to the refs at the Indianapolis All Star game where engagement and brand millions had over 300% growth for the league.

More white powder.
A return of the powder king. Whey is now a key ingredient for the food industry, notably used to enrich the amount of protein in CPG products from functional drinks to snack bars. The article’s leading example is quite striking: a US cheesemaker is now making more profits from whey than from cheese.

Gen Z shoppers are navigating economic uncertainty with creativity and thrift. Over one-third have trimmed grocery budgets and are mastering “fakeaways” — recreating takeout meals at home — while 72% rely on online recipes to stretch every dollar. They're swapping steak for beans, skipping booze, and favoring store brands. Even premium items can work — if they're versatile and justify their price tag

Share

Thank you for joining us today for a slice.

Eat well.