Deet's Eats Media: Unpackaged Goods

Why Oura Walked Away From Its IPO + Afternoon Toast's Kimmy Pace on Building a Brand Nights and Weekends

Deet’s Eats Media — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:00:00 GMT

This week on Unpackaged Goods: why Oura walked away from an IPO with demand to spare, plus Kimmy Pace, founder of Afternoon Toast, on building a brand on nights and weekends.

In the news:
- Oura postpones its IPO despite orders reportedly 4x the shares on offer, and why profit buys you the right to wait
- Wella's debt and Shein's rough public debut
- Dose, Manucurist and Stride: selling from strength
- California's non-ultraprocessed seal and AB 2030 supplement rules
- Galleri's FDA panel and Neko Health's $499 body scan
- Rapid fire: tariff cuts, Boots, Something & Nothing, Confido, Cheez-It Protein, Lucali x Nonna's, Bizzy and The Outset

Then Kimmy Pace joins the show. She still works full time in consulting. Afternoon Toast is her nights-and-weekends build: a ready-to-drink roasted barley and ginger tea with no caffeine and no sugar, made for the 3 p.m. slump. The idea started while she was reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, roasting barley on her stove to sip alongside the book.

We talk about:
- Turning a kitchen recipe into a light-roast product, and finding a roasting partner who usually roasts barley for beer
- Why she's skipping traditional grocery for now and selling into Brooklyn cafes, sandwich shops, yoga and Pilates studios
- Calling ahead instead of dropping off samples, and why "politely persistent" got her on the shelf
- Running pop-ups near the stores that carry her, so attention turns into a sale
- Building the brand with strategy first and visual identity second
- Going solo without doing it alone: advisors, community and AI agents
- What's next: more New York, then California, plus roasted barley and buckwheat SKUs

Find Afternoon Toast at drinkafternoontoast.com and @drinkafternoontoast.

This episode is brought to you by DoughCC, an authorized Square reseller helping businesses get set up, trained, and supported locally, with no upfront cost on your first hardware unit for qualifying businesses. https://www.dough.cc/partner/pickle/

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Graza Hires Lazard, Costco Goes Kirkland on Electrolytes + The Founder Making Sparkling Bone Broth (Marro)

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 16:00:00 GMT

This week in CPG: Graza hires Lazard to explore a sale, Costco launches a Kirkland electrolyte, and the Whole Foods LEAP class is announced. Then Nick Foreste, founder of Marrō, on making the first cold, canned, sparkling bone broth.

IN THE NEWS (every story is in The Deeter Digest)

- Graza hires Lazard and is reportedly seeking up to $600M
- Costco turns electrolytes into a Kirkland product, and what it means for the brand behind them
- Hoplark and The Outset: when fame and being early don't hold
- Brands moving toward brand: Before, Something & Nothing, Ember
- Deals, funding and launches, including Whole Foods' LEAP program, which picked 10 brands from 2,000+ applicants
- The hot take: commodity vs. brand

THE INTERVIEW: NICK FORESTE, MARRŌ

Nick Foreste, founder of Marrō, on what a sparkling bone broth is, going from a leg injury to a 100-mile race to a beverage company, and the skull on the can. He also covers using AI in the business, the retail path from Expo West to real grocery, and why most beverage brands last under two years.

Follow Marrō: drinkmarro.com

CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome + housekeeping
2:44 Graza hires Lazard
5:24 Costco turns electrolytes into a Kirkland product
7:55 When the brand doesn't hold: Hoplark + The Outset
9:48 Brands moving toward brand: Before, Something & Nothing, Ember
12:37 Deals: Crosta Mollica, Sazerac, Roja
14:26 Funding: Bird&Be, Tiny Health, quick hits
16:24 Launches + Whole Foods LEAP
18:36 Data + distribution: Milo's, Lemme, ALDI, Final Boss Sour
19:51 The hot take: commodity vs. brand
22:53 Interview with Nick Foreste, founder of Marrō
23:11 What is Marrō? The first bone broth made to be sipped cold
25:18 From a leg injury to a 100-mile race
27:34 Diet, family + fatherhood
28:58 The attorney who became a beverage founder
30:30 Falling into CPG
32:05 Meet Randy Bandana, the skull on the can
33:42 How Marrō uses AI
36:48 Who is on the team
39:09 Year one: learn the customer before pressing the gas
41:39 Retail: from Expo West to real grocery
43:27 Is it sparkling protein or sparkling bone broth?
45:26 Where Marrō belongs on the shelf
47:18 The odds for beverage brands
48:52 The mission: the next apple cider vinegar
49:49 Where to find Marrō
50:39 Sign-off

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#UnpackagedGoods #CPG #Marro #BoneBroth #FounderInterview #Graza #Costco #Kirkland #ConsumerBrands #BrandStrategy

From Locker Rooms to Retail: NextFoods CEO Marc Seguin on Cheribundi & GoodBelly

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 18:00:00 GMT

What does it take to turn a product trusted by athletes into a brand more consumers discover on the shelf?

Jonathan Deeter sits down with Marc Seguin, CEO of NextFoods, the company behind Cheribundi and GoodBelly, to unpack the decisions behind their next stage of growth.

Marc explains how Cheribundi built its sports-team business, why availability matters as much as awareness, and how NextFoods is bringing two brands together under one team. They also explore GoodBelly’s innovation pipeline, college-athlete partnerships, and building a shared vision inside a private equity-backed company.

In this episode:
• Taking Cheribundi from the locker room into broader retail distribution
• Developing products the team actually wants to use
• GoodBelly’s plans for functional beverages and postbiotics
• Turning college-athlete relationships into affiliate partnerships
• Building a team that believes in the business

Before the interview, Jonathan breaks down the week’s consumer news, including Real Good Foods, L’Oréal, Puig, Diageo, and the latest funding and product launches.

The Marc Seguin interview begins at 14:14.

Unpackaged Goods covers the people and news shaping consumer health, wellness, and packaged goods—for founders, operators, and investors.

Follow the show, leave a review, and subscribe to The Deeter Digest for more consumer-brand news.

Hosted by Jonathan Deeter. Presented by Deet’s Eats Media.

Nestlé Dumps $1.2B of Vitamins + Organic Traditions on Waiting 25 Years to Raise

Deet’s Eats Media — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Nature's Bounty is in more than one in five American households. It's the second-largest vitamin brand in the country. Nestlé just sold it, plus six sibling brands, for less than a year of their combined revenue.

Two days later, a company that didn't exist two years ago raised at seven and a half times revenue.

Plus: an interview with Ally Mamalider, the second-generation CEO of Organic Traditions.

THIS WEEK IN CPG

Nestlé sold seven mainstream vitamin brands to Yellow Wood Partners for $1 billion. They did $1.2 billion in 2025 sales, and Nestlé paid $5.75 billion for The Bountiful Company in 2021. Nature's Bounty isn't broken. It sold for less than a year of sales because it's for everybody, which increasingly means it's for nobody in particular.

Medici Brands raised $250M at a $2.25 billion valuation. David launched DTC in September 2024 with one product. It's now in 35,000+ stores. Plus the two lawsuits nobody is covering.

Keurig Dr Pepper is selling its Chobani stake back for $800 million while Chobani buys KDP's Allentown plant.

Barilla is acquiring GOODLES and keeping the 73-person team and Jen Zeszut as CEO. Same structure Ferrero used with Purely Elizabeth two weeks ago.

Plus: the Liquid Death founder makes canned sparkling wine, Wella files a $500M IPO, Campbell's cuts 13% of its workforce, and Curie is up 29% at Walmart since changing its label.

INTERVIEW: ALLY MAMALIDER, ORGANIC TRADITIONS

Organic Traditions started because Ally's father had undiagnosed Crohn's disease and couldn't get answers from doctors. He started traveling to India, Peru and Japan to study how those cultures had used superfoods for thousands of years. Within a year he said he looked and felt like a different person, and in 2000 he launched the brand in Toronto, building it store by store.

Ally went to Expo West for the first time at eleven. She joined the business in 2017, deliberately waiting until she'd built outside perspective, because adding value inside a family company is harder than people think.

We covered:

Why they took zero outside money for 25 years. No friends and family round, no venture. Just bank operating lines and cash flow until this year's $10.5 million Series A.

How she built an advisory board first, without dilution, to get strategic clarity before raising, and why she deliberately avoided PE and VC when she finally did.

The moment on her first investor call that told her she'd found the right partner. He interrupted the pitch to say slow down, I like to get to know the person I'm potentially working with.

Rebranding a 25-year-old package. The mark had barely changed since 2000, and the goal was keeping the credibility while making it legible to a new audience.

Why fiber is the next protein. Everyone counts their protein and forgets fiber, and for GLP-1 users that gap causes real digestive problems. Their Fiber Flow platform is the answer, and she thinks fiber gets added to everything next.

Being category captain in Canada with six feet of shelf and a challenger in the US. Plus how she's choosing which of 100 SKUs actually go to American retail.

And a genuinely useful take on AI: they brought on a fractional head of AI, trained the whole team rather than siloing it in ops and finance, and use it for reporting, insights, inventory and demand planning. But not for creative. Her prediction is that people are about to get very fatigued of AI verbiage.

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#UnpackagedGoods #CPG #OrganicTraditions #Superfoods #Nestle #YellowWood #MediciBrands #DavidProtein #Chobani #Barilla #GOODLES #FounderInterview #ConsumerBrands #Fiber #GLP1

Vegas, Target, and a Gummy That Looks Like a Condom | Kevin Mai, UNDO

Deet’s Eats Media — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Pre-alcohol supplements have existed for over a decade. Walk into any 7-Eleven in Tokyo or Seoul and you'll find racks of them. Nobody in Asia needs convincing.

So why does nobody at your fantasy football draft take one?

Kevin Mai's answer is that the category solved the problem and then packaged it wrong. Vials, shots, and jars of pills make you the buzzkill at the party. UNDO built a gummy in a foil pouch that looks like a condom, ran with "practice safe drinking," and turned the product itself into the conversation.

Kevin is a co-founder of UNDO, which just closed a $1 million seed round and launched in nearly 900 Target stores.

In this conversation:

Why DHM works and why that was never the bottleneck. The category had a real solution and a real pain point for ten years, and adoption still didn't happen.

The party mechanics. Kevin walks through what actually happens when you bring UNDO to a party: the first question, the education, the wrappers on the table, the friend who shows up late with FOMO, and the group chat the next morning. Ten customers in one night.

Why the payoff loop is unusual. Most supplements ask you to trust the process for a month. You find out if UNDO worked in about ten hours. There's no placebo to hide behind.

Vegas as a proving ground. UNDO launched at Encore Beach Club, sampled 5,000 people, then got into Wynn, then MGM. A six-month test across MGM's properties ended in six weeks.

Retail before DTC. Kevin spent 15 years in performance marketing and built a product made to go viral on social, then accidentally went retail-first through 150 Nashville convenience stores. He explains why distribution in contextual environments worked as marketing.

Saying yes to Target turned a bootstrapped company into a venture-backed one overnight. The round was 70% subscribed almost immediately, and the main criteria for the rest wasn't strategic value. It was whether the investor would bring the product to a party.

Plus: what he'd say to skeptics, and how three co-founders who didn't know each other ended up building this together.

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#UnpackagedGoods #CPG #UNDO #ConsumerBrands #Target #Supplements #FounderInterview #Retail #BrandStrategy #DTC

The $23.8 Million Pint: Rebel Creamery Files Chapter 11

Deet’s Eats Media — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:00:00 GMT

Five weeks ago I said the Van Leeuwen trade dress ruling was the most important thing that happened in CPG that month. Rebel Creamery filed for Chapter 11 on August 14, twenty-nine days after the judgment.

The filing lists $13.78 million in assets against $23.85 million in liabilities, and the judgment is essentially all of it. A packaging design decision made in 2018 ended a company in 2026.

This week:

Rebel Creamery files Chapter 11. Van Leeuwen never claimed the name or logo was copied. It claimed the pint. The court took Rebel's own sales figures and cut a third to separate real keto demand from copied packaging, and what was left still ended the business. Plus the customer email from 2024 that became evidence in a federal courtroom.

Sazerac buys Au Vodka in a reported £500 million deal. Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn each clear over £100 million. Sazerac spent it three weeks after Brown-Forman's family rejected its $15 billion offer for the second time.

Zevia's activist wants a sale. 41,000 doors, $161 million in sales, and a market cap just north of $100 million. Broad distribution is not a moat. It is an operating expense that happens to also be a milestone.

Essity buys Kenvue's Brazilian feminine care business for $284 million. Portfolio surgery seen from the buying side.

Funding: Mid-Day Squares raises $8 million in debt for Costco capacity, UNDO lands 900 Target stores after building 1,000 independents first, Lily Collins joins IM8, and A1R Water lists on Nasdaq via SPAC.

Creatine becomes a line extension. Magna, Salud, and Tonic all added it in a single week. Nobody is launching creatine brands anymore.

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Seventeen Years vs. Two: Ferrero Buys Purely Elizabeth as Unwell Shuts Down

Deet’s Eats Media — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 19:00:00 GMT

Two brands ended this week. Purely Elizabeth spent seventeen years building and was acquired by Ferrero. Alex Cooper's Unwell beverage line lasted less than two years and is reportedly shutting down after Halloween.

Cooper has one of the biggest audiences in podcasting. Elizabeth Stein has granola. Only one of those businesses is still standing.

THIS WEEK IN CPG

Ferrero agreed to acquire Purely Elizabeth, the wellness breakfast brand Stein founded in 2009. Terms weren't disclosed, and Ferrero says it will preserve the brand's identity with Stein staying on. This is a Nutella conglomerate buying credibility at the modern American breakfast table, which is the one thing it couldn't manufacture internally.

Unwell is reportedly shutting down. Unwell Media continues. The drinks do not. A huge audience generates a first purchase. Beverage economics have to generate the second one.

Nichols bought VITHIT for £64 million. The brand proved the demand. Nichols brings Vimto's route to market, which is the second company hiding inside the first one.

C&S Wholesale Grocers is taking majority control of Winn-Dixie, moving a wholesaler in front of the shelf instead of behind it.

The FDA proposed replacing the self-affirmed GRAS pathway with mandatory notification, covering ingredients already on the market. This changes the evidence burden behind your formula.

Carbliss made a limited release permanent after it hit fourth-highest SKU velocity in all of U.S. food at only 22% distribution. That's how limited releases are supposed to work. Scarcity wasn't the strategy, it was the measurement period.

Plus: Lactalis buys Saputo's UK dairy business for £988M, Zevia's board reviews a sale, inKind raises $414M, Lifeway posts its 27th straight growth quarter, and CAVA grows revenue 31.3% on 5.3% traffic growth.

THE TAKE

Distribution is not demand. Neither is an audience, a celebrity partner, or a funding announcement. Reach opens the door. Proof gets you invited back.

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#UnpackagedGoods #CPG #Ferrero #PurelyElizabeth #Unwell #AlexCooper #CelebrityBrands #Nichols #VITHIT #WinnDixie #GRAS #FDA #Carbliss #Lifeway #CAVA #ConsumerBrands #FoodBusiness #BrandStrategy

Belle Robinson on Inventing the Functional Ice Cube + P&G Buys Thorne for $3.8B, Celsius Loses 17% on Record Revenue

Deet’s Eats Media — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Celsius posted record revenue last week and the stock fell 17%. The reason is in the breakdown.

Plus: an interview with Belle Robinson, the London nutritionist who invented the functional ice cube.

THIS WEEK IN CPG

P&G agreed to buy Thorne for $3.8 billion. L Catterton took it private for $680 million in 2023. And roughly a quarter of Thorne's revenue reportedly comes from creatine, an ingredient that was still being sold as gym powder two years ago.

Celsius set a record and lost 17%. Revenue hit $818 million. Alani Nu supplied $364 million of it. The core Celsius brand fell 11.7%. Monster reported the same week with its flagship segment up 21.6%, which is the whole contrast.

80 Acres Farms is winding down after raising more than $350 million and supplying 18,000 retail locations. Not a demand problem wearing a startup costume. An economics problem wearing a technology costume.

Kraft Heinz took $7.4 billion in impairments and a $6.4 billion operating loss, while raising guidance that still projects a full-year decline.

Plus: Axum takes control of Barcode, Sargento enters the deli case, The Farmer's Dog buys Woof, Bain agrees to acquire Gong cha, and WK Kellogg pulls artificial colors a year early.

INTERVIEW: BELLE ROBINSON, ROXII SUPERCUBES

Belle Robinson is a London-based nutritionist who got tired of her own wellness routine. Powders, tinctures, shots, pills, cupboards bursting at the seams. She was already adding ice to her drinks because most functional powders only taste good cold. So she asked what would happen if the ice cube was the supplement.

Roxii launched with four SKUs, each stacking three functional ingredients plus six grams of fiber: Hydration, Immunity, Glow, and Chill, the last one built off the viral Sleepy Girl Mocktail. All under five grams of naturally occurring sugar.

The brand skipped DTC entirely. Roxii went straight to retail, testing 30 stores in the Minneapolis market before launching nationwide at Sprouts and Wegmans two months later, backed by 90 in-store demos in the first three months.

We covered:

Why she built for habit stacking instead of adding another step to a wellness routine
Going retail-first and what you give up by skipping the DTC feedback loop
Creating a category versus creating a brand, and what retailers ask when you don't fit the existing set
Why frozen stopped being a stale aisle, and where functional fits in the freezer
Hyper-freezing, nutrient density, and why the format is a genuine USP
Building a Gen Z brand ambassador program from London
What the UK gets right that the US hasn't caught up to yet

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#UnpackagedGoods #CPG #RoxySupercubes #FunctionalFood #Frozen #ProcterAndGamble #Thorne #Celsius #AlaniNu #MonsterEnergy #KraftHeinz #80AcresFarms #ConsumerBrands #FounderInterview #BrandBuilding #Wellness

Rachel Krupa on What Gets a Brand on the Shelf + Brown-Forman Rejects $15B, LVMH Exits Beyoncé's Whisky | Unpackaged Goods

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 02:00:00 GMT

The growth in alcohol has left alcohol, and this week the whole industry admitted it at once.

Two celebrity-linked spirits brands were sold in seven days. A whiskey family turned down $15 billion for the second time in three months. And beer companies are buying everything except beer.

Plus: an interview with Rachel Krupa, founder of The Goods Mart and Krupa Consulting.

THIS WEEK IN CPG

Brown-Forman says no to $15 billion. Twice. The Brown family, holding the majority of Class A voting shares, called Sazerac's $32-per-share offer "not actionable." A deal would have created the second-largest drinks group in the world behind Diageo. Ownership structure is a strategy, not a cap table detail.

LVMH quietly exits Beyoncé's whisky. Moët Hennessy sold its SirDavis stake back to Beyoncé, and most headlines got the direction backwards. La Lettre reported in January that Moët wanted the brand off its books. This is portfolio surgery, not an acquisition.

Campari sells Cabo Wabo. Two global spirits groups walked away from celebrity-linked brands in the same week. The famous name buys trial. It does not buy reorders.

The beer giants are buying everything that isn't beer. Spanish brewer Damm bought into UK soda brand Dalston's. AB InBev posted beer volumes up 1.1% and no-alcohol up 27%, with Cutwater tracking toward $1 billion. If you're building the thing people drink next, your most motivated acquirer is a brewer.

Orkla spends €207 million on candy factories to keep up with BUBS demand. Third straight week we've covered a company buying its own supply chain.

Plus: Align Ventures closes a $125M Fund II, Whisps' parent hires the CEO who took Dot's Pretzels from $19M to $250M, Epicutis raises $25M selling only through med spas, Vita Coco posts a 28% quarter, and Gap reissues its 1990s fragrance line at $52 a bottle.

INTERVIEW: RACHEL KRUPA

Rachel Krupa has spent 20 years deciding which brands people find out about. She founded Krupa Consulting in 2010, building it into one of the most influential PR agencies in food and wellness, with work spanning Thrive Market, Our Place, Purely Elizabeth, Seedlip, Khloud, and Goop's wellness vertical. Then in 2018 she did what most publicists never do: she opened a store.

The Goods Mart is a better-for-you convenience store built on the bones of the gas station mini-mart she grew up loving in Michigan. Every product is hand-picked. Nothing costs more than $25. Non-GMO with no artificial flavors or colors is the baseline, and after that it comes down to taste, the founder's story, and whether it resonates with the people actually walking through the door.

That makes her one of the few people in CPG who sees the entire funnel: the pitch, the press, the shelf, and the customer picking it up or putting it back.

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Follow Rachel: @rachelkrupa | The Goods Mart: @thegoodsmart | krupaconsulting.com

#UnpackagedGoods #CPG #RachelKrupa #TheGoodsMart #KrupaConsulting #BrownForman #Sazerac #LVMH #SirDavis #Campari #ABInBev #Cutwater #BeverageIndustry #ConsumerBrands #FounderInterview #Retail #BrandBuilding

Inside the Summer Fancy Food Show: What's Coming Next in CPG + Interview with Lucille Founder Jess Haghani

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:00:00 GMT

I just spent three days at the Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center. Then I sat down with Jess Haghani, founder of Lucille Health, the senior nutrition brand building for a consumer most CPG brands completely ignore. Then I break down Danone spending $2.55 billion on functional nutrition in a single quarter, and three companies bidding $4 billion for Thorne.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

SUMMER FANCY FOOD SHOW RECAP

I walked the floor at Javits and came back with four patterns every founder and investor should be watching:

→ Protein is everywhere — protein soda, protein candy, protein oatmeal, protein ice cream. If your product doesn't have a protein story, you're starting the shelf conversation at a disadvantage. It's the new baseline.
→ Founder quality has gone up dramatically — serial founders with nine-figure exits are back for round two. The caliber entering CPG right now is higher than I've ever seen.
→ Packaging has leveled up across the board — the days of ugly packaging getting a pass are over. Turner Duckworth, LAND, Interact Brands. The design investment is real.
→ International brands are coming for U.S. retail — Korean beauty through Olive Young, French fragrance through Fascent, UK matcha through PerfectTed. They're not waiting to be found. They're coming directly.

INTERVIEW: Jess Haghani, Founder & CEO of Lucille Health

→ Building a better-for-you nutrition company specifically for older adults
→ Why 20% of the population gets less than 1% of food and beverage innovation
→ The aha moment with her grandmother Lucille's hospital experience
→ From KKR to HBS to launching a senior nutrition brand
→ How they worked with Harvard Chan School of Public Health on formulation
→ Out of 10 core ingredients, Lucille only overlaps with Ensure on water and salt
→ Taste as the North Star — sweetness level, texture, aftertaste, chalky finish
→ Pull-tab straw packaging designed for accessibility — inspired by her fiancé's grandmother Mary Lou
→ Sales strategy: e-commerce, Amazon, senior living communities, and McKesson partnership
→ The vision to transform the entire adult nutrition category, not just replace Ensure
→ 95% of older men and 83% of older women are chronically under-hydrated — and nobody is building for them
→ The brand name, cursive handwriting, and flower on the logo all come from grandmother Lucille

WEEKLY BREAKDOWN:

→ Danone acquires MADE Group for a reported $1.4B — Cocobella, Rokeby, Impressed across Australia, NZ, and Southeast Asia. Three months after buying Huel for $1.15B. That's $2.55B on functional nutrition in one quarter.
→ European food giants scorecard: Danone ($2.55B), Nestlé (€450M for yfood), Lactalis (Protein Works), Unilever ($1.2B for Grüns). Over $4.25B in disclosed functional nutrition acquisitions in six months. Thorne at $4B would nearly double it.
→ Thorne bidding war: P&G and Haleon join Unilever at $4B. Revenue pacing for $650M. Three bidders means L Catterton has leverage. Could be the largest supplement acquisition in history.
→ Sazerac launches three RTD brands from scratch — Endless Afternoon, Buckhorn, Lovebug. Stops just acquiring, starts building brands it owns 100%.
→ Bacardi takes full ownership of Teeling Irish Whiskey — nine years from minority to full control. Patient capital playbook.
→ Coconut Cult $12.5M for a 300,000-square-foot factory — the largest emerging brand manufacturing investment this year. Equipment financing, not equity.
→ Pat McAfee invests in Jams — media empire becomes a distribution channel. The Pat McAfee jams effect is already viral.
→ L Catterton invests in RŌZ haircare — deploying across skincare (Remedy), supplements (Thorne), athletes (CHAMP), and now haircare.
→ Los Sundays lands investment from NÜTRL founders (sold to AB InBev) — helping launch in Canada.
→ Maxine's Heavenly raises $3M — tripling revenue, acquiring manufacturing.
→ Fascent raises $1.5M for French fragrance in the U.S.
→ Myota closes $4.5M for UK gut health — supplying Joe & The Juice.
→ McCormick Q2 net sales up 16.7%.
→ k2o by sprinter: $4.3M since pivoting to beauty supplements in April.
→ Distribution: Stars + Honey at Target, Cuso's at 216 Sam's Club, DryWater at Vitamin Shoppe, Smearcase at Safeway, 'ndulge at five major chains day one.

Every story this week is about control. Danone is buying full ownership. Bacardi is taking full control. Sazerac building brands it owns outright. Coconut Cult is building a factory that it will completely control. Minority positions are stepping stones. Full ownership is the destination.

Build what you own. Own what you build.

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#CPG #ConsumerGoods #FancyFoodShow #Javits #LucilleHealth #SeniorNutrition #Danone #MADEGroup #Huel #Thorne #Unilever #PG #Haleon #Sazerac #RTD #Bacardi #Teeling #CoconutCult #PatMcAfee #Jams #LCatterton #ROZ #Protein #FunctionalNutrition #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #BuildAccordingly

Second Nature's $175M Acquisition, L Catterton Backs Remedy at $50M, and the Milly Pepper Founders | Unpackaged Goods

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 20:00:00 GMT

Second Nature Brands just acquired Tillamook Country Smoker — $175M+ in sales, two manufacturing facilities, and fifty years of heritage. Nobody covered it. Nobody tweeted about it. And that's exactly why they're winning.

Plus, we sit down with the co-founders of Milly Pepper, the brand revolutionizing a common spice into a premium experience through direct sourcing, freshness, and storytelling.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Since 2022: Voortman ($305M). Sahale ($34M). Brownie Brittle. Now Tillamook Country Smoker. Second Nature Brands is quietly building one of the largest independent snack platforms in America through disciplined M&A — and the CPG media hasn't written a single profile about them.

In this episode, I break down:

→ Second Nature Brands' quiet snack empire — four acquisitions in four years spanning cookies, trail mix, brownie snacks, and now meat snacks with owned manufacturing
→ Why the boring platform builders keep producing the most defensible businesses in CPG
→ Smucker's stock is jumping 12% after beating estimates, three weeks after hiring Goldman Sachs. What happens to the Hostess review now?
→ Time as leverage in M&A — why the Q4 beat changes Smucker's negotiating position entirely
→ Remedy landing L Catterton at $50M expected in year two — March 2024 to a nine-figure trajectory in eighteen months
→ Dr. Muneeb Shah's social media audience as organic customer acquisition — the anti-ODDITY model
→ Stars + Honey raising $24M from VMG after 300% growth — building a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility
→ VMG's two protein-forward investments in one month (Brami $33M, Stars + Honey $24M) and what it signals about their category thesis
→ AG1 Pro — creatine-infused greens — and the platform expansion from single product to three consumer profiles under Kat Cole
→ Mammoth Brands publicly stating it wants more acquisitions after the $1B+ Coterie deal
→ Suja Q1 at $107M, up 22.5% with 50% gross margins
→ Smash Kitchen adding pasta sauce at Walmart — approaching $100M across five categories
→ The FDA approving the first new sunscreen ingredient since the 1990s

INTERVIEW: Millie Pepper Co-Founders
→ The journey from kitchen curiosity to premium spice brand
→ Why freshness and origin matter more than most consumers realize
→ Direct sourcing and building real farm relationships
→ Branding strategies that elevate a commodity into a premium experience
→ Consumer education and product storytelling as growth levers
→ Distribution strategy: DTC and retail partnerships
→ The vision for Millie Pepper's future

The thesis this week is layers. Second Nature is adding meat snacks to cookies and trail mix. AG1 adding creatine to greens. Smash Kitchen is adding pasta sauce to its condiment line. Stars + Honey is adding manufacturing to velocity. And Millie Pepper is adding premium storytelling to a commodity spice. Each layer compounds the one before it. The brands adding layers fastest are pulling ahead.

Build your layer. Then add the next one. The compounding never stops.

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📸 @deetseatsnyc on Instagram/TikTok
🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com

#CPG #ConsumerGoods #SecondNatureBrands #Tillamook #Smucker #Hostess #Remedy #LCatterton #StarsAndHoney #VMGPartners #AG1 #AG1Pro #MilliePepper #Spices #DirectSourcing #MammothBrands #SujaLife #SmashKitchen #Target #Sephora #Kroger #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #Layers #BuildAccordingly

Three Dairy Giants All Buying Functional Nutrition, Salt & Straw's $200M Exit, and David's $90 Ice Cream | Unpackaged Goods

Deet’s Eats Media — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:00:00 GMT

The three largest dairy companies in Europe are all acquiring functional nutrition brands in the same year. Over $2 billion in deals in two weeks. And David sold protein ice cream for $90 a six-pack and sold out in 28 minutes.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Nestlé is buying yfood at €450M — first acquisition under the new CEO. Lactalis acquired Protein Works at $75M in sales. Danone already bought Huel for $1.15B. Three dairy giants, three functional nutrition acquisitions, same year. Traditional dairy is flat. Functional nutrition is growing. They have the manufacturing and distribution. They don't have the brands. So they're buying them. All of them. At the same time.

In this episode I break down:

→ Why three European dairy giants are all acquiring functional nutrition simultaneously — and what it means for every founder building in the category
→ Bridgepoint paying $460M for Obagi Medical and building a $1.8B dermatological skincare portfolio
→ Salt & Straw exploring a $200M exit while PE circles the entire ice cream category
→ Ryl Tea raising $20M after growing 157% while iced tea declined 1.8% — Purchase Capital running the OWYN playbook again
→ David protein ice cream selling out in 28 minutes at $90 per six-pack — the Supreme model applied to functional food
→ Smash Kitchen approaching $100M in year two — why Glen Powell's brand is working where other celebrity CPG fails
→ ODDITY collapsing 30% after CPA spiked 83% — the DTC warning every brand needs to hear
→ Helaina partnering with Nestlé for breast milk-identical infant nutrition proteins
→ Trek One Capital acquiring Good Karma Foods and No Cow to build a plant-based platform
→ California Naturals closing an 8-figure Series B with a former Glossier exec as new CEO
→ BERO Summer Shandy launching at Target — non-alc beer goes seasonal
→ Frosh kids juice boxes at Target from Ciara and Russell Wilson
→ Huel Lite Ramen and Magic Spoon Protein Oatmeal — functional formats keep expanding
→ AG1 launching Omega-3 at Walmart — expanding beyond the hero product
→ MAC Energy securing pre-launch cut-ins at Kroger and Albertsons before July 12th
→ Distribution: DryWater at 1,300 Target doors, Cure at 1,227 Target stores, Neuro and O Positiv at 235 Costco each, High Level Science at 1,000+ GNC, Ketone-IQ at Casey's, Plant People at Wegmans

The feeding frenzy is here. The brands that built real velocity during the correction are now the most attractive targets in a decade. Cheaper than 2021. More proven than 2023. Growing faster than the acquirers' organic businesses. And ODDITY collapsing 30% when CPA spiked 83% is the warning: the market rewards repeat purchase and punishes bought growth.

Build something real. The buyers are waiting.

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🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com

#CPG #ConsumerGoods #Nestle #yfood #Lactalis #ProteinWorks #Danone #Huel #Bridgepoint #Obagi #SaltAndStraw #RylTea #DavidProtein #SmashKitchen #ODDITY #Helaina #BERO #Target #Costco #Walmart #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #FeedingFrenzy #FunctionalNutrition #BuildAccordingly

Puig-Estée Collapses, Jams Lands the NFL, and the Most Famous Athlete on Earth Couldn't Save His Brand

Deet’s Eats Media — Thu, 28 May 2026 17:00:00 GMT

The $40 billion beauty mega merger is dead. Lionel Messi's hydration brand shuttered. And a PB&J brand with zero celebrity co-founders just became the official PB&J of the NFL.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Puig and Estée Lauder merger talks ended without a deal. We tracked this for over a month — exploratory talks to serious conversations to founding families at the table to nothing. Governance killed it. Both families wanted control. Neither would cede it. The biggest missed opportunity in beauty this decade.

Mas+ by Messi is shutting down after two years. The most famous athlete who has ever lived plus Mark Anthony's distribution infrastructure. Still couldn't make a sports drink work. Celebrity gets you trial. Only the product gets you back.

Jams landed an NFLPA licensing deal — the brand that beat Uncrustables at Target in six months is now the official PB&J of the NFL. JJ Watt and Caleb Williams are investors. NFL teams go through 3,600 PB&Js per week. Zero celebrity co-founders. Just a better product.

In this episode I break down:

→ Why the Puig-Estée merger collapsed and what it means for beauty's largest companies
→ Governance as the deal killer — solving it before valuation is the lesson
→ Blackstone and CD&R circling the Magnum Ice Cream Company (Ben & Jerry's, Talenti, Yasso) at €8B+
→ Jams landing the NFLPA and why the product always beats the celebrity
→ OLIPOP's packaging refresh — the most strategically important rebrand of the year
→ Why function gets you noticed but shelf appeal gets you paid
→ Mas+ by Messi shuttering — what the most dramatic celebrity CPG failure teaches every founder
→ The updated celebrity CPG graveyard: MOSS, PRIME, Allbirds, Keys Soulcare, and now Mas+
→ Brami closing $33M from VMG Partners for the fastest-growing pasta brand in America
→ Danone finally exiting Lifeway after 27 years and two failed takeover attempts
→ BuzzBallz up 65% to $570M under Sazerac — the infrastructure thesis validated
→ Electrolit up 22.8% — growing five times faster than Gatorade
→ IM8 raising guidance to $190-210M after hitting $100M in 11 months
→ OLIPOP retail volume up 17.5% while reducing prices and walking away from Coca-Cola
→ Proper Wild raising $11M at $161M as energy shots pivot to gummies
→ Good Molecules backed by Aria Growth — profitable, north of $100M in masstige skincare
→ Stone & Skillet raising $5M for artisan English muffins at 3,000 doors
→ Banagua raising $5.5M for banana water at 3,500 doors
→ Sleep or Die $1M from True Beauty Ventures — sleep wellness enters the portfolio
→ E.L.F. handing Keys Soulcare back to Alicia Keys — focus over celebrity clutter
→ Gordon Ramsay launching Krude olive oil — a celebrity CPG fit that actually makes sense
→ David Protein cod 2.0 in golden tins — 18g protein, $40 per 4-pack
→ Bob's Red Mill packaging refresh by Turner Duckworth
→ Sam McBride (former RXBAR COO) taking the CEO chair at Kettle & Fire
→ Pabst discontinuing Schlitz after 177 years
→ Distribution: MOSH at 2,000 Target stores, Neuro at 3,000+ Walmart, Juni at 750+ Kroger, AG1 at Ulta, Crown Affair all-door Sephora, Jams nationwide on Gopuff

The thesis this week is clarity. The brands and deals that succeed are the ones where the reason to believe is painfully obvious. Better PB&J. Protein pasta. Delicious soda. Two words or less. The brands that need a paragraph are the ones shuttering. The brands that explain themselves instantly are the ones getting funded, getting distribution, and getting the NFL.

Clarity wins. Every time.

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📸 @deetseatsnyc on Instagram/TikTok
🥒 Pickle Advisors: pickleadvisors.com

#CPG #ConsumerGoods #EsteeLauder #Puig #Messi #Jams #NFLPA #OLIPOP #Brami #VMGPartners #BuzzBallz #Sazerac #Blackstone #Lifeway #Danone #IM8 #Electrolit #CelebrityBrands #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #ClarityWins #BuildAccordingly

She Started With $5K. Now It's Worth $600M. Plus BTS, BERO, and Why Quiet Compounding Builds Empires

Deet’s Eats Media — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:00:00 GMT

A woman started a granola brand with $5,000. Seventeen years later it might sell for $600 million. In the same week, BTS launched 30 products at Walmart on day one. Two playbooks. Both might work. But only one was built to last regardless of whether the founder stays famous.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Purely Elizabeth exploring a $600M sale — founded in 2009 with $5K in savings by holistic nutrition counselor Elizabeth Stein. Over $200M in revenue across 100,000+ doors. No VC at the start. No celebrity. No viral moment. The anti-velocity story in a market obsessed with speed.

BTS launched ARIH at Walmart with nearly 30 SKUs across noodles, energy drinks, and probiotic sodas. The most ambitious celebrity CPG launch in history. Backed by Korean food giants Paldo and Hy. ARMY will deliver a massive day one. The question is month two.

BERO launched at Kroger, Publix, AND Walmart in one week — full national grocery coverage in under two years. The Casamigos alumni hire paying dividends.

Celsius plus Alani Nu volume up 26.3%. Alani specifically up 94% with prices rising. Pricing power plus demand growth simultaneously — the holy grail of brand economics. The $1.8B acquisition looks like one of the best deals in CPG history.

Amy's Kitchen quietly approaching $1 billion in frozen. 57,000+ stores. No hype. Decades of compounding.

Also covered: Celleste Bio producing cell-cultured chocolate bars for Mondelēz. Westman Atelier raising $15M approaching $100M. Hero Group acquiring The Gut Stuff in the UK. Frozen One closing $2M seed ahead of nationwide Target. Nomio closing $4M from Collab Fund for Tour de France-endorsed recovery supplements. Run The Jewels raising $2M for RTD cocktails. Laird acquiring Terrasoul for $48M. Tivoli Brewing becoming 18th largest craft brewer. Happy Dad YTD up 35.1%. Pure Genius hitting $1M in first month at Target. GLP-1 adoption doubling in the UK. TRUFF aioli launch. Capri Sun goes functional for kids. Distribution wins across Kroger, Walmart, Target, Publix, and H-E-B.

The quiet compounders and the rockets are both winning. The losers are the brands in the middle — too slow for velocity, too unfocused for compounding. Pick your lane. Commit.

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#CPG #PurelyElizabeth #BTS #BERO #Celsius #AlaniNu #AmysKitchen #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #Entrepreneurship #QuietCompounding

Unilever's $1.2B War Chest Deploys, David's Lawsuit Dropped, and $1M in 5 Minutes

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Two weeks ago I said every beauty and wellness founder should have their deal room ready. This week Unilever spent $1.2 billion on a supplement brand that didn't exist three years ago. Called it.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Unilever acquired Grüns for $1.2 billion — its first acquisition since merging food with McCormick and pocketing $15.7 billion in cash. Founded in 2023, Grüns scaled to $300M ARR in under three years, ships 10 million gummies daily, and has 95% repeat usage at 4-6x per week. Unilever didn't buy a supplement brand. They bought a daily habit. And they still have $14.5 billion left to spend.

In the same week, David Protein's class action lawsuit was dropped — the Mean Girls comparisons, the bomb calorimetry debate, Peter Rahal's "no one is getting Regina Georged" — it's all over. The science won. The social media outrage lost. David immediately launched at Costco across five states. But co-founder and former President Zach Ranen quietly left in February to start something new. The lawsuit is over. The Costco expansion is on. And the co-founder departure opens a chapter worth watching closely.

In this episode I break down:

→ Unilever's $1.2B Grüns acquisition — why the 95% repeat usage stat made Unilever write a billion-dollar check
→ The Unilever wellness portfolio map: OLLY, SmartyPants, Liquid I.V., Nutrafol, Grüns — each filling a specific daily habit slot
→ $14.5B still in the war chest — sleep, gut health, longevity, and women's health are the obvious next targets
→ The Puig x Estée Lauder $40B merger update — founding families meeting this week to finalize terms
→ David Protein's biggest week — lawsuit dropped, Costco launch across five states, co-founder exits. What Zach Ranen builds next might matter more than the Costco expansion
→ Reale Actives doing $1M in sales in under 5 minutes — the creator-to-brand pipeline produces launch velocity tradit

The Co-Founder of Hims & Hers Is Back — And She's Reinventing Coffee Syrup | Interview with POCA Founders + CPG News

Deet’s Eats Media — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:00:00 GMT

She co-founded Hims & Hers in 2017 and helped build it into a $4 billion telehealth company. Now Hilary Coles is back — and she's coming for your morning coffee.

This week on Unpackaged Goods, I sit down with Hilary Coles and Emily Boschwitz, the co-founders of POCA — portable, zero-sugar coffee and matcha syrups that are reinventing how we flavor our drinks. Hilary co-founded Hims & Hers and built out their physical products and brand. Emily was their first marketing hire. Together, they watched wellness overtake big pharma by 4x over the last decade and decided the next frontier was the one vice we're all still allowed to have: coffee.

We talk about the Hims & Hers origin story and what they learned building a company that proved lowercase-h healthcare was real. Why coffee and matcha are the last sacred rituals in a world optimized to death. How they formulated zero-sugar syrups using rare sugars like monk fruit and allulose that actually dissolve in iced drinks — because 75% of Starbucks orders are iced and traditional syrup sinks to the bottom. The pistachio flavor that's giving people an emotional reaction. Building a second company as moms with young kids. Why the GLP-1 movement is creating unexpected demand for flavor in protein-heavy diets. And why they worked with the Glossier design team to make POCA feel like a beauty moment, not a food product.

Plus the weekly CPG news breakdown:

→ Unilever x McCormick is official — $20B revenue, $60B combined value, $15.7B cash payment
→ KDP closes $18B JDE Peet's and splits into Beverage Co. and Global Coffee Co.
→ Chomps approaching $900M in revenue — 36% growth at massive scale
→ IM8 hits $100M ARR in 11 months — Beckham, Giannis on the cap table
→ Mars Men hits $100M in 18 months — $27.5M Series A from L Catterton
→ Create closes $20M — Mike Repole and Unilever Ventures invest
→ The Casamigos Alumni Effect — former CEO launches Por Qué No canned cocktails
→ Khloud Protein Chips debuting exclusively at Target
→ Cadence, Clean Simple Eats, and Boka all launching at 2,000+ Walmart doors
→ Cleanlogic at 6,000+ CVS stores
→ Something Sweet nationwide at Whole Foods
→ Bloom Sparkling Energy launching in Canada via KDP

The mega deals are closing. The rockets are launching. And the co-founder of one of the most important consumer health companies of the last decade just told you where she thinks the next opportunity lives — in the cup you're holding right now.

Subscribe to The Deeter Digest for the full weekly breakdown: https://deetseatsnyc.substack.com/p/the-deeter-digest-80e

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Check out POCA: https://pickpoca.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooZl8fro92SgJTKY0ZLhh7Ah6p9CW8LMjQmxAHo1uVZofiKAGil

#CPG #ConsumerGoods #POCA #HimsAndHers #Coffee #Matcha #Unilever #McCormick #Chomps #IM8 #MarsMen #LCatterton #Create #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital #FunctionalBeverages #WomenFounders

$4B Supplements, $1.15B Meal Shakes, and the Biggest Food Deal in Years

Deet’s Eats Media — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Every major story this week is about deciding what you want to be when you grow up.

McCormick and Unilever are in talks to merge food divisions — Hellmann's, Knorr, Cholula, Frank's Red Hot under one roof in a deal worth tens of billions. Danone paid $1.15 billion for Huel because meal replacement was a billion-dollar category all along. L Catterton is shopping Thorne for up to $4 billion after buying it for $680M three years ago — the most impressive PE flip in wellness history. Sazerac acquired Dirty Shirley after 934% sales growth. And Glossier is closing 9 of 12 stores to focus on hero products.

In this episode, I break down:

→ Why the McCormick x Unilever deal signals the end of the diversified conglomerate era
→ What Danone's $1.15B Huel acquisition means for every founder in functional nutrition
→ The math behind L Catterton's potential 6x return on Thorne — and why vertical integration commands a $4B valuation
→ How Dirty Shirley turned childhood nostalgia into 934% growth and a Sazerac acquisition
→ Why Glossier closing stores is actually the most bullish signal for the brand in years
→ General Mills selling $350M in Brazilian food to go deeper into pet care
→ Ferrero buying another protein brand because the company behind Nutella decided protein bars are the future
→ The 15,000-brand beverage problem — and what separates winners from the graveyard
→ DryWater adding 41,000 doors approaching $100M — the next Liquid I.V.?
→ Tilray completing the BrewDog hat-trick across three continents
→ Funding rounds from Habiza, Good Girl Snacks, Laoban, Yough, JiYu, and Funny Water
→ Distribution wins at Target, Sprouts, H-E-B, Sam's Club, Kroger, and Erewhon

The consolidation wave isn't coming. It's here. The big are getting bigger. The focused are getting smarter. And the window between emerging brand and acquisition target just got shorter.

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Rate us five stars if this episode changes how you think about portfolio strategy.

#CPG #ConsumerGoods #McCormick #Unilever #Danone #Huel #Thorne #LCatterton #DirtyShirley #Sazerac #Glossier #Ferrero #GeneralMills #PrivateEquity #MergersAndAcquisitions #UnpackagedGoods #DeeterDigest #BusinessStrategy #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital

$530M in Firepower, PepsiCo Enters the Chat, and Clooney's Back | EP 019

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:00:00 GMT

The firepower is real this week. David Protein gets hit with a class action lawsuit claiming 83% more calories than labeled — but the internet completely missed the science. Coefficient Capital closes $530M across two funds. PepsiCo launches meat sticks and proves they read the Bain insurgent brands report. Hims & Hers goes from GLP-1 victim to GLP-1 distributor in 14 days. George Clooney applies the Casamigos formula to non-alc beer. Monster quietly launches FLRT to chase the female energy consumer. And Once Upon a Farm posts 30% revenue growth — then watches the stock drop 20%. This is the episode that explains why your moat isn't distribution anymore.

In this episode:

The David Protein lawsuit — what the lab got wrong and why EPG changes everything
Coefficient Capital's $530M — what it means if you're raising a Series A or B
PepsiCo's Good Warrior meat sticks — Big Food just read the Bain report
Hims & Hers' 14-day strategic pivot — the most impressive sequence in consumer health in years
George Clooney's Crazy Mountain — can the Casamigos formula work twice?
Monster's FLRT — can a corporate brand win the female energy consumer on authenticity?
Once Upon a Farm's public market reality check — 30% growth gets champagne in a boardroom. On Wall Street it gets a haircut.
Rapid fire: Henkel acquires Not Your Mother's, Morinaga buys My/Mochi, Grüns at Costco, Poppi at Starbucks, and more

Subscribe to The Deeter Digest for the weekly newsletter that goes deeper than the podcast. Link below. Rate us 5 stars if this episode made you rethink who your real competitors are. --- Unpackaged Goods is hosted by Jonathan Deeter, founder of Pickle Advisors and creator of Deet's Eats Media.

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This Couscous Has More Protein Than Chicken | Bar from BoostCous | Unpackaged Goods EP 018

Deet’s Eats Media — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 01:00:00 GMT

This week I sit down with Bar, the founder of BoostCous — a gluten-free couscous packed with protein and fiber that's rethinking one of the most overlooked staples in the grocery aisle. We talk about how he came up with the concept, the challenges of reformulating a centuries-old product, and what it takes to build a better-for-you brand in a category nobody's innovating in.

This week in CPG news: 🔹 Hims & Hers drops $1.15B on Australian digital health platform Eucalyptus 🔹 Bain Capital shops a $3B dessert empire 🔹 Nestlé officially exits ice cream after decades of trying 🔹 Happy Dad dominates Dry January with 31% YoY growth 🔹 Patrick Mahomes' Throne Sport Coffee raises $10M 🔹 J.M. Smucker makes Uncrustables fridge-friendly

Get the full breakdown in The Deeter Digest 👉 linktr.ee/deetseatnyc

Follow along: @deetseatnyc | @unpackagedgoodspod | @pickleadvisors

Jake Shane's C-Suite Takeover + Kraft Heinz's $600M Plot Twist

Deet’s Eats Media — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 03:00:00 GMT

This week the business world officially lost its mind. A TikTok creator became Chief Creative Officer of a German candy company, Kraft Heinz reversed a billion-dollar corporate split to invest $600M in growth, and someone created probiotics that flush forever chemicals from your body.

In this episode:

[0:00-2:00] Intro: Are We Living in a Simulation? When TikTok creators become C-suite executives and legacy giants reverse course on major restructuring, traditional business rules are officially dead.

[2:00-8:00] The Creator Economy Takeover Jake Shane's appointment as Katjes CCO signals a seismic shift toward cultural relevance over traditional credentials. Why LinkedIn is officially a graveyard and what this means for business leadership.

[8:00-15:00] Kraft Heinz's $600M Strategy Reversal Steve Cahillane perfected corporate splits at Kellogg, then decided NOT to split Kraft Heinz. Instead: $600M investment in growth. Why financial engineering is dead and brand building won.

[15:00-19:00] Reliance's Australian Platform Play India's biggest conglomerate bought a portfolio of Australian better-for-you beverage brands. Strategic international expansion through premium brand acquisition.

[19:00-23:00] Forever Chemical Probiotics & Environmental Health Danish startup Cambiotics raised €4M for probiotics targeting PFAS removal. When environmental contamination meets precision nutrition, new categories emerge.

[23:00-26:00] Happy Dad's Dry January Masterclass How they grew 31% during the month people stop drinking while White Claw struggled and Truly declined. Having a cult vs. having a product.

The Big Picture: Cultural relevance trumps corporate credentials. Growth investment beats financial engineering. Authentic problem-solving creates new categories. Community building outperforms traditional marketing.

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What shocked you most this week? Let us know in the comments.