The growth of the specialty food industry over the past year was primarily driven by products used for at-home cooking and baking as consumers looked to make easy meals and indulgent treats as lockdowns carried into the new year. In a recent report published by the Specialty Food Association (SFA) with research from SPINS and IRI, the SFA predicts that these categories will continue to lead growth in the industry as cooking at home becomes more habitual to consumers.

Following its U.S. debut online earlier this spring, European “micro drink” brand Waterdrop has opened its first domestic retail location in Miami.

Sugar-free soda maker Zevia filed for an IPO today to list on the New York Stock Exchange. The California-based company has applied to list under the ticker symbol ZVIA. Founded in 2007, Zevia produces zero calorie soft drinks naturally sweetened with stevia.

Leveraging supply chains, UNSTUCK is on a mission to support refugees. An extension of nonprofit The Tent Partnership for Refugees, the initiative has developed brand partnerships which it believes can create sustainable change, and it’s demonstrating this power through a new launch with yogurt brand Chobani.

When REBBL launched in 2011, plant-based functional beverages were still a niche category with little consumer recognition. A decade later, the brand now finds itself turning to innovation in order to bring in new shoppers and stake out space within a mainstream beverage marketplace that has embraced plant-based with open arms.

BevNET is proud to announce its inaugural Cocktail Showdown, a pitch competition that will showcase the most innovative and disruptive brands in the rapidly emerging category of spirit-based ready-to-drink and ready-to-pour cocktails. Taking place on August 12, 2021, the competition will be presented as a virtual platform for the hottest new pre-mixed cocktail brands in America.

Better Juice, an Israel-based food tech company which has developed an enzymatic technology to reduce the sugar content in fruit juice, has raised $8 million in a seed funding round that will support the company as it goes to market next year, targeting international brands.

Since launching in 2018, the Greenbelt Craft Kombucha team has urged consumers to use its products as a replacement for sugary soft drinks or alcohol. Now, the brand is “blatantly laying it out there,” according to co-founder Gavin Booth, with the creation of its non-alcoholic, cocktail-inspired line of yaupon tea-based kombucha.

When Guayaki launched in 1996, it sought to educate mainstream consumers about the clean and natural benefits of plant-based energy with its line of yerba mate drinks. Now, 25 years later, they may be catching on. In recent months, the yerba mate category has seen an influx of attention and innovation from startups and strategics alike.