As reported today, investment firm Trian Partners released a white paper and letter to the PepsiCo board, reiterating its belief that PepsiCo should split its beverage and snack businesses into two independent public companies. Trian believes that the restructure would sustain growth and benefit the company and its shareholders. Shortly after the story’s publication, PepsiCo e-mailed BevNET with a response.
Trian remains adamant in its belief that PepsiCo should split its snacks and beverages into two independent public companies. PepsiCo, which has been steadfast in its “Power of One” platform, hasn’t budged. The company believes that the strategy allows for “full coordination across the food and beverage operating systems, while also unlocking opportunities to create value across the business.”
For many Americans, GMOs are like monsters under the bed. They don’t exactly know what GMOs are, but they’re worried about them. This sentiment has already influenced shopping habits, according to a recent write-up on hartbeat, the newsletter of The Hartman Group (HG), a consumer research firm.
About a month after Michael F. Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), penned a polemic for The Huffington Post, his group is back at it, questioning former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan for her endorsement of Coca-Cola and membership of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.
Rooibee Roo, a caffeine-free tea marketed toward children, will make its debut at the upcoming Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, Calif. According to the company, the tea is USDA organic, rich in antioxidants, gluten-free and has 100 percent of the recommended daily value of Vitamin C. Per 8 oz. bottle, the product contains 49 calories and 12 or fewer grams of sugar (the exact figures will be decided).
A bill introduced in Sacramento on Thursday, sponsored by State Senator Bill Monning, would require carbonated soft drinks and most other sugar-sweetened beverages sold in the state to carry warning labels for obesity, diabetes and tooth decay, according to reporter Sharon Bernstein of Reuters. The bill has been supported by several public health advocacy groups.
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group jointly announced on Thursday that Dr Pepper will soon be available at the fountain of all of the chain’s approximately 600 restaurants in 41 states. It makes for a good match in flavor diversity, too. Dr Pepper claims to be made with a blend of 23 flavors, unbeknown to non-corporate alchemists. BWW lists 22 flavors of wings on its menu.
Organic and refreshing continue to be the plays for the company’s latest release, a coffee-tea blend in Original and Vanilla flavors, which will debut next month at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif. And as far as ready-to-drink products go, Meghan Conboy, the marketing manager of Sweet Leaf, said that these products serve as the first of their kind.
Washington City Paper reporter Jessica Sidman writes that on Wednesday, with snow looming, lines stretched two lengths of the store. She also took photos of 12 items that, by 8 p.m., were out of stock or close to it.
On Tuesday, Eric Lipton of The New York Times summarized an extensive, recently-publicized lawsuit between beverage-sweetening rivals that outlines more than a decade of manipulation and wrangling. How have the corn refinery and sugar industries responded to waning sales and the jeremiads sprouting from each other, consumer advocate groups and politicians? Spend, spend, spend.
Used to be that if your water was black, you had to call a mechanic. These days, black water could soon be trendy. At least, that’s the hope of Big Geyser, a renowned non-alcoholic beverage distributor in New York, which on Tuesday announced that it will distribute blk. Beverages, an Oakland, N.J.-based company that markets a fulvic acid-enhanced mineral water colored black.
In the past few years, Celsius CEO Gerry David and lead investor Carl DeSantis have sharpened the company’s strategy by focusing on sales of its single-serve cans, six specific U.S. markets, international sales and digital marketing. Results from the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report indicate that the multi-layered strategy continues to catalyze a brand not far removed from a nosedive.
The investment follows a busy few months for KonaRed, including the announcement on Tuesday of its partnership with VDF FutureCeuticals, Inc. The partnership settles a long-standing patent infringement lawsuit between Sandwich Isles Trading Company, the maker of KonaRed’s coffee fruit beverages, and VDF, which alleged that KonaRed had violated coffee fruit production methods and technologies marketed by VDF.
Around Super Bowl season, perhaps the only thing that can match America's gorging of slop is the disgorging of American opinions. These opinions, of course, most commonly have nothing to do with football and everything to do with the ads, which are either shockingly bad or create responses that are shockingly bad. Sometimes both. It's fun.
