Ritter Sport and Haribo are joining forces for their first-ever UK collaboration, combining milk chocolate with fruity sweets in a new limited-edition chocolate block. The Ritter Sport x Haribo Balla Bites is a 100g block featuring Ritter Sport's signature milk chocolate alongside the fruity chew of Haribo Balla Bites. The product will launch nationwide from September, rolling out across thousands of retail outlets. The collaboration is being supported by what Ritter Sport describes as its largest-ever UK retail activation, with more than 4,500 branded shipper displays planned across stores. A further 21,000 distribution points across grocery, wholesale and convenience are expected to stock the product, with the activation designed to introduce more than one million new shoppers to the Ritter Sport brand. Benedict Daniels, managing director of Ritter Sport UK & Ireland, said the collaboration was intended to create a product that was “genuinely surprising and fun”, while supporting the brand's growth in the UK block chocolate category. “This is much more than a product launch. It is a major investment in growing the Ritter Sport brand,” he said. “We're putting millions of limited-edition bars into the market, expanding distribution and giving retailers a launch that's designed to excite shoppers and bring new energy to the category.” Phil Murphy, chief marketing officer of Haribo UK & Ireland, said the partnership combined the fruity chew of Balla Bites with Ritter Sport's chocolate to create a new way for consumers to enjoy the two brands. The launch will be supported by a ‘Happiness Squared’ campaign, centred on the idea that consumers are seeking small moments of enjoyment in their everyday lives. The campaign will run across multiple retail touchpoints, with the companies aiming to maximise in-store visibility and encourage shoppers to try the collaboration. Ritter Sport said the launch will see millions of limited-edition bars enter the UK market as the two confectionery brands seek to drive trial and excitement within the category. Founded in 1912, Ritter Sport is a family-owned German chocolate company, while HARIBO was founded in Bonn in 1920 and now operates 15 factories worldwide, supplying sweets to more than 120 countries.

Oreo is giving consumers the chance to decide which of three unusual new flavours will join its range as part of a new “Twist, Lick, Vote” campaign. The brand has introduced three limited-edition cookies designed around emerging snacking trends, including nostalgia, state fair-inspired foods and sweet-and-savoury combinations. The new flavours are Oreo Chicken & Waffles, Oreo Deep Fried Cookies and Oreo Banana Pudding. Oreo Chicken & Waffles is described as a first-of-its-kind innovation for the cookie aisle, combining the flavours of the popular sweet-and-savoury dish with the brand's traditional cookie format. The Deep Fried Cookies variant takes inspiration from fairground food, while Banana Pudding taps into the growing consumer interest in nostalgic dessert flavours. Under the “Twist, Lick, Vote” campaign, consumers will be able to vote for the flavour they want to see added to the OREO line-up. The three flavours will be available for presale from 17 August through Oreo's website, before rolling out to retailers nationwide from 24 August. The winning flavour will be revealed on 13 October and is set to join the Oreo line-up for a limited time in 2027.

United Dairy Farmers (UDF) has partnered with Cincinnati-based snack manufacturer Grippo Foods to launch a limited-edition ice cream flavour combining popcorn, barbecue seasoning and pretzel pieces. Named Fun Food Crunch, the Homemade brand ice cream features a buttered popcorn-flavoured base with a caramel swirl infused with Grippo’s Bar-B-Q seasoning and crunchy chocolate-coated pretzel pieces. The collaboration brings together two family-owned Cincinnati businesses with a combined history of nearly 200 years. According to the companies, the product was developed to celebrate their shared regional heritage while introducing Grippo’s signature barbecue flavour to a new category. Michael Ahmed, CEO of UDF, said: “This collaboration brings together two hometown brands that share a commitment to quality, family values and creating products people love. Fun Food Crunch captures the spirit of both companies in a way that’s nostalgic, playful and uniquely Cincinnati.” John Dourson, vice president of sales at Grippo Foods, added that the partnership offered an opportunity to create an unexpected product that draws on the companies’ histories and familiar flavours. Fun Food Crunch will begin rolling out during the week commencing 16 August. The co-branded 16oz pints will be available at Kroger stores in the Cincinnati area and across UDF’s network of more than 170 retail locations while stocks last.

Tyson Foods has announced plans to close two of its US facilities, and to pursue the sale of another, amid a broader restructuring of its beef operations. Through the restructuring, the meat giant’s beef business will be consolidated around three facilities in the central US: Dakota City, Nebraska; Holcomb, Kansas; and Amarillo, Texas. Operations will end at its beef facility in Joslin, Illinois, and its case-ready facility in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Manufacturing at these locations will be moved to ‘more strategically located’ facilities with ample growth capacity, Tyson said. Additionally, it will pursue a sale of its beef facility in Pasco, Washington. FoodBev has approached Tyson for confirmation of the number of employees set to be impacted by all plant closures. The company stated that it will support team members through the transition and help them apply for open positions at other facilities. The changes come as the company continues to be impacted by the historic cattle shortage in the US. Recent US Department of Agriculture (USDA) cattle inventory data, including evidence of limited heifer retention, indicates the supply constraints are likely to persist. Tyson believes the changes will help boost performance and position the company for long-term success despite the ongoing industry challenges. The company said it will gradually increase production capacity at its Amarillo facility as cattle becomes available, with the changes expected to facilitate a similar level of cattle harvesting across a more efficient network. The news follows the earlier closure of Tyson Foods’ beef processing facility in Lexington, Nebraska, announced in November 2025 and shut down in January 2026. The facility employed around 3,200 workers. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln study estimated a $3.3 billion economic loss statewide as a result of the closure.

The University of Reading has created a chocolate bar made entirely from British ingredients, including cocoa grown in Berkshire, to mark its centenary year. Named the Reading 100 Chocolate Bar, the product was developed by food security master’s student Maha Khan, who harvested, fermented and processed cocoa grown at the university before producing the finished chocolate in its Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences. The project demonstrates that cocoa can be grown and processed in the UK, while also highlighting the importance of the global supply chains that underpin the chocolate industry. The UK chocolate market is worth £10.4 billion but remains entirely dependent on imported cocoa. The university said this reliance demonstrates the importance of international food trade to farmers, consumers and economies around the world. Khan said: “It has been amazing to follow the entire chocolate-making process, from pod to bean to bar, without leaving Reading. This British bar of chocolate highlights the precarious nature of our food supplies. Cocoa plants are very sensitive to changes in temperature and rainfall, and climate change is already causing problems in countries that produce most of the world's cocoa.” Khan added that protecting different cocoa varieties will be important in helping farmers develop plants capable of withstanding a changing climate. The cocoa used in the bar was grown at the university's International Cocoa Quarantine Centre in Berkshire, which houses more than 300 types of cocoa plant and handles 97% of the world's international movement of cocoa plants. The climate-controlled centre is designed to prevent pests and diseases spreading between cocoa-growing regions, while also providing researchers with an environment in which to study different varieties. Professor Carol Wagstaff, director of AgriFood Futures at the University of Reading, said: “The UK chocolate industry rests on a supply chain that starts thousands of miles away in the tropics of Africa, South America and Asia. A resilient global market is crucial to the many smallholder farmers who underpin the industry and find themselves farming in some of the regions most exposed to risks from climate change, as well as to chocolate makers and chocolate lovers in the UK.” Wagstaff cautioned that while local sourcing can bring benefits, international food trade also has an important role to play in supporting communities and food security. The project also showcased the processing required to transform cocoa beans into a finished chocolate product. Cocoa pods from the university's collection would normally be removed without being used, but were instead harvested for the Reading 100 project. The beans were extracted from the pods, fermented, dried and roasted before being crushed and ground into cocoa powder using industry-standard equipment. Khan then combined the cocoa with British-grown sugar and milk before heating, shaping and forming the mixture into the finished chocolate bar. The university said the Reading 100 Chocolate Bar is one of only a small number of chocolates believed to have been made using cocoa grown in Britain. The first documented example dates back to 1932, when Rowntree's produced a bar using cocoa grown in a glasshouse at its headquarters in York and gifted it to the then six-year-old Princess Elizabeth. More recently, cocoa grown at the Eden Project in Cornwall has been used by local craft chocolate maker Chocolarder. The Eden Project's cocoa plants were also sourced through the University of Reading. The Reading 100 Chocolate Bar forms part of the University of Reading's centenary celebrations throughout 2026, which are highlighting a century of research spanning areas including food, farming and climate science.

Olipop has appointed former Electrolit CEO Christian Patiño Webb as its new chief executive officer, as the functional soda brand strengthens its leadership team to support its next phase of growth. Christian Patiño Webb Webb joins Olipop after leading hydration beverage brand Electrolit from 2022 to 2026. Before that, he served as vice president of marketing for Unilever-owned supplements brand SmartyPants Vitamins between 2020 and 2022. He has also held several senior roles at Red Bull from 2013 to 2018. In his new position, Patiño Webb will oversee Olipop’s operations, distribution, organisational execution, brand expansion and strategic growth initiatives. Olipop said his experience in scaling high-growth consumer brands and building the operational infrastructure needed by expanding founder-led businesses would help advance the company’s long-term strategy. The appointment forms part of a wider leadership restructuring at Olipop. Founder Ben Goodwin will transition into the roles of executive chairman and head of innovation, where he will continue to guide the company’s long-term vision, business strategy and product development. Goodwin and Webb will work closely together, with Goodwin focusing on innovation and the company’s founder-led vision while Webb leads its operational growth and expansion. Olipop said the new structure would provide additional operational expertise as the business grows in scale, complexity and reach, while preserving the mission and culture that have shaped the company since its launch.

Heinz has introduced the Love Lid, a customisable ketchup cap designed to give consumers greater control over how much ketchup they dispense with each squeeze. Launching in time for the summer grilling season, the Love Lid features three settings: Like, Love and Crazy Love, allowing consumers to adjust the flow of ketchup according to their preferences and the food they are eating. The innovation is designed around the different ways consumers use ketchup, from a small dip for fries to a drizzle over a hot dog or a more generous serving on a burger. Nina Patel, vice president, global Heinz at Kraft Heinz, said: “We all experience love differently and our fans’ connection to ketchup is no exception. People have deeply personal rituals around how much ketchup they squeeze, and we celebrate every one of them.” The Love Lid represents the latest packaging-focused innovation from Heinz as the brand looks to add functionality and personalisation to its familiar ketchup format. Heinz said the product was inspired in part by discussions among consumers about the ideal ketchup-to-food ratio, with the adjustable cap intended to put consumers in control of sauce flow. “Whether they ‘like it,’ ‘love it,’ or have full-on ‘crazy love,’ there’s no wrong way to enjoy Heinz,” Patel said. The launch follows previous packaging developments from the brand, including the Heinz Dipper, as the company continues to experiment with ways to change how consumers interact with its flagship ketchup. The Love Lid is available for a limited time as part of a grilling-season bundle in the US and UK. Each bundle includes a bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup, one Love Lid and a guide suggesting the appropriate squeeze setting for different summer foods. The launch forms part of Heinz's broader summer marketing activity, with the brand using personalisation and packaging innovation to reinforce its position in the global condiment category. The Love Lid is available while supplies last in both markets.

Khloud, the protein snack brand co-founded by Khloé Kardashian, has launched Khloud Plus Collagen Protein Chips, a new line designed to combine increased protein with collagen in a familiar tortilla chip format. The new product builds on Khloud's existing Protein Chips range, adding 2g of hydrolysed collagen per serving alongside a higher total protein content. Each 1.6oz bag contains 17g of protein, including the 2g collagen contribution. Khloud Plus is available exclusively at Walmart from 10 August, priced at $3.48 per bag. The launch includes three existing Khloud flavours, Sweet Heat, Nacho and Buffalo, alongside a new Walmart-exclusive Jalapeño flavour. A variety pack containing Nacho, Buffalo and Sweet Heat is also available for $9.99. Khloé Kardashian, co-founder of Khloud, said: “I built Khloud on the belief that your favourite snacks should do a little more. Khloud Plus takes everything people already love about our Protein Chips – clean ingredients, great flavour, now with collagen and an added protein boost.” The launch targets growing consumer interest in convenient functional foods by incorporating protein and collagen into an everyday snack rather than a supplement format. According to Khloud, the product uses hydrolysed collagen, which senior director of R&D Olivia Weihe described as a highly digestible form of collagen. The formulation is intended to add functionality while retaining the taste, texture and crunch of the brand's existing chips. Weihe said: “With Khloud Plus, our goal was to deliver added functionality to our Protein Chips without compromising the taste, texture, or crunch consumers already love." The chips are gluten-free and non-GMO, and are made without seed oils, according to the company. Khloud currently offers Protein Chips and Protein Popcorn, with the brand focused on snacks positioned around taste, transparency and convenience for consumers with busy lifestyles.

Mark Bellamy Highsnobiety's 2026 Status Economy report shows that food and drink have become key markers of taste and cultural credibility. Mark Bellamy, strategy director at NewGen, explains what this shift means for food and beverage brands and how to make the most of it. Something has changed in the way people show who they are. For decades, the clearest signs of taste and cultural credibility were things you wore, trainer drops, luxury handbags or limited-edition collabs. Today, the most powerful status signals are increasingly things you eat and drink. Highsnobiety's report has found that food and drink have taken the space once held by designer fashion. Erewhon smoothies. Pet Nat wines. Ceremonial-grade matcha. These aren't just groceries, they have become identity statements. They communicate cultural knowledge, personal values and social belonging in a single purchase. Whether a challenger or established brand, this is one of the biggest brand-building opportunities in a generation for the F&B industry. Knowledge over wealth: The new social flex What makes this shift interesting from a brand strategy point of view is what the currency is. Status signalling through food is not about price. It is about knowledge: being early, discerning and showing that you know what is culturally relevant before it goes mainstream. Historically, signalling taste meant having financial access to the right event, postcode or label on your back. Today, a consumer who tracks down a small-batch pickle brand or who knows which east London café serves the best matcha before it hits every high-street menu is showing exactly that kind of cultural know-how. The product may cost less than £5, but what it signals is worth far more. Wider economic pressures are pushing this further. With younger consumers spending less on big-ticket items, food and drink have become the accessible space where taste gets performed. The lipstick effect applies here. So, when larger status purchases feel out of reach, small, carefully chosen ones carry more weight. What’s behind the shift? Food and drink are entering culture through the same mechanics that drove sneaker culture – factors like scarcity, community, early adoption and creator amplification. In this instance, the creator economy is the engine powering all of it. When a trusted creator, one that a community has chosen to follow, is seen buying or consuming a product, it triggers an impulse that brands need to be ready to act on. However, that window is short because the consumer sees it, wants it, and either finds it or moves on. Culturally successful brands understand that social media and retail are their two most regular touchpoints with consumers and are working to join them up. That’s not easy in practice as retail traditionally plans six months ahead, while social moves in real time. But the gap can be closed. Targeted distribution in creator hotspots, limited-edition stock tied to social moments and using retail spaces as content settings all help. Shooting creator content inside a supermarket does something a studio cannot. It proves the product is there, builds genuine impulse, and drives footfall at the same time. Building a world, not just a product For F&B brands working under HFSS restrictions, this cultural shift opens up a useful strategic option. If direct product messaging is limited, the answer is not to go quiet. Rather, it is to build a world around the product that communicates taste, personality and identity without making a single claim about sugar content or calories. For example, a protein product from Pret says "I am a busy, organised person with a lot going on." The format of the product communicates a lifestyle. The brand's job is to build the world around that lifestyle, not to talk about how many grams of protein it contains. Where should established brands start? Challenger brands have found it easier to enter this cultural space because they often start with a tight, focused community. But established brands have something challengers do not: an existing fan base that is already consuming the product within specific moments and routines. The starting point for any established F&B brand trying to build cultural relevance is simply listening. Read the comment sections and explore platforms not through the lens of what you want to say, but through what your most committed consumers are already doing with your product. The insight that builds cultural currency is almost always sitting in plain sight. From there, build a broad creator network across adjacent categories like fashion, beauty and lifestyle rather than defaulting to food-focused content. Commit to those relationships over years, not weeks. And stop leading with product messaging when what your audience actually wants is to feel that your brand understands their taste. Playing the long game Successful brands in this space have one thing in common. They are playing the long game. They are not chasing individual viral moments – though those do happen. They are steadily building cultural relevance across multiple touchpoints, categories and communities at the same time and letting that relevance grow over time. The food and drink category has rarely had more cultural potential than it does right now. The way people signal status, taste and identity has shifted towards what they eat and drink in ways that simply were not true five years ago. For brands willing to look beyond the product and invest in the culture around it, the opportunity is real and it is there to be taken.

Asahi Beer USA has installed a new high-speed bottling line at its Octopi beverage production facility in Waunakee, Wisconsin, expanding its domestic packaging capabilities as demand for bottled beer continues alongside growth in cans and other formats. The new system can produce up to 20,000 bottles per hour and was installed as part of a nearly 90-container equipment build-out. The investment forms part of Asahi Beer USA's broader $35 million program to expand its US production capabilities. The company said the decision to invest in bottling reflects continued demand for bottled formats among super-premium, international and multi-format beverage brands, despite the wider industry shift toward cans. Paul Verdu, managing director of Asahi Beer USA, said: “Asahi Super Dry is one of the fastest-growing beer brands in the USA across bottles, cans and kegs. “By investing in a high-speed bottling line alongside our existing canning and kegging capabilities, we are now localising supply across all core pack formats, reducing reliance on ocean freight and ensuring the freshest product possible to our customers and consumers.” The line will initially be used to produce Asahi Super Dry in 12oz (355ml) six-pack bottles and 21oz (620ml) 12-pack bottles, with products from the new line expected to reach the market from mid-September 2026. The system can accommodate additional bottle sizes and packaging configurations as demand develops. The installation is designed not only to increase Asahi's own domestic production but also to broaden Octopi's capabilities as a co-manufacturing and co-packing partner. A Krones Varioline packer forms a central component of the system, allowing multiple packaging configurations, including multipacks, trays and wraparound formats, to be produced on a single platform. Asahi said this flexibility will help Octopi respond to increasingly varied requirements across grocery, club and convenience retail channels. Juan Morales, plant director at Octopi, said: “This is about building a platform that can handle complexity. As brands grow, they need to deliver different formats across different retail channels. This investment allows us to support that evolution with the speed, consistency and quality required for large-scale distribution.” Octopi already produces across a broad range of beverage categories, including beer, ready-to-drink cocktails, non-alcoholic beverages, hard seltzers, functional drinks and energy beverages. The company said demand is also increasing for non-alcoholic and functional products. The addition of high-speed bottling gives the facility another format with which to support beverage brands moving from pilot production toward wider distribution, while enabling customers to manufacture bottled and canned products within the same facility. “As brands grow, they are increasingly looking for production partners that can support multiple formats within a single facility,” Verdu said. “This investment allows us to support both bottled and canned products at scale, while opening the door to new co-manufacturing partnerships that require that level of flexibility.” The Octopi facility is SQF-certified and designed to meet the compliance requirements of major national retailers.

Bulletproof has expanded its functional coffee portfolio with the launch of Mood Booster Mushroom Latte, marking the brand's first entry into the latte format. The instant latte combines Arabica coffee with functional mushrooms, ashwagandha and MCT oil, alongside built-in creamer and sweetness. Designed to be prepared with hot or cold water, the product aims to deliver a café-style latte in a more convenient format. Bulletproof said the formulation was developed to address one of the barriers associated with mushroom-based beverages, the earthy taste often associated with functional mushrooms, while maintaining a rich, creamy and coffee-forward profile. The blend features Lion's Mane, reishi and chaga mushrooms, as well as ashwagandha. According to Bulletproof, the product is positioned to support mood, focus and stress management, while providing approximately 50mg of caffeine per serving. The company describes the caffeine content as roughly half that of a typical cup of coffee, positioning the product as an option for consumers seeking a lower-caffeine alternative or an additional coffee occasion later in the day. Bulletproof's Mood Booster Mushroom Latte contains instant Arabica coffee and real dairy, with the built-in creamer designed to create a frothy texture when prepared. The product contains less than 3g of sugar and is formulated with MCT oil alongside its mushroom and adaptogen blend. Bulletproof said the latte can be enjoyed as formulated or customised by consumers. Mood Booster Mushroom Latte is available now through Bulletproof's online store and Amazon, with a wider retail rollout planned to begin this fall.

Bongards’ Creameries is investing $135 million to expand its process cheese manufacturing facility in Bongards, Minnesota, as it seeks to meet growing domestic and international demand. The project will add approximately 120,000 square feet to the site, including 50,000 square feet of production space and a 70,000-square-foot automated warehouse. Once operational, the expanded facility will be able to produce an additional 180 million pounds of process cheese annually for the foodservice, retail, industrial ingredients and export markets. The development will incorporate advanced processing technology to improve efficiency and product consistency, while giving Bongards greater flexibility to meet changing customer requirements. Dennis Thomas, chief executive officer of Bongards’ Creameries, said: “As consumer demand evolves and global opportunities continue to expand, we are positioning Bongards to be the partner of choice for our customers and an enduring source of value for our member-owners.” The investment, one of the largest in the dairy cooperative’s 118-year history, is also expected to generate regional economic activity during construction and create longer-term operational opportunities. Founded in 1908, Bongards’ Creameries is a farmer-owned cooperative supplying dairy products across North America and international markets. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, with commercial operations expected to start in early 2028.