September 5, 2025

Please see below for a listing of what the North Point Food & Beverage Team has been tracking this week. We hope that you find the content insightful and a nice way to summarize the most noteworthy Food & Beverage events of the week.

Have a nice weekend!

Glen Clarke

Head of Food & Beverage

—

Kraft Heinz to split into two independent public companies.

• The Kraft Heinz Company announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan to separate the Company into two independent, publicly traded companies through a tax-free spin-off.

Source: Mergermarket

—

B&G Foods targets near-term maturities, eyes Green Giant sale.

• B&G Foods expects to tackle its 2027 maturities within the next 12 months through a regular refinancing, as the packaged food company sharpens its focus on deleveraging. 

Source: Mergermarket

—

Purity Life acquires Horizon, PSC Natural Foods, Ontario Natural Food Company.

• Purity Life Health Products LP is excited to announce the acquisition of the assets of Horizon Distributors Ltd., PSC Natural Foods Ltd. and Ontario Natural Food Company Inc.

Source: Mergermarket

—

PepsiCo shareholder Elliott calls for turnaround, cost cut and growth focus.

• Elliott Investment Management L.P., which manages funds that together hold an investment of $4 billion in PepsiCo, sent a presentation and letter to the Company's Board of Directors.

Source: Mergermarket

—

Mama’s Creations acquires Crown I Enterprises business for USD 17.5m in cash.

• Mama’s Creations, Inc., a leading national marketer and manufacturer of fresh deli prepared foods, today announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Crown I Enterprises Inc., a full-service manufacturer of value-added proteins and ready-to-eat meals and wholly owned subsidiary of Sysco Corporation.

Source: Mergermarket

—

Apheon merges Cain Foods with Millbio.

• Apheon, a pan-European private equity investor, is pleased to announce the landmark acquisition of Cain Foods and the creation of a global champion in clean-label bakery solutions through the combination with Millbio, its portfolio company.

Source: Mergermarket

—

Saudi Arabian investment group sells BRF shares.

• Brazilian meatpacker BRF S.A. recently confirmed the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co. sold its entire stake in the company, which included 185,556,900 common shares.

Source: Meat + Poultry

—

August's Top 10 meat stories.

• JBS acquired an Iowa plant and plans to operate its largest ready-to-eat pork facility in the U.S.
• Rising beef prices are being driven by tariffs, disease pressures, and strong demand.
• Hormel announced layoffs beginning in October at its Georgia bacon plant, impacting 135 employees.

Source: Meat + Poultry

—

Lab-grown meat makers sue Texas over ban on cultivated protein.

• Wildtype and Upside Foods filed a lawsuit challenging Texas’ two-year ban on cultivated meat, arguing it unlawfully protects local agriculture and blocks outside competition.
• The companies claim the ban prevents them from scaling operations, including Upside’s talks with a Texas grocer and Wildtype’s launch of cultivated salmon in an Austin sushi restaurant.
• Seven states have already banned cultivated meat, with another five imposing labeling rules; violations of the Texas ban carry fines up to $25,000 per day and possible jail time.

Source: Food Dive

—

How legacy CPG brands can crack the social-first marketing code.

• Legacy CPGs are shifting to social-first marketing, led by Unilever’s pledge to put ~50% of ad spend into social and 20x its influencer work, reflecting Gen Z reach needs and the decline of linear TV.
• Big players are buying social-native challengers and building new muscles (e.g., PepsiCo–VaynerMedia alignment; Unilever’s Sketch Pro using gen-AI) to produce always-on, creator-led content faster.
• Success requires loosening guardrails and rethinking processes (speed, approvals, measurement, brand “elasticity”); experts warn the bigger risk for legacy brands is waiting as costs to stand out on social rise.

Source: Food Dive

—

Campbell’s becomes latest food giant to remove synthetic colors.

• Campbell’s will fully remove artificial colors from its food and beverage portfolio by August 2026, transitioning products like Lance crackers and V8 Splash to natural colorings such as annatto and purple carrot juice concentrate.
• The move follows federal pressure led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has urged companies to phase out six synthetic dyes by 2027 despite lacking formal regulatory authority.
• Campbell’s highlighted that many of its brands, including Goldfish, have already relied on plant-based colors for years, aligning with consumer demand for simpler, more recognizable ingredients.

Source: Food Dive

—

Analyzing Kraft Heinz’s next moves.

• Kraft Heinz will split into two public companies: Global Taste Elevation Co. (Heinz, Philadelphia, Kraft Mac & Cheese; 2024 sales ~$15.4B, adj. EBITDA ~$4.0B) and North American Grocery Co. (Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles, Lunchables, Ore-Ida, Capri Sun, Maxwell House; 2024 sales ~$10.4B, adj. EBITDA ~$2.3B).
• Rationale: reduce complexity across 55 subcategories/3 temperature states and sharpen focus/capital allocation—GTE concentrates higher-growth, higher-margin platforms (incl. Mac & Cheese; ~3% 5-yr category CAGR, ~70% share); NAG integrates frozen/refrigerated for operational synergies (e.g., meats + cheese with Lunchables).
• Timeline & reaction: separation targeted 2H26 with ~$300M costs; shares fell ~7% on Sept. 2; Warren Buffett criticized the plan (costs, timeline, no shareholder vote).

Source: Meat + Poultry

—

Activist investor pushes for PepsiCo turnaround with $4B stake.

• Elliott Investment Management built a ~$4B stake in PepsiCo and is pushing a turnaround plan—refranchise company-owned bottling, prune underperforming food assets—with a claim of ~50% upside to the stock.
• Rationale: PepsiCo’s North America performance has lagged (slower growth, margin erosion, beverage share losses with Pepsi cola now #4); the company says it will review Elliott’s proposals and continue shareholder dialogue.
• PepsiCo’s current moves: smaller-count value packs, cleaner-label reformulations (cutting artificial colors/flavors; more avocado/olive oil), acquisitions (Poppi, Siete), a planned prebiotic cola, and Q2 revenue up ~1% to $22.73B despite slight volume declines.

Source: Food Dive

—

Conagra Brands looks forward to the future of snacking.

• Flavor is king and getting bolder: sea salt leads in dollar sales; sriracha is the fastest-growing flavor. Global formats are surging (e.g., chickpea, seaweed, plantain, cassava, edamame).
• “Better-for-you” keeps climbing: high-protein snacks outpaced non-functional peers; co-branded/licensed snacks are meaningful with ~$466M annual sales.
• Convenience is the macro tailwind: on-the-go and quick-finish occasions are rising; convenience expected to be the fastest-growing motivation through 2027.

Source: Meat + Poultry

—

Devin Cole named Tyson COO.

• Tyson named Devin Cole chief operating officer, overseeing Poultry, Beef, Pork, Prepared Foods and International; he continues reporting to CEO Donnie King. Cole joined Tyson in Aug 2024 (International) and became president of Poultry in Feb 2025, with 30+ years in protein.
• Brady Stewart (group president of Prepared Foods, Beef & Pork; chief supply chain officer) departed effective immediately for Code of Conduct violations; Supply Chain, Food Safety, Health & Safety, Environmental and Transportation now report directly to King.
• Tyson will share additional leadership/organizational updates before Sept. 28, 2025 (start of FY2026); King said the company enters the new fiscal year with “strong momentum.”

Source: Meat + Poultry

JUST FOR FUN

—

Three new football fandoms join the Tyson custom nugget line-ups – Tyson Foods

www.nptma.com

Member FINRA/SIPC