FINANCIAL
Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products
has raised another $3 million in investments, with a portion coming from Clif
Bar, according to Beverage Business
Insights. BBI reported that the
bulk of that $3 is believed to come from earlier investors in San Luis Obispo,
Calif. • Columbia
Distributing Co., Mt. Hood Beverage Co. and Gold River Distributing plan to merge their beer and nonalcoholic
beverage distribution businesses in Oregon and Washington, following approval
from their respective suppliers. The new organization, which will be named CoHo Distributing, will have annual
sales of more than 35 million cases of beer and nonalcoholic beverages. It will
operate out of facilities in Seattle, Everett, Portland, Eugene, Medford and
Bend. In addition, the Mt. Hood Beverage operations in Yakima and Kennewick in
Washington will be included in the merged company effective January 2009. For
more information, click
here. • Spear
USA has purchased Precision Printing
and Packaging, an Anheuser-Busch
unit that prints beverage and food labels. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
PPPI, based in Clarksville, Tenn., prints 28 billion labels annually for
Anheuser-Busch and other clients, and has annual sales of $70 million,
according to a news release. • The Nielsen Company signed a global agreement
with The Coca-Cola Company, enabling
Nielsen to provide integrated services to Coca-Cola in more than 70 countries.
The contract extends the companies' 70-year relationship into new geographies
and additional services.
LAW AND POLICY
Coca-Cola Bottling Company announced
that it will introduce 10 heavy-duty hybrid-electric delivery trucks to its
fleet in Toronto, ON. The largest hybrid-electric delivery vehicles in North
America, the model GVW 33000 trucks, improve fuel consumption by 37 per cent,
reduce emissions by 32 per cent and create less noise and emissions when
stopped in traffic. • Austin Coca-Cola
Bottling Co. will also add four diesel-electric hybrid trucks to its
delivery fleet.• Researchers at the Center for Disease Control discovered that
today’s high school students may be more likely to drink soda than milk.
Thirty-four percent of students reported drinking at least one soda per day,
while only 14 percent reported drinking three or more glasses of milk per day. • Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Neville
Isdell called on the company’s rivals to join Coke by investing in carbon
dioxide refrigeration to reduce the carbon footprint of vending machines. Click
here for more information. • Memphis, Tenn., is the latest addition to the
list of cities moving away from bottled water. Four restaurants in the city
have joined the "Take Back the Tap" campaign, along with three more
in Boulder, Colo. • King County Washington’s council finalized a ban on bottled
water for county workers. The new ordinance prohibits all county agencies,
departments and offices from providing single bottles of water for workers.
PEOPLE
Sidel has named Luc Desoutter as
sustainable development VP to formally spearhead solutions and environmental
initiatives.
DISTRIBUTION
Skinny Nutritional Corp. entered an
agreement with Anheuser-Busch distributor Harrison
Beverage for the Philadelphia tri-state area and Southern New Jersey
region. • Celsius Holdings, Inc.
announced their distribution partnership with Refreshment Services, Inc. Celsius now has distribution in
additional portions of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Missouri.
APPEARANCES/PROMOTIONS
Rudy Nutrition, Inc. announced that
Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams has joined the Rudy Beverage team as a
celebrity endorser. • Jones Soda Co
launched Campaign Cola, where consumers can purchase their favored presidential
candidate’s personalized soda online. Each presidential nominee will be
featured on Jones Pure Cane Cola. Participants can cast their virtual vote when
purchasing a pack of Hillary Clinton’s “Capital Hillary Cola,” John McCain’s
“Pure McCain Cola” or Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can Cola.” For more information,
visit www.campaigncola.com. • The Gatorade Company, in partnership
with RISE Magazine, announced senior catcher Kyle Skipworth of Patriot High
School (Riverside, Calif.) as its 2007-08 Gatorade National Baseball Player of
the Year. • Skinny Nutritional Corp.
Wired 96.5, and Lukoil have partnered to bring Philadelphia area consumers the
Skinny Water Beach House Give-A-Way. Skinny will award two winners a week stay
at the Jersey Shore. Entry forms are available at participating Lukoil stores. •
Nutrisoda kicked off of The Good
Life Tour, a West Coast mobile sampling tour that will be on-the-move this
summer. • Pepsi is celebrating
Father's Day and the essential role of fathers and father figures in the
African-American community with "Four Weeks For Father!," a free
booklet available at http://www.pepsigreatfathers.com/.
The booklet features words of wisdom from notable African-American dads,
including Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, Grammy Award-winning
musical artist Common, former professional football player Jerry Rice,
acclaimed actor Mekhi Phifer and Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. among
others. • Skinny Nutritional Corp. has
been chosen as the exclusive enhanced water sponsor for the Commerce Bank
Triple Crown of Cycling. • Belmont
Springs, announced that it is the official bottled water sponsor for the
26th annual Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl, which will be held June 10 - 12, 2008 at
City Hall Plaza in Boston.
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