As Editor-in-Chief of BevNET, Jeff Klineman oversees the organization's reporting across all of its web sites, as well as BevNET Magazine. Jeff also plans, curates, and hosts the BevNET Live and NOSH Live conferences. Jeff previously worked as a newspaper reporter for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, the Boston TAB and the Metrowest Daily News, and has freelanced for publications like Slate, Boston Magazine, Self, George, Commonwealth, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. A frequently-cited expert on the beverage industry, Jeff has also twice been named in Forbes as one of the 25 Most Influential when it comes to Consumer and Retail Companies.
On the floor of NACS, it was clear that companies are handling the issue of a letter to 17 of them from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which had set a deadline of Monday, Oct. 14 for responses, very, very delicately.
Vanilla Chai from O.N.E., Chia and Protein from Naked, new Gatorade packaging and a whole lot of fast-follows were on display at the big Pepsi booth in the bowels of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Karma Water, best known as one of the leading mix-to-drink brands utilizing a cap that enables vitamins to be dispersed into a bottle of water, has launched a new alkaline…
The thing to remember here is that In Zone wasn’t doing badly. The brand, best known for its distinctive “toppers” – toylike straws molded in the image of kid-friendly licensed characters sitting atop toddler and kid-focused juice drinks -- has been on an upward trajectory over the past several years, after taking the time to go quiet and rework its distribution strategy in 2007.
Two of the original three founders of Dream Water have now left the widely-distributed sleep shot company. Vincent Porpiglia, the company’s COO and acting CMO, resigned last week to pursue other options.
Both the outside and inside of the functional brand are going through major changes ahead of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in Atlanta, trying to simplify its message and focus behind three key parts of its product assortment.
In this video, BevNET CEO John Craven and Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman examine the impact of Expo East for small and emerging brands and how new companies have used innovation to differentiate themselves and, in the process, altered the trajectory of natural beverage categories.
Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore last week confirmed that High Pressure Processing is indeed the hottest trend in beverage business on the natural side – the next proof point will likely fall to consumers. Still, pricing remains an issue.
Coca-Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands Unit (VEB) is planning to reorganize the sales forces of its three wholly-owned entrepreneurial brands into a single unit capable of selling its portfolio throughout the Coke system, BevNET has learned.
The most important point to be made during the congressional hearings on energy drinks was made early on, and it’s one that everyone seemed to agree on: it’s just not that cool to try to hook the youth of America on energy drinks before they’re old enough to drive.
Long an industry heavyweight through his position as V.P. of marketing and immediate consumption sales for the giant independent bottler and distributor, Polar beverages -- symbolized by its Polar Bear mascot, Orson -- Gerry Martin told BevNET he is leaving Polar to help lead of Al’s Beverage Co., Inc., one of the country’s largest manufacturers and distributors of fountain soft drink concentrates.
5-Hour Energy stands at more than $1 billion in sales. That, however, is pretty much where it’s been mired for the better part of the year. In fact, since last October, the brand has largely stagnated, hitting a ceiling of about $1.19 billion, and inching back and fortth. The found sales that have powered the brand’s five year ascension seems to have tailed off. So what could be sapping 5-Hour Energy’s energy?
If you’ve got lemons, make lemonade. For companies trying to get a leg up in the grab-and-go world of the juice cooler, that’s been exactly what’s been going on. While ersatz “fruit drinks” have been in decline for years, the lemonade category has been one of the few flavors that drink makers can turn to when they want an inexpensive winner.
Sensing the opportunity to accelerate brand growth and eager to bring larger chain accounts on board in the New England region, Bai has switched its distribution contracts to giant independent Polar Beverage from a network of smaller DSD operations in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
