Consumer Packaged Goods Broker News: Anti-obesity campaign spurs frozen veggie sales

Hostess bidder eyes Hollywood-worthy comeback | Honest Tea founders tell their story in a comic book | Post climbs on with debut of Grape-Nuts Fit

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March 13, 2013

News for the food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry

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Hostess bidder eyes Hollywood-worthy comeback
Evan Metropoulos says his team, which is offering to buy Hostess Brands for $410 million, might tap celebrities including Zach Galifianakis for a quirky digital ad campaign to revive the bankrupt company. "With some TLC and some good management fundamentals, [I believe] that these brands will flourish with a new audience and an audience that grew up with them," said Metropoulos, whose family owns Pabst Brewing. The Wall Street Journal (3/12)

Honest Tea founders tell their story in a comic book
Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff, his professor at the Yale School of Management, are telling the story of Honest Tea in a comic book, set for Sept. 3 publication. "I wondered if the world really needed another business book," said Nalebuff, "but I thought that if we were going to write one, it should be really different." The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (3/12)

Post climbs on with debut of Grape-Nuts Fit
Post Foods has launched Grape-Nuts Fit, a cereal with 6 grams of protein and 42 grams of whole grains. An ad campaign features a tie-in with the American Himalayan Foundation, whose board includes Peter Hillary, son of Edmund Hillary, who ate Grape-Nuts during his historic ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. Drug Store News (3/12)

Increased feedstock costs could drive up Polyethylene prices
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Trends

Danone tops Access to Nutrition Index
A new Access to Nutrition Index puts Danone on top, followed by Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo and Kraft, as companies that do the most to combat obesity and improve access to healthful food. "The Index encourages companies to adopt a deliberate approach to the development of nutritionally improved options for consumers," said Inge Kauer, executive director of the index, developed by the nonprofit Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. USA Today (3/12)

April 11 is deemed Read Your Labels Day
Nonprofit consumer-advocacy group Citizens for Health is making April 11 Read Your Labels Day to encourage consumers to read and understand nutrition labels. "The majority of us don't check the list of ingredients on food-package labels," Chairman Jim Turner said. The group also released the list Top 10 Ingredients to Avoid. Progressive Grocer (3/12)

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MOM's store in Md. installs solar panels
A MOM's Organic Market store in Waldorf, Md., is the first in the nine-store chain to add solar panels, which are expected to provide 15% or more of the energy used. "The Waldorf solar array is the first of many," founder and CEO Scott Nash said. "We plan to install solar panels on every store that we can in the future." Progressive Grocer (3/12)

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Health & Wellness

Anti-obesity campaign spurs frozen veggie sales
Pinnacle Foods' $2 million marketing push on Nickelodeon to promote first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign spurred two months of higher sales for the company's Birds Eye frozen vegetables, one of several accomplishments touted in a new report from the Partnership for a Healthier America. The report also detailed progress by Wal-Mart and Walgreen toward eradicating food deserts by bringing more stores with fresh food offerings to poor neighborhoods. Bloomberg (3/7)

GMA News

GMA offers key resource in industry procedures through online bookstore
Where do you find guides and manuals on current food, beverage and CPG industry standards? Look no further than the GMA Online Bookstore, the trusted resource for the food, beverage and CPG industry. Providing some of the most relevant information you need to stay ahead of the curve on industry procedures, GMA offers publications you need at a price you can afford. View available publications.