3/30: Beets, beets, and more beets.

This week we share 5 new brands as well as trends spotted this week. Read founder stories, interviews, and expert tips on how to grow your brand.

Mar 31, 2026

Beets, beets, and more beets.

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

Beets are everywhere right now, and I’ve been trying to figure out if I noticed it first or if the algorithm decided I needed to. Either way, I am an avid beet eater. I have seen it in granola, canned drinks, gut health powders, and more in the last week alone.

What I didn’t realize until I looked into it is that maybe it isn’t really about beets - it’s about the dye. In April 2025, U.S. regulators announced a plan to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, the ones that have been in everything forever) by the end of this year. The industry needed a new red, and beet juice is already shelf-stable enough to step in.

This is all kind of fascinating to me, because the consumer-facing story and the industry-facing story are completely different. The consumer might just see... a lot more beets everywhere. (Innova Market Insights flagged this in their 2026 trends forecast, and Produce Business called it out too, if you want to go deeper.)

I’m curious whether the ingredient sticks once the dye transition settles...time will tell.

This week’s newsletter is a bit packed, so here’s the highlight reel:

🥤 818 and Salt & Stone just collabed
🏢 Salt & Stone got acquired by Advent International
🌱 Beets are officially having their moment (blame the FDA dye ban)

Emily, Founder & CEO of Popup Grocer, is hiring a Head of Operations!

This is a build role, covering footprint expansion, assortment optimization, and cafe growth at scale.

If you’re interested, please fill out the form linked here.

5 Brands Added This Week:

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

Empress of Ghee: Small batch grassfed ghee in classic Indian flavors.
Esprizio: Sparkling espresso with organic coffee and citrus.
LAV: Armenian inspired dairy and gluten free single serve dressings.
Rivo Protein Ice Cream: Protein packed ice cream made with real ingredients.
Caltein: Protein packed snacks made with wholesome, flavorful ingredients.

Tips and tools

71% of consumers purchase within days of seeing creator content...

Whitelisting, Spark Ads, Partnership Ads — they’re your highest-ROI channel in 2026. minisocial is the fastest way to scale them.

Trusted by Our Place, Mother Science, MadeGood, and Magna. Here’s what brands say:

“Ads made with minisocial content outperform everything we’ve made in-house.” — Michael, Growth Marketing Manager

“minisocial’s cost per creator is cheaper than our in-house program” Andrea - Digital Campaigns Manager

“The price for what you’re getting is just insane. They handle every step.” — Kaylee, Director of Marketing

Ready to turn creators into your best-performing ad channel? → Get Started

Book a Call

Community Resources 👀

Tumbleweed Ventures is a partnership program built to give breakout CPG brands something money alone can’t buy: a stage, a room, and the right people in it.

Founded by operators behind Maxwell Social, it combines a physical space with a curated investor and distribution network to help brands move from product-market fit into cultural relevance. They’ve hosted launches for brands like Chanel, Netflix, and Spotify, and are now opening applications for their next CPG cohort.

What brands can expect:

Access to Maxwell Social + in-house production studio
Press previews, influencer dinners, and launch events
Curated dinners with VCs, distributors, and operators
Showcase Nights with Tier-1 investors and buyers
Warm intros across their network

Deal Terms: Zero upfront cost. Tumbleweed provides GTM horsepower and launch infrastructure, reserving the right to join your cap table at your latest valuation.

Apply here!

Join the Entreprenista Experience Week - Entreprenista Experience Week is a free 4-day virtual event series from March 24 through March 27 designed to help founders connect, learn, and grow.

Join live sessions, including Your Network is Your Net Worth with Steph Cartin, How to Build Your Business to Sell with Carrie Kerpen, and interactive networking with fellow founders.

Reserve your spot here!

For Brands:

Submit your deal to be featured in the deal flow portal

Submit an update to be featured in the investor newsletter

For Investors:

Subscribe to our Investor Newsletter for access to vetted CPG deal flow

Want to attend invite-only CPGD events? Sign up here!

News Last Week 🗞️

💰 Funding & Acquisitions – raises, venture news, and M&A 🚀

Unilever in Talks to Sell Food Division to McCormick - The potential deal would unite Hellmann’s and French’s under one roof as Unilever continues shedding non-core assets.
Laoban Raises $7.2M -The frozen dumpling brand secured fresh capital to fuel expansion into broader Asian food categories.
Salt & Stone Acquired by Advent International - The premium personal care brand is being acquired via a majority stake by Advent International.
Glimpse Raises $35M Series A - The AI platform for CPG retail operations raised a Series A led by a16z, bringing total funding to $52M. Targets the messy world of retailer portals and deductions.

🚀 Launches & New Products – new brands, product drops, and line extensions

818 x Salt & Stone Drop an Amber & Agave Body Care Collection - 818 Tequila crosses into beauty with a limited-edition collab with Salt & Stone, featuring a deodorant, body wash, body mist, and candle.
Create launches Creatine + Electrolytes. The creatine brand’s new stick packs combine 5g creatine monohydrate, a balanced electrolyte profile, and 1000mg taurine - available today in 3 flavors.
Reale Actives is Alix Earle’s debut skincare brand that launched last week.

🛒 Retail & Distribution – brands entering retailers, door count expansions, and partnerships

Dutch Bros expands CPG Lineup Nationally - RTD lattes, coffee pods, and creamers are now on shelves at Walmart, H.E.B., Albertsons, and Amazon.

Have breaking news you want us to share? Send us a note at team@cpgd.xyz or reply to this email.

Founder Q&A with Sonni ☀️

This week, I am so excited to sit down and talk with the Sonni team!

SONNI is a suncare brand built around the idea that most sun exposure happens in everyday life, not just at the beach.

We make 100% mineral SPF formulas that feel like skincare - sheer, hydrating, and comfortable enough for daily wear - along with recovery treatments that help support skin after time in the sun.

It’s designed for people who want sun protection that fits seamlessly into their routine, not something they only reach for on vacation.

What inspired you to start Sonni?

My co-founder Eli and I have known each other most of our lives. We grew up as family friends in Toronto before both heading to California for college. After that, our careers took different paths. I joined The Estée Lauder Companies on the global e-commerce strategy team, and Eli started in McKinsey’s consumer practice before later helping scale Little Spoon.

The moment this became personal for me was when my older sister, who’s a doctor, had melanoma removed from her ear. It really reframed how I thought about sun exposure and prevention.

Around the same time, I was in business school at Kellogg and noticed I was still getting sunburned walking to class, even on days when I had applied sunscreen that morning. I realized the issue wasn’t awareness. I knew I should be wearing SPF every day. The problem was that most sunscreen products are still designed for beach days, not for real life.

That insight led us to build SONNI: mineral SPF formulas that feel like skincare, designed to make daily sun protection something people actually want to wear.

Most sunscreen is still designed for events, not habits. The products many of us grew up with were built for beach days, sports, or long hours in the sun. Those formulas serve an important purpose, but wearing them every day can feel like a compromise. They’re often heavy, strongly scented, or irritating around the eyes. I started noticing the gap in the middle. I didn’t want to smell like sunscreen or feel like I had a thick layer on my skin just to walk to work or sit outside for lunch.

Instead of trying to slightly improve traditional sunscreen textures, we approached the category through a skincare lens. What would mineral SPF look like if it behaved more like a serum or moisturizer? Something sheer, hydrating, and easy to layer into the routines people already have.

What makes Sonni different from other suncare?

It all starts with how we formulate mineral SPF. Most mineral formulas mix zinc oxide powder into a base. We start with zinc or titanium in elemental form and break it down in a controlled process to create a more potent mineral particle.

That lets us use less of it while achieving the same SPF, which improves wearability and leaves room for skincare ingredients like niacinamide and hyaluronic acid to support the skin barrier.

The goal is simple: make suncare feel like skincare - something people actually want to use every day.

What has been one surprising lesson you’ve encountered while building the brand?

I’ve been surprised by how people choose their face SPF. Before launch, I assumed the pattern would be pretty predictable: women gravitating toward our Mineral Serum SPF 50+ and men toward Invisible Defense SPF 40+. That kind of gender shorthand is common in skincare.

In reality, there’s been much more overlap. People are choosing based on what feels best for their skin or fits into their routine, not based on how the product is categorized. It’s been a good reminder that when the experience is clear and intuitive, people don’t need everything segmented for them. They just pick what works.

It’s also been exciting to see that resonate beyond our core audience. We recently won the Men’s Health Grooming Award for Best SPF Serum, which was great validation that people are looking for sunscreen that feels more like skincare.

How do you approach suncare at SONNI?

We want suncare to feel seamless in every sense of the word. Historically, it’s felt like a compromise - something thick, chalky, or uncomfortable that people put up with because they know they should.

Our goal is the opposite. When someone uses SONNI, we want it to feel like good skincare: something that blends in beautifully, fits naturally into their routine, and makes them feel taken care of - the kind of product you reach for without thinking twice.

What’s one thing most people misunderstand about sunscreen?

So much of modern skincare focuses on fixing damage after it happens, but the most effective anti-aging product has existed for decades, and it’s not complicated: sunscreen.

SPF often gets treated like its own category, when it really belongs at the center of skincare. Dermatologists have said the same thing for years: daily sun protection is the single most important habit for long-term skin health.

What’s next for Sonni?

We launched with four products and are focused on growing thoughtfully from there. Our goal is to keep building out the system around protection and recovery, so people have a complete way to care for their skin before, during, and after time in the sun.

We’re also spending a lot of time listening to our community and learning how people actually use the products day to day. That feedback shapes what we develop next.

And on a more immediate note, it’s been exciting to start meeting customers in person.

You can currently find SONNI at Pop Up Grocer in NYC, with more opportunities to connect in real life coming soon!

Thank you, Megan and Eli! :)