BevNET Live Winter 2025 Recap

The annual BevNET Winter event brought its usual cast of industry stakeholders, entrepreneurs, investors and suppliers to Marina Del Rey, California in early December.

The packed schedule of panel discussions, presentations and numerous opportunities to network around a range of topics from the investment climate and marketing approaches to the hard decisions surrounding production and distribution strategies.

BevNET Live Winter 2025 kicked off with the founders of one of the biggest acquisitions last year. Poppi’s husband-and-wife team, Stephen and Allison Ellsworth, came to the beverage industry conference reflecting on how the modern soda brand developed into a mainstream drink option and netted its $1.95 billion PepsiCo deal.

The co-founders discussed how Poppi’s retail launch coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. At the time, it “threw a wrench in all our plans” as Poppi wasn’t able to sample or demo in grocery stores, but the timing ended up being a “blessing in disguise,” Allison Ellsworth said.

“What it did was allow us to see an opportunity as a digital-first brand,” she said. “Everybody worldwide was thinking about their health and wellness for the first time.”

The brand decided to go “100% in Amazon” and establish a presence on social media platforms and with influencers to build a better-for-you identity that still spoke to soda consumers.

Later in the day, HOP WTR CEO Jordan Bass, KetoneIQ CEO Michael Brandt and Celsius chief brand officer Kyle Watson led a panel on strategies for success in functional beverages. The three brand leaders spoke about finding a core consumer group and building around those dedicated customers.

“Functional is table stakes for all of us right now,” Bass told audience members. “Function is now part of every beverage. About 82% of consumers say they are looking for functionality in their beverage choices.”

To break through, successful brands have built around community and the drinks become a lifestyle choice, Watson said.

“Having an alignment with people’s emotional connection to your product is the most important thing,” she added.

During the afternoon session, Generous Brands “chief transformation officer” Todd Putman sat down with BevNET Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman to discuss the juice-centric company’s acquisition strategy and how it is building a powerhouse in cold-chain distributed drinks with kombucha brand Health Ade joining the Bolthouse Farms and Evolution Fresh brands (along with a Sambazon partnership).

A panel discussion on the future of the hemp-derived THC beverage category closed out the day. Brand leaders from Cann, Houseplant, Nowadays and JuneShine Brands walked BevNET Live attendees through the rollercoaster of regulations the intoxicating hemp set rode in 2025, and considered how to set a path forward in 2026.

On Day Two, the show started with a presentation from buying collective INFRA, which helps brands cast a wider net among independent retailers. Category manager Kim Route and director of member programs Angela Bozo spoke to attendees about how INFRA empowers smaller retailers to compete with larger chains. The INFRA team presented how emerging drink brands could leverage the collective’s network of retailers and onboard with more specialty and independent retailers for less work.

Afterward, Spindrift founder Bill Creelman took the stage with Gryphon Partners’ Ryan Fagan to discuss how the flavored sparkling water brand is preparing for future growth under its new private equity owners.

Spindrift might already be firmly entrenched as a recognizable brand in the flavored sparkling water set, but with Gryphon’s resources and management, Creelman still sees a lot of white space in the category.

“The biggest opportunity ahead is growing awareness and educating the consumer on what makes [Spindrift] different,” he said.

Speaking directly to emerging drink brands, Creelman advised entrepreneurs to always look toward the future and think about what “the next five or ten years are going to look like.”

An adult non-alcoholic alternative drink panel discussed how to ride the category’s momentum without getting complacent.

Kin Euphorics CEO and founder Jen Batchelor, Convivialite Ventures partner Brandon Yahn and Dan Gasper, managing partner at Nex-Drinks Partners, spoke to the increasing opportunity in alcohol reduction.

While it might seem there is no ceiling to the category, Yahn explained that there is still a lot of education needed for consumers to understand the use occasions for ANA drinks. He also flagged that consistency and execution is key because there is a “higher bar” that consumers demand for alcohol-free cocktails.

“There’s a long tail of brands and it’s a matter of which ones will rise to the top,” he said. “Ultimately, retailers aren’t going to carry 30 or 40 brands, but maybe 10, at most. There’s a future for this category and a future for the brands that can show continuous growth as they watch their cash flow and get through this tough investment period.”

As always, the Winter event closed with the announcement that Projo Power Coffee had won this year’s title of New Beverage Showdown winner. Projo beat out stiff competition from the other finalists: Tizz tangerine fizz, Rhine Stone non-alcoholic drinks, Stursi zero-proof cocktails, No Cap! next-gen soda and Mocean energy drinks.