There's never a dull moment in the CPG industry. From exciting speakers coming to NBJ Summit to recent acquisitions causing an uproar, Jessica Rubino and Adrienne Smith tell you what you need to know.

In this episode of The Natural List, co-hosts Adrienne Smith and Jessica Rubino cover several hot topics in the industry. They start off discussing some of the factors affecting cocoa prices, including tariffs and climate change, and how challenging conditions can also lead to innovation (like Minus Coffee’s genius beanless brew). They then shift into Rick Polito’s recent column about the practitioner channel in supplement sales and how this channel displays notable market stability.

Next up are some major updates in funding and acquisitions: David Protein* gets a major surge of capital after acquiring Epogee, sparking controversy, while Chobani has acquired Daily Harvest (did their NEXTY win have something to do with it?).

They transition into a brief discission of the MAHA Report and note that increased attention on health and wellness poses new opportunities for the natural products industry, but that close scrutiny must be given towards some of the Report’s claims. The duo cap off the episode with shoutouts to two thought-provoking speakers coming to NBJ Summit this July, Calley Means and Bill Gieber.

*A clarification: David Protein and Hormbles Chormbles both contain EPG and both brands were founded by RxBars founders. However, David Protein was founded by Peter Rahal and Zach Ranen. Hormbles Chormbles was started by Jared Smith.