Mochi Moves, Sports Drink Deals And David Does Ice Cream

0:05Monica Watrous:Welcome to the CBG Week podcast by BevNet and Nosh. I'm Monica Watrous here with my co-host Lukas Southard. Here is the latest in food and beverage industry news. Morinaga and Company, the holding company of global confectionery manufacturer Morinaga Incorporated, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MyMochi ice cream for an undisclosed amount. The transaction places MyMochi, the largest mochi ice cream brand in the United States, into the portfolio of Tokyo-based Morinaga, a global corporation with annual revenues of nearly$4 billion. Morinaga's portfolio includes Haichu, Dar's Chocolate, Choco Monaco, Jumbo Ice Cream, and Angel Pie.

0:51Monica Watrous:While the brand launched in In 2017, as My Mo Mochi Ice Cream, its original mochi ice cream product was invented by Francis Hashimoto in the early 1990s. Today, My Mochi produces a broad portfolio of mochi ice cream, non-dairy mochi ice cream, and mochi sorbet products in flavors like peach mango, salted caramel, and Dubai chocolate. In 2020, the brand was acquired by Lakeview Capital, a Michigan-based family office. to capitalize on the growing consumer demand for bite-sized frozen novelties. The following year, MyMo rebranded as MyMochi and refreshed its packaging to unify its portfolio. In the 52-week period ended January 25th, MyMochi achieved$80 million in sales.

1:41Monica Watrous:Following the acquisition, MyMochi will remain headquartered in Los Angeles and led by current President and Chief Executive Officer Craig Berger. The brand will leverage Morinaga's expertise in frozen confectionery, which spans popsicles, ice cream bars, and chocolate-coated ice cream, to enhance its product development capabilities and commercial strengths.

2:02Lukas Southard:Canadian coconut water and juice maker Blue Monkey Beverage was quietly acquired about a year ago by new private equity firm Fifth Ocean Capital in partnership with Boyne Capital Partners. The two PE firms have been retooling the expansive Blue Monkey beverage brand portfolio since then by discontinuing some of the drinks and prioritizing more of its successful lines. Blue Monkey was founded by a husband and wife team in 2009 and over the years added various drinks to its portfolio. Under its new ownership, Blue Monkey has four lines, a 33-ounce Tetra Pak coconut water, four 100 % juices in 33-ounce plastic bottles, and two lines of 12-ounce cans, one of sparkling fruit juices and one of sparkling flavored coconut water.

2:56Lukas Southard:Blue Monkey has also refreshed its packaging recently to be more cohesive on shelf. With the new branding in place, the company has also added a second beverage brand to the Blue Monkey portfolio. Local Weather, a modern sports hydration brand, was acquired at the beginning of this year. Local Weather is a functional hydration drink available in 16-ounce aluminum twist-top bottles. We at BevNet have been tracking this brand since it launched a couple years ago by founder John Alagem. The brand uses electrolytes and nootropic ingredients like ashwagandha to bring a modern take to the sports drink set.

3:34Lukas Southard:Blue Monkey was interested in acquiring this early stage brand as it fit into the functional portfolio that it is trying to build.

3:42Monica Watrous:I remember when Local Weather launched, it was very Gen Z coded. And I seem to think they had a booth at Expo West a couple of years ago, or maybe it was Expo East, that was basically just like a Nintendo set and a beanbag chair. And that was their booth.

3:57Lukas Southard:I don't remember that, but that definitely tracks. They definitely have a Gen Z kind of vibe to them. A lot of like skateboarding, paddle ball kind of illusions. And it definitely doesn't sit in the normal Gatorade body armor type of sports hydration, sports drink set. But I think the addition of functional ingredients along with electrolytes in this fully recyclable twist top resealable bottle was a really good play. And I frankly, really like the product. I've tried it at the office a couple of times and really think they nailed the formulation and the flavor.

4:36Monica Watrous:Well, another brand that we have been tracking since its launch and we love to talk about on this show is David Protein. Do we love to talk about him? I don't know if we love it, but we do it anyway.

4:50Lukas Southard:They are dynamic. I will give them that. Please continue.

4:54Monica Watrous:Well, it appears that David may be getting into the ice cream category. Attendees at Natural Products Expo West last week spotted white box trucks circling the Anaheim Convention Center and featuring the protein bar purveyors branding with a cartoonishly muscular cow alongside an image of an ice cream pint. It's a David ice cream and its nutritional highlights, which were 30 grams of protein, 260 calories and two grams of sugar. We don't really know if that's for the whole pint or if that is one serving. David Protein was not listed as an exhibitor at Expo West, nor do its products comply with the event organizers' ingredient standards.

5:35Monica Watrous:Its bars contain artificial sweeteners and flavors, which are banned from the show. So circulating mobile billboards at the packaged food industry's largest gathering struck us as a very calculated marketing move and relatively unsurprising, given this is a company that last summer surprised everyone with the unexpected debut of frozen cod fillets, which was part quirky product drop and part clapback to critics of its highly processed ingredient decks. Not much is known about David ice cream at this time. An article in Fortune magazine last fall referenced a prototype of the product containing whey protein isolate, allulose, and monk fruit.

6:16Monica Watrous:I'm willing to wager the recipes also contain the proprietary fat replacement ingredient EPG. David acquired the sole supplier of EPG last year, touching off an antitrust legal battle that has since been dismissed. According to an article in The New Consumer in February, David founders Peter Rahal and Zach Raynan are building a house of brands under an umbrella company named Medici. after David reportedly surpassed$100 million in sales during its first full year in the market. America's protein obsession has swirled into the ice cream aisle, drawing a number of new entrants eager to capitalize on the craze.

6:56Monica Watrous:Brands like Protein Pines have scaled rapidly, while others like Sweet Gains and Natty Ice Cream combine high protein with, quote, light ice cream positioning and mass market pricing to attract health-conscious consumers. Smearcase's frozen dessert taps into the parallel rise of protein in cottage cheese. And fun fact, I saw another frozen cottage cheese brand on the show floor at Expo West. So Smearcase has some competition.

7:21Lukas Southard:I missed that. I did talk to one brand called Frozen One, which makes another frozen dessert. Theirs has 40 grams of protein per pint, which, you know, is, as they said, the highest protein and some of the best macros. So they're trying to position kind of in a David sort way, like cater to the consumers who are macro obsessed. But it was tasty. I liked it.

7:46Monica Watrous:I'll be interesting to see how this David ice cream launch unfolds. And of course, we will continue to follow it at Nosh.com.

7:53Lukas Southard:Well, as you know, Monica, I am a big fan of tween pop star Benson Boone. and he made a little bit of news with the brand Caliwater right before Expo West opened up. He is the new investor and brand ambassador. Boone joins the cactus water hydration brand that uses prickly pear fruit as its hero ingredient, among a whole slew of other celebrities that are involved with the brand, most especially the co-founding team of actress Vanessa Hudgens and British actor and filmmaker Oliver Trevena. The two founders have been scaling the brand since they acquired it in 2021. Trevena was a minority early investor in it, and they have been amassing a whole list of different celebrities to help carry their message of a modern hydration.

8:56Lukas Southard:Last year, they signed on Demi Lovato as a brand ambassador, and Demi was at the show last week. Our colleague Brad Avery did an interview with Hudgens, Trevena, and Miss Lovato. So stay tuned for that video interview, which I know was especially interesting.

9:17Monica Watrous:Do you think we'll be seeing some Benson Boone backflips in upcoming marketing for Caliwater?

9:24Lukas Southard:I would imagine so. That is his signature move. And I know I've been daring myself to learn how to do some backflips in honor of Mr. Boone, but he's got like 15 years on me. So I feel like...

9:38Monica Watrous:You have 15 years on him.

9:39Lukas Southard:He has 15 years less age on his body. Yeah. So I don't know if my back can really do the backflip, but I've watched a lot of backflip videos of him. So, you know, you never know. One day.

9:51Monica Watrous:Start drinking your Cali water and keep practicing.

9:53Lukas Southard:Is that the key? It's just cactus water?

9:56Monica Watrous:Only one way to find out.

9:58Lukas Southard:I'm going to go get a case.

10:02Monica Watrous:Here are some other notable bits of news from the week. After five years in business and hot off of raising a$2 million seed round, Prickly has rebranded its offerings and repositioned itself from a cactus water to a natural hydration drink as it seeks to scale national distribution and become more competitive in mainstream channels. PepsiCo is entering a new phase as longtime executive Daniel Grubbs announced his departure last week after a decade spent managing the company's venture portfolio. And finally, Target plans to open 30 new stores in 2026 as it emphasizes its identity as a food grocery destination.

10:41Monica Watrous:For these stories and more, become an insider at BevNet and Nosh. And if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. That wraps up this edition of CPG Week by BevNet and Nosh. Thank you to our audio engineer, Joshua Pratt. Our director is Mike Schneider, and our designer is Erin Willett. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice, and we will see you next time.

11:13Thank you.