BevTrendy Recent food and beverage news is providing useful evidence of how established companies are changing products, channels and consumption occasions.
WK Kellogg is accelerating a technically difficult reformulation. Major food businesses continue developing direct-to-consumer channels alongside retail. Coca-Cola is investing globally in the shared-meal occasion.
Each involves a different commercial lever.
WK Kellogg Accelerates Removal of Artificial Colors
What happened
WK Kellogg says it will eliminate artificial colors across its cereal portfolio by the end of 2026, one year ahead of its previous commitment.
The remaining affected products include Froot Loops and Apple Jacks. The company says it tested hundreds of alternatives and will use colors from sources including fruit and vegetable juices, turmeric and annatto.
Production is expected to begin later in 2026, with product shipping to retailers before year-end.
Why it matters
Changing a recognizable food product is not simply an ingredient-substitution exercise.
WK Kellogg has to manage sourcing, manufacturing requirements, shelf appearance, sensory expectations and the familiarity of brands that consumers have known for decades.
Company executives say thousands of consumers were involved in testing the resulting experience.
Commercial implication
The broader opportunity is for ingredient suppliers, formulation partners and manufacturers capable of helping large brands make reformulation changes without damaging sensory performance or supply reliability.
It also provides a useful warning: removing an ingredient consumers question does not eliminate the commercial requirement to preserve the product experience they expect.
Question the market should examine
As major brands reformulate, which technical compromises will consumers actually notice and which will they accept?
Original announcement:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wk-kellogg-co-will-eliminate-artificial-colors-in-all-cereal-manufacturing-by-the-end-of-2026-302844951.html
Major Food Brands Keep Building Direct-to-Consumer Capabilities
What happened
Food Dive reports that direct-to-consumer food and beverage sales on Amazon reached nearly $25 billion during the 52 weeks ending July 12, up 16.3% from the previous period, citing Spins and Stackline data.
The article also details how companies including Mondelēz-owned Perfect Snacks are using DTC strategically rather than treating it simply as another retail outlet.
Perfect Snacks CEO Cara Liebrock described DTC as an increasingly important channel for early innovation and consumer education.
Why it matters
For large CPG businesses, DTC does not need to replace grocery or mass retail to matter.
It can serve different jobs: introducing products, explaining unfamiliar propositions, collecting first-party relationships, testing assortments and reaching consumers without waiting for shelf resets.
Commercial implication
The interesting question is becoming less whether CPG brands should sell directly and more what role DTC should play alongside retail.
Brands that treat every channel identically can miss the different economics and learning opportunities available online.
The 16.3% Amazon growth figure is specific to the dataset and period reported and should not be generalized to all DTC food and beverage commerce.
Question the market should examine
Which products should be launched, learned from or educated through DTC before being scaled through retail?
Original reporting:
https://www.fooddive.com/news/Direct-to-consumers-dtc-online-mondelez-sales-consumers-Hershey-PepsiCo/817558/
Coca-Cola Invests in the Shared-Meal Occasion
What happened
Coca-Cola launched “The World Will Wait,” a global campaign encouraging Gen Z and Millennial audiences to step away from distractions during shared meals.
The campaign includes films, out-of-home media and digital activations and is rolling out globally, with the United States excluded from the initial campaign.
Why it matters
Mature beverage brands compete partly through occasions.
Coca-Cola’s campaign is therefore commercially relevant beyond its creative execution: the company is attaching the product to an existing behavior—eating with other people—and investing in making that behavior more salient.
The company’s descriptions of what younger consumers “crave” should be treated as campaign positioning unless supported by underlying research.
Commercial implication
For beverage companies, growth can come from product innovation, but it can also come from defending, expanding or reframing existing consumption occasions.
That makes occasion strategy relevant to product development, packaging, partnerships, restaurant programs and retail merchandising—not only advertising.
Question the market should examine
Which beverage occasions are actually gaining or losing frequency, and how much can marketing influence them?
Original announcement:
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/coca-cola-launches-global-the-world-will-wait-campaign-inspiring-collective-action-to-reclaim-shared-meal-moments-
