🔪 Wicked Kitchen Acquired

Consolidation is coming to the plant-based alternative space… or at least that is the category direction U.K.-based Wicked Kitchen is banking on. 

BBQ-flavored chip purveyor Low and Slow Snacks hopes to shake up the salty snack category with a proprietary manufacturing process that smokes chips at scale. 

⏪ Founded in 2019 by former Frito-Lay VP of marketing Jared Drinkwater, the Dallas, Texas-based brand produces potato chips, corn chips and tortilla chips that are smoked using hickory wood. 

🛒 Low and Slow made its retail debut last summer and is currently available at retailers in Texas, Wisconsin, Louisiana, North Carolina and Michigan with expansions to Missouri, Tennessee and Montana slated for later this year.

👀 Drinkwater said his goal with the brand is to construct a completely novel subcategory of salty snacks and its next innovation, a hickory-smoked BBQ cheese puff, will likely hit stores this fall.

💭 “We like to say that we’re just like your favorite barbecue joint, but we smoke snack food instead of meat. Everything we do lives and breathes that barbecue culture,” said Drinkwater.

Check out the full story on Nosh.

This is your final reminder to submit your top picks for the 2024 Nosh Notables – the powerhouses of the packaged food industry who deserve some special attention.

🥇 ICYMI: We created this distinction last year to celebrate the thought leaders, hard workers and positive forces across the consumer brands landscape. (Check out the 2023 Nosh Notables here.) 

✍️ Here’s where you come in: Complete this form to nominate a notable person, idea or company, no later than June 7. The 2024 Nosh Notables will be announced in July.

Jocko Willink, a decorated, retired Navy SEAL and founder of better-for-you beverage and supplement brand Jocko Fuel, explained why having a “military mindset” means more than you might think and how he empowers his team to navigate the complexities of running a modern consumer brand.

Listen to the episode here.

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