Weekly Digest #20

15.12.2025

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.

Expect:

🍴 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.

Supply, Scale & Snacking

📨 Weekly #20: Supply, Scale & Snacking

🍴 What’s Up?

Big snack giants making bigger plays, brands jumping into new categories, and a few headline-grabbing listings and leadership changes. Ingredient-tech is pulling in fresh cash, dairy is having a moment, plus plant-based naming drama is back (because of course it is). Here’s the rundown.

🇬🇧 This Week’s UK F&B Headlines

• MicroSalt raises £1.5m and launches retail offer
  The AIM-listed low-sodium ingredient innovator secured £1.5m to scale production, grow its commercial team, and accelerate reformulation partnerships; timely as sodium-reduction pressure increases across retailers and regulators. (Investegate)
  
  

• All Things Butter rebrands to All Things Dairy + enters cottage cheese
  The fast-growing brand is broadening its identity and entering the booming high-protein cottage cheese market. Three SKUs will roll out across the UK in January, marking a significant expansion beyond butter. (The Grocer)
  
  

• BrewDog enters functional NA beer with new brand “Mello”
  The alcohol-free brand, infused with magnesium, will debut at Tesco in January in Peach & Passionfruit and Lime & Mint flavours, tapping into the rise of functional non-alcoholic beverages. (FoodBev)
  
  

• Pret to compensate the family of Celia Marsh
  Pret has agreed to pay compensation following the tragic 2017 death of Celia Marsh, renewing sector-wide focus on allergen processes, compliance, and operational transparency. (BBC News)
  
  

• EU revisits restrictions on meaty names for plant-based products
  European lawmakers revived proposals to limit meat-style naming on plant-based SKUs. French alt-meat leader La Vie is among those vocal in opposition, arguing that such restrictions curb clarity, competitiveness, and innovation. (The Grocer)

• Hero names leadership team for Deliciously Ella
  The former owner and CEO of Deliciously Ella will become Hero UK&I Country Manager following the acquisition. (FoodManufacture)

🌍 Global News

• Mars gets green light on Kellanova acquisition
  The European Commission has approved the major snacks deal, cementing one of the biggest consolidation moves in recent years and setting up new dynamics in global snacking, pricing, and retailer negotiations. (Reuters)
  
  

• Campbell’s buys 49% of La Regina (Rao’s maker)
  A $286M strategic stake deepens Campbell’s foothold in premium sauces while securing upstream supply, a strategic move as Big CPG increasingly leans into vertical integration during supply-chain volatility. (FoodBusinessNews)
  
  

• Magnum Ice Cream Co. officially lists as a standalone company
  Unilever’s newly spun-off ice cream division listed on the Amsterdam exchange with a ~$9B valuation, with New York and London listings to follow. The company is targeting 3–5% revenue growth, making it a closely watched benchmark for future CPG spin-offs. (Reuters)
  
  

• Coca‑Cola appoints a new CEO
  Coca‑Cola has named Henrique Braun, its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s next Chief Executive Officer, effective 31 March 2026, succeeding James Quincey, who will transition to Executive Chairman. (Coca-Cola Company)

🥇 Food’s Biggest Winners & Losers of 2025

This year’s biggest category gains and losses reveal where consumer demand is shifting fastest in food and drink, according to new data from The Grocer.

🏆 Biggest Value Gainers

• Beef ▲ £417.7m (13.5%)
  Tight supply pushed prices up, driving the largest value increase across grocery.
  

• Strawberries ▲ £125.0m (13.9%)
  A bumper British season and a hot summer sent berry sales soaring.
  

• Jason’s Sourdough ▲ £42.4m (114.5%)
  Sourdough stays unstoppable with big investment and new excitement in bakery.
  

• Magnum ▲ £38.0m (16.0%)
  A long hot summer plus clever multisensory marketing buoyed ice cream sales.
  

• BuzzBallz ▲ £21.9m (805.2%)
  Viral growth + wider retail listings turned the TikTok-favourite RTD into a breakout winner.
  

📉 Biggest Value Decliners

• ElfBar ▼ £139.3m (–40.8%)
  The UK disposable vape ban wiped out the category’s former superstar.
  

• Prime ▼ £58.4m (–79.5%)
  The hype evaporated as young consumers moved on and retailers delisted.
  

• Bacon ▼ £42.3m (–3.9%)
  Rising meat prices + nitrite concerns continue to hit the category.
  

• Kingsmill ▼ £33.9m (–31.5%)
  Sourdough and speciality breads keep eating into traditional wrapped loaf share.
  

• Gordon’s ▼ £28.1m (–9.4%)
  Premium pricing and little NPD hurt the once-dominant gin brand.

💭 The Fork & The Flame

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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.