Business Bites: Plant-based butters spread bolder flavors

We can now make delicious, nutritious butter out of cow food; we truly live in the future. In other news, Tate & Lyle acquires CP Kelco to bolster its specialty food and beverage business, and a new twist on caffeine may offer more bang for your buck. Plus, regenerative agriculture attempts to take center stage as several major players in the food and beverage industries start incentivizing such practices. All that and more in this week’s edition of Business Bites.

Nondairy butters offer bold flavor combos

Miyoko’s Creamery, a leading dairy-free cheese and butter brand, is launching two new oat milk butter flavors: garlic parm and cinnamon brown sugar. Both of which sound delightful but are also flavors I would never want to try together.

According to the Institute for Food Technologists (IFT), consumers are showing renewed interest in bold flavors — specifically, less sweet and more bitter. Miyoko’s, however, was looking to incorporate complex sweet and savory flavor profiles without sacrificing a simple, straightforward label.

“We want to capture the simple joy and nostalgia of that first bite consumers experience when they crunch into warm toast topped with savory butter,” Stuart Kronauge, CEO of Miyoko’s Creamery, said. “This represents our dedication to crafting rich-tasting and satisfying products while remaining true to our values of utilizing recognizable ingredients.”

These butters will be available at 20,000 retailers across the U.S., including Whole Foods and Sprouts, and reportedly perform well in a variety of cooking and baking applications, promising a 1:1 substitution ratio.

Tate & Lyle acquires CP Kelco for $1.8 billion

When a company starts throwing around phrases like “strategic transformation,” you know they’re also about to start laying down cash and buying up businesses. And that’s precisely what Tate & Lyle just did with CP Kelco, a leading provider of pectin, specialty gums and other natural ingredients. According to a press release, the two companies have already been collaborating on innovation projects for years, which should ensure a smooth transition.

The goal behind this acquisition was to create “a leading, global specialty food and beverage solutions business” by combining the two companies’ product portfolios and technical expertise. It is expected to boost revenue growth and EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, an abbreviation that proves once again that not every combination of words needs to be abbreviated.

New d9-Caffeine adds a different kind of kick to your coffee

Because we’ll never get tired of new types of caffeine, d9 Designs, a consumer products manufacturer, has developed d9-Caffeine, a reportedly longer-lasting version of the stimulant, which continues to be one of the most popular drugs in the world. One source predicts that the global caffeinated beverage market will reach $1.2 billion by 2031. Another claims that number is closer to $300 billion by 2025. Perhaps these researchers sampled too many energy drinks.

Whatever the size of the market, d9 Caffeine can now join it. The ingredient just achieved self-affirmed GRAS (generally recognized as safe) with a pair of studies showing its efficacy and safety. Although d9 Designs CEO Brad Sippy coauthored both studies, the process is already proven, having driven solutions in the pharmaceutical industry for years.

The method involves “deuterating” caffeine, which involves replacing the hydrogen atoms with deuterium, a stable, nontoxic isotope of hydrogen that can alter the metabolic profile of a substance while maintaining its benefits. As such, d9 Caffeine is nearly identical to caffeine, but its effects manifest quicker and stick around longer, have higher tolerability with reduced necessary dosages, and are more consistently effective across the population.

“So what you end up with is a product that looks, feels, tastes, smells, dissolves in water, everything, just like caffeine,” Sippy said to Food & Beverage Insider. “But when it comes time for your body to break it down, it just takes a little longer.”

ADM partners with Ooni Pizza Ovens to make regenerative dough

What happens when a global food and beverage giant collaborates with the pioneer of at-home pizza ovens? Apparently, regenerative agriculture. But a debate currently rages over what regenerative agriculture even is, so let’s break down what that looks like.

ADM launched a UK-based regenerative agriculture program in 2023, which involved working with farmers to improve soil health, biodiversity and more. Since then, UK producers can enroll to receive guidance and incentives for each hectare farmed using regenerative methods. Now, the company is bringing its regenerative wheat home by incorporating the flour into Ooni’s product offerings.

“Collaborating with ADM helps Ooni in our mission to make it easier than ever for home pizza makers to get the ingredients they need to make awesome pizza, while also respecting and protecting our planet," Claire Grant, senior project manager at Ooni, said in a press release. “As part of our commitment to becoming a regenerative business, Ooni Type ‘00’ pizza flour will be produced in British mills using only electricity from renewable sources. We are also working with farms that use a range of regenerative farming practices.”

Cheez-It pilot also leverages regenerative wheat

Snack giant Kellanova is teaming up with grocery chain owner Ahold Delhaize USA and grain coop Bartlett to invest in regenerative agriculture and make Cheez-It crackers more sustainable. Because if there’s one thing I want to think about while I’m eating junk food, it’s the seemingly inevitable collapse of our global ecosystems.

This partnership will support North Carolina wheat farmers by promoting practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil health, such as planting cover crops. It will focus on farmers who are already regenerative and can help others make the transition too. The move reportedly comes after Ahold Delhaize USA promised to cut emissions before realizing that a sizeable portion of its emissions comes from its suppliers.

Read more about the plan on the Ahold Delhaize website.