Fort Worth-based, out and proud, consumer products entrepreneur, Justin Anderson, has been creating CPG brands since he was a teenager. His soft granola, WOATS, expanded into thousands of retailers but then shut down during the pandemic. Like many entrepreneurs, Justin wasn’t going to let one little setback block his forward momentum.
Justin recently expanded his new Bel Air Ranch Herb & Spice Seasoningthroughout all Central Market locations just in time for their REALLY INTO TEXAS event. He also appeared on ABC’s The Great American Tag Sale With Martha Stewart which premiered 5/25 with an audience of over 3,011,000. Watch on Hulu. Read more about Justin in Dallas Voice.
(Steak photo by Rich Lopez/Dallas Voice)
(Photo with Martha by Saad Ilyas)
Plano-based meat snack brand Stryve has added CPG executive Christopher Boever as CEO, replacing co-founder Joe Oblas, who will transition to Chief Growth Officer. The news comes as the now publicly traded company tries to deepen its hold in the meat snack category, further build out a sub brand and fight back against rising ingredient and operations costs.
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Dallas-based Rakkasan Tea and several other veteran-owned companies were profiled this month in The New York Times. You may remember that we featured Rakkasan recently also. As co-founder, Brandon Friedman, comments that one of their missions is to “support tea farmers in post-conflict countries” so it’s no wonder that they are getting lots of attention: Doing well by doing good!
GO TEXAN Member Alert: Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) is accepting applications for two grant programs, from $5,000-$40,000, under the Marketing Enhancement Grant Assistance (MEGA) Program. Approx. 20-30 grants altogether are available for the GO TEXAN – Product Promotion Program (GTPP), deadline July 6, and GO TEXAN – Event Grant Program (GTEG), deadline July 12. For more info, please email GO TEXAN.
Thanks to attorneys Anne Spiggle, of Polsinelli, and Jeff Villalobos, of Vela Wood, for hosting last week’s Huddle on Labeling and Trademarks. Our brands learned the critical information to protect their brands from infringement (or a costly rebranding) and their labeling from regulatory noncompliance. Click HERE to see their informative presentations.
DFW CPG Partner News: SKU, the nation’s leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) accelerator, has selected the second cohort of SKU Elevate for June 2022 which includes Dallas-based Green Sahara. The track will be led by our own DFWCPG Ambassador, Kathy Guzmán Galloway, Curriculum Director for SKU. Cheers to SKU for creating this groundbreaking program to foster a more inclusive community in the CPG industry!
Editor’s note: We have been selling our White Rock Granola to Aramark for various clients recently. One of our buyers, Marisa Greywitt, mentioned that she is looking for other local brands that could potentially be used in their gift baskets. Contact Marisa at greywitt-marisa@aramark.com for more information.
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