Daily – Innovations

Pints & Periods: Knix is bringing dads into a conversation long coded as maternal

Liesbeth den Toom — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 06:03:30 GMT

Beer slushies, burgers and a period expert: inside Pints & Periods, Knix's Toronto event teaching dads to handle the period talk without freezing up.

Marks & Spencer bets on flavor, not just sustainability, with new vertically farmed salads

Liesbeth den Toom — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:14:29 GMT

Marks & Spencer has added three vertically farmed salads to its UK shelves: Citrus Sorrel Baby Leaves, Spicy Baby Leaves and Baby Garlic Kale, developed in partnership with Italian vertical farming company Planet Farms. The leaves grow indoors under UV light in a soil-free environment with controlled temperature, water and nutrient delivery and are then packed within 60 seconds of harvest. According to the retailer, the salads stay fresh roughly five days longer than a conventional supermarket bag and need no washing.

The environmental numbers are eye-catching: 96% less water than field-grown salad, around 97% less fertilizer and no pesticides. But M&S is pushing equally hard on flavor. Citrus sorrel and garlic kale aren't standard salad-aisle fare, and a controlled indoor environment lets Planet Farms grow varieties that would be hard to produce consistently in open fields. The products sit under Plan A for Farming, M&S's five-year program aimed at net zero across its supply chain by 2040, which also funds regenerative practices with the chain's conventional growers, including cover cropping, reduced tillage and hedgerow planting.

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Vertical farming has had a punishing few years. Several high-profile startups collapsed or restructured once investors did the math on growing commodity lettuce indoors and realized field production was usually still cheaper. The companies still standing have shifted the pitch. Instead of competing on price, they're selling distinctive varieties, longer shelf life and year-round consistency to retailers willing to pay for them. A national chain putting own-label vertically farmed produce on shelves suggests the model has found commercial footing in premium grocery, even if the original promise of feeding cities at scale remains a long way off.

Meadow is a half-size handset that keeps the useful apps and cuts the addictive ones

Liesbeth den Toom — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 04:36:03 GMT

The pitch is simple: don't let your phone be the center of your story. A pared-down device, Meadow offers maps, music, calls and a camera. No browser, no social media.

Nestlé built an AI business coach trained on the market expertise of West African mammies

Liesbeth den Toom — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 05:45:02 GMT

New market traders can phone an AI business coach trained on experienced mammies’ pricing, stock and customer know-how.

FanDuel’s dual-sided soccer scarves celebrate Canadians’ split loyalties

Liesbeth den Toom — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:17:45 GMT

In Canada, 43% of soccer fans cheer for two national teams. FanDuel's Dual Fan campaign turns that split loyalty into limited-edition scarves.

A focus cookie, a sleep cookie, a protein cookie — and a famous last name

Liesbeth den Toom — Fri, 29 May 2026 04:15:03 GMT

One cookie carries three grams of creatine and 250 milligrams of citicoline and is sold for focus; another is spiked with L-theanine and pitched as a wind-down before bed; a third packs ten grams of protein into peanut butter. So far, so familiar — the functional food and beverage category is thriving. But Fields Good, an Austin startup that launched this week with USD 1.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Female Founders Fund, is leaning into flavor first and pharmacology second.

Founders Ashley Fields (daughter of Mrs. Fields founder Debbi Fields) and Kim Anderson spent two years developing the recipes with one rule: the functional ingredients had to disappear into the cookie. For years, the category led with function and treated flavor as a compromise; Fields Good leads with the cookie and lets the benefits ride along. The wager is that shoppers have tired of food that feels like a chore. The Mrs. Fields name does quiet work here, too, handing a TikTok-era brand the kind of recognition most startups spend years building. This week's launch was paired with a small-batch pre-order.

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Functional food has become the default growth story in snacking, and the math explains the rush: the US wellness economy reached USD 2.1 trillion, with per capita spending hitting USD 6,293 in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Institute. Consumers now routinely stack protein, sleep, focus and GLP-1-friendly choices into ordinary days. But they also want products that provide a moment of joy. Newcomers like Fields Good are responding by moving away from biohacking toward comforting rituals. Think self-care meets little treat economics. Is your brand still making people choose between pleasure and self-optimization?

The soy brand trolling the trolls who turned “soy boy” into an insult

Liesbeth den Toom — Thu, 28 May 2026 05:26:11 GMT

Why Sojasun turned "homme-soja" mockery on its head, recruiting its loudest critics as ambassadors and making their rejection the point.

A Dutch trade body fills exam gyms with plants, betting greenery calms nerves

Liesbeth den Toom — Wed, 27 May 2026 12:08:42 GMT

Can plants calm stressed teenagers? The Plants & Flowers Foundation Holland staged indoor gardens in exam gyms to find out, and to reframe what plants are for.

ThredUp’s pop-up reframes secondhand as a smart fix for wedding guests’ drained wallets

Liesbeth den Toom — Tue, 26 May 2026 04:32:24 GMT

87% of wedding guests buy outfits they only wear once. ThredUp's new pop-up and dress code decoder offer a cheaper, faster way to dress for the occasion.

Germany’s largest rooftop farm sits above a new REWE supermarket in Berlin

Liesbeth den Toom — Mon, 25 May 2026 14:23:16 GMT

A new Berlin supermarket pairs a rooftop greenhouse with a timber building built to be taken apart and reused, taking a holistic approach to sustainability in retail.