Seeking to take a bigger bite swig out of the U.S. beverage industry, global flavor and fragrance solutions provider Symrise announced in December the relaunch of its beverage incubator under the new bWorks brand name, pivoting to focus overall on beverage development for companies of all sizes.
The bWorks incubator evolved from an entity previously known as Califormulations, which was a joint project between Symrise and now-defunct cannabis operator The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD). Symrise first added beverage manufacturing to its capabilities in 2019 when it invested in a 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant in Columbus, Ga., according to Enrique Angulo, senior category manager, Alcoholic Beverages and Beverage Incubator at Symrise. The company bought full ownership of the plant in 2023.
Under bWorks, Symrise plans to bring companies from concept to market with turnkey solutions for formula development, scale-up and commercialization. According to Angulo, the company has expertise in consumer insights and beverage formula design, prototyping development and production. Bworks can provide those end-to-end solutions to companies of all sizes, not just startups, as it did in the Califormulations days. Its services are modular and can be adapted to each customer’s journey and “maturity,” according to Angulo.
“We saw that it’s better to mimic the large CPG companies’ innovation departments. [With bWorks], they only have to engage with one partner to do [everything from flavor development to market testing]; we’re flexible and we tailor the beverage to their needs,” he said.
What Is bWorks?
Along with the beverage development, prototype and agile manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ga., Symrise’s bWorks incubator leverages the company’s beverage prototype development labs in Laguna Beach, Calif., and Teterboro, N.J. The Georgia facility can handle run quantities from 10,000 to 100,000 by SKU, including bottles, cans and bag-in-box.
“To my knowledge, in the U.S., Symrise is the only flavor house that [does everything] with beverage development, from concept all the way to manufacturing,” Angulo said.
Since adding manufacturing capabilities, Symrise has incubated nearly 100 brands, products and line extensions in the bev-alc, non-alc, and functional beverage categories. The company declined to disclose the names of the CPGs and other companies with which it has worked.
Thus far, bWorks’ biggest projects have been for low-alcohol canned beverages, including hard seltzers and spiked tea, followed by ready-to-drink mocktails and functional beverages, according to Angulo.
BWorks offers its customers the ability to use Symrise’s Spirit Signatures 2.0 non-alcoholic, spirit-inspired flavors intended for use in mocktails. The offerings include Amaro, Vermouth, Mezcal, and Cachaça natural flavors.
According to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, the no-alcohol category is continuing to attract new recruits. Across markets, Millennials are becoming “substitutors,” with an increase from 41% to 45% of those who drink no/low on some occasions and full-strength on others. What’s more, the no-alcohol share of the overall alcohol market is projected to reach nearly 4% by 2027.
With an increasing number of U.S. consumers using appetite-suppressing GLP-1 drugs amid what some have dubbed the “Ozempic Era,” Symrise is also seeing growth in the health and weight management space.
“We get more and more interest from customers to develop these types of beverages, and it matches our capabilities perfectly because Symrise has a health business that engages with these types of products,” said Angulo.
How Does It Work?
To meet a variety of customer needs, bWorks offers four different bundle packages.
Bundle 1 is all-inclusive, including insights and design, prototyping and development, and production. Meanwhile, Bundle 4 provides consumers with beverage development only.
Though time frames vary due to factors like lead times on ingredients sourcing, Angulo said, bWorks brings companies’ beverages from concept to product, on average, in six months.
Flavor manufacturing (with forecast) can be delivered in three to four weeks. Once completed, the flavors are sent to the Georgia facility for the manufacturing of the finished products. Manufacturing of the finished products can be scheduled two to four weeks after all materials arrive on site, according to bWorks’ website. The incubator also has brewers, wine and distilled spirits permits, and Organic, Kosher and Halal certifications.
The common thread between the bundles? BWorks’ commitment to helping its customers achieve profitability.
“One of the things that we do for all cases is that we take them on the road to profitability. When these companies hit the volume they need, we help them move,” to larger co-mans, Angulo said. “The volumes in which we play are larger than a pilot facility but smaller than a traditional co-packer or co-manufacturer would require from the customer. That makes us very agile and very fast.”
For 2025, bWorks is focused on consolidating “a bit better” in the big beverage company space. According to Angulo, the beverage incubator already has “several” larger companies as customers but would like to continue this traction and generate more interest.
In the long term, Angulo said bWorks will follow the “changing dynamics and changing landscape of beverages in the U.S., going into health and other sectors as the market evolves.”