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CPG industry roundup: launches, deals, and executive moves. Today's roundup covers a kids hydration launch from Nestlé, a transatlantic distribution deal for Arizona Beverages, a leadership change at Hershey, a celebrity equity investment in TRIP, and California's new non-UPF food labeling law. Nestlé has launched Gerberlyte, a children's hydration drink under its century-old Gerber brand, developed in direct response to parent requests for a beverage free of artificial ingredients and backed by a trusted name. The move signals Nestlé's intent to claim shelf space in the rapidly growing pediatric hydration segment, a category that has attracted a wave of smaller challenger brands in recent years. Gerber's long-standing equity with millennial parents gives Nestlé a meaningful head start in earning trial. The product's clean-label positioning also aligns with broader retailer and consumer pressure on the kids' beverage aisle to move away from artificial additives. Arizona Beverages has signed an exclusive partnership with Italian sparkling water producer Ferrarelle to bring the brand's products to the U.S. market, including a new line of flavored sparkling waters developed specifically for American consumers. The deal gives Arizona a premium water play at a time when the sparkling water segment remains fiercely competitive and increasingly fragmented. Bringing in an imported, heritage brand with distinct provenance offers a point of differentiation that domestic labels struggle to replicate. For Ferrarelle, the partnership hands it immediate access to Arizona's extensive U.S. distribution network, compressing what would otherwise be a lengthy and expensive market-entry timeline. Hershey has named Dave Hulays as its new Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Steven E. Voskuil, who is retiring after seven years in the role. Hulays is an internal promotion, which typically signals continuity in financial strategy rather than a sharp directional pivot. The transition comes as Hershey navigates elevated cocoa costs that have pressured margins across the confectionery category. Voskuil oversaw the finance function through a period that included significant supply chain disruption and pricing actions, and Hulays will inherit both the playbook and the ongoing challenge of managing input cost volatility in one of the commodity-sensitive corners of the snack industry. TRIP, the U.K.-based functional relaxation beverage brand, has brought on Kendall Jenner as an equity investor and global brand ambassador, with the model and media personality set to front an upcoming marketing campaign. Celebrity equity deals have become a standard playbook in the better-for-you beverage space, with brands using high-profile names to accelerate awareness in markets where paid media alone rarely cuts through. Jenner's involvement gives TRIP significant reach into the U.S. consumer base, a market the brand has been building toward. The arrangement's equity component, rather than a straight endorsement fee structure, typically aligns an ambassador's incentives more closely with long-term brand performance. California has enacted the first statewide non-ultraprocessed food labeling law in the United States, establishing a voluntary certification system and requiring large grocery retailers to give prominent shelf placement to products that qualify under the cleaner-label standard. The legislation adds regulatory texture to a consumer conversation that has largely played out through marketing claims and influencer discourse. For CPG manufacturers, the California law effectively creates a new compliance consideration and a potential commercial advantage for brands that can credibly meet the certification criteria. Given the state's history of setting standards that eventually spread nationally, food companies selling across the U.S. market would be prudent to evaluate their formulations against the new framework sooner rather than later. More on CPG Careers The week's most interesting CPG and food and beverage jobs. One short email every Friday. Free. Unsubscribe anytime.

Nestlé S.A. (NEST:CA) presents at Barclays 19th Annual global consumer Staples conference transcript. Nestlé S.A. (NEST:CA) Barclays nineteenth Annual International Client Staples Convention September 8, 2026 9:45 AM EDT Firm Members Anna Olive Manz - Government VP, CFO & Member of Government Board Convention Name Members Warren Ackerman - Barclays Financial institution PLC, Analysis Division Presentation Warren Ackerman Barclays Financial institution PLC, Analysis Division Okay. I feel we have been informed to get on with it. So that is what we will do. So delighted to welcome Nestlé to the stage and CFO, Anna Manz. Thanks, Anna, yearly. You are very supportive of our convention. We actually do respect that. And loads to debate. I am most likely going to type of kick off perhaps large image speaking about your favourite matter of actual inner development and the type of the ambition to get to the - within the first half, you are type of monitoring you are sequentially enhancing. I feel you are at 1.5% and you've got nonetheless obtained some headwinds from U.S. pet care, Europe. Perhaps you'll be able to type of simply share your type of confidence that it is possible for you to to get to that type of regular state 2% algo. And perhaps which companies are you happiest with are monitoring and which ones are type of perhaps additional away from that type of 2% stage is perhaps an excellent place to begin. Query-and-Reply Session Anna Olive Manz Government VP, CFO & Member of Government Board So that you're proper. RIG is my specialist topic and an enormous precedence for us as a result of clearly, driving development drives margin, drives money, drives all of it. And we're making actually good progress. We have now had 4 stable quarters of RIG-led development. And also you see Q1 to Q2 improved from a 1.2% RIG to a 1.8% RIG. And for those who have a look at our efficiency in Q2, we're really above that 2% quantity now in espresso and pet, and we're proper round there on

Nestlé launches A new generation of dessert Culinary Solutions. By Aditya September 8, 2026 2 Mins Read Nestlé is introducing an all-new range of exclusive dessert culinary solutions to become a modern cooking growth platform. It has launched first in Brazil and then in China, the growing platform of Nestlé brings together two very different dessert cultures with the help of one innovation platform. It has allowed consumers to create desserts including pudding, tiramisu, cheesecake and brigadeirão in just three easy steps and within less than fifteen minutes of active preparation time. "Modern Cooking is a key growth platform for Nestlé, and the new dessert culinary solutions range shows what that strategy looks like in practice. We are taking one innovation platform, adapting it to local dessert cultures and launching it across multiple markets from the outset. Combining global scale with local relevance is how we continue to grow and innovate. By bringing together our culinary expertise and deep understanding of consumer needs, we are helping consumers create delicious homemade desserts with greater confidence." -Stephanie Arnesen, Category Lead - Dairy Culinary Solutions, Food Strategic Business Unit, Nestlé The launch comes as Nestlé celebrates 160 years of dessert expertise, marking the next step in the evolution from ingredients to complete solutions. The challenge facing the team was not just developing the product. It was explaining it. The answer was an in-house bake-off. Rather than relying on a traditional product demonstration, Nestlé colleagues demonstrated the simplicity of the three-step concept. The launch will also be supported through social and digital content, local influencer-led brand communities, e-retail, sampling and point-of-sale communication.