Sundance

BevNET spoke with three up-and-coiming, Southern-based sparkling water brands about their approaches to the market and how they hope to find a place to grow in this explosive category.

National Beverage Corp. announced that the Company continues its momentum with its first half of fiscal year 2018 achieving a half billion dollars in revenues while growth continues to accelerate.

For decades Hudson News Distributors has been one of the leaders in the magazine and book direct store distribution network, servicing more than 15,000 retail stores in the Northeast U.S. But this year, the company has decided to “wet” its palate, adding a CPG beverage leg that counts LaCroix, Nestle Waters, and now Hint in its growing portfolio.

Episode 76 features a wide-ranging interview with Spindrift founder/CEO Bill Creelman, we explore the emergence of MCT oil, and chat it up with James Fayel, the founder and CEO of Zest Tea, in this week’s Elevator Talk. This episode is presented by Algarithm Ingredients.

According to several industry analysts who shared their insights with BevNET for this story, while the company should continue to enjoy LaCroix’s outsized success in the short-term, issues on the horizon could present National Beverage with serious challenges in the future.

Coca-Cola offers $1 million for new artificial sweetener innovations; Soda tax thwacks Chicago’s suburbs; Will Smith plugs JUST Water on James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke”; NPR takes a look at the rise of seltzer; Bai seeks a more mature brand image.

The Glaucus report sparked an 8.2 percent drop in NBC’s stock on September 28, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.

Chittaro earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan State and graduate degree from Madonna University.

National Beverage Corp. will release its full first quarter financial statements in September.

The circumstances surrounding LaCroix, one of the most successful growth stories in the sparkling water category, have come to a boil as legal issues and employee turnover surfaced this week.

Singled out as symbols of the category’s development are fast-growing LaCroix Sparkling Water, a product of National Beverage Corp. and Sparkling Ice, owned by Talking Rain.

Natural Products Expo East, one of the leading venues to see and sample all-natural and organic products, will open this week at the Baltimore Convention Center. For attendees of the event, we’ve created a printable show planner that includes a comprehensive list of beverage exhibitors at the event, listed both alphabetically and by booth number. Download yours now!

With their latest releases, Nestle and LaCroix have kept the carbonation, retooled the flavors and dropped the sweet stuff.

Selected unanimously by Lamb’s store managers and support staff, LaCroix’s clean nutritionals and twelve naturally refreshing flavors confirm Lamb’s confidence in LaCroix’s relevance and success in the natural foods channel.