Tara Bosch's Next Bet and Trade Dress Distress

Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by BevNet and Nosh. I'm Monica Watrous, here with my co-host, Lucas Southard. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. Here is the latest in food and beverage industry news.

Chef-grade cooking oil brand Algae Cooking Club has secured $11.6 million in fresh funding, according to a Form D filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8th.

Founded in 2023 by Khazra Saidi, the Los Angeles-based startup produces a portfolio of cooking oils made from algae. The brand touts its hero ingredients, high smoke point of 535 degrees Fahrenheit, a complete set of omega-3 fatty acids, and a sustainable environmental footprint. Saidi is positioning algae as a scalable fat source that can be produced in controlled environments and avoids some of the supply and quality challenges facing conventional options like olive and avocado oils.

Microalgae, a single-celled organism, is grown through fermentation rather than harvested from the ocean, resulting in an ingredient Saidi says can be produced in hundreds of metric tons. Algae Cooking Club was developed within venture studio Squared Circles over the course of 18 months and launched commercially in 2024, with backing from investors including Regenerative VC, Joyance Ventures, and El Catterton Affiliates, in addition to a handful of angel investors. Last October, the brand made waves in the mainstream market, landing its 7-ounce and 16-ounce cooking oil and 7-ounce Gojuchang's chili oil in Target stores nationwide.

The investment comes amid growing consumer interest in alternative cooking oils and increasing criticism of industrial seed oils, which have become part of a broader conversation around clean labels, ingredient transparency, and minimally processed foods. At BevNet Live two weeks ago, I sat down with functional beverage brand Breeze's new CEO and former chief product officer, Travis Duncan. I've been curious to talk with him ever since he was announced as the new chief executive in April, and as the brand appeared to be going through some growing pains in the last year.

Duncan spoke candidly about some of the challenges that Breeze encountered in 2025. To remind our listeners, Breeze launched about three years ago and quickly made a name for itself as one of the most recognizable brands in the nascent hemp-derived THC beverage category. The brand leveraged an aggressive digital marketing and e-commerce strategy to become a rising star in the set. After diversifying its portfolio into shots, multi-serve THC spirits, and various dosage formats, the brand unveiled an expansion into THC-free functional beverages last June.

The move allowed Breeze to gain distribution in retailers and regions where they were not able to sell their hemp THC drinks Yet by December a couple key team members began leaving notably its CRO and the head of content strategy. That was followed by founder and then-CEO Aaron Nozbich announcing an open investment round that included an adjusted valuation from $250 million to $150 million. Then in April, Nozbich, the face of the brand, passed the reins off to Duncan. While Nozbich reported he is now focused on AI integration in both Breeze and his, quote, conscious compounds marketing company, Lucid, it felt like that Breeze was in the midst of a bit of a change.

All that being said, Duncan reported the company grew too fat in 2025 and had underestimated the cash conversion cycle that comes with retail. Having weathered the cash flow challenges, Dunkin' reported that the brand had stabilized its operations and was prioritizing its THC-free beverages by splitting the intoxicating hemp drinks from the uninfused varieties. Breeze is also seeking to raise a fresh $15 to $20 million investment round to support its retail distribution as well as build a more robust digital marketing strategy for the cannabinoid-free drinks.

You know what goes well with a THC beverage? Pretty much everything in my mind. True, but especially potato chips. Mmm, yeah.

Six years after selling Better For You candy business smart sweets, Tara Bosch has set her sights on another Snack Isle staple, potato chips. Her new brand, Snackish, launches this month at Target stores nationwide with a line of chips featuring added protein and fiber. The brand is also launching at Loblaws and Whole Foods market stores across Canada. The crisps are crafted with whole potatoes, potato protein, cassava fiber, and avocado oil, delivering 8 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber per serving.

By comparison, Lay's potato chips contain 2 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber. Bosch has positioned Snackish as the, quote, feel-good chip, a tagline that echoes SmartSuite's mission-driven approach to, quote, kick sugar, keep candy. She said she's focused on creating an emotional connection with consumers, not just building the brand around functional benefits alone. The startup has spent the past year building both the brand and a 66,000 square foot manufacturing facility equipped with proprietary technology designed to produce its chips and support future innovation.

Located in Atlanta, the Snacktery, as it's called, was financed without outside capital. Bosch said Snackish is entirely self-funded using proceeds from the sale of smart suites, which was acquired in 2020 by private equity firm TPG Growth in a deal valued at million Snackish is also taking an unusual approach to ownership Every member of the all team receives equity and the business maintains a single class of shares. Bosch said that approach was one of the lessons she carried over from her previous venture, where she witnessed firsthand how the eventual sale transformed employees' lives.

Snackish enters the market with ambitions that extend far beyond potato chips. Bosch describes the company as a future global snacking platform and hinted at additional products already in development for 2017. I get that Bosch decided to name this new brand Snackish so it could become a global snacking platform. But for me, there seems to be a lot of these brands coming out with these kind of generic snack names that really don't tell you anything about what is in it.

It took me a while to even figure out that Snackish was a chip brand when I was first getting PR about it. Do you think this will hurt brands in the long run? No, I think it's a really smart play. It allows the brand to expand beyond potato chips.

I think Snackish is a really smart name and I think it's going to resonate really well. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, Speaking of names, a court decision has put to rest the legal battle, at least for now, between two light, now mind you, L-Y-T-E, light, hydration brands.

For context, Abbott Laboratories, the parent company of Pedialyte, filed a lawsuit in 2023 claiming that early-stage hydration brand Revitalyte had infringed on Pedialyte's trade dress, specifically the square bottle and a call-out on Revitalyte's caps asking consumers to, quote, compare to Pedialyte. In an April ruling filed in a Minnesota U.S. district court, Judge Donovan W.

Frank sided with Revitalite. The court said that Pedialite's claimed trade dress, quote, does not have either inherent or acquired distinctiveness and can't be protected. Yet, Judge Frank did stop short of ruling whether Revitalite's use of the Pedialyte name caused consumer confusion and denied summary judgment on Abbott's trademark claims, which will proceed to a bench trial. Revitalite co-founder A.

J. Lagu told BevNet that the lawsuit caused significant damage to his small business, whereas separately, Abbott Laboratories responded to BevNet's request for comment, saying that they would appeal the decision. An Abbott Laboratories spokesperson said, quote, in documents revealed in public court filings, Revitalite states that it leverages its resemblance to Pedialite to catch the consumer's eye and close the market. the add-on purchase.

Abbott supports innovation and fair competition, but will defend Pedialyte strong reputation and brand recognition Now I no judge as you know although I do moonlight as a judge on television But I will say that from my personal perspective there does seem to be a striking resemblance between the bottle shape and the format between these two light hydration brands. Well, and add Gatorlite into the mix because it looks just like these other two. And I think you can make a similar argument for Electrolite as well.

There's a lot of these fast... Biolit. There's a lot of Electrolite kind of names being floated around. I think it's pretty dangerous though to actually put on your package compared to Pedialite if you're Revitalite.

I'm pretty sure you can't name your competitor on your packaging. Well, it will be going to a bench trial, but we shall see. We'll keep on this case and on potentially a appeal for this decision on BedNet. Call it what you want.

There's no other hangover cure like it. Actually, I think, what is it? Dirty Saints? Is that what it's called?

Dirty Saints? Yeah, they have a good one. That shit's good. I prefer cheers, the little pills you take the night before.

Those are very good for me. That assumes that you're going to remember to take something while you're actively drinking. True. And I will say I was at a wedding a couple of weeks ago and I don't often drink heavily, but I did because they were making really nice martinis.

And I woke up the next morning feeling quite hungover and I had to ask my wife, did I take my cheers last night? And she was like, yeah. So there's only so far that these hangover cures can really go when you're really, really putting them back. Good to know.

Here are some other notable bits of news from the week. After tripling sales over the past year and securing a $24 million growth equity investment from VMG Partners, collagen protein bar brand Stars and Honey is making its brick and mortar debut with a national rollout at Target. Ocean Spray has appointed Abigail Buckwalter, a former executive at Nestle Health Science, as president and CEO, as it looks to build on recent growth, expand innovation, and position the brand for the future.

And finally, Gleazy, a premium hot dog brand with roots in the golf world, has raised $2 million in seed funding as it looks to build on rapid retail and food service growth. For these stories and more, become an insider at BevNet and Nosh. That wraps up this edition of CPG Week by Bevna and Nosh. Thank you to our audio engineer, Joshua Pratt.

Our director is Mike Schneider and our designer is Aaron Willett. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice and we will see you next time.