Morgan Stanley: Beverage Prices Up Year-Over-Year
They’ve crunched the Consumer Price Index numbers over at investment bank Morgan Stanley, and the takeaway is this: beverages got more expensive last year, and as the year went on,…
Jeffrey Klineman
Editor-in-Chief
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.
Posts by Jeffrey Klineman
Repole Gets Into Body Armor
With the addition of former Vitaminwater president Mike Repole to the board of year-old multifunction beverage Body Armor, the second of three key executives on the team that grew and sold Glaceau to the Coca-Cola Co., Inc. is now back in the beverage business. Repole, has spent the past four years -- and his share of the $4.1 billion Coke paid for Glaceau -- breeding horses and growing both the Pirate's Booty snack brand and Energy Kitchen restaurants.
Piña Pullback: Zico Changes SKU Names
As a product class, coconut water is heading to the mainstream. But at least one company has decided that, in some cases, the liquid is exotic enough without the extra…
Beverage Companies Flooding the Snack Aisle
Just when you thought it couldn't get any more crowded with beverage company relations, particularly given the dueling investments from Glaceau millionaires Rohan Oza (Popchips) and Mike Repole and Darius Bikoff (Pirate's Booty) the snack aisle is once again facing incursions from its liquid relations. Which is a complicated way of saying that iced tea and juice titan AriZona is heading into the snack food business with AriZona Chips 'n Dip, a square package with separate compartments for tortilla chips and either cheese dip or salsa.
Dublin Dr Pepper Done; Suit Settlement Saves Sugar
A trademark infringement lawsuit filed in June by Dr Pepper Snapple Group against Dublin Dr Pepper, the soda's oldest distributor, has been settled, with the larger company regaining control of the brand in Dublin Dr Pepper's six-county area. Dublin Dr Pepper -- founded in 1891 -- had a cult following for its use of unique glass bottles featuring the Dublin name and a recipe that used cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in its version of Dr Pepper.
CE-Yo No Mo’ — Hirshberg Leaves Stonyfield President/CEO Role
He's been a standard-bearer for the organic success story for years, as well as a mentor to Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman, but Stonyfield founder Gary Hirshberg announced today that he's handing day-to-day operations over to former Ben & Jerry's CEO Walt Freese. Hirshberg's sale of Stonyfield to Danone in 2003 -- and subsequent operation of the company as a unit with autonomy within that larger company -- is largely seen as a model for Goldman's sale of Honest Tea to the Coca-Cola Co. last year.
Jenkins, PCGA Looking for NEXT Investors
It’s an interesting play in an expanding space: NEXT Proteins, the current project of Designer Whey and Detour Bar founder David Jenkins, is attempting to sell its collection of protein-centric…
Nestea to Change Hands While Coke Grows FUZE
The Coca-Cola Co. and Nestle have confirmed that Beverage Partners Worldwide — their 20-year partnership marketing Nestea in the U.S. has been fundamentally altered to focus away from North America.…
Breaking: NWNA to take Nestea, Coke to In-FUZE Tea Biz, Report Says
The Coca-Cola Co. will be offering a new cold-filled RTD tea made under the FUZE brand to its distribution network after ceding the declining Nestea brand to Nestle, its partner in the fraying Beverage Partners Worldwide joint venture, according to a report in Beverage Digest. The move would allow Nestle Waters North America to take over Nestea in the U.S., rolling it into an expanding tea platform that includes the Sweet Leaf and Tradewinds tea brands.
From HANS to MNST
Well, considering that the energy drink business comprises about 95 percent of the company’s revenue, we don’t think there’s much of a shocker here, but Hansen’s Natural Corp. is changing…
NEXT Proteins, Inc. Adds To Its U.S. and International Patent Portfolio, Hires Partnership Capital Growth to Consider Strategic Partnerships
CARLSBAD, CA – (January 5, 2012) – NEXT Proteins, Inc. (NEXT Proteins), pioneers in the development of the nutrition industry’s top protein products, has been awarded a second patent in…
Xyience Trucks into GNC
Xyience has landed four SKUs of its Xenergy energy drink in specialty nutrition retailer GNC, a store that has increasingly reached out to energy and fitness beverages in the past year. In an just-released announcement, the company indicated that its Mango Guava, Cherry Lime, Cran Razz and Xtreme Fruit Punch varieties would be made available to up to 1,550 GNC stores, while another 300 GNC franchise operations would also be able to carry Xenergy.
Pepsi Tweet Explained: Street King Nabs Honickman Distribution
Pure Growth Partners' co-founder Chris Clarke has lent some context to business partner Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's Twitter message that his company had signed a deal for Pepsi to distribute Street King energy shots. According to Clarke, Street King has landed a key independent Pepsi distributor, the Honickman Group, which is known for its powerful execution in the New York and Mid-Atlantic regions.
50 Tweets: Street King into Pepsi
We’re still chasing this, but over on twitter, the ever-tweeting rapper/actor/occasional beverage mogul Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has told the world that his Street King energy shot has begun some…