Weekly Digest #11
13.10.2025
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.
Robots, Regulations & Reform
📨 Weekly #10: Robots, Regulations & Reform
🍴 What’s Up?
From price cuts and pivots to mega-mergers and emerging alt-dairy investments, this week’s stories highlight how food and drink players are scaling, consolidating, and reshaping their categories for the next growth cycle.
🔥 UK Moves
Lidl invests £250m in Christmas price cuts
Lidl GB is cutting prices across hundreds of grocery staples ahead of the festive season, investing £250m to reinforce its value positioning and win share in a cost-sensitive market.
Retail Gazette / Lidl CorporatePrime drink revenue tumbles
Prime Hydration’s UK revenue plunged ~70% to £32.8m, with pre-tax profits falling more than 90% as the viral energy drink’s momentum fades. Once driven by influencer hype, the brand now faces a long road toward stability.
The Grocer / Grocery GazetteGousto scraps Bento subscription tech
Gousto has shut down its Bento spin-off, a subscription platform it built to license its tech to other food brands, to refocus resources on its core recipe-box business.
The GrocerGreencore upgrades outlook on food-to-go boom
Food manufacturer Greencore raised its profit forecast again, driven by strong demand for sandwiches and sushi. It’s also pursuing a major acquisition of Bakkavor to consolidate its position in convenience foods.
ReutersAutonomous robotic delivery scales up
Starship Technologies, founded by Skype’s Ahti Heinla, has completed over 8m robot deliveries across UK cities – a clear sign that localised micro-automation is moving from novelty to norm.
The GuardianMother Root lands Dragons’ Den investment
London-based non-alcoholic aperitif maker Mother Root secured a £90K investment from Steven Bartlett on Dragons’ Den for a 5% stake. The brand recently launched in Sainsbury’s and previously raised £1.1M at an £8M pre-money valuation.
The Spirits Business
🌍 Global Moves & Trends
Mars-Kellanova mega-merger nears approval
Mars is reportedly set to receive European Commission approval for its $36B acquisition of Kellanova, bringing iconic brands like M&Ms, Skittles, Pringles, and Pop-Tarts under one roof – creating one of the largest global snacking portfolios.
ReutersBettani Farms (ex-Climax Foods) raises $6.5M
Plant-based cheese producer Climax Foods has rebranded as Bettani Farms and raised $6.5M in Series A funding led by S2G Investments. The company also appointed Sandeep Patel, former CFO of Califia Farms, as CEO and Chairman.
AgFunderNewsFoodtech accelerator picks new batch
Forward Fooding named 12 startups to its new Pladis Accelerator, featuring innovations in low-sugar reformulation, eco-snacks, and next-gen ingredients.
Forward FoodingEU novel-food approvals still slow
The EU’s novel-food approval process remains sluggish, averaging about 2.5 years but stretching up to six. Frequent data requests and stricter EFSA guidance have added months to timelines, frustrating startups trying to scale alt-proteins and functional ingredients. Many are now launching in faster markets like Singapore or the US first to maintain investor confidence and cash flow.
EU Startups
💭 The Fork & The Flame
“When hype fades, your fundamentals must carry the brand. Price, retention, and unit economics aren’t sexy – but they’re what’s needed for any business to survive.”
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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.
