Lunch Box's End of Summer Recap

In this issue, I share some real estate production facility news, funding highlights, and some things you might be interested in.

Enjoy!  

REAL ESTATE HIGHLIGHTS

Factor_ has opened a 300,100 square foot facility in Goodyear, Arizona, to scale its brand. The facility will serve as an industrial kitchen for the company. The ready-to-eat meal delivery service brand will employ over 800 employees who will cook meals from scratch, prepare, and fulfill customer orders at the new facility. The facility will be supplied with automated technology as well as sustainable operations, such as CO2 refrigeration. (source: LinkedIn )

JTM Foods LLC, a manufacturer of handheld snack pies, celebrated the grand opening of its new manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kansas. The new 195,000 square foot plant is expected to double JTM’s current manufacturing and distribution footprint, which is located in Erie, PA. The expansion is JTM’s first outside of Pennsylvania and will allow the company to more easily serve its handheld snack pie retail partners in its Southern, Southwest, and West Coast markets. Along with its financial partner Tenex Capital Management, JTM invested approximately $40 million in the expansion in Kansas. (source: FoodBusinessNews)

Austin, Texas-based consumer packaged goods startup, Afia, opened its brand new 20,000 square foot production facility in Taylor, Texas. Afia, who makes Mediterranean food, could eventually produce 500K falafels per day at the site. (source: Austin Business Journal)

The Feed, a sports nutrition company, leased 75,114 SF at 1715 West 112th Avenue in Broomfield, Colorado, also known as the Verve Commerce Center. (source: Me!)

NOTABLE FUNDINGS

Recently formed investment firm Humble Growth raised more than $312 million for its debut fund to back consumer brands. Humble Growth is led by Peter Rahal, co-founder of RXBAR; Andrew Abraham, chief executive officer and founder of Orgain; and Nick Giannuzzi, founder and partner of law firm Giannuzzi Lewendon. Its lineup of limited partners includes Nestle Health Science; Verlinvest, which has invested in Oatly, Vita Coco and Tony’s Chocolonely; Mike Repole, co-founder of BodyArmor SuperDrink; Gary Hirshberg, founder and CEO of Stonyfield Farm; Paulo Lima, co-founder of IT Cosmetics; and Sean Lang, founder of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition. (source: The Wall Street Journal)

Seattle-based snack company SkinnyDipped, known for its lightly dipped nuts, closed on $12 million in Series A funding to move into new retailers and new categories. The company attracted dozens of investors for its $12 million Series A round. Hospitality entrepreneur David Grutman, who also backs food-related companies like Snackpass and Immi, led the round. The investment is unique: Instead of a special purpose vehicle, individual investors pooled money into a single funding entity, Griffith said. Among those dozens of investors are some names you’ll recognize, including Amy Schumer, Mark Wahlberg, Becky G, Post Malone, Tan France, Odell Beckham Jr., Frances Tiafoe, Alesso, Kevin Durant, Kaskade, Steve Aoki and Marshmello. (source: TechCrunch)

Better-for-you macaroni and cheese brand Goodles has secured $13 million in a Series A funding round, which was led by L Catterton. With the Series A funding, the company is adding to its team with three new C-suite executives and is also increasing its production capacity. The three new C-suite executives include Stacie Hajduk as chief marketing officer, Nathan Lord as chief financial officer, and John Casey as senior vice president of sales. (source: FoodBusinessNews)

Momofuku Goods, a US-based supplier of noodles and sauces, has raised $11.5m in funding to try to speed up its nationwide distribution. The funding round was led by Alliance Consumer Growth (ACG), a consumer-focused equity firm, and the company’s existing investor, Siddhi Capital. (source: JustFood)

WHAT I’M CONSUMING (AND ENJOYING!)

💰A FoodBusinessNews interview with Peter Rahal, co-founder of RXBAR talking about his latest project, Humble Growth (mentioned in the above section), an equity firm that’s raised more than $312M.

🥨🍿 Did you know: Salty snack sales grew nearly 16% in 2022 to reach $28 billion, according to the market researcher Circana, and are projected to reach $38 billion by 2028? Here’s an interesting piece on the key trends driving the snack category from FoodBusinessNews.

🍄 Tune in! I haven’t consumed this yet, but I thought I’d give the heads up. Protein Factory is hosting a deep dive session with some leaders from the alternative protein space, Mycoprotein: The Role of Fungi in the Future of Alternative Proteins. More info and sign-up info here.

Thanks for reading.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, we’d love to hear them.

Erik Stiebel
Founder and Vice President
CA DRE License #02080746
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