The long-established trend towards proactively managing our health and well-being has been brought into sharper focus by COVID-19. Research by Innova Market Insights reveals a new wave of opportunity for functional nutrition product launches for 2021 and beyond, which will be explored further in a webinar on July 19.

SKU, an accelerator for consumer packaged goods (CPGs), announced six companies that will participate in the upcoming track of the Minneapolis program, ImpactSKU '21. Each was selected based on the basis of product innovation, market traction, and the passion of founders.

The 2021 edition, prepared in partnership with The Hartman Group, explores how the future of food retail will be colored by the pandemic – driven by shifts in the way consumers purchase groceries.

IRI®, a fast-growing, innovative, global provider of technology, data, and predictive analytics for the consumer, retail, and media sectors, announced the appointment of Kirk Perry, Google’s president of global client & agency solutions, as president and CEO and a member of its board of directors, effective May 17, 2021. Perry succeeds Andrew Appel, who has successfully led a transformation of IRI for nearly a decade. Appel will remain an advisor to the company and member of the board of directors.

Although there may be a pandemic-related slowdown, there’s no stopping new product development targeted at the commercial and non-commercial foodservice sectors. To help readers with new product development strategy, Prepared Foods asked Jeff Miller, founder and CEO of Cutting Edge Innovation, to create a thought leadership series connecting R&D strategy to foodservice sales. Cutting Edge Innovation advises on foodservice strategy, sales, business development, and innovation. Miller also created an online course, “Turbocharge Your Foodservice Sales.” 

Want to talk candy trends? It’s not unusual to talk about new offerings combining both sweet and sour flavors. Then again, sweet and sour also describes life itself the candy industry.

The California Walnut Commission announced its second annual "Power of 3" global marketing campaign, which builds on the successful 2020 campaign. "Power of 3" launched on March 3 with a first-ever global event celebrated in the USA, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the Middle East to showcase how they like to get their daily handful of walnuts.

Manus Bio Inc. (Manus Bio), announced the expansion of its sales and marketing team with the hires of Heather Barbarino as vice president of marketing and Gary Dempsey as vice president of sales & business development.

Marquee Brands LLC and Mediacast Holdings announced the initial launch of Martha Stewart Kitchen (MSK), a new retail brand of frozen and prepared food products from Martha Stewart, which are being brought to the market by the newly formed MSK Foods LLC.

Global innovation platform, Plug and Play, announced its newest location in Chicago. This office will focus on connecting startups, corporations, and investors working on innovating the food and beverage industry. Since 2017, Plug and Play has run a food and beverage program out of their headquarters in Silicon Valley and has since expanded to Bangkok, Milan, São Paulo, and Shanghai.