Lunch Box's 🧰 Last Newsletter of 2023

I hope this newsletter finds you getting a little R&R before jumping into the new year!

In this issue, we cover real estate highlights, notable fundings and acquisitions, and I share what I’ve been reading and enjoying.

Thanks for being a part of the Lunch Box newsletter in 2023. I’ve enjoyed it and I hope you have, too.

-Erik Stiebel

REAL ESTATE HIGHLIGHTS

DrinkPAK, a contract manufacturer of premium alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, is expanding and investing more than $450 million in the construction of two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area of Texas. DrinkPak leased two buildings for a combined space of approximately 2.9 million square feet.

The 1.5 million-square-foot low-acid facility on 25001 Eagle Parkway is expected to open in November 2024 and will manufacture energy drinks, teas, sodas, waters, hard seltzers, beer, wine, and spirits in most can sizes and packing formats. The filling and packaging equipment from Krones AG will produce up to 2,600 cans per minute and feature dual filler production lines. The facility will also include an automated variety packaging line for multi-flavor cartons and trays.

The 1.4 million-square-foot high-acid facility at 7500-7601 Carter Park East is expected to open in January 2025. This facility will be one of the largest, most technologically advanced low-acid canned beverage plants in the world, catering to products such as coffees, protein drinks, milk and alt-milk products, including oat milk, almond milk, and soy. The facility will utilize innovative technologies, including retort processing, to ensure safety and quality. (source: BevNET.) More DrinkPak news in our August newsletter.

King’s Hawaiian has unveiled plans to invest nearly $200 million to build a new 300,000-square-foot food manufacturing facility on 88 acres in Taylorsville, Indiana, that will be built in phases. It’s estimated that the first phase would create 125 to 150 jobs. The Indiana plant will join the company’s current footprint, including two manufacturing facilities in California and the largest facility, located near Atlanta. (source: FoodBusinessNews) 

Tyson Foods has opened a new 325,000-square-foot poultry processing plant in Danville. The plant has the capacity to produce 4 million pounds of products per week and will make such products as chicken nuggets and the company’s Any’tizer Snacks. The company invested $300 million in the project and expects to hire nearly 400 employees. (source: FoodBusinessNews) 

NOTABLE FUNDINGS

Ripple’s latest $49 million investment brings the California pea milk brand’s total capital to more than $274 million, according to an SEC filing last week. The funding round follows a $60M Series E raise in 2021 led by Rage Capital —now Bloom8 — Ajax Strategies and S2G Ventures. Competition in the plant-based milk market, which is a $29 million industry, is intensifying. The pea milk segment has seen a slightly larger decrease in total sales in recent weeks but has outpaced both conventional and overall plant-based dairy sectors, according to the Good Food Institute. (source: Food Dive)

Jiant, a Los Angeles, ready-to-drink alcohol brand for modern consumers, closed a $6 million Series A capital raise. The round was led by Natureza Growth Partners with participation from G5 Capital, Sage Venture Partners, AIR Ventures, Semillero Partners, Brown Angel Group, Freedom Trail Capital, and Michael Silverstein, former global leader of the Boston Consulting Group’s global consumer practice and NYT Best-selling author of Trading Up. The funds will bolster production capabilities, drive deeper distribution, support new sales channels, and accelerate the expansion of Jiant’s hard tea line. (source: FINSMES)

Cultivated meat biotech startup company Clever Carnivore has raised $7 million in seed round funding. The funding round was led by Lever VC. Companies like McWin Capital Partners, Thia Ventures, Valo Ventures, Newfund Capital, and Stray Dog Capital all backed the funding round. The funds will enable the company to accelerate its expansion plans. The company is relocating its Lincoln Park operations to a nearby, larger facility by the end of the year. Expansion plans include scaling up production into 500 liter bioreactors and adding test kitchens. (source: FoodBusinessNews)

ACQUISITIONS 

Bain Capital Private Equity has acquired a “significant” stake in 1440 Foods, a New York-based health-oriented solution company with brands like Pure Protein, Body Fortress, and MET-Rx. 1440 Foods will continue to be led by Chief Executive Officer Azania Andrews and her current management team. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed. (source: FoodBusinessNews)

Mars is paying $665 million (534 million pounds) to buy Britain’s Hotel Chocolat as the U.S.-based Snickers and M&M manufacturer expands its presence in the U.K. and increases its exposure to premium confections. Mars has operated in the U.K. since 1932. (source: Food Dive)

New York State-based packaged yogurt giant Chobani has acquired Philadelphia-born coffee company La Colombe for $900 million. The deal follows nearly a decade’s worth of interest in the coffee company from Chobani Founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, who became the majority owner and primary investor in La Colombe in 2015 with an approximately $60 million investment. According to an announcement from Chobani, the $900 million sale will involve a newly issued $550 million loan, cash on hand, and the exchange of Keurig Dr Pepper‘s (KDP) minority equity stake in La Colombe into Chobani equity. (source: Daily Coffee News)

WHAT I’M CONSUMING (AND ENJOYING!)

🗒 The making of a brand. I think it’s fun to read about how different companies are trying to make it. And it’s probably why I enjoyed this FoodDive article on why a Pabst, Diageo veteran, and a Grammy-winning band teamed up on the new California-based hard kombucha company, Mate Maker. The kombucha category is projected to be worth $2.64 billion by 2030, posting growth at a compound annual growth rate of 15.6%, according to Grand View Research.

🥤Just in time for “Dry January,” White Claw is hopping on the non-alcoholic beverage trend with its newest innovation — White Claw 0% alcohol seltzers. The drinks come in four flavors — black cherry cranberry, mango passionfruit, peach, orange blossom, and lime yuzu — and are designed to replicate the taste of the original White Claw Hard Seltzers. A majority of alcohol drinkers, about 80% of millennials and Gen Zers, are interested in exploring a "sober-curious" or "damp" lifestyle, a new survey from the company revealed. (source: Fox Business)

📈 McCormick & Co. has named tamarind as its flavor of the year for 2024, according to the company’s recently released Flavor Forecast trends report. For some more 2024 trends and links to other predictions, check out this FoodBusinessNews article. And this FoodBusinessNews article focused on beverage trends notes how consumers seem to be ditching the artificial colors and additives in beverages. Additionally, companies will be turning to AI to analyze consumer preferences and streamline production processes.

⛓ I enjoyed Food Dive’s story on McCormick’s bet to build its ‘supply chain of the future with its half-mile-long logistics center near Baltimore. One highlight: McCormick estimates it’s driving 150,000 fewer miles annually with the operations under one roof, saving time and money on fuel, while reducing its environmental footprint.

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Happy New Year!

Erik Stiebel
Founder and Vice President
CA DRE License #02080746
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[email protected]