Member News & Headlines Blog

C.A. Fortune (CAF), a consumer products sales and marketing agency headquartered in Chicago, is proud to announce it's recent rebrand. The modern aesthetic features a new logo, website and updated focus to be “The Consumer Brands Agency.” C.A. Fortune’s commitment to be an approachable, innovative partner that can offer clients boutique service, national scope and seamless integration, is now reflected in the brand’s external look and feel.

“While designing C.A. Fortune’s new brand identity we wanted to concisely capture our agency’s ability to offer comprehensive solutions on a national scale along with having an innovative privately held culture,” said Steve Gaither, Senior Vice President of C.A. Branding.

“The new design depicts both sophistication and approachability, while the tagline, ‘The Consumer Brands Agency,’ quickly tells clients who we are and what we can do for them.”

Access the press release here 

Are you considering hiring a contract packager or manufacturer for your business? CPA, The Association for Contract Packagers and Manufacturers, provides the pros and cons to be mindful of when considering hiring a contract packager or manufacturer.

To navigate the Association for Contract Packagers (CPA) website, click here

Lunchbox notes are as common as sandwiches with the crust cut off in brown bag school lunches, especially for younger children. On the first day of school or the day of a big test, a note from home can help give confidence and inspiration to your kids when they open their lunch bag. However, kids can find comfort in different ways, which is why Rice Krispies Treats teamed up with Autism Speaks—an organization dedicated to promoting solutions for people with autism and their families—to create sensory Love Notes that are specially designed for children with autism.

Rice Krispies Treats first debuted their Love Notes in 2017 by creating wrappers for their sweets with a small space for parents to write a note. Then, in 2018, Rice Krispies made the Love Notes more inclusive by partnering with the National Federation of the Blind to create Braille stickers for parents to attach to the treats and audio-enabled boxes that could play a recorded message.

Read the full article here 

For the better part of a decade, Big Food has been in a scramble to restructure and reinvent itself amid a massive shift in consumer preferences that's given rise to gluten-free, low-sugar, non-GMO and "clean" options.

Looking to innovate and move faster to respond to ever-evolving trends, packaged-food makers have tried developing niche products to compete against a wave of upstarts. They've carved out internal venture-capital arms that throw cash behind minority stakes in startups in the hope that one hits. And, most significantly, they've put big money into snapping them up and attempting to scale them through sophisticated distribution networks and deep-pocketed marketing budgets.

Conagra Brands in 2016 scooped up Rick Bayless' Frontera Foods for $108.9 million and last year paid a whopping $10.8 billion for Pinnacle Foods, the owner of brands such as Smart Balance and Udi's.

Read the full article here 

MCLEAN, VA / ACCESSWIRE / August 6, 2019 / The QUAD, a student-oriented section of the PROCESS EXPO exhibit hall will feature information on the FPSA Job Board, an AMSA e-Poster Exhibition, the meeting point for student tours, and much more. This student opportunity will be taking place at this year's PROCESS EXPO, October 8-11, 2019, at Chicago's McCormick Place.

“The Student Ambassador program is new this year, and will offer students free admission into PROCESS EXPO, and the education seminars,” said David Seckman, President & CEO of the Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA). “The QUAD is a great opportunity for students to earn volunteer hours, network and engage, and benefit from free education sessions.”

Show Must-Sees, include:

• Career Roundtables: On Friday, October 11, the Young Professionals Group is hosting a “speed networking” career roundtable session which is an opportunity to meet with industry professionals who are open to sharing their experiences regarding entering the food and beverage industry including the good, the bad, and the ugly! This is a time for students to talk one-on-one with professionals who were once in their shoes and to gain knowledge they won’t get in the classroom. Click here to register.

Read the full article here 

Tyson Foods will be launching a functional, refrigerated snack line under the Pact brand later this year, according to Nosh. Although the snacks are currently in the preliminary test phase, there are four flavors planned: Gut Instinct featuring probiotics; Gut Ahead with turmeric and prebiotics; Glow With It featuring collagen; and Vibe On, which has omega-3, magnesium and matcha. The product's website doesn't directly state Tyson’s involvement in product development, but the company is named on the terms and conditions and privacy pages. Tyson also filed for a trademark earlier this year, claiming that the Pact brand could be used for snacks, dietary supplements and meal kits, Nosh reported.

Read the full article here 

Effective January 1, 2020, larger Chicago employers across various industries will have to comply with a new employee predictive scheduling law. Under the new law, titled the “Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance,” employers will have to provide employees with advanced notice of their work schedules, or risk monetary penalties of $300–$500 per violation and possible lawsuits. In passing this new law, Chicago jumped on a growing trend of predictive scheduling laws, following in the footsteps of major cities like New York and San Francisco. This one, however, is unique in that it is the most expansive one to date with Chicago’s mayor proclaiming it to be “the most expansive predictive scheduling law in the country,” reaching into industries such as “[h]ealth care, manufacturing, and the warehouse industry [which] have never been included in … [such a law] … until now.”

Read the full article from our member Nixon Peabody here 

Our member IIT/IFSH is currently accepting qualified nominees for their 2019 Darsh Wasan IFSH Food Safety Award. The 2019 IFSH award recognizes the achievements of an individual who has made "outstanding contributions to food safety across government, academia, and industry."

The qualifications for nominees are:

1. Nominees must be actively involved in the field of food safety and technology with academia, government or industry

2. Nominee must have demonstrated outstanding contributions to food safety and technology across government, academia and industry

3. Nominee should be employed by a current member or collaborator of IFSH

Nominations materials should include a cover letter and a copy of the candidate's CV and should provide specific information on the following:

1. Career highlights - length of service and positions held in the food safety and technology profession

2. Leadership roles and specific achievements or accomplishments in food safety across academia, industry and government

3. Educational activities in food safety and technology

4. Participation in IFSH activities

Please submit your nomination(s) for the 2019 Darsh Wasan IFSH Food Safety Award by e-mail byFriday, August 30, 2019 to Dr. Jason Wan, IFSH Associate Director, email: jwan1@iit.edu.

Previous award recipients are: Dr. Jon DeVries, General Mills (2005), Dr. Michael Cirigliano, Unilever (2006), Dr. Richard Whiting, FDA/CFSAN (2007), Dr. Katherine Swanson, Ecolab ( 2008), Dr. Paul Hall, AIV Microbiology and Food Safety Consultants, LLC (2009), Mr. Daniel Brown (2010), Dr. C. Patrick Dunne, U.S. Army (2011), Will Daniels, Earthbound Farm (2012), Dr. Donald L. Zink, FDA CFSAN (2013), Dr. Wilfredo Ocasio, the National Food Lab (2014), Dr. Bruce Tompkin (2015), Dr. Kurt Deibel, KraftHeinz (2016), Dr. Ruth Petran, Ecolab (2017), and Bob and Barbara Sanderson, Jonathan's Sprouts (2018).

The Polsky Incubator is open to early-stage startups with a dedicated, full-time team. Current participants include entrepreneurs from the South Side of Chicago, recent UChicago graduates, graduate school alumni, faculty, and staff.

If you have a prototype built, a team in place, are working full-time on your new business, and are ready to grow, the Polsky Incubator could be a good option for you! Applications from all industries are welcome; however, certain strategic industries are more strongly encouraged.

Applications are open to alumni of the University and its partner institutions (e.g., Argonne National Laboratories, Fermilab, and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), as well as entrepreneurs from our South Side community and across Chicago. Startups with solo founders will not be accepted. In all cases, a component of the application review will include the ways in which the startup articulates a growth path which is inclusive of current students (e.g., interns or cofounders), partnering with researchers on campus, utilizing equipment on campus, or growing in the Hyde Park area of the city. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed quarterly.

The Polsky Center accepts applicants into its Polsky Incubator on an annual basis.

2019 – 2020 Dates //
Monday, August 19: Applications are due by 10:00 a.m.
Week of September 3: Interviews will be held
Thursday, September 12: Teams will be notified
Tuesday, October 1: Move in and orientation

The Intel Distillery, brought to you by CFBN founding member Bader Rutter, systematically analyzes the most important food industry news, trends and policy issues from the most influential sources. 

The Intel Distillery website is now live! Our comprehensive -- and growing -- content hub features even more resources.

Delivery companies, food stamp eligibility requirements and a bill proposing to raise the minimum wage are the dominant topics of late. Are you staying on top of these issues?

DELIVERY WOES AND FOES: The term "food-delivery war" has become a recurring topic in our news scans. On July 15, The Wall Street Journal tied the slow growth of restaurants offering third-party delivery to the slow growth of the delivery companies themselves. In a separate article, food policy writer Heather Haddon described how delivery companies are "sharing more data and fusing technology more seamlessly with restaurants" to prove their worth to restaurants that may see them as expensive and difficult to use. 

OH, SNAP: On July 23, the USDA proposed a rule that would reform eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, aka food stamps). The policy allows states to circumvent current income limits and automatically enroll households that already receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. Under this change, 3.1 million participants who are currently automatically eligible for benefits would not be. 

WRESTLING WITH WAGES: Influential voices have long debated the costs and benefits of raising the minimum wage. Earlier this month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasted that raising the federal minimum wage would "boost workers' earnings through higher wages, though some of those higher earnings would be offset by higher rates of joblessness." On July 18, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would more than double the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2025. Supermarket Newscontended the bill, known as the Raise the Wage Act, "faces slim-to-none chance in Republican-controlled Senate."

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