In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine how once-discontinued brands like Slice and Hydrox are successfully tapping into nostalgia to win over consumers.

This Episode is Sponsored by: City National Bank

Several economic headwinds indicate the consumer is being financially stretched, but we all need to eat – so what are consumers actually buying at the grocery store? Nik Modi of RBC returns to The Food Institute Podcast to discuss channel differentiation, consumer product selection, and other macro trends.

More About Nik Modi:

Nik Modi is a Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets, where he has responsibility for coverage of Beverage, Household Personal Care, Packaged Food and Tobacco industries. The companies under Nik’s coverage total over $1 trillion in combined market value.

Nik has consistently been ranked as one of the top analysts across the consumer space by Institutional Investor’s All Star Analyst Survey. He has also been top rated across various analyst polls, including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and Forbes.

More About City National Bank:

City National Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada since 2015. RBC’s Market Cap of $174 Billion is one of the Top 15 largest global banks with $1.1 Trillion in assets and Moody’s/S&P Ratings of Aa1/AA-. As a subsidiary of one of the largest and strongest financial institutions in the world, City National Bank offers a unique combination of highly personalized services with a full range of tailored financing solutions. CNB’s Food & Beverage Group is a national vertical that supports owners and c-suite executives and is a proud sponsor of the Food Institute. Learn more at http://cnb.com/foodandbeverage.

In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine Texas Roadhouse's top score in the latest customer satisfaction index.

In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine how Amazon is reportedly testing humanoid delivery workers.

This Episode is Sponsored By: Tibersoft 

Data is becoming more and more important to the food-away-from home sector, but the quality of both the data and the people who handle it remain key to success. Tibersoft’s Suzanne Cwik joined The Food Institute Podcast to discuss how speed, precision, and efficiency should be the cornerstones of a data management plan.  

More About Suzanne Cwik: 

Suzanne Cwik, Tibersoft’s VP of Commercial and Client Services, brings two decades of experience in the foodservice industry, having held leadership roles across finance, trade strategy, sales planning, and client services in both CPG and SaaS organizations. Known for her disciplined approach, analytical mindset, and unwavering commitment to client success, Suzanne has built a career around driving revenue growth, operational efficiency, and data-driven strategy. She is passionate about helping clients transform complex data into actionable insights and empowering high-performing teams to deliver measurable value.

More About Tibersoft: 

Tibersoft’s industry-leading foodservice optimization performance (FPO) software solutions deliver actionable insights for growth. Tibersoft provides transaction-verified, location-level visibility into foodservice data, allowing manufacturers to make strategic decisions that drive sales and improve profitability. To learn more about this Food Institute Member, please get in touch with Tibersoft at Contact Us - Tibersoft.

In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine the fast-casual dining sector's surprisingly strong start to 2025.

In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine how major retailers like Walmart and Target are responding to the tariff situation.

Just how difficult is it to scale a better-for-you snack company? Rebecca Brady, founder and CEO of Top Seedz, shares how she turned a homegrown idea into a rapidly scaling snack brand and breaks down the strategy behind her growth, from bootstrapping production to landing national retail partnerships.

More about Rebecca Brady:

Rebecca grew up in New Zealand, where she spent her childhood playing sports and enjoying the outdoors. She studied Marketing and Management at Victoria University before spending ten years working across various companies in Singapore, including six years at Hewlett-Packard. She then moved to Japan, where she lived for another decade while raising her children. In 2015, Rebecca and her family relocated to Buffalo, NY. After facing challenges re-entering the workforce due to a career gap, she started her own business, Top Seedz, creating healthy, seed-based snacks. Rebecca serves on the board of the Darwin Martin House and enjoys playing squash, pickleball, and golf in her free time.

More about Top Seedz:

Based in Buffalo, NY, Top Seedz has been making hand-made seed crackers and roasted seeds since 2017. All products are organic, gluten free, vegan and Kosher. Top Seedz products are insanely delicious and are made from a range of seeds including pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, flax, chia and hemp seeds. Rebecca Brady, a New Zealander, had always baked them as snacks to have on-hand for her family to enjoy. Together with her family, she moved to the U.S. in 2015, unable to find a job, in 2017 she started selling her products at a farmers market. From there she grew the business and Top Seedz can now be found in over 3,000 stores across the U.S. The crackers can be served with your favorite cheese, hummus or spread and the roasted seeds are perfect atop yogurt, salad or by the handful. Their products are filled with wholesome ingredients and have a slew of good-for-you benefits, created on the belief that good food equals good performance.

Learn more at: https://topseedz.com/

In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine beef's resurgence among male Gen Z consumers.

In this week's food industry news in 2 minutes, we examine rising egg prices and Cal-Maine's reaction to them.