Elly Truesdell

I have written a lot lately about protein and where the category is heading. This deal is another data point worth paying attention to. Second Nature Brands, the PE-backed snacking platform behind Brownie Brittle, Sahale Snacks and Voortman, just agreed to acquire Tillamook Country Smoker. Tillamook generates more than $175 million in annual sales and makes clean-label zero-sugar jerky, beef sticks and sausages. This is Second Nature's first move into protein snacks. The category numbers explain why. Dried meat snack sales excluding jerky rose 10.7% to $3.3 billion in 2024. PepsiCo entered this year with Good Warrior. Chomps, Jack Link's Protein Snacks and Archer Meat Snacks are all scaling. The category has gone from a niche better-for-you play to one of the most competitive aisles in the store in a very short window. For Second Nature, Tillamook gives them a platform in a category with real consumer tailwinds. For CapVest, the PE firm backing Second Nature, this is the roll-up playbook working exactly as designed. Buy castoffs and undermanaged brands, add distribution muscle and retail relationships, and let the category growth do some of the work. The harder question is whether clean-label meat snacks can hold their positioning as the category gets crowded with scaled players. Full article: https://lnkd.in/gvsRjjzQ

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Coffee companies continue to trade at a premium — often well above the restaurant sector median. From Starbucks with a $90B+ market cap to the newly public Black Rock Coffee Bar, investors are rewarding the category’s combination of brand power, daypart diversification, and asset-light scalability. But the headline numbers obscure the nuance. Even within coffee, performance varies widely. Same category, different stories — some are growing fast but chasing margins; others command consistency but face saturation; and new entrants are yet to prove their brand. The spread reflects not hype, but differences in system sophistication, throughput, and capital discipline. Premium multiples in coffee aren’t just about caffeine (or beverage) culture — they’re a proxy for planning and execution. As valuations diverge, investors are leaning harder on diligence to separate durable growth from over-caffeinated projections. For emerging brands, understanding what drives those multiples — and engineering the systems behind them — will define who becomes the next Starbucks, and who stays local. #restaurants #valuation #coffee

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Health-Ade generated more than $173 million in dollar sales through January 20, 2026, according to Circana. In refrigerated beverage economics, that scale moves the brand beyond niche fermentation and into institutional perimeter relevance. Kombucha’s first chapter was narrative-driven live cultures, authenticity, alternative wellness. The current chapter is infrastructure-driven. Refrigerated resets have tightened. SKU counts have compressed. Velocity now determines survival. Brands that remain are those that justify cold-chain cost per linear foot. Following its reported $500 million acquisition by Generous Brands, Health-Ade expanded distribution into 8,000 Dollar General locations, 1,100+ Wawa, Inc. stores, and exclusive placement at Love's Travel Stops. That mix is meaningful. Value and travel are repeat-driven channels. They reward reliability and operational discipline. Expansion there suggests confidence in turns and margin structure, not experimentation. From a capital markets perspective, refrigerated scale changes the profile of a beverage business. Cold-chain infrastructure requires disciplined logistics, inventory accuracy, and retailer integration. But once that fixed network is absorbed, incremental doors improve operating leverage. Infrastructure does not guarantee dominance but it can compound advantage. From a retailer lens, sustained velocity strengthens negotiating posture during resets. Brands that consistently perform shape assortment instead of reacting to it. In a perimeter environment where space is finite, predictability becomes currency. From a competitive set lens, the framing shift may be the most important. Kombucha positioned solely as artisanal wellness competes narrowly. Positioned within a broader functional and metabolic conversation digestive support, routine system maintenance, low-sugar hydration it enters a larger performance-forward refrigerated ready-to-drink arena. The perimeter of the store carries implied credibility: freshness, daily utility, physiological intent. Categories built there skew habitual rather than occasional. Habit drives frequency. Frequency supports durability. Viewed this way, Health-Ade’s trajectory is less about flavor innovation and more about structural positioning leveraging refrigerated presence, scaled distribution, and retailer confidence to secure permanence within the cold box. Narrative may open the door. In refrigerated beverage, infrastructure keeps it. 🔌 BevNET CPG Media

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Searching for growth? General Mills has announced plans to boldly go after the over 55s in their quest to increase volumes. While much of CPG chases 18-45s or the latest wellness fad, General Mills is placing its bets on three under-the-radar, high-leverage consumer groups: - Adults aged 55 +, who account for nearly half of U.S. households and have enormous spending power. - Consumers using GLP-1 medications (up to 12%+ of U.S. adults), who’re eating less but seeking more protein, more functional nutrients, smaller portions. - Hispanic shoppers, where General Mills plans to ramp up innovation and engagement by ~40% in FY26. This move takes product renovation in new directions - redesigning products and formats to match how people now live, eat and feel. They’re innovating for smaller households (smaller pack sizes), higher-protein need states, functional nutrition and not just indulgence. And this isn’t an isolated move. It’s part of a broader CPG reboot as the absence of growth looms. Full article by Elizabeth Crawford here: https://lnkd.in/eC7uqJSk #CPG #Innovation #ConsumerTrends #GeneralMills #Wellness #GLP1 #MidlifeConsumers #BrandStrategy

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One thing I appreciated in my conversation with Paul Weaver was the operator’s lens behind the headline. Paul directly addresses whether Big Alcohol and the 🌿 industry are enemies; and argues that Boston Beer’s participation makes it an ally for regulated access. For founders and beverage teams, the broader lesson is that category growth still has to meet product quality, regulatory durability, and a defendable reason to win.

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