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TDA interview with Zevia CEO Paddy Spence
🎬 LIVE on #MarketOnClose
— Schwab Network (@SchwabNetwork) July 22, 2021
📊@Zevia Chairman and CEO Paddy Spence discusses the company’s IPO with @OJRenick. $ZVIA https://t.co/BZtIIUQfd2
Zevia starts trading on NYSE: 'Consumers are increasingly averse to added sugars...' $ZVIA
22-Jul-2021 By Elaine Watson
Shares in stevia-sweetened zero-calorie beverage brand Zevia – which first hit the market in 2007 – started trading on the New York Stock Exchange this morning (ticker symbol ZVIA).
HTTPS://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR-USA.COM/ARTICLE/2021/07/22/ZEVIA-IPO-CONSUMERS-ARE-INCREASINGLY-AVERSE-TO-ADDED-SUGARS
Zevia prices IPO at midpoint of offering range
10:31 AM EDT, 07/22/2021 (MT Newswires) --
Zevia PBC said early Thursday it has priced its initial public offering of 10.7 million class A common shares at $14 each, the midpoint of its expected price range of $13 to $15 per share.
The shares are expected to commence trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ZVIA.
Underwriters were granted an option to purchase up to 1.605 million more shares in the IPO, which is set to close by Monday.
The stevia-sweetened beverage brand initially planned to sell 14.3 million class A shares in the offering.
Price: 14.00, Change: 0.00, Percent Change: 0.00
Zevia: What To Know Before The IPO $ZVIA
Jul. 19, 2021 12:29 AM ET
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4439817-zevia-what-to-know-before-the-ipo
Summary
First, I explain Zevia as an emerging growth company.
Second, I show Zevia's primary business focus.
Third, I talk about their ESG priorities.
Fourth, I reveal two weak points in the business.
Fifth, I explore Zevia's relevant financials.
I'm a huge fan of Zevia (ZVIA) as a customer. Here's what they do:
Zevia is a high-growth beverage company that is disrupting the liquid refreshment beverage industry through delicious and refreshing, zero calorie, zero sugar, naturally sweetened beverages that are all Non-GMO Project Verified. We are a pioneering beverage brand, offering a platform of products that include a broad variety of flavors across Soda, Energy Drinks, Organic Tea, Mixers, Kidz drinks, and Sparkling Water. All of our beverages are made with only a handful of plant-based ingredients that most consumers can easily pronounce.
I drink probably 12-15 cans of the stuff every week. My favorite sodas are ginger root beer, creamy root beer, cream soda and cherry cola. I'm extremely loyal to the brand and products because they are truly outstanding to my palate. They use stevia instead of sugar, and there are no artificial sweeteners or colors added. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
The purpose of this article is to give you an overview of ZVIA with a smattering of relevant details about the business. First, I explain ZVIA as an emerging growth company. Second, I show ZVIA's primary focus. Third, I talk about their ESG priorities. Fourth, I reveal two weak points in the business. Fourth, I explore ZVIA's relevant financials. Lastly, I discuss my simple investment plan.
Zevia Is An Emerging Growth Company
That's not just based on facts or opinion. It's also a specific type of growth business based on an important definition:
[...]
Zevia PBC Seeks $200 Million U.S. IPO
Jul. 19, 2021 3:30 PM ET $ZVIA
Summary
Zevia PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) has filed proposed terms for a $200 million IPO.
The firm sells canned beverages sweetened by the stevia plant extract to consumers in the U.S. and Canada.
ZVIA has grown quickly, reached operating breakeven and is well-positioned in a growing market from younger demographics, so the IPO is worth consideration.
Quick Take
Zevia PBC (ZVIA) has filed to raise $200 million in an IPO of its Class A common stock, according to an S-1/A registration statement.
The firm sells zero sugar, zero calorie beverages sweetened by the plant-based stevia extract.
ZVIA is growing quickly, at operating breakeven, and is well-positioned in a growing market sector that appeals to younger demographics, so the IPO is worth a look.
Company
Encino, California-based Zevia was founded to design and market consumer beverages that have no sugar and are naturally sweetened by the stevia plant.
Management is headed by Chairman and CEO Paddy Spence, who has been with the firm since 2010 and was previously president of Levlad, a personal care products maker. [...]
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4439958-zevia-pbc-seeks-200-million-us-ipo
Zevia IPO: 5 things to know about the zero-calorie beverage company before it goes public
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/zevia-ipo-5-things-to-know-about-the-zero-calorie-beverage-company-before-it-goes-public-11625592545
Last Updated: July 22, 2021 at 8:26 a.m. ET
First Published: July 6, 2021 at 1:29 p.m. ET
By Tonya Garcia
Zevia says it was the top-selling carbonated soft drink brand on Amazon in 2020.
Zevia PBC, a beverage company that makes zero-calorie and zero-sugar beverages with “clean” ingredients, has filed to go public.
The Encino, Calif.-based company plans to list class A shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “ZVIA.” $ZVIA
Zevia’s initial public offering has priced at $14, the midpoint of the $13 to $15 range. The company cut the size of the deal to 10.7 million shares from previous plan to offer 14.3 million shares. That would will raise $149.8 million, which the company will use for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters in a syndicate of six banks.
Once the deal closes, Zevia, which started as a Public Benefit Corporation, will reorganize into a holding company through a UP-C process that will provide tax advantages to existing members of the business. Full-time employees have an interest in the company.
“At Zevia, every full-time team member has an equity interest in the company, receives robust pay and benefits, and is a key stakeholder in our mission,” Spence said in his CEO letter.
Zevia is classified as an emerging growth company, which means it does not have to make the same disclosures required of bigger public companies. A business remains an emerging growth company until it reaches a number of milestones, including annual revenue of more than $1.07 billion.
Founded in 2007, Zevia makes soda, energy drinks, teas, drinks for kids, mixers like tonic water and ginger beer, and sparkling water that are distributed across the U.S. and Canada.
“All of our beverages are made with only a handful of plant-based ingredients that most consumers can easily pronounce,” the company said in its prospectus.
Cola accounted for 24% of the company’s sales in 2020. Cola competitors include Coca-Cola Co. KO, +1.29% and PepsiCo Inc. PEP, -0.37%, two of the biggest brands in the world.
Zevia presents data from Statista and Beverage Digest showing that per-capita consumption of conventional carbonated soda has dropped to 38.6 gallons in 2019 from 45.5 gallons in 2010.
On the other hand, the health and wellness beverage category reached $301 billion in retail sales in 2020 and will grow at a CAGR of 2.8% from 2019 to 2025, according to Euromonitor data.
Zevia estimates that it has 88% market share of zero-calorie, naturally-sweetened soft drinks in 2020. Zevia has six product lines and 37 flavors.
Zevia estimates the global liquid refreshment beverages market is worth $771 billion.
Moreover, Zevia beverages are suitable for those with a variety of dietary regimens including kosher, vegan and gluten-free.
Paddy Spence has served as Zevia’s chief executive since March 2021. Previously he was CEO and a director on the Zevia board while it operated as an LLC. He acquired the company in September 2010. He also founded SPINS, a market research firm for the natural products industry, and was its CEO from 1995 to 2003.
Hank Margolis will be chief operating officer once Zevia is public, and Bill Beech will be chief financial officer. Both have served in these respective roles for Zevia prior to the IPO.
Zevia puts its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts out front, highlighting its partnerships with dietitians and nutrition educators to provide educational materials about the impact of consuming sugary drinks, which has been tied to health problems like obesity, diabetes and other diseases.
Spence began keeping a food journal in 2001 and discovered how much sugar he was consuming despite his diet of natural and organic foods and beverages. He and his wife decided to eliminate sugar from their diets.
“Today, we still use a ‘sugar budget’ to manage our sugar intake at home,” Spence wrote in the CEO letter included in the prospectus.
Spence says there are “barriers” to others that preclude them from making healthier diet choices.
“So at Zevia, we are proud that we offer beverages that are accessible to consumers across a broad range of income levels,” he said.
Zevia has also taken steps to eliminate waste and set standards for transparency.
“We have never sold a single plastic bottle, which we estimate has eliminated 15,000 metric tons of plastic bottles from the supply chain by selling only aluminum packaging since 2011,” the company said. “In addition, one of our main ingredients, stevia, requires less agricultural water resources than sugar, furthering our sustainability mission.”
Here are five more things to know about Zevia before it goes public:
Zevia is loss-making but revenue is growing fast
Zevia eked out a profit of $19,000 in the first quarter of 2021, after a loss of $2.6 million in the year-earlier period, but the company acknowledges it is effectively not yet profitable.
“We have a history of losses, and we may be unable to achieve profitability,” it says in its IPO documents.
Losses in 2020 were $6.1 million, wider than the loss of $5.4 million posted in 2019. As a result, it is not planning to pay a dividend any time soon, meaning investors will have to rely on share price appreciation for returns.
Sales, on the other hand, are on a growth trajectory, climbing to $110 million in 2020, or nearly 240 million cans, from $7 million in 2010, a 32% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Zero-calorie beverages with plant-based sweeteners were a $150.6 million business in the U.S. in 2020, up from $90.8 million in 2018.
E-commerce represented 13% of 2020 sales. Data furnished by retail intelligence platform Stackline shows Zevia was the top-selling carbonated soft drink brand on Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.34% in 2020.
Sales in 2019 were $85.6 million.
Zevia has an ‘asset-light’ business model
Zevia doesn’t make its own products, but rather uses third-party manufacturing and logistics providers, which the company says “is designed to leverage reduced costs and overhead, with capital expenditures of less than 1% of net sales in each of the last two years.”
The benefit is the ability to focus on initiatives across ESG, sales and marketing while also providing financial flexibility, according to the company.
Concerns that stevia is unsafe have emerged in the past — and could rise again
Zevia’s marketing has included a focus on the company’s use of stevia and other plant-based sweeteners in their products. Questions about the safety or quality of these ingredients could hurt Zevia.
“For example, in the past there have been unfounded and scientifically refuted claims that stevia may cause reproductive issues or require allergy warnings,” the prospectus said. “Future similar founded or unfounded claims could cause customers or consumers to reduce the number of our products that they purchase or stop buying our products altogether.”
Zevia has some supply-chain risk
Zevia only has one stevia extract supplier, which it highlights as a supply-chain risk in its prospectus.
“Events that adversely affect our supplier of stevia extract and other raw materials could impair our ability to obtain raw material inventory in the quantities that we desire,” the company said.
“We have in the past experienced interruptions in the supply of carbon dioxide and caffeine. While those disruptions did not have a material impact, future disruptions could have a material negative impact on our business operations.”
The company says it’s looking for alternative stevia extract suppliers.
Climate change could become a problem
Zevia relies on agricultural products, like plant-based sweeteners, that could be impacted by changing weather patterns and other effects of climate change.
“As a result of climate change, we may also be subjected to decreased availability of water, deteriorated quality of water or less favorable pricing for water, which could adversely impact our third-party contract manufacturers’ operations, as well as the agricultural businesses of our suppliers, which rely on the availability and quality of water,” the prospectus said.
Mission Produce to Launch Mission Jumbos ‘More to Eat, More to Love’
https://investors.missionproduce.com/news-releases/news-release-details/mission-produce-launch-mission-jumbos-more-eat-more-love
November 19, 2020
Perfect for Consumers Looking to Feed the Whole Household
Company Continues Investment in Sustainability with More Environmentally Conscious Packaging
OXNARD, Calif., Nov. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mission Produce, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVO) (“Mission” or the “Company”), the world leader in sourcing, producing, and distributing fresh avocados, today announced the launch of Mission Jumbos, a pack full of larger, shareable avocados that offer more to eat and more to love.
Mission Jumbos expands Mission Produce’s existing lineup of avocado offerings, which includes Mission Minis and Emeralds in the Rough. The Mission Jumbos offering was created in response to consumer trends indicating that people are increasingly incorporating avocados into their everyday diets and preparing more meals themselves as they continue to work, learn, and play at home. This shift in behavior and lifestyle has changed consumer buying habits, causing them to prefer and purchase multiple, larger sized avocados to last through the week.
“Consumers shop for their avocados based on how they plan to use them and who they’re feeding, and now they’re shopping for more people while making fewer trips to the store per week. That’s where the Mission Jumbos shareable serving avocado comes in,” says Denise Junqueiro, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Mission Produce. “Avocados have become a dietary staple in consumers’ minds, and we are excited to be able to expand our product offering to meet evolving consumer preferences.”
Mission’s lineup of avocado offerings performs two to one in the market compared to similar offerings by competitors. “Mission’s products and programs are based on consumer preferences, designed to draw consumer attention and grow sales,” said Brooke Becker, Sales Director at Mission Produce. “Retailers featuring any of the products from our lineup are seeing the profits.”
Mission Jumbos is the first bag to be launched under Mission’s new reduced plastic initiative. Boasting a plastic reduction of 12%, the Mission Jumbos contain less plastic in its netting and film than the average avocado bag. As part of the Company’s continued investment in sustainability, Mission is working with its vendors across the supply chain to reduce the amount of plastic used while maintaining product integrity.
“We’re always looking for more sustainable ways to do business,” said Patrick Cortes, Senior Director of Business Development at Mission Produce. “We spent countless hours perfecting the Mission Jumbos avocado pack with our R&D team and are extremely proud of the end product, which is something that both consumers and retailers can feel good about.”
About Mission Produce, Inc.:
Mission Produce is the world’s most advanced avocado network and recognized leader in the worldwide avocado business. For over 35 years Mission has been sourcing, producing and distributing fresh avocados, servicing retail, wholesale and foodservice customers in over 25 countries. The vertically integrated Company owns 11,000 acres globally and operates four state-of-the-art avocado packing facilities in key growing locations including California, Mexico & Peru and has additional sourcing capabilities in Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, New Zealand, & South Africa. Mission’s global distribution network includes eleven forward distribution centers in North America, China & Europe that offer value-added services such as ripening, bagging, custom packing and logistical management. Mission is the largest global supplier of the World’s Finest Avocados, for more information please visit worldsfinestavocados.com.
Contact
Denise Junqueiro
Senior Director of Marketing and Communications
Mission Produce, Inc.
press@missionproduce.com
Supplemental Materials:
Product Photos:
https://ql.mediasilo.com/ql/5fb59a68e4b0aac632c3914d
https://ql.mediasilo.com/ql/5fb5945be4b082ecd28817e6
Headshots:
Denise Junqueiro
Brooke Becker
Patrick Cortes
UPDATE: Shares of avocado producer Mission Produce soared 18% after trading began on Thursday.
By Tonya Garcia
The avocado company priced its initial public offering at $12 on Wednesday, below the price range between $15 to $17 . Mission Produce also downsized its IPO, offering 8 million shares, down from 9,375,000 shares previously.
The stock is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "AVO." BofA Securities , JPMorgan and Citigroup were the active bookrunners.
Founded in 1983, the California -based business intends to use the proceeds from the offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes. Sales for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 2019 , were $883.3 million . Chief Executive Stephen Barnard founded the company and serves as a director.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data provided by Mission Produce Inc. , avocado consumption has grown from 1.1 billion pounds in 2008 to 2.6 billion pounds in 2018. Meanwhile, the average retail price of Hass avocados, the dominant avocado on the market, reached $2.57 per pound in 2019, up 6% from 2018.
Mission Produce Inc. is rooted in this growing industry, with packing facilities in the U.S. , Mexico and Peru ; 11 distribution and ripening centers across the U.S. , Canada , China and the Netherlands ; and three sales offices in the U.S. , China and the Netherlands .
The company is planning to open a new distribution and ripening center in Texas , which will be key for avocados coming into the U.S. from Mexico . The company also owns more than 10,000 acres of land in Peru .
The Hass Avocado Board expects the U.S. Hass avocado market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% from 2019 to 2023, reaching revenue of $8 billion owing to factors like health and wellness trends, year-round accessibility and the ready-to-eat nature of the food, which has been helped by sourcing and ripening improvements.
The consumption rate of the growing U.S. Latinx population is 45% higher than non-Latinx households. And millennials are fans, with 60.1% of millennial households purchasing avocados in 2018 versus 51.3% of non-millennial households.
Avocados are also growing in popularity abroad with the EU the second biggest import market. There was a market disruption in 2019, with crops damaged by heavy rainfall in Peru , which drove a 26.1% decline in imports to the EU, Mission Produce said in its prospectus. But the region will experience "robust" growth again in the future.
Mexico , Peru and California are the primary sources for Mission Produce , and the company has partnerships with a network of growers. Fresh Del Monte Inc. (FDP) are among its key competitors.
The Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO) is up 65.2% for the year to date while the S&P 500 index has gained 2.1% for the period.
Here are five things to know
The company isn't sure it will pay a dividend. "We have paid cash dividends on our capital stock in the past but cannot guarantee that we will continue to do so in the future," the prospectus says.
"Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon results of operations, financial condition, any contractual restrictions, our indebtedness, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors our board of directors deems relevant."
Nearly two-thirds of sales are generated through a few clients. Primary customers include Walmart Inc. (WMT), Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) Kroger Co. (KR) is the company's top customer, accounting for about 14% of the company's total sales for the six months ending April 30, 2020 .
Sales to the company's 10 largest customers accounted for about 65% of all sales for the same period.
Mission Produce has had relationships with many of its customers for decades. The company has worked with all of its top 10 customers of fiscal 2019 for at least 10 years.
Food safety is a concern. "Food safety events, including instances of food-borne illness involving avocados, could create negative publicity for our customers and adversely affect sales and operating results," the company said in its prospectus.
The business could be affected by economic or political issues in Mexico and Peru . Mission Produce's business is dependent on the border to the U.S. from Mexico remaining open. Problems with organized crime and drug-related violence in Mexico have also impacted avocado production and shipment. And the country has experienced occasional grower strikes.
In Peru , past political regimes have imposed price controls, import limits, and have put other policies in place that could impact Mission Produce's business. In 2018, there was also political instability tied to ongoing corruption investigations.
And this month (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/world/americas/peru-impeachment-president-martin-vizcarra.html? auth=login-email&login=email), impeachment hearings against President Martín Vizcarra began. Peru has the highest per capita death toll from coronavirus in the world.
It is facing lawsuits related to its labor practices. As of April 30, 2020 , Mission Produce had 3,700 employees, including 481 in the U.S. , 648 in Mexico and 2,544 in Peru . Fewer than 10 workers in an Illinois distribution and ripening center are unionized.
The company hires temporary workers on farms in Peru .
"We believe that our employee relations are good," the company said in its prospectus.
On April 23, 2020 former employees filed a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles , alleging violation of certain California labor laws, including failure to pay all overtime wages and minimum wage violations.
And on June 10, 2020 , former employees filed a class-action lawsuit, also in Los Angeles , alleging similar violations.
Additional reporting by Tomi Kilgore .
*An earlier version of this report included a reference to Chipotle, which Mission Produce has removed from its prospectus. The story has been updated to reflect that change.
dowjones.com
Mission Produce, Inc. FORM S-1 Prospectus
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1802974/000119312520250637/d829132ds1a.htm
Mission Produce Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering
OXNARD, Calif., Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mission Produce, Inc. (“Mission” or the “Company”) today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 8,000,000 shares of its common stock, consisting of 6,250,000 shares being offered by the Company and 1,750,000 shares being offered by certain selling stockholders, at a price to the public of $12.00 per share. In addition, the underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,200,000 shares of common stock from the Company. The shares are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on October 1, 2020, under the symbol “AVO.” The closing of the offering is expected to occur on October 5, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan and Citigroup are acting as bookrunning managers for the offering. Roth Capital Partners, Stephens Inc. and D.A. Davidson & Co. are acting as co-managers.
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was declared effective on September 30, 2020. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the final prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained, when available, from: BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte NC 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, or via email: dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com; J.P. Morgan, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, or by telephone at (866) 803-9204, or by email at prospectus-eq_fi@jpmchase.com; or Citigroup, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, or by telephone at: (866) 803-9204.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
https://worldsfinestavocados.com/news/mission-produce-announces-pricing-of-initial-public-offering
Mission Produce shares soar 18% as trading begins
Published: Oct. 1, 2020 at 12:39 p.m. ET
By Tonya Garcia
Mission Produce Inc. AVO, 18.42% shares jumped 18.8% after trading began Thursday at 12:15 pm ET. The avocado company priced at $12 on Wednesday, below the price range between $15 to $17. Mission Produce also downsized its IPO, offering 8 million shares, down from 9,375,000 shares previously. Mission Produce is trading under the ticker "AVO" on the Nasdaq. BofA Securities, JPMorgan and Citigroup were the active bookrunners. Proceeds from the IPO will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital. The California-based company has packing facilities in the U.S., Mexico and Peru and 11 distribution and ripening centers around the world.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mission-produce-shares-soar-18-as-trading-begins-2020-10-01?mod=mw_quote_news
Line message:
"The public meeting of the Ministry of Health and Welfare can be held normally, but people who have been to the epidemic area and need to be quarantined, please do not attend temporarily. Participants need to be real-named, wear masks, please call the company 0287850039 for registration and counting of people
Invited 5/29 at three o'clock this Friday
Technology Forum
The company's progress report on 5G related projects
Location: Dongke R & D Office
Dinner: 6pm
Venue: Hua Yan Xuan Restaurant-(1st Floor, Yuanxiong u-townA Building)
traffic:
1) MRT Blue Line-Nangang Exhibition Hall, Exit 6, take the Bus Blue Line 15 and take 3 to get off at Oriental Science Park
2) Get off at Tiexi Branch
3) Dongke has a paid parking lot, which can be discounted at the restaurant in the underground car park of Farglory Carrefour"
Really good find Bearslayer! I read the paper. Reminds me of both MS Soundscape and Seeing AI.
Soundscape provides audio cues to help guide visually impaired users to destinations and also call out nearby objects of interest. Seeing AI uses your camera to do all sorts of things including text recognition/dictation, facial recognition, and describing a scene. Both apps do a lot more than my short description here.
The app described in the paper combines elements of both, but with features not available in either. The AI system is trained with photos of specific obstacles like stairs, potted plants, piers, motorcycles. The user's smartphone camera captures the scene while they walk, data is sent to a server or optionally processed on the device if no network is available. The app then notifies the user as they walk about perceived obstacles and where they are relative to the user.
Soundscape and Seeing AI are available free, if you haven't heard of either be sure to check out Seeing AI. Really cool technology.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/seeing-ai
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/product/soundscape/
$TRDX
Here's a good explanation of a NAND gate with an interactive demo. It will return a value of TRUE if one or more, but not all, of the inputs are FALSE. This can be used in all sorts of ways, in our case specifically for hardware supporting 5G infrastructure.
logic.ly - NAND Gate
Not sure, but nice to see share price catching up with reality. Healthy company and still undervalued.
Beyond Meat sales soar 135%, I.R.I. data show
01.21.2020 By Jeff Gelski
CHICAGO — U.S. retail sales of Beyond Meat plant-based meat alternatives rose to $75 million over the 52 weeks ended Oct. 6, 2019, marking a 135% increase from the previous 52-week period, according to Information Resources, Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm.
The increase gave Beyond Meat a 10% market share of the plant-based meat substitutes market, good for third place. MorningStar Farms continued to lead the category with sales of $302.5 million, accounting for a 41% market share, after the brand’s sales grew 3.8% in the 52 weeks ended Oct. 6, 2019. Sales for second-place gardein, which had a 14% market share, dropped 3.9% to $103.6 million.
“MorningStar is still the top-selling plant-based meat substitute, due at least in part to its strong distribution, but Beyond Meat is seeing the strongest growth as it works to increase distribution across most channels,” said Tim Grzebinski, client insights principal at I.R.I., in a Jan. 17 blog.
Beyond Meat, Inc., El Segundo, Calif., went public in 2019 and began trading on the Nasdaq at $65.75 per share on May 2. The stock opened at $110.40 per share on Jan. 17. The Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich., owns the MorningStar Farms brand, and Conagra Brands, Inc., Chicago, owns the gardein brand.
Meat substitute sales in the United States in the 52 weeks ended Oct. 6, 2019, were $746.3 million, according to I.R.I. Sales of plant-based meat substitutes have grown by 10% since 2018, which compares to a sales increase of 2% for meat, Mr. Grzebinski said.
Almost all plant-based segments are gaining market share in their categories, Mr. Grzebinski said. U.S. sales of refrigerated plant-based milk alternatives have increased by 6% since 2018, which compares to a decline of 0.7% for refrigerated dairy milk sales, he said.
Sales of plant-based yogurt alternatives in the United States have grown by 36% since 2018, which compares to a decline of 1.4% for yogurt. U.S. sales of plant-based ice cream alternatives have increased by 0.8% since 2018 although the three-year compound annual growth rate after 2015 was 47%, Mr. Grzebinski said. U.S. retail sales for ice cream and sherbet have decreased by 1.3% since 2018.
He pointed to flexitarians as a factor in rising plant-based sales. The percentage of vegetarians and vegans in the United States remains at 2.5% combined, but one-third of Americans consider themselves flexitarians and 55% said they are trying to add more plant-based foods to their diet, Mr. Grzebinski said.
Page 15 of the slideshow also shows some big customers of Gigalight. They have been working with six of them for over a decade. These are the companies that integrate Gigalight technologies and parts into their gear, which ends up in the hands of end users like Verizon. The companies listed are:
MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (10y) US
https://www.macom.com
Semtech (11y) US
https://www.semtech.com
Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc. (6y) Japan
https://www.sedi.co.jp/?version=en
Mitsubishi Electric (11y) Japan
https://www.mitsubishielectric.com/en/index.html
Philips Photonics (11y)
Since acquired by Trumpf (Germany)
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Trumpf+Photonic+Components
Broadcom (11y) US
https://www.broadcom.com
II-VI (6y) US
https://www.ii-vi.com
Inphi (6y) US
https://www.inphi.com
Maxim Integrated (11) US
https://www.maximintegrated.com/en.html
These are all big, publicly traded companies. Thanks for sharing the slideshow, mdsone!
I noticed a link to tyfiber.com on the footer of the Gigalight page. That website is no longer active, but the internet archive has a cached copy. The page uses very similar HTML and also web counter code as the other active websites like http://www.wistek.com.tw and http://www.wisinfo.com.tw/trdx.htm. Located here - https://web.archive.org/web/20020212053122/http://tyfiber.com/
Frozen and refrigerated... mostly delivered frozen to stores, they can merchandise that way, or refrigerated if stickered with a date when they stock. The packaging has instructions for the consumer on how to use the product either way. They also supply fresh (refrigerated, not frozen) product for foodservice clients and some retail.
Cloudflare IPO: 5 things to know about the cloud-network platform
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cloudflare-ipo-5-things-to-know-about-the-cloud-network-platform-2019-08-23?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo
Cloudflare IPO: 5 things to know about the cloud-network platform
Wallace Witkowski
Cloudflare Inc. commanded a premium price in its initial public offerings, and investors who climbed on board a decade ago stand to reap huge rewards.
Cloudflare priced its IPO on Thursday evening, announcing that it would sell 35 million shares at $15 apiece. That is higher than Cloudflare’s elevated range: The company had stated a target of $12 to $14 earlier in the week, after starting the process seeking $10 to $12 a share. The company, which specializes in a cloud-based network platform that promises security, enhanced performance of business-critical applications, and “eliminating the cost and complexity of managing individual network hardware,” will raise at least $525 million in the offering with an initial valuation of $4.4 billion.
Cloudflare is expected to list Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol “NET.” Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are lead underwriters on the deal with another eight banks acting as co-managers, and they will have access to an additional 5.25 million shares. Proceeds of the deal will be used to for general corporate purposes.
The IPO comes just a few months after cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. went public in June. While CrowdStrike shares are trading 111% above their IPO price, the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security is up 13% for the year while the Renaissance IPO ETF is up 30%, and the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF is up 18%, compared with a 22% gain in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index.
Here are five things to know from the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cloudflare sees itself ahead of the curve compared with many big players
The San Francisco-based company said its service blocks 44 billion cyber threats from 20 million internet properties daily, and that it is better suited to today’s cloud environment. Security patches are no longer hardware-based “Band-Aid boxes,” and even if they were, they would be incapable of scaling and are largely incompatible with cloud-based architectures.
“This is forcing a major architectural shift in how enterprises address security, performance, and reliability at the network layer,” Cloudflare said. “The functionality provided by companies such as Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, F5 Networks, Check Point Software, Palo Alto Networks, FireEye, Riverbed Technology and others is being elevated, abstracted and unified into the cloud.”
“This transition has created a vast opportunity both in expanding the market to address underserved businesses and replacing Band-Aid box vendors, and the budget spent on their increasingly obsolete devices, in the enterprise,” the company said. “Cloudflare is leading this transition.”
Expenses are outpacing revenue growth
In 2018, Cloudflare reported a loss of $86.1 million on revenue of $192.7 million, compared with a $10.7 million loss on revenue of $134.9 million in 2017. So while revenue grew 43%, expenses skyrocketed 711%. That appears to have been due to a big jump in general and administrative expenses, which jumped to $85.2 million in 2018, from $20.3 million in 2017
“We expect our general and administrative expenses to continue to increase in absolute dollars for the foreseeable future to support our growth as well as due to additional costs associated with legal, accounting, compliance, insurance, investor relations, and other costs as we become a public company,” Cloudflare said in its filing.
A growing unicorn
Back in 2012, Cloudflare was already valued at $1 billion based on $72 million in funding, according to The Wall Street Journal. Since then, the company received $150 million in Series E funding from Franklin Templeton Investments in March, for 176,000 Class B shares, pushing the valuation to $3.1 billion, based on $332.1 million in total funding, according to Crunchbase.
Early investors stand to make out like bandits, with lots of power
As is the case with many tech unicorns, Cloudflare is offering Class A shares in the IPO, which are currently dwarfed in number by Class B shares, which carry 10 votes compared with the one vote that a Class A share commands.
When Cloudflare had its Series A funding round in 2009, Pelion Ventures and Venrock invested a total of $2.1 million in the company. Should Cloudflare’s valuation come in at $3 billion, that would mean about $1 billion for Pelion and Venrock, or about 500 times their original investment. When it comes to voting power, Pelion Ventures has 20.6% of voting shares, and Venrock has 19.1%.
New Enterprise Associates, which invested $20 million in Series B funding in 2011, controls 22.7% of voting shares, which would come to about $681 million in a $3 billion valuation, or about 34 times the original investment. In 2015, Fidelity Investments put in $110 million in a Series D round for 14.3 million one-vote Class A shares.
In Cloudflare’s management, Chief Executive and Chairman Matthew Prince controls 19.8% of voting shares, and Chief Operating Officer Michelle Zatlyn controls 6.6% of voting shares.
The company can’t please everyone
Cloudflare dropped 8chan as a customer in August, condemning the unmoderated message board as “a receptive audience for domestic terrorists” following recent mass shootings, and this appears in the company’s “risk factors” section. Cloudflare noted that it was not the first time a customer elicited scrutiny after a violent attack.
“We also received negative publicity in connection with the use of our network by 8chan, a forum website that served as inspiration for the recent attacks in El Paso, Texas and Christchurch, New Zealand,” Cloudflare said. “We are aware of some potential customers that have indicated their decision to not subscribe to our products was impacted, at least in part, by the actions of certain of our paying and free customers.”
“Conversely, actions we take in response to the activities of our paying and free customers, up to and including banning them from using our products, may harm our brand and reputation,” the company said. “Following the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, we terminated the account of The Daily Stormer. Similarly, following the events in El Paso, Texas, we terminated the account of 8chan. We received significant adverse feedback for these decisions from those concerned about our ability to pass judgment on our customers and the users of our platform, or to censor them by limiting their access to our products, and we are aware of potential customers who decided not to subscribe to our products because of this.”
Saw this today... $CVSI CV Sciences job posting on naturalindustryjobs.com -
https://www.naturalindustryjobs.com/NIJMain.asp?Option=JobDetail&ID=4777
Job Description
The Position: East Coast Regional Manager
primary function
The East Coast Regional Manager manages the regional business activity for CV Sciences. Under the direction of Director of Sales, Retail this position is responsible for achieving sales quotas and profitability, while furthering growth of the PlusCBDoil™ brand. The Regional Manager will drive growth with existing accounts and cultivate new business through effective sales planning, promotions and communication.
responsibilities
· Achieve monthly, quarterly and annual sales performance goals for Region – gross sales, net sales, trade spend – in conjunction with CV Sciences predetermined goals.
· Create, maintain and develop strong relationships with key account category managers, brokers, sales representatives and buyers.
· Manages all portion of regional business to include forecasting, promotional activity, presentations, negotiations and business analysis.
· Actively manages and interacts with brokers and sales representatives.
· Provides weekly and monthly sales reporting to show current, potential and proposed sales volumes.
· Represents the company at national, distributor and account trade shows.
· Support marketing campaigns and execute with retailers.
· Forefronts customer business objectives with clear communication while interacting with marketing, customer service, shipping, sales operations & strategy, and finance teams.
· Coordinates and conducts regional key account training presentations, providing regional education and training support.
· Continued focus on the customer, products and sales support.
· Understands the legal landscape associated with the CBD category and is able to advise brokers and retailers on issues regarding FDA, DEA, Federal and State agencies that influence the sale of CBD products
· Participates in monthly and quarterly manager conference calls and in office sales meetings
qualifications
Ability to travel 50% or more of the time. Home location on the East Coast near major airport.
Bachelor’s degree in related field is desired.
Uses data-based decision making.
5+ years’ experience in sales or business development.
5+ years of management/leadership experience
Some FDM experience preferred but not required.
Consumer packaged goods experience is necessary. Natural products and/or health and beauty is a strong plus, specific to Natural, Grocery, Mass, Drug and/or Specialty Channels.
Possesses high integrity, understands the importance of confidentiality and exhibits sound judgement to make timely decisions. Exudes a high level of emotional intelligence.
Willingness to be flexible, embrace change and adapt positively to change.
Advanced knowledge of Excel, Word, Power Point and Outlook.
Ability to communicate in a clear, respectful and effective manner.
Passion and interest in natural products and social responsibility.
Job Location: East Coast
Country: United States
Position Type: Full Time
Employee May Telecommute: Yes
Job seekers must live within: No preference
Required to Relocate:
Required to Travel:
Minimum Experience Required: 5-7 years
Another competitor on the way:
https://meatlessfarm.com/our-products/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/24/business/meatless-farm-whole-foods/index.html
Meatless Farm breaks into booming US market with Whole Foods deal
London (CNN Business) — A plant-based burger company from the United Kingdom wants a slice of the hot market for meat alternatives in the United States.
Meatless Farm, which is based in Leeds, has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Whole Foods to sell its products at US stores for six months starting this summer, the British company said Monday.
The startup already sells its fake ground meat, burgers and sausages in grocery stores across Britain. Meatless Farm is also in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Sweden.
The United States is a natural next step, CEO Robert Woodall told CNN Business. It's planning to set up an office in New York.
Woodall, a veteran of The Kellogg Company (K), said the United States is a "pioneering market when it comes to plant-based foods," citing the success of Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat (BYND).
Those brands have seen their fortunes rise in recent months as restaurants — and investors — scramble to get in on the meatless trend.
Burger King has said it will roll out its Impossible Whopper across the United States, while Beyond Meat's public offering has been a Wall Street smash.
Beyond reported first-quarter sales of $40.2 million, up 215% from the same period a year before. That's helped its stock price to more than double following an IPO in May.
Companies like Beyond, Impossible and Meatless Farm are making a play for customers who want to eat healthier and reduce their impact on the planet. The latest wave of products are designed to appeal to meat eaters.
Meatless Farm sees itself as filling a slightly different niche since it's focused on grocery stores, instead of restaurants, according to Woodall.
The typical Meatless customer is a parent who's using its meat-free products for a spaghetti Bolognese dinner, he said, pointing to the company's "family friendly" packaging. It's also targeting younger consumers who care about the environment.
In cutting a deal with Whole Foods, Meatless Farm gets access to a huge pool of prestige shoppers. And since Whole Foods is owned by Amazon (AMZN), there's potential for real scale.
Woodall said that right now, the space is wide open. He sees the success of the Beyond Meat IPO as an encouraging sign for its rivals.
"This is not a food fad," he said. "This is not going to last for a couple of months. This is a genuine shift in consumer behavior that's starting with young consumers."
Danielle Wiener-Bronner contributed to this report.
Haven't seen this mentioned yet, online retailer Thrive Market is suspending the sale of CBD items due to merchant / payment processor troubles. They discounted all CBD items until they pull the plug later this week, but claim to be in talks with a new payment processor. Anyways if you're a Thrive Market subscriber, you may be able to score a deal on PlusCBD products.
https://thrivemarket.com/blog/update-on-our-hemp-cbd-products
A letter from Thrive Market CEO Nick Green:
In early June, we received a notice from our merchant processor demanding that we cease the sale of all hemp and CBD products on Thrive Market. We unfortunately have no choice but to comply, and we'll begin removing our assortment as early as Thursday, June 20.
As many of our members know, 18 months ago, we became the first national e-commerce retailer to begin carrying a full assortment of hemp-based supplements and topical products. Our decision was based on our review of the health research on CBD, the input of hundreds of our members, and the changing legal landscape that was finally recognizing what hemp farmers, scientists, and informed citizens have long known—that hemp is not the same thing as marijuana and that CBD is neither psychoactive nor harmful.
Over the last year, our decision to take a leadership position on hemp has been validated over and over. Today, just two out of 50 states (Idaho and South Dakota) maintain bans against hemp products, and last December, the 2018 Farm Bill officially removed it from the list of Schedule 1 Controlled Substances.
We've also had the great privilege of getting to know some of the leading producers in the hemp movement. Many are family-run businesses like Charlotte's Web, founded by the Stanley Brothers in Colorado. We've learned so much from pioneers like the Stanleys—about hemp's many uses, about its potential to revitalize farming communities, and about the commitment of hemp farmers to organic practices that are safe and sustainable for the environment.
At Thrive Market, we've never shied away from taking a stand for our values. It's why in 2015 we became the first (and still only) national retailer to go entirely non-GMO in our food catalog due to the use of the carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate on GMO crops. It's also the reason we led a 2016 petition to the USDA that garnered 300,000 signatures to catalyze the first-ever pilot program for accepting food stamps online.
We believe that ethical and sustainable hemp is another cause worth fighting for, so rest assured that we will be working behind the scenes in the coming weeks to get hemp products back on Thrive Market. In fact, we're already in conversations with a new processing partner to try to make that happen.
I want to thank each and every one of you for being a part of this community for good. Without the power of our 500,000-plus members, we wouldn't be able to take the leadership positions we have for positive change. Together, we are more than just a retailer or a membership community—we are a movement.
Speaking of education, our friendly competitor Stanley Brothers is looking for a rockstar like our Stuart Tomc...
https://www.naturalindustryjobs.com/NIJMain.asp?Option=JobDetail&ID=4684
Gene J.W. Kim
President, DELFIN LNG Korea
Korea • See 500+ connections
Experience
President, FPE/Delfin LNG Korea
Fairwood Welbeck Natural Resources, DELFIN LNG
Jun 2014 – Present • 5 yrs 1 mo
Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Integrated upstream and midstream LNG export project in North America. One of the largest size and scale LNG exploration, and transportation project development in NA. Responsible for Korea business development - offtake, investment in upstream/midstream assets, FLNGV EPCIC company selection, key account management for Korean companies, and financial arrangement.
Have been leading Korea, Taiwan LNG long term offtake marketing, business development activities, and project financing for Korea build FLNG. Strategic partnership created with major buyers and regulators from the region responsible. Strong network and collaboration with US State Department, Department of Commerce representatives.
-
Executive Managing Director
GE (General Electric Inc.) • Mar 2012 – Jun 2014 • 2 yrs 4 mos
Seoul Korea
strategy, new business, organic, and inorganic growth leader for GE International Korea business operation.
-
President, Scapa Asia
Scapa Group • Feb 2010 – Mar 2012 • 2 yrs 2 mos
Hong Kong
president, and managing director of Scapa Asia, UK public listed company in specialty chemical, tape solutions.
-
advisor to the board
EMETA • 2009 – 2010 • 1 yr
board member advisory on software solutions, market development, and financing advisory
-
director, business development in Asia Pacific Region
Cisco Systems • 2004 – 2010 • 6 yrs
served various roles including sales operations of multiple countries, new business creation across different business units, functions, geography
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Manager
Arthur D. Little • 2000 – 2004 • 4 yrs
Korea strategy, offtake marketing, long term LNG sales contract, equity and debt financing for multiple assets within Delfin and its related projects.
-
business development, corporate finance
Samsung Electronics • Jun 1996 – 2000 • 4 yrs
manage global mobile division financial reporting, forecast and budgetary management.
--
Education
IMD (International Institute for Management Development) - Business Programs
MBA
business admin
2003 – 2003
Yonsei University
BA
Social Science, Social welfare, business admin
1990 – 1990
--
Languages
English French Korean
Article: Getting to the root of the plant-based movement
https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/13666-getting-to-the-root-of-the-plant-based-movement
KANSAS CITY — Something is growing on consumers, and it’s cause for concern as well as innovation among today’s meat and poultry companies. The buzz about plant-based proteins has been building to a crescendo over the past few years and is impacting R.&D. and marketing efforts among all types of traditional processors.
Read through some of the trend projections and market research and it’s easy to see how plant-based has moved more to the center of the stage, if not quite to the center of the plate. Innova Market Insights lists “The Plant Kingdom” as the second-biggest trend for 2019. This has been dubbed “The Year of the Vegan” by The Economist. Research from the Nielsen Co. shows that plant-based product sales are rising by double digits across most categories.
While “plant-based” is a term that is rather ubiquitous right now, many industry experts note that it’s not about vegetarianism or veganism as much as it is a broadening of the diet to include plant proteins as another form of meat like, say, the less-frequently consumed species of lamb or veal. In other words, it’s less about a total swap and more of a rotation.
“Consumers are looking more at meat alternatives, but it doesn’t mean meat replacements,” said Phil Lempert, a retail food trends expert. “I do think we’ll see beef and poultry consumption decline a bit, as people are going to have a better-quality alternative, whether it’s the Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat or something else."
Another sign that this isn’t an all-in shift to plants, Mr. Lempert pointed to the popularity of blended products.
“The mushroom burger, for example, was brilliant, because it’s a 50-50 blend with meat,” he said.
Research bears out that this is a matter of addition instead of a total subtraction. The Innova report on plant-based eating, for example, emphasized that “companies and brands are greening up their portfolios to attract mainstream consumers who want to add more plant-based options to their diets.” A report on plant-based eating from Datassential found that more than half (51%) of consumers are interested in meat blended with grains and vegetables.
The recently released annual report, the 2019 Power of Meat, presented by the Food Marketing Institute (F.M.I.) and Foundation for Meat and Poultry Education and Research of the North American Meat Institute and conducted by 210 Analytics, found that three quarters of meat eaters integrate plant-based meat alternatives into their dinner lineup.
“I do believe this will be another choice but will not replace traditional meat in the short term nor the long term,” said Rick Stein, vice-president of fresh foods for F.M.I.
The term “flexitarian” is a relevant one, Mr. Stein said.
“Flexitarians want to choose between pure protein and alternative proteins, and I think consumers in general will ‘dabble’ in alternative proteins as part of their overall protein choices," he said. "Younger consumers will adapt more easily to the alternatives, but until they can match texture and affordability, traditional beef, poultry and pork products will remain strong."
If you can’t meat ‘em, join ‘em
Several high-profile meat and poultry brands are dabbling in alternative proteins.
“Tyson, Cargill and other big protein companies are investing in some of the plant-based or cell-based meat companies," Mr. Stein said. "Tyson recently announced changes in its org chart, creating an executive vice president position in charge of alternative proteins."
To Mr. Stein’s point, Tyson Foods put down some major seed money, so to speak, on rounding out its sizable portfolio by investing in alternative products such as Beyond Meat and Memphis Meats. It was such a significant move that Tyson put out a statement on its website last year from then-president and chief executive officer Tom Hayes, acknowledging that consumers want more protein in a global marketplace.
“How do we feed this growing number of people the protein they want in ways that are sustainable? Mr. Hayes said. "We believe it will take a combination of innovative and traditional approaches."
Tyson’s investment in Beyond Meat reflects that brand’s cache and potential. Additional investors and supporters include high-profile names like Bill Gates and Twitter founder Biz Stone.
Other major companies that have made a name in meat are also dipping into plant-based proteins as a way to widen their umbrella. Last fall, Maple Leaf Foods announced the launch of Greenleaf Foods, a subsidiary focused on plant-based foods. Greenleaf Foods’ brands include Lightlife Foods and the Field Roast Grain Meat Co.
Meanwhile, quick-service restaurants that staked their business on burgers and other meat menu items are likewise making room for plant-based alternatives while not eliminating or downscaling some meat offerings. The Impossible Burger, which started in high-end restaurants in urban areas, has since expanded into other restaurants around the country. Fast-food chain White Castle is now offering “Impossible Sliders” to customers who are looking for a plant-based burger alternative.
The diversity of plant-based foods helps meat and poultry processors who are getting into the plant-based protein market, because there’s not just one or two things they can add to their lineup.
“There are a lot of cool products out there – everything from snacks to meat replacements. I just got in the office some great plant-based jerky,” Mr. Lempert said, adding that interest in plant-based cuts across demographics and innovation comes from any type of meat or poultry operation. “Smart midsize and smaller processors are also looking at adding some proteins that are plant-based, whether they make it themselves or have someone make it under their label.”
Mr. Lempert underscored the importance of taste with plant-based alternatives, especially those that come from established meat and poultry brands.
“Many of these products have gotten so much better than they were just five years ago that people are willing to try it once a week,” he said.
Although it may be a different yet satisfying eating experience, plant-based is currently the more appealing meat and poultry alternative.
“Notably, our Power of Meat analysis suggests that consumers are willing to adapt to plant-based more so than cell-based proteins,” Mr. Stein said. “Big companies have identified a need to better understand the alternative market and be prepared as consumers shift their preferences.”
Phil Lempert's website:
https://www.supermarketguru.com
Here's a photo of the refrigerated meat alternatives at Natural Grocers in Clive, Iowa. The Beyond Meat items are towards the lower right. Second and third shelves from the bottom are the Beyond Sausages, $8.69. Above those are the Beyond Beef patties, regularly $5.89 but on sale for $4.89.
You can see there is a wide variety of product here. Our competition in this cooler encompasses a wide variety of brands and types of products with an equally wide variety of ingredients. Seitan (wheat protein), tofu-based items, jackfruit, textured soy protein, wheat gluten, tempeh, hemp tofu and soy tofu. Phew! That's a mouthful.
The next photo is at Whole Foods Market in West Des Moines, Iowa where the refrigerated Beyond Meat is supposed to be. This store is chronically out of stock of the beyond meat items, which is interesting because they order from the same distributor as Natural Grocers. There should be a triple facing of the burgers (Regularly $5.99, sale price $4.99), and there is one facing for each SKU of the sausages (regularly $8.99, sale $8.49).
Here's a shot of the freezer door at Natural Grocers in Clive, Iowa with Beyond Meat products. They have 2 SKU's Beyond Beef Crumbles ($5.19), 2 SKU's Beyond Chicken Strips ($4.69), 3 facings of the Beyond Burger (Reg. $5.89, on sale for $4.89), and one facing each of the Beyond Sausage Italian and the Brat ($8.69).
Since we were talking ingredients, allow me to describe Beyond's competition you see here.
The Quorn product (lower left) is made with a type of fungus (a fermented mycoprotein), it's a UK based company and the product is conventional. Some items are vegan; others contain eggs. Tasty stuff, if you want to try one I recommend the "Chik'n Nuggets".
Sunshine Burgers (family owned) is an old-school natural foods brand, as you might guess they're made with sunflower seeds. Certified organic product, items are vegan. Been around a very long time, they have several varieties. Good taste, real, whole food ingredients. No mistaking it for beef though.
Field Roast (lower right) is made with vital wheat gluten and some of their products also contain tofu. Conventional product. Items are vegan. Pretty tasty, heavy on the gluten. They call their products "grain meat" and have sausages that are quite good. This brand was recently sold to Canada's largest meat processor, Maple Leaf Foods.
Top shelf left, Boca burgers (Kraft foods) have been around a long time. Made with textured soy protein, conventional product. You'll probably find this brand in a lot of supermarkets along with Morningstar brand (Kellogg's). These products may taste ok but use cheap ingredients. These two brands are also not vegan, one has cheese and the other uses egg whites.
Next to those are Amy's products, they are made with a high proportion of organic ingredients. Amy's is a very large privately owned company and a natural foods industry pioneer.
Sonoma burger = quinoa and mushrooms
California burger (their original from 1989) = mushrooms, wheat, onions, walnuts, and other veggies
All American burger = Non-GMO textured soy protein, bulgur wheat and veggies - this one is "perfect for grilling"
I hope you find this information helpful.
I agree it is unfortunate Impossible uses GMO soy protein. However I'm not sure Little Caesar's consumers are the most health-oriented or care about ingredients. Remember LC's is the cheap option. Here we are in 2019, and most of their menu items contain Trans Fats, which are unhealthy in ways GMO foods are not. They also don't even publish ingredient lists. Compare with Domino's and Pizza Hut which have eliminated trans fats in their menu items and publish ingredient lists.
Beyond is definitely positioned towards health-oriented consumers and is a modern formulation with modern ingredients. Impossible is more for the casual vegetarian and uses old school ingredients (in terms of veggie burgers) with the exception of the "heme" soy leghemoglobin. GMO is only one facet of why health-oriented consumers, including non-vegetarians, have moved away from highly processed soy, including digestibility and the phytoestrogen issue.
https://littlecaesars.com/en-us/our-menu/nutrition/
https://www.dominos.com/en/pages/content/nutritional/ingredients.jsp
https://m.nutritionix.com/pizza-hut/portal/
Here's an article about Little Caesar's and other chains refusing to share ingredient lists.
https://foodbabe.com/if-youve-ever-eaten-pizza-before-this-will-blow-your-mind/
Possibly the Canadian distributor for Vytex?
That is a great catch. I see it here too. And even more interesting because it's a Google "featured snippet" and not an advertisement that anyone purchased.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6229325?hl=en
How can I mark my page as a featured snippet?
You can't. Google programmatically determines that a page contains a likely answer to the user's question, and displays the result as a featured snippet.
Thank you for your time and effort posting this, nbhitter22! Much appreciated.
I agree the CVS news is significant, and press releases can be helpful. However I can think of several reasons CVSI did not issue a press release. Just because you land a large account doesn't mean you must issue a press release. Someone else mentioned the idea that CVS wanted to control PR on this, which is totally plausible. Maybe CVS has nondisclosure agreements they routinely use when bringing in a product line. Maybe CVSI has an internal policy on disclosing their customers or on what constitute something worthy of a PR. Maybe it has to do with CVS doing a limited rollout. Those are only a few possibilities, none really negative, just more having to do with how the companies involved do business.
I believe the answer is, it depends. The sites you pointed out looks like they only distribute wholesale. My guess for the new CVSI trademark is a new line of consumer products, not a new brand for wholesale. So CVSI may not be concerned. However, if New Harvest Labs gets in to consumer products, CVSI may have reason to seek a change from New Harvest Labs.
For example, you have sites like Appleinsider.com which is an Apple rumor website, but Apple, Inc. does not go after them. Other domain name war examples famously include http://nissan.com/ (check it out - Nissan Motors didn't win), and way in the past you had MTV.com, McDonalds.com, all involved in lawsuits. In those cases the well known companies sued even though the persons operating the sites weren't directly competing with them.
Rice14 and HMB2010, Thanks for sharing. Found the websites they ran back in the day. Check it out.
At the footer of the 1998 Rotman's website I linked to earlier, notice World-Wide Collectors Digest, Inc.. If you click that, it will take you here-
https://web.archive.org/web/19981212034215/http://www.wwcd.com/
Then, you can navigate to the first version of that website-
https://web.archive.org/web/19961228104754/http://wwcd.com/
Notice the site of the week-
https://web.archive.org/web/19970131034204/http://www.wwcd.com/rotman/index.html
Rotman's Collectibles (Jan 31, 1997)
The Largest Auction on the Internet!
This is pretty cool. eBay was barely established at the time.
HMB2010, Thank you! Never thought about doing this before, but check it out. Here's the Internet Archive's first capture of the Rotman's website, back on December 12, 1998!
https://web.archive.org/web/19981212032421/http://www.rotmans.com/
Archive.org - Rotman's Home Page
Here's the first version of the URL listed in the link you provided to the wicn.org site. Looks like the Café was open around 2006-2008.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060203051854/http://www.rotmans.com/t-cafe-concerts.aspx
Archive.org - Cafe: Concert Information
February 3, 2006
Cafe Fantastique is an intimate venue. A limited number of seats are available for advance reservation for a fee. Those with reservations will be seated first. Reserved seating is held till 10 minutes before the start of the concert. Reservation is good for one concert only! You may reserve on-line for one, or both concerts. No reservations accepted at Rotmans Store or the Cafe. No refunds.
TWO shows every Saturday at 6pm and 8pm! Each concert runs 75 to 80 minutes. The Cafe Fantastique ranks with the best of venues in Massachusetts for sound, comfort and accessibility. All shows are alcohol and smoke-free. The venue is fully handicapped accessible
Seating is limited and on a first come first seated basis. Those with reservations seated first.
The Cafe Fantastique presents only the best local and nationally acclaimed acoustic folk/rock, country, blues and jazz. Located inside, on the 3rd floor of Rotmans Furniture and Carpet Store at 725 Southbridge Street in Worcester, MA, just off exit 11 of I-290.
Reading Programs in Progress
Rotmans Reading is Rewarding program, has expanded to TWO hour-long story and creativity hours, at 10am and 11am. Both programs will be the same - just chose the one more convenient for your family!