Outstanding Foodstuff raises $10M as plant-centered snacking grows

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Dive Temporary:

Plant-centered snack food items enterprise Fantastic Meals shut a Series A funding spherical led by SternAegis Ventures. Other traders involve previous Enjoy Lifetime Foods Chairman Kenneth Harris and El Dorado Food items CEO Javier Valéz-Bautista.
The organization ideas to use this further capital to develop its footprint in retail, boost its promoting in the direct-to-shopper channel and speed up the enhancement of new solutions to add to its portfolio. Present retail associates include Walmart, Kroger, Entire Food items and 7-Eleven.
Excellent Foods launched its very first items final yr and has thrived, even with the pandemic upending the food items and beverage business. It has two product traces that are plant-primarily based and significant in protein. The company’s recipes are designed by Dave Anderson, a chef who also assisted in item advancement for Beyond Meat.

Dive Insight:

This past calendar year has place momentum driving Fantastic Foodstuff, maker of plant-centered PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds, which element 25 grams of protein in each 3.5-ounce bag. It is unsurprising that the snack food items business has fast captivated focus as it positions alone as a plant-primarily based and superior-for-you products for vegans and omnivores alike.

In March, it welcomed a partnership with Snoop Dogg. In October, the business introduced its 2nd products, TakeOut Meal-In-A-Bag Puffs. Fantastic Foodstuff claims it has expert “explosive growth” for both of those of its solutions around the earlier calendar year. And now, it has secured its 2nd round of funding from SternAegis Ventures, the VC company that very first invested in June.

Outstanding Food items, which offers “tasty as hell plant-centered meals,” has favored bold flavors. Its PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds and TakeOut Food-In-A-Bag Puffs are supplied in varieties these as Hella Incredibly hot and Pizza Partay.

The company has also concentrated on the functional, improved-for-you nature of its merchandise. Practical foodstuff has develop into a lot more preferred in the very last several many years, but the pandemic accelerated curiosity in solutions featuring claims that they increase the general health and nicely-remaining of people today. In its launch of TakeOut Meal-In-A-Bag Puffs, the business touted the truth that it has “packed the nourishment of a whole meal” conveniently into a 3-ounce snack bag, like a large vitamin and mineral articles complemented by 21 grams of protein.

A new cheeky advertisement for TakeOut puffs takes a dig at PepsiCo-owned snack manufacturer Cheetos. A young woman points out her mom and dad will never let her take in the cheesy puff snack any longer simply because of its substances. But TakeOut puffs, she points out, “even flavor far better than the one particular with the cheetah.”

Outstanding Foods’ progress is going on in an environment the place snacking has come to be a central characteristic of numerous people’s every day lives. Two out of a few men and women performing from dwelling all through the pandemic say they desire snacking to foods, in accordance to info from Mondelez.

This common interest in treats all through the pandemic has led corporations to adapt their portfolios and product sales buildings to much better cater to the new dynamics. Industry experiences indicate salty treats and e-commerce browsing have been growing in level of popularity. Superb Food items has conveniently adapted to these two trends with its emphasis on DTC retail and savory product advancement.

With its emphasis on plant-primarily based, Fantastic Food items is also ideally put to acquire additional solutions that are positioned as far better-for-you choices. Early in the pandemic, SPINS observed that plant-dependent food saw a considerably higher advancement fee than general foodstuff product sales during the 16 weeks ending April 19.

Heading ahead, Fantastic Meals will be actively playing in a $1.2 trillion snacking phase that demonstrates no indication of slowing down. If the firm can continue to cater to consumers’ need for plant-based and more healthy choices that never sacrifice taste, there is a good possibility it will go on to prosper and bring in consideration of both individuals and investors.