Beyond The Headlines: IFF completes Flavor Specialty Ingredients divestment, Nescafé launches customizable coffee solution

04 Aug 2023 --- In this week’s news, IFF completed the previously announced divestiture of its Flavor Specialty Ingredients business to Exponent, while Livekindly Collective announced the acquisition of California-based Alpha Foods. Britvic expands its portfolio with the addition of RTD iced coffee brand Jimmy’s Iced Coffee. Nescafé simplifies the art of roasting with a customizable solution designed for restaurants, cafes, and baristas.

In brief: Business highlights
IFF has completed the previously announced divestiture of its Flavor Specialty Ingredients (FSI) business to Exponent, a UK-based private equity firm. IFF seeks to maximize shareholder value and reduce debt in a portfolio optimization strategy. “The sale of our FSI business unit is another step in our journey to continuously maximize value,” says Frank Clyburn, IFF CEO. “Portfolio optimization is a central part of our ongoing strategy to improve growth and returns. This focus allows us to concentrate on our most attractive businesses and strengthen our capital structure by reducing outstanding debt.”

Livekindly Collective (LKC) announced the acquisition of California-based Alpha Foods, the sixth food brand to be acquired by LKC since its founding in 2020 and the first in the US. Alpha has a strong brand presence and its products can be found in the frozen food section at major US retailers. Alpha states that joining LKC will enable the company to grow sustainably while propelling innovation in a category that is often accused of creating a plethora of plant-based versions of ubiquitous products like patties and nuggets.

Aldi is removing ‘Use By’ dates from its fresh milk to help reduce food waste.Britvic has expanded its portfolio with the addition of the UK’s fastest growing Ready to Drink (RTD) iced coffee brand, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee. In the year to June 2023, it generated a retail sales value of £17 million (US$21.6 million), an increase of 43% on the previous year. The UK RTD iced coffee category is large and fast-growing, with a retail sales value (RSV) of £280 million (US$356 million) last year, an annual increase of 15.3%. 

In brief: Sustainability news
Aldi is removing ‘Use By’ dates from its fresh milk to help reduce food waste. Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket will instead use ‘Best Before’ dates on milk bottles – except for filtered milk – across its stores in England and Wales to prevent milk from being thrown away unnecessarily. The changes will start rolling out in stores by the end of the year. According to waste reduction charity WRAP, nearly 300,000 tons of milk is wasted by UK households annually, with half saying that pouring it away is because of the Use By date. As milk can be safe to use past its Best Before date – provided it has been stored correctly and doesn’t smell bad – Aldi will encourage shoppers to perform a ‘sniff test’ to determine whether their milk is still acceptable to consume.

Heineken has set a goal to reach net zero carbon emissions in the value chain by 2040 and agriculture accounts for 19% of its total emissions. Heineken is driving systemic change to reduce these emissions through its “Low Carbon Farming” program. By working collaboratively with farmers and leveraging sustainable agricultural practices, the program has proven effective in reducing carbon emissions and increasing carbon sequestration. So far, Pilots in the program have obtained an average 13% reduction in CO2 emissions and 81% improvement of CO2 sequestration. The most applied practices are cover cropping, residue management, and the change of nitrogen forms and application. 

In brief: Other highlights
The UK government revealed plans to help schools, hospitals and other organizations buy higher quality food and drink at better value for the taxpayer. A single online portal will make it easier for public sector customers and small businesses by offering a simplified route to markets, opening up access to a range of food and drink suppliers for the public sector. This has the added benefit of creating more customer choices while improving standards and providing better access to locally-sourced produce. Public sector procurement teams will also have the option to add their preferred SME suppliers to the agreement, says a government statement. All suppliers available through the portal must adhere to the updated Government Buying Standards for Food, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is set to update in due course.

Mars will help Kevin’s to continue to grow and innovate.School meals are much healthier than they were for the parents of American children, but still, a quarter are of poor nutritional quality. The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), in place for 2020-25, call for meals with less sugar and salt and more whole grains. Fully synchronizing school meals with these new standards could positively impact hundreds of thousands of children, according to investigators from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University report recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 

The Hatchery Chicago, a non-profit incubator dedicated to fostering successful food and beverage businesses, is collaborating with farmer-focused leaders, Midwest Dairy, for an opportunity aimed at emerging brands. The Private Kitchen Pitch Contest Presented by Midwest Dairy offers participants access to state-of-the-art commercial kitchen space and comprehensive support services to fuel business growth. Two finalists will be awarded up to one year of private kitchen space at The Hatchery, enabling them to scale their businesses like never before. All applicant businesses must utilize 30% or more of cow’s dairy milk in their ingredient base to be eligible to take part. Current private kitchen tenants of The Hatchery Chicago are not eligible to participate. 

Nescafé unveils the Roastelier solution, which makes in-house roasting simple, accessible, and entirely customizable and includes a range of fine Arabica coffees sourced from selected coffee-growing regions worldwide. It’s designed for restaurants, cafes, and baristas. These coffees are carefully assessed for many quality parameters within Nestlé’s factories. They are then taken through the first step of roasting using their proprietary knowledge and equipment setup – referred to as ‘Prime Roast' – to ensure consistently good results batch after batch. There are three prime roast bean varietals – Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia – in either espresso or filter roast. The system is equipped with a QR code reader that recognizes the coffee type and offers a range of roasting profiles defined by roasters at Nestlé and programmed into its database. Through an intuitive user interface, baristas can personalize the roasting of the coffee beans and access several sensory profiles from the selected bean types to create their signature blends. HelloFresh has launched The Pet Table for providing customers with high-quality, healthy dog food.

Mars Incorporated completed its acquisition of Kevin’s Natural Foods, a high-growth, nutritious meal company. Kevin’s Natural Foods joins the Mars Food & Nutrition segment, complementing its portfolio of leading food brands and recent product innovations. Kevin’s will play a key role in Mars Food & Nutrition’s ongoing strategy, while Mars will help Kevin’s to continue to grow, innovate, and bring its portfolio of products to more consumers. 

HelloFresh has launched a new premium pet food brand, The Pets Table. Developed in partnership with veterinarians, the subscription-based service offers human-grade fresh and air-dried recipes customized for the exact caloric needs of each dog at a competitive price point. Adding The Pets Table is an important step in diversifying the company’s portfolio. Leveraging its direct-to-consumer expertise across geographies, brands and verticals, HelloFresh is well positioned to enter the pet food category, providing customers with high-quality, healthy dog food, flags the company.

By Gaynor Selby