Unpackaged Goods

The growth in alcohol has left alcohol, and this week the whole industry admitted it at once.

Two celebrity-linked spirits brands were sold in seven days. A whiskey family turned down $15 billion for the second time in three months. And beer companies are buying everything except beer.

Plus: an interview with Rachel Krupa, founder of The Goods Mart and Krupa Consulting.

THIS WEEK IN CPG

Brown-Forman says...

I just spent three days at the Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center. Then I sat down with Jess Haghani, founder of Lucille Health, the senior nutrition brand building for a consumer most CPG brands completely ignore. Then I break down Danone spending $2.55 billion on functional nutrition in a single quarter, and three companies bidding $4 billion for Thorne.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

SUMMER FANCY FOOD SHOW...

Second Nature Brands just acquired Tillamook Country Smoker — $175M+ in sales, two manufacturing facilities, and fifty years of heritage. Nobody covered it. Nobody tweeted about it. And that's exactly why they're winning.

Plus, we sit down with the co-founders of Milly Pepper, the brand revolutionizing a common spice into a premium experience through direct sourcing, freshness, and storytelling.

This week on Unp...

The three largest dairy companies in Europe are all acquiring functional nutrition brands in the same year. Over $2 billion in deals in two weeks. And David sold protein ice cream for $90 a six-pack and sold out in 28 minutes.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Nestlé is buying yfood at €450M — first acquisition under the new CEO. Lactalis acquired Protein Works at $75M in sales. Danone already bought Huel for $1.15...

The $40 billion beauty mega merger is dead. Lionel Messi's hydration brand shuttered. And a PB&J brand with zero celebrity co-founders just became the official PB&J of the NFL.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Puig and Estée Lauder merger talks ended without a deal. We tracked this for over a month — exploratory talks to serious conversations to founding families at the table to nothing. Governance killed ...

A woman started a granola brand with $5,000. Seventeen years later it might sell for $600 million. In the same week, BTS launched 30 products at Walmart on day one. Two playbooks. Both might work. But only one was built to last regardless of whether the founder stays famous.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Purely Elizabeth exploring a $600M sale — founded in 2009 with $5K in savings by holistic nutrition counselo...

Two weeks ago I said every beauty and wellness founder should have their deal room ready. This week Unilever spent $1.2 billion on a supplement brand that didn't exist three years ago. Called it.

This week on Unpackaged Goods:

Unilever acquired Grüns for $1.2 billion — its first acquisition since merging food with McCormick and pocketing $15.7 billion in cash. Founded in 2023, Grüns scaled to $300M ARR in under ...

She co-founded Hims & Hers in 2017 and helped build it into a $4 billion telehealth company. Now Hilary Coles is back — and she's coming for your morning coffee.

This week on Unpackaged Goods, I sit down with Hilary Coles and Emily Boschwitz, the co-founders of POCA — portable, zero-sugar coffee and matcha syrups that are reinventing how we flavor our drinks. Hilary co-founded Hims & Hers and built out th...

Every major story this week is about deciding what you want to be when you grow up.

McCormick and Unilever are in talks to merge food divisions — Hellmann's, Knorr, Cholula, Frank's Red Hot under one roof in a deal worth tens of billions. Danone paid $1.15 billion for Huel because meal replacement was a billion-dollar category all along. L Catterton is shopping Thorne for up to $4 billion after buying it for $680M thre...

The firepower is real this week. David Protein gets hit with a class action lawsuit claiming 83% more calories than labeled — but the internet completely missed the science. Coefficient Capital closes $530M across two funds. PepsiCo launches meat sticks and proves they read the Bain insurgent brands report. Hims & Hers goes from GLP-1 victim to GLP-1 distributor in 14 days. George Clooney applies the Casamigos formula to ...

This week I sit down with Bar, the founder of BoostCous — a gluten-free couscous packed with protein and fiber that's rethinking one of the most overlooked staples in the grocery aisle. We talk about how he came up with the concept, the challenges of reformulating a centuries-old product, and what it takes to build a better-for-you brand in a category nobody's innovating in.

This week in CPG news: 🔹 Hims & Hers drops $1.1...

This week the business world officially lost its mind. A TikTok creator became Chief Creative Officer of a German candy company, Kraft Heinz reversed a billion-dollar corporate split to invest $600M in growth, and someone created probiotics that flush forever chemicals from your body.

In this episode:

[0:00-2:00] Intro: Are We Living in a Simulation? When TikTok creators become C-suite executives and legacy giants reverse course on m...

This week the CPG world officially lost its mind. Willie Nelson built an $80 million cannabis beverage empire in under 12 months, someone paid $400 million for barbecue sauce, and a baby food company is now trading on the NYSE next to Apple and Tesla.

In this episode:

[0:00-6:00] The Week CPG Broke Reality

• Once Upon a Farm's $198M NYSE debut proves baby food is Wall Street material
• Willie Nelson's $80M cannabis run rate validates a...

This week I took over The Shelf NYC for a special edition of "The Humans Behind the Hustle" - diving deep into the stories of five incredible food founders who are building authentic brands through relentless execution and genuine passion.

In this episode:

[0:00-29:00] This Week's CPG Chaos

• Former poker player Brian Tate raises $45M for Oats Overnight after hitting $200M revenue
• Ben Stiller's distribution-first soda strategy proves...

This week in CPG was absolute chaos. Tom Brady's selling protein powder, Beyond Meat launched beverages, and someone raised $10 million for alcoholic sports drinks that taste like Gatorade. Categories officially don't exist anymore.

In this episode:

[0:00-25:00] This Week's CPG Madness

• SpikedAde's brilliant $10M sports drink cocktail thesis
• Tom Brady and Mike Repole's NOBULL nutrition expansion
• Beyond Meat's desperate beverage pivot
• ...

Episode 12: The $500 Million Cottage Cheese Economy

L Catterton just valued cottage cheese at half a billion dollars. Sprouts put THC drinks next to kombucha. Parents paid $15M to hide vegetables in waffles. And someone put mushrooms in fake martinis. Welcome to CPG in 2026.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[2:30] - Why Good Culture's $500M+ valuation actually makes sense [10:30] - How Sprouts just legitimized the entire THC beverage category [17:30]...

Unpackaged Goods Episode 11: The $200 Frying Pan Economy

Welcome to 2026, where your cookware costs more than your groceries and the Poppi founder is already building his next billion-dollar brand.

In this week's episode, we break down:

🚀 The Poppi Playbook 2.0: Why Stephen Ellsworth immediately joined DropOut Companies after his $2B PepsiCo exit to launch Bronco breakfast sandwiches (and why Tyson should be terrified)

🌏 Australia Bu...

In Episode 10 of Unpackaged Goods, we correct last week's mistake: Reuters revised the BeatBox acquisition to $490 million for 85% (not $700 million outright). The real numbers tell an even better story about discipline returning to CPG M&A – AB InBev paying just 1.4x retail sales with a smart earnout structure.

Then we explore L'Oreal's interest in acquiring Armani Beauty – a €1.5 billion business they already opera...

In Episode 9 of Unpackaged Goods, we unpack Anheuser-Busch's $700 million acquisition of BeatBox Beverages – a surprisingly rational 2.8x revenue multiple that signals discipline returning to CPG M&A. Plus, Suja Life's bold IPO filing tests whether Wall Street is ready for another juice story (spoiler: they better have a platform pitch).

Then we dive into the great fund raising bonanza of 2025:

• Monogram Capital: $350M f...