Weekly Digest #05

01.09.2025

👋 Welcome to the Forks & Founders Weekly Bite-Sized Digest a.k.a 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 founders building food brands, launching products, or just hungry for what’s next – this one’s for you.

📨 Weekly #05: Sips, Sobers & Sales

🍴 What’s Up?

The drinks aisle is rewriting the rules: Gen Z is sober-curious and proud, non-alcoholic startups are raising millions, and food giants are reshuffling their portfolios. From a Pokémon promo stampede to forming loaf giants, this week’s stories prove that in food & beverage, change is the only constant.

🔥 Big Bites: This Week’s Top Food Industry Moves

• Premier Foods Goes Healthy with Merchant Gourmet Buy (£48M)

  Mr Kipling’s parent is going all-in on nutritious ready-to-eat meals, snapping up Merchant Gourmet. With health-conscious snacking on the rise, expect lentil pouches and quinoa bowls to take more shelf space.

  Trend takeaway: Wellness food isn’t a niche – it’s the new mainstream.

• Wagamama Parent Eyes Costa Coffee

  Apollo Management, the private equity firm behind Wagamama, is reportedly weighing a bid for Costa Coffee as Coca-Cola considers a sale. If successful, it could reshape the UK café scene, pairing two powerhouse brands under a single umbrella.

• Bread Wars: ABF Buys Hovis (£70M)

  The Kingsmill owner just finalised the acquisition of Hovis, officially making ABF the UK’s largest breadmaker. The loaf aisle is now a power play.

• Lactalis Scoops Up Fonterra’s Consumer Arm (£1.84B)

  French dairy giant Lactalis takes over Fonterra’s global consumer business (outside China). Big global dairy shake-up incoming.

  Impact: More pricing power for big dairy; potential squeeze for farmers.

• Tesco Defends Another Meal Deal Rise

  Another bump: Tesco’s classic meal deal jumps 25p (Clubcard holders: £3.85; others: £4.25), with premium meal deals up to £5.50/£6. Tesco argues it still offers value compared to buying items separately.

• Asda Posts Its Best Quarter in Years

  Despite a £1B IT system overhaul causing disruption earlier this year, Asda posted its strongest quarterly profit ever, driven by strong private-label sales and a shift to higher-margin premium offerings.

• Samworth Brothers Debt Skyrockets

  The convenience food giant behind Ginsters and Soreen has seen net debt swell to £190M amid higher operational costs and heavy investment. Industry watchers are now questioning how far growth-by-acquisition can stretch before the balance sheet buckles.

💥 Promo Pandemonium: Marketing Gone Wild

• McDonald’s Japan Pokémon Frenzy

  McDonald’s launched a Pokémon trading-card promo that spiraled into chaos—long queues, food waste, scalpers, even street litter. The frenzy prompted an abrupt halt and apology.

• Cracker Barrel Scraps Rebrand in Branding Storm

  Cracker Barrel ditched its modern logo within days. Consumer backlash, political criticism (including from Trump), and declining stock pushed the company to revert to its beloved "Old Timer" mascot.

• Food52’s “Brainrot” Moments

  Internet slang and food obsession merge. Fans are buzzing over viral pantry staples and quirky foodie trends. Food52 shares their “brainrot” foods – some of the names making to the list are cottage cheese, Dubai chocolate, pickles, and smart sweets.

🍹 Sober Sips Go Mainstream: How Gen Z Is Fueling the Non-Alc Boom

Not long ago, ordering a non-alcoholic drink meant settling for soda. In 2025, it signals a cultural shift where Gen Z is leading the charge.

This generation drinks 20% less alcohol than millennials did at their age, choosing mental clarity, wellness, and individuality over hangovers. Startups are thriving: Impossibrew raised £1.28M for adaptogen-infused beers, Saicho secured £1.5M to scale sparkling teas, and Double Dutch locked £4.5M to expand its premium mixers. In India, Lahori’s ~£19M raise cements this as a global movement.

From £1M+ crowdfunding rounds to eight-figure investments in Asia, the non-alcoholic drinks market isn’t niche anymore. Bars, festivals, and retailers are dedicating full menus and aisles to premium NA options, and the line between “cocktail” and “mocktail” is blurring fast. For investors, the NA trend is no longer about being ahead of the curve: it is the curve.

Big Alcohol is joining in too. Constellation Brands’ stake in Hiyo signals that even legacy players see NA drinks as the future, with the category projected to top $30B by 2032. Gen Z isn’t rejecting social drinking – they’re redefining it with sophisticated, functional options that are now the main event.

💭 The Fork & The Flame

This week’s food sector pulse shows that growth comes with growing pains. Debt, cultural missteps, and volatility test every brand. But consolidation and innovation continue, and the table is set for bold moves ahead.

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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.