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Hemp beverage brands are cautiously expanding their retail footprints and doubling down on distribution partnerships – while also hedging with hemp-free innovations in case it all comes crashing down on November 12.
While dairy will remain on top for the foreseeable future, the cold case is changing today. Dairy industry leaders, however, may be more prepared for that change than anticipated.
In kombucha, the story of the 2010s has been about the category’s rise from a niche beverage to a mainstream product. Having achieved that milestone, the question facing the industry at the precipice of a new decade is how to ensure that growth continues.
While consumer buying habits and nutrition trends are providing healthy tailwinds for the nascent category of kids water, developing a strong identity — to say nothing of building a business around that concept — remains a challenge for all involved, particularly in the face of declining sales for the entire kid-positioned beverage market.
As cold-pressed juice moves into the next stage after its mid-decade height as a hot beverage trend, the subcategory continues to grow but leaves behind a reformed field of wholesale players marketing lower-priced offerings, alongside new competition from the private label space.
Now that the market has begun to take off, the beverage space is flush with new hemp and CBD ingredient suppliers eager to work with innovative brands in the category. That means drink makers looking for partners are spoiled for choice, and also that suppliers must do more to rise above the noise.
As legacy brands evolve and new ones emerge, consumers’ understanding of alkalinity as both a functional component and a connotation of premium quality in water is changing as well.
As the strategics stake their ground(s) in coffee, independent cold brew remains a vibrant space that the leading companies have yet to fully explore. Industry analysts say independent brands are just getting started.
Having established a level of awareness for the category – one that continues to rise – kombucha and probiotic drink makers are now looking to grow their consumer base beyond the mix of urban millennials and traditional homeopaths that helped put them on the map.
While cold-pressed juice may be slowing down, it is by no means dead, and in many ways it’s experiencing the natural growing pains of any emerging category.
Honest Tea is one of a handful of brands emphasizing kids beverages as a way to attract awareness and trial for the rest of their portfolios.
With U.S. consumers expected to purchase around 821 billion gallons of sparkling water just this year, the likes of Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and other major beverage manufacturers have all taken significant steps to expand and strengthen their respective positions in this high growth category.
Although tea is generally perceived as a better-for-you beverage, millennials are changing the way brands in the category think about innovation.
While diet trends come and go, the rapid rise of the ketogenic diet represents a new variation on the evergreen low-carb approach to nutrition.
