Weekly Digest #17

24.11.2025

Welcome to The Fork’s Lens

Every week, we serve up a quick, flavourful dose of what’s cooking at the intersection of food, drink, and entrepreneurship.

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🍴 Sharp founder insights

📊 Bite-sized industry trends

🛠 Tools & tips to level up

🔥 Events & openings worth your time

For those of you building food brands, launching products, or just hungry for what’s next – this one’s for you.

Raising, Reformulating & Reinventing

📨 Weekly #17: Raising, Reformulating & Reinventing

🍴 What’s Up?

This week brings major investments in UK food manufacturing, fresh product innovation in dairy, fintech fundraising activity, and some turbulence at legacy consumer brands.

🔥 UK Spotlight

• Premier Foods announces £36m investment in Worksop
  Premier Foods is making its largest investment in over 15 years to expand its Worksop site, adding a new high-speed sauce line, increased storage, and upgraded logistics. Production of Loyd Grossman sauces will also be brought in-house from 2028, supported by an extended licensing deal through 2034. New Food Magazine

• AKA Foods raises $17.2m to launch an AI-powered innovation hub
  Food-tech startup AKA Foods secured $17.2m in seed funding to build “AKA Studio,” an AI platform designed to help brands speed up R&D, reduce waste, and bring products to market faster. FoodBev

• Synergy Flavours introduces new taste-modulation tech for high-protein dairy
  Synergy has launched a new solution that reduces chalkiness and astringency in high-protein yogurts. Consumer testing showed smoother, creamier profiles with improved taste perception. FoodBev

• Oatly expands into ready-to-drink oat iced coffee
  Oatly is growing its beverage lineup with new RTD iced coffee cans, tapping into demand for dairy-free, grab-and-go caffeine options. FoodBev

• Tirlán invests €126m in new whey-processing facility
  Irish dairy co-op Tirlán announced a €126m investment to build a new whey facility in Kilkenny, aimed at expanding capacity for high-value protein ingredients. FoodBev

• Restaurant-fintech Sunday raises $21m in Series B
  Sunday, a payments and guest-experience platform built for restaurants, has raised $21 million in a Series B round led by DST Global Partners. The company serves over 80 million diners annually and integrates with more than 50 POS systems, helping restaurants with ordering, payment, loyalty, and CRM. BusinessWire

• Ocado shares crushed after Kroger announces closure of three automated warehouses
  Ocado’s stock dropped sharply (c. 16–20%) after its U.S. partner Kroger revealed it will close three robotic customer-fulfillment centres in Maryland, Wisconsin, and Florida in January 2026. The move is expected to cut around $50 million from Ocado’s annual fee revenue, though Ocado says it will receive over $250 million in compensation from Kroger. Reuters

• Graze’s losses nearly double under Unilever integration
  Graze, the healthy-snack brand owned by Unilever, reported operating losses of £8.7m for the year ended December 2024, up from £4.5m in 2023. Revenues fell to £35.6m, and total losses under Unilever ownership now exceed £40m. Unilever fully integrated Graze into its UK foods business in September 2024. The Grocer

• Monster Beverage to launch first spirits-based RTD in 2026
  Monster Beverage is preparing to enter the alcohol RTD category with Just Vibe, a 4.5% ABV vodka-based hard refresher made with real juice. Four flavours are expected at launch as the brand moves deeper into the better-for-you, flavour-led alcohol space. CPGWire

💭 The Fork & The Flame

“Good food innovation is less about invention, more about reinvention.”

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About Forks & Founders
We believe bold food brands deserve bold support. That’s why we’ve built a collective of seasoned foodies, retail rebels, creative storytellers, and numbers nerds – people who’ve been in the kitchen, the boardroom, and the shop floor. We jump in where you need us most, helping you turn big ideas into bites people can’t stop talking about. Because building a food brand isn’t just business – it’s passion, flavour, and a little bit of chaos. We’re here to make sure it’s the good kind.