Voyage Foods quits retail to chase B2B scale for its bean-free coffee and grape-seed chocolate

What Happened

Voyage Foods has exited its 1,400+ US retail doors to focus entirely on supplying CPG manufacturers and foodservice with its chickpea-and-rice-hull bean-free coffee and its NextCoa cocoa-free chocolate, made from upcycled wine-industry grape seeds and sunflower kernel flour. The company has raised $94M total, including a $25M USDA loan for its 300,000 sq ft Ohio plant, and already supplies Cargill, which has distributed NextCoa since 2024.

Why It Matters

Cocoa prices hit record highs as West African harvests falter, and Voyage's bet is that upcycled grape seeds — a wine-industry waste stream — can replace cocoa at B2B scale rather than staying a niche retail novelty.

We pulled out of retail because it wasn't where we could have the most impact.

FET's Takeaway

Walking away from 1,400 retail doors to chase B2B ingredient supply is a telling signal: getting a cocoa-free chocolate or bean-free coffee to taste right on a store shelf is one thing, but the real margin and volume is in selling it as a drop-in ingredient to manufacturers who already have distribution — Voyage seems to have concluded the formulation is solid enough to compete on cost and consistency, not just novelty.