3/17: What We’re Eating, Drinking, and Watching at CPGD...

Mar 17, 2026

What We’re Eating, Drinking, and Watching at CPGD...

Hi, and welcome back to CPGD: your weekly guide to emerging brands and industry trends. It’s Head of Growth & Content, Zoya, here!

I took a trip to Happier Grocery this week and had a bit of a field day. Naturally, I had to try the chicken tenders. They do a great job highlighting emerging brand founders, and I left with some great samples to try. I’ll be back again this week with the team!

Ali and I also had a few friends over to sample some of the ice cream brands we were generously sent, and we definitely had a few favorites. Scroll down for our picks.

This week at CPGD, we are...
🍦 Eating: An ice cream taste test featuring TruJoy (Vanilla Madagascar) and Natty (Mint Chocolate Chip) - two favorites from our sampling night
🥤 Drinking - Solspill, a sparkling electrolyte drink founded by Shannon, whom I met recently at a killer workout class while I was in Florida
📰 Watching - A few headlines across the CPG world, including Fruit Riot expanding internationally with a Tesco launch in the UK

Let’s get into it!

Have a really cool job posting for us to share? Send us a message and we can highlight it here :)

5 Brands Added This Week:

Every week we add five new brands to the directory. Here are the brands we’ve been loving...

Painterland Sisters: Organic skyr yogurt from regenerative family farms.
Odd Cookie Snacks: Snack cookies made from upcycled ingredients.
Floura: Plant based fruit snack bars made with whole fruits.
Dr. Stolberg: Expert formulated herbal teas for healing and relaxation.
Biography: Skincare products designed for healthy, balanced skin.

Tips and tools

Scaling a CPG brand is thrilling…

And financially messy if your systems can’t keep up.

BELAY Financial Solutions helps emerging and established consumer brands turn complexity into clarity. From inventory accounting and cash-flow visibility to margin tracking and growth forecasting, we build financial foundations that actually support scale—not slow it down.

Whether you’re juggling multiple SKUs, managing wholesale and DTC channels, or preparing for your next big retail opportunity, our team brings structure to the chaos behind the scenes. We work alongside founders and operators who care deeply about their product, brand, and customers—but don’t want to live inside spreadsheets.

Think of us as your financial operations partner: proactive, strategic, and fluent in the realities of modern CPG. Clean books. Smarter decisions. Systems that grow with you. So you can spend less time guessing—and more time building something people love.

Book a call with BELAY!

Book a Call

Community Resources 👀

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For Investors:
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News Last Week 🗞️

Pistakio x Date Better Snacks launches a collaborative Pistachio Butter Crunch Date Bark, combining pistachio butter, chocolate-covered dates, and coconut after fans asked for the pairing since 2024.
Daily Crunch debuts Mediterranean Medley, a savory balsamic-and-herb flavored sprouted nut snack inspired by Mediterranean ingredients.
Fruit Riot! expands internationally with a UK launch at Tesco, marking its second market outside the U.S. after Canada.
Hurray’s Girl Beer raises $5M led by Lakehouse Ventures to expand distribution of its 95-calorie flavored light beer.
Sourmilk launched a ‘Guerrilla Grocery’ project to spread the word about Sourmilk.
Daybird, a skincare-meets-makeup brand, is expanding into 500 retail doors nationwide, including Sprouts and select Whole Foods stores.

WAIT! Before you go, I’m thinking about reorganizing the news section to make it easier to read for y’all.

Right now, everything sits in this one section, but I’m considering breaking it into three categories:
1. 💰 Funding & Acquisitions – raises, venture news, and M&A
2. 🚀 Launches & New Products – new brands, product drops, and line extensions
3. 🛒 Retail & Distribution – brands entering retailers, door count expansions, and partnerships

Would this be more helpful? Or do you all prefer to read everything in one section as is? Reply to this email and let me know - I read every response!

CPGD, Reviewed 🤳

Last week, Ali and I hosted a small unofficial CPGD snack night. and turned it into an unofficial taste test with a table full of brands we’ve been curious about lately. Friends sampled everything from dips and crackers to sweets and pantry staples while we compared notes on flavor, texture, and what we’d buy again.

Some of the brands in the mix include Fly By Jing, Ithaca Hummus, Dipsters, Veggie Loops, LAV dressing, and Zimm’s Organics EVOO shots, along with a selection of other snacks, sauces, and sweet treats spread across the table. It was a perfect reminder that the best way to evaluate a product is still the simplest: put it in front of people and see which snacks disappear first.

Some standouts in the freezer department include: TruJoy Madagascar Vanilla Bean Greek Frozen Yogurt, and Natty Mint Cookies and Cream!

Thank you to all of the ice cream and frozen yogurt brands that reached out about participating in the reviews! We’re excited to try a few more categories soon... stay tuned! (hint: 🍝🍬☕️)

Founder Q&A with Shannon Giles of Solspill ☀️

This week, I am so excited to feature Solspill, a new premium sparkling electrolyte drink designed for real life. I met Shannon in Florida recently at a Trembl class, and we hit it off talking about hydration, wellness, and the realities of building a beverage brand from scratch.

What is Solspill?
Solspill is a premium sparkling electrolyte drink served in three flavors: Cucumber and Yuzu, Guava and Grapefruit, and Lime and Mint.

Most electrolyte drinks live in a hyper-performance, sports drink world — clinical, overly functional, and not something you’d want outside of a workout. Solspill came from the idea that hydration should fit seamlessly into life: after a workout, yes, but also at the beach, at a dinner party, or during a sunset with friends.

It’s made with coconut water, real fruit juice, Australian sea minerals, magnesium-rich marine algae, and Himalayan salt. No citric acid, no synthetic additives, no added sugars — just clean ingredients and about 400mg of balanced electrolytes.

What’s your background and what inspired the brand?
For most of my twenties, I was in New York City living two worlds at once — working in wellness with Lululemon and MIRROR, while performing professionally as a dancer.

Two years ago, everything shifted. I suffered a serious spinal injury that required unexpected surgery, and around the same time, I was laid off. It felt like the ground disappeared.

After recovery, I solo backpacked through Southeast Asia. One thing I noticed everywhere was that people were hydrating constantly, but the drinks felt natural, refreshing, and social. Back home, most hydration products felt overly engineered — artificial sweeteners, synthetic vitamins, harsh acidity.

Solspill started with a simple question: what if hydration could feel more natural, more social, and more elevated?

What makes Solspill different?
Two things. First, the formulation. We removed a lot of category standards — citric acid, synthetic vitamins, added caffeine, extreme sodium — and replaced them with coconut water, Australian sea minerals, marine algae, and real fruit juices. Many electrolyte drinks are designed for emergency replenishment after intense workouts, which makes them taste medicinal. Solspill is designed for everyday hydration, so the flavor stays clean and naturally drinkable.

Second, the emotional side. Most hydration brands talk about optimization. Solspill talks about moments. It’s a lifestyle brand disguised as a functional beverage.

What’s been the biggest challenge?
Realizing just how complex the beverage industry really is. From the outside, it seems simple: make a drink, design a can, get it on shelves. In reality, it’s a maze of manufacturing, logistics, ingredient sourcing, distribution, and incredibly tight margins — largely funded through my own savings.

In many ways, entrepreneurship reminds me of dance. You rehearse the same movement hundreds of times until it feels effortless. You face rejection constantly, but you keep showing up. The stage just looks a little different now.

What’s next for Solspill?

The long-term vision is to scale nationally and eventually globally as a lifestyle hydration brand. Right now, the focus is grassroots — sampling at local events, wellness spaces, and communities where people actually live the lifestyle the brand represents.

Check out Solspill and learn more at drinksolspill.com or follow along at @drinksolspill and @_shannongiles! And huge thank you to Shannon -- it was so great meeting you :)