Watch on YouTube or Spotify
This week on Unpackaged Goods, I sat down with Bar, the founder of BoostCous, a gluten-free couscous packed with more protein and fiber than almost anything else on the shelf.
We talked about how he took a food that’s been around for over a thousand years, stripped out the gluten, loaded it with protein and fiber, and turned it into something that actually competes with the trendiest health foods on the market. Except it costs a fraction of the price and takes five minutes to make.
What I love about Bar’s story is that he didn’t chase a trendy ingredient. He didn’t slap adaptogens on something and call it innovation. He looked at a staple food that billions of people already eat and asked a simple question: what if this was actually good for you?
That’s the kind of CPG thinking I get excited about.
This week in CPG
Hims and Hers drops $1.15 billion on Eucalyptus. They acquired Australia’s largest digital health provider. This isn’t just international expansion. It’s validation that telehealth platforms built on real consumer needs justify massive valuations even during GLP-1 scrutiny. While their stock trades at heavy discounts, they’re doubling down instead of retreating.
Bain Capital is shopping a $3 billion dessert empire. Dessert Holdings, their scaled manufacturer of branded and private label desserts, could hit the market via sale or IPO. When private equity builds dessert manufacturing platforms worth three billion dollars, it proves that boring businesses with real cash flows beat exciting businesses with questionable unit economics every single time.
Nestle officially exits ice cream. They’re selling the remainder of their ice cream division to Froneri over the next 12 to 18 months. The world’s largest food company just admitted they can’t win in every category regardless of scale and resources. Ice cream required different distribution, seasonal demand management, and consumer connection than Nestle’s core strengths. Sometimes the most powerful move is admitting what you’re not good at.
Happy Dad dominates Dry January. They ranked number one in hard seltzer growth with 31 percent year over year sales increases. White Claw managed 3.4 percent. Truly declined 10.8 percent. When an alcohol brand grows 31 percent during the month people stop drinking, they’ve built something that transcends the category.
Throne Sport Coffee raises $10 million. Patrick Mahomes’ coffee brand closed funding to support DSD expansion across 7,000 plus doors. The fact that Mahomes stays on as the second largest shareholder rather than just cashing endorsement checks tells you everything about where this is headed.
Uncrustables goes fridge friendly. Smucker reformulated them to last five days in the fridge without thawing. Sometimes the most impactful innovation solves the most boring problems.
The bottom line
The pattern this week is clear. Operational excellence beats marketing creativity. Manufacturing competence beats trend chasing. Solving real problems beats creating artificial differentiation. Bar at BoostCous gets this. Nestle learned it the hard way. Happy Dad proved it by growing while their entire category shrank.
The winners aren’t the companies with the flashiest launches. They’re the ones willing to tackle difficult problems that everyone else avoids.
Until next week,
Jonathan Deeter
Your CPG-Obsessed Friend
Very interesting new couscous product! I will have to check it out.