The Checkout: Wahlburgers Beefs Up Business with Retail Line

Welcome to The Checkout: an express lane for weekly news you need to know, always 10 items or less.

Sometimes you have to travel beyond your comfort zone to see success. From restaurant chains moving into retail to CPG giants expanding beyond their core offerings, here’s your latest in natural food news.

Wahlburgers Beefs Up Business with Retail Line

The Hollywood studded family the Wahlbergs have been looking to grow their fast casual burger chain, Wahlburgers, into new markets. But now it seems they’re beefing up their burger empire by expanding into supermarkets, too.

The Massachusetts-based chain, overseen by performers Donnie and Mark Wahlberg and chef Paul Wahlberg and known for its TV series, has signed an agreement with its beef supplier, ARKK Food Co., to create a line of beef products inspired by the restaurant’s own dishes.

“It’s just a natural progression for us,” Donnie Wahlberg told The Boston Globe. “One thing with our customers, a lot of them are loyal fans [who] can’t always get to a Wahlburgers location.”

The initial launch will be in roughly 1,300 stores with retailers such as Hy-Vee, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Safeway, Shaw’s and Winn-Dixie. Wahlburgers CEO Rick Vanzura said the goal is to eventually bring the “Wahlburger experience” to customers’ kitchens nationwide.

PepsiCo Continues to See Success Beyond Core Offerings

Candy and soda are no longer the only moneymakers for The Hershey Company and PepsiCo. During both company’s earnings calls with investors this week, executives shed light on the importance of snacks in their strategies moving forward.

For PepsiCo, the brand is doubling down on snacks by producing better-for-you, artificial ingredient-free versions of beloved Frito Lays power brands beyond its “Simply” Doritos, Lay’s and Cheetos lines. The goal? To eventually meet the criteria needed to be sold in the natural channel.

PepsiCo is also extending its health halo in other ways,. The company recently introduced Red Rock Deli, a premium Australian potato chip brand that is non-GMO verified and has no artificial flavors or colors. Earlier this year, beverage brand Naked launched refrigerated fruit, nut and veggie bars.

Beyoncé Launches Vegan Meal Planner

Singer and performer Beyoncé and her husband rapper Jay Z announced the launch of a new vegan meal plan powered by meal app and delivery service 22 Days Nutrition.

Founded in 2010, 22 Days Nutrition was founded as a nutrition powders and bar company, but has since added a vegan meal delivery service. For the partnership program with the superstar duo, 22 Days worked with the singers’ health and wellness trainer Marco Borges so customers can eat like their favorite celebrity couple. But more importantly, every meal is personalized to the user’s preferences and eating habits.

GNC to Close 200 Stores

GNC is planning on closing approximately 200 stores in 2018, and will open only a limited number of stores in the U.S. this year, executives said on an investor call this week.

These closures come at a time when the nutrition and supplement retailer is in turnaround mode, but still seeing some of its best results overseas. Revenues in the U.S. and Canada dropped 4.5 percent in Q1 of 2018. To attract more U.S. customers into stores, GNC has been working to improve its natural food offering, stocking brands including D’s Naturals, Empact Bars, Flapjacked, Amazing Grass and Primal Kitchen.

Why Wegmans Opposes Cuomo’s Plastic Bag Ban

On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced a bill to ban single-use, film plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores across the state. But regional, family-owned grocery chain Wegmans, which originated in Rochester, said in a statement that it doesn’t support the action.

“It’s important to consider the additional resources it takes to manufacture reusable bags,” Wegmans said. “If not used by consumers on a regular basis to replace paper or plastic bags, reusable bags are not better for the environment, and they are also not recyclable.”

According to a statement from Wegmans, paper bags are heavier and take up more space. The retailer noted that it takes seven tractor trailers to transport the same number of paper bags as one trailer’s worth of plastic bags, and it takes about 90 percent more resources and energy to make and recycle paper bags compared to plastic.

Food Entrepreneurs Top Inc.’s 30 under 30 List

This week, business news magazine Inc. announced its annual 30 under 30 list of young tech entrepreneurs across industries, and the CPG food industry may recognize a few names.

Rip Pruisken and Marco De Leon, the cofounders of Rip Van Wafels, both debuted on the 2018 list. The brand makes and sells Amsterdam-style “stroopwafels” in a variety of flavors. Since their humble beginnings starting the company out of their Brown University dorm room, the duo has come a long way: They’ve raised $3.8 million from private investors and the brand was added to Starbucks shelves in 2016.

Mike Selden and Brian Wyrwas, of Finless Foods — which is creating lab grown fish protein — also received a nod on the list. The biotech startup hopes to have a clean fish product commercially available by 2019.