Open tabs: Crumbl's category expansion, Faire's new business model, a very sexy exit for an unsexy brand & more
The trends, reads, and one founder story worth your lunch break.
Happy Thursday! Or Happy Prime Week, to all who are celebrating participating. We’d be curious to hear how it’s going. 👀
Speaking of which, is anyone else feeling extra “extra” vibes from this week in CPG news? And not just from the one-upsmanship in the Endless Commerce #random Slack channel as our team tries (with alarming absurdity) to come up with Crumbl’s next… can you call it a beverage if you can’t get it through a straw? Beverage-adjacent sucrose mainlining system?
Anyway, now that Sam’s back from her delightfully busy Hawaii jaunt, it’s time to bring in the seasonal summer product harvest. In NYC, we’re raising a glass to all things fancy and food.
Sudden thought: the Javits Center probably has killer air conditioning.
Think beyond the bottle when it comes to sunscreen! Between sun-exposure wearables and derm & doctor formulated supplements to prevent sun damage, this explosive category continues to grow in new and explosive ways.
The splashiest acquisition of 2026 so far is from an unsexy legacy brand— Breathe Right nasal strips. Unsexy = undervalued in public perception…
L’Oréal’s collab with OpenAI will give us some interesting signals about what brands can expect from ChatGPT as an ad platform moving forward, starting with Maybelline “try-ons.”
Would you have guessed that the South is America’s strongest plant-based market? Southern shoppers contribute to 36% of plant-based food nationwide.
Ulta got in on the TikTok Shop action and beauty brand Polite Society was its first affiliate and co-marketing guinea pig. It’ll be interesting to see how TikTok Shop and affiliate and shopper marketing all coalesce in the coming years.
Faire has shifted its business model so that non-retail customers can place wholesale orders now — because everything is kind of a shoppy shop these days.
Crumbl’s new beverage with as much sugar as 19 Krispy Kremes is kinda criminal, yes… but should it actually be illegal, or is it more of a pancreas pandemonium party (enter at your own risk?)
Calling all New Yorkers! Join us for a happy hour in NYC on Monday night, whether you’re unwinding from a long, delicious day at Summer Fancy Food Show or just looking to meet like-minded geeks, founders, and operators.
Before Jennie Ripps built one of the most talked-about RTD brands in the country, she was convincing Momofuku and Soho House that tea deserved to be taken as seriously as wine. That instinct — that what's actually in your glass matters — became the entire thesis behind Owl's Brew.
She launched it in 2020, right as the world shut down, and grew 918% in year one anyway. No sampling. No playbook. Just a product people actually wanted and a founder who understood her consumer better than most.
In this episode, we pour one out with Jennie, certified tea sommelier, co-author of Wise Cocktails (Rodale), and the person who figured out how to get a clean-ingredient cocktail brand into Disney World, SoFi Stadium, and TD Garden while also landing at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Total Wine. The brand has 40-plus product awards and counting.
If you’re a fan of tea, lemonade, spiked pop, or Chelsea Handler (yes, that Chelsea Handler), you’re going to love this one. We think it’s one of our best episodes ever!
