About BevNET’s Beverage Reviews

Since 1996, BevNET has been the most recognized authority on non-alcoholic beverages.  We’ve reviewed a lot of beverages (over 6250, in fact) and have seen many fail and many succeed.  Through this, we’ve developed an ability and an approach to helping companies identify the strengths and weaknesses of their products.

Ready to send your product? Submit Product for Review.

WHY DO WE REVIEW BEVERAGES?

We review beverages to provide an independent assessment of each product to both the industry and the marketer who created it.  Our intention is to provide feedback that is unbiased, which, as an organization that does not provide consulting, own or operate a beverage company, or profit directly from the supply chain, we believe that we are uniquely positioned to do.   We do, however, have a vested interested in the success of the beverages that enter this market as many of the entrepreneurs behind them, as well as their staff and suppliers, become readers, participants in our conferences, or advertisers.  That being said, we reiterate that our intention is to help beverage companies with our reviews.

Our critique might not always be positive, but it is always intended to be constructive.  Aside from rare cases where an idea is simply flawed from head to toe, we try to provide actionable suggestions wherever possible.

WHO READS OUR REVIEWS?

We have a very comprehensive reader base that includes beverage companies, national as well as regional retailers, distributors, investors, and even consumers.  While our reviews don’t exclusively dictate how a brand does in the marketplace, they certainly influence the key stakeholders in many areas of the industry.

WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

Concept
Does the concept make sense or fill a need (either new or existing) in the marketplace?  How innovative is it? And is it a market ready concept?

Flavor & Formulation
We believe that all products, regardless of being labeled as a beverage or a supplement, should achieve the best flavor possible.  However, we do take into account what type of product it is and, depending on the category, flavor plays a bigger role in how we critique the product.

Packaging & Messaging
Consumers have very limited time when selecting a beverage at retail.  Having a clean design, intuitive messaging, and an appealing brand that the consumer can associate with are all key components in what we look for.  In addition, we often consider how a product might be perceived based on the choice of color, name, or packaging type/shape.

Functionality
If the product has a functional benefit, we consider the product’s functional formulation as part of the critique.  For certain ingredients, such as caffeine or vitamins that appear on the nutrition facts panel, we do factor in the levels used relative to the rest of the product and the category.  For other functional ingredients, it’s often more about how well the marketer has explained what they are and why they are in the product.  In many cases, it’s about simplicity and credibility:  will these ingredients successfully influence the initial and future purchase decisions in a positive or negative way.

Value Proposition
We do, when feasible, consider the SRP of the product relative to both its competition and the overall value that we believe the product is providing.

Overall Execution
A star rating of zero (very poor) to five (best of the best) is assigned to each product that we review.  This ultimately is meant as a summary of where the product stands, both in terms of the execution of the product and its market readiness relative to other products in the space.  Please note that we will re-review products when we feel it is appropriate. Typically this is either because of a material change in the product (e.g. a reformulation) or a change in the marketplace.