What does Generation Z want from food?

Move over Millennials. There's a new consumer cohort in town and food manufacturers should stay paying them more attention. Simon Creasey ta...

Home discomforts cloud General Mills outlook

General Mills maintained its full-year forecasts after an opening quarter of falling sales and profits but there is uncertainty on Wall Stre...

Why did Post Holdings buy Bob Evans Farms?

In the largest M&A deal in the US packaged food sector in 2017, on Tuesday (19 September) Post Holdings announced the acquisition of bacon,...

How's sustainability influencing food M&A?

Ben Cooper looks at how sustainability considerations are influencing food industry mergers and acquisitions....

Analysis: Future of food labelling post-Brexit

Once it leaves the EU, the UK will be able to frame its own food labelling legislation but what is likely to change? Ben Cooper attended a W...

Potential of certified transitional organic in US

Sales of organic food in the US continue to be robust but a limit to the growth of the industry is the gap between demand and the supply of...

Recent M&A moves show Nestle has woken up and smelt the coffee 18 Sep 17

Nestle's investment in US coffee roaster and retailer Blue Bottle is another sign of a change in the food giant's M&A strategy since the arrival of CEO Mark Schneider earlier this year, Dean Best writes.

NGO Ceres' deep dive into water gives food plenty to ponder 15 Sep 17

A new report from US non-profit Ceres looking at how food manufacturers are addressing water risks points to improvement among some companies but finds many others to be worryingly off the pace. Ben Cooper reports.

A2 Milk mulls options for next stage of growth - interview 7 Sep 17

Dean Best

A2 Milk Co., the New Zealand-based dairy and infant formula business, has had a bumper 12 months. Two weeks ago, the company reported a near-trebling in its annual profits. Revenues jumped more than 50%, fuelled by growth in its home markets of New Zealand and Australia, rapid expansion in China and improved performances from smaller businesses in the UK and the US. Where next? Dean Best spoke to A2 Milk executive Scott Wotherspoon who has been handed a new role that could see the business cast its net wider.

"We can really make a dent in the food industry" - Chris Laidlaw, CEO of Sanitarium's Life Health Foods UK, on new growth strategy 29 Aug 17

Dean Best

Life Health Foods UK, a venture part-owned by Australian major Sanitarium, is embarking on a new strategy that has M&A at its centre and could see the business broaden its breakfast-portfolio into other categories. Dean Best spoke to Chris Laidlaw, the ex-Diageo executive recently-appointed to take the helm at Life Health Foods UK about the venture’s plans to be a European "house of foods".

"We're really travelling fast" - The Coconut Collaborative founder James Averdieck on the rise of the UK non-dairy firm 21 Aug 17

Dean Best

After selling UK dessert business Gü, James Averdieck did some TV work but missed the cut and thrust of the grocery sector. In 2013, he bought Bessant & Drury, a UK dairy-free ice cream maker, a fledgling firm that formed the foundations of The Coconut Collaborative, a growing company selling dairy-free yogurt, desserts and ice cream domestically and overseas. Dean Best caught up with Averdieck to find out about how his latest venture is developing, the company's cautious approach to international expansion and his ambitions for the business.