When Titans Battle for Balance
Once built around one potent brand, companies like Coke, Pepsi, AB-InBev, Campbell’s are adjusting to changing times and changing tastes, including some consumers who disdain their core brands altogether.
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
Still Infused with Faith
“The cap category hasn’t even started yet,” insists Mikel Anderson, whose Blast Cap Technologies develops and sells caps to other manufacturers. “It’s not even born yet."
Tazo Founder Steven Smith Dead at 65
The co-founder of Tazo, Stash, and Smith Teamaker died on Monday. Reporter Richard Read, has touchingly written about Smith's life and last days.
“Entrepreneurial Junkie” Lance Collins Raises Curtain on Core Natural
Premium water is growing fast, there’s a void in the distribution market, and, just as nature abhors a vacuum, Lance Collins can’t stand a chance to go after white space in the supply chain.
Video: New Beverage Brands on Top at Expo West
In just its second year, but growing, the top floor experience is still relatively new to the ever-expanding Natural Products Expo West, which concluded on Sunday, March 8 in Anaheim, Calif. Nevertheless, a tour of its lower-priced, smaller booths easily lent insight into some of the bleeding-edge trends in the entrepreneurial beverage business, as well as key ingredients as well.
Investing: Nothing Splashy, But Lots of Investors in the Expo West Pool
With a specialty in handling the kinds of emerging brands that are typically found sampling out of their booths at Natural Products Expo West, the more than 100 different fundraising rounds handled by food-and-beverage specialty law firm the Giannuzzi Group alone should serve as a fine indicator of the investment buzz that surrounded the event.
The Editors’ Dozen: Key Product Discoveries Video from Expo West
There were hundreds of new beverage brands, re-branded products, new sub-lines and changed formulations at Natural Products Expo West, which concluded its three-day stand in Anaheim, Calif. on Sunday, March 8. In the report below, BevNET correspondents John Craven and Ray Latif point out some of the most important and impactful new products.
Made in Nature Aims to Update Center Store with Telula Juices
Made in Nature is trying to zig while others are zagging, introducing a new set of nutritious, premium juices called Telula in the shelf-stable juice aisle, long considered something of a center store backwater.
Tumeric: Elixir of Life Rebrands as Temple Turmeric
Renamed as Temple Turmeric, the brand's new label that emphasizes and centers the mandala artwork on the labels of the high pressure processed, juice-and-nutrient-rich product line.
Suja Squeezes Hollywood Wallets: CAA, DiCaprio, Leto, Vergara Invest
Today Suja revealed that its latest investment round had included some of the best-known actors on the planet.
Jeff Rubenstein: From Coconuts to Watermelon in Two Moves
Rubenstein said he was recruited to WTRMLN WTR by marketing ace Rohan Oza, his former boss at the Coca-Cola Co., Inc.
Transitional Times at Runa
Last October, Runa opened its doors to a much bigger cash infusion from MetaBrand Capital, a newly launched investment arm of MetaBrand’s food and beverage consulting firm.
Laden with Beverage Ties, Krave Jerky Sold to Hershey’s
Meaty sales for a company stocked with beverage business veterans.
Naked Emerging Brands Shaken Up, Sales Force Consolidated
During its three-year run, Naked Emerging Brands created one partnership, but has not developed as a VC shop and struggled to define itself within the Pepsi system.