Starbucks has announced a new deal with Whole Foods that will take its Evolution Fresh line of super-premium juices nationwide. Evolution Fresh, which had been sold primarily along the West Coast and parts of the Northeast, will be carried in all eight Whole Foods regions, and Starbucks plans for the brand to be sold in approximately 8,000 of its cafes and other grocery locations by the end of the year.
In a statement, The Center of Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), an influential consumer advocacy group, cited “carefully conducted studies by the U.S. government [which] found clear-cut evidence that aloe vera extracts caused intestinal cancers in male and female laboratory rats,” as reasoning for its decision to give aloe vera an “avoid" rating in its Chemical Cuisine guide to food additives.
Despite sustained criticism of the category by government regulators and consumer health advocates, energy drinks continue to sell at a strong rate in convenience stores, according to recent Nielsen data released in a new Wells Fargo Securities report.
BevNET’s New Beverage Guide is the most comprehensive collection of non-alcoholic beverages compiled annually. The guide will be promoted to 19,000 readers in BevNET Magazine and 100,000 monthly visitors via BevNET.com. BevNET’s Best of 2013 Awards, which will be announced in December, will feature winners in over 12 categories.
Kevin McClafferty, who presided over a highly successful launch and rapid growth of Marley’s Mellow Mood, has resigned as president and CEO of Viva Beverages, which markets the Marley brand, according to a report in Beverage Business Insights (BBI).
For L.A. Libations, the introduction of its Aloe Gloe brand in 2011 marked a significant turning point for the three-year old beverage incubator. Until then, the company had developed sales and distribution strategies for a host of other entrepreneurial beverage brands, including Zico and Neuro, and had little experience with manufacturing.
While overall sales of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) remain weak, plummeting sales of diet CSDs represented perhaps the most intriguing revelation from a rather gloomy Wells Fargo Securities report covering Nielsen xAOC (expanded all outlets combined) sales data over a four-week period ending on Aug. 13.
With a deep and established presence in the Los Angeles market and having recently gained a toehold in New York City, Activate is now setting its sights on broader awareness of its cap-dispensing water brand and is prepping to launch a number of line extensions designed to reach a wider swath of consumers.
Arnold Ventura, the Stanford Business School-trained MBA who started the Coba line of Mexican themed drinks, has left the business to join PepsiCo's Naked Emerging Brands group as a natural product channel strategist.
Scientists have been meeting during The Use and Biology of Energy Drinks: Current Knowledge and Critical Gaps, a conference held Thursday and Friday at the Neuroscience Center Building in Rockville, Md. to try to determine the extent of research into these products, which have come under increasing regulatory scrutiny.
It seems that Ringo and the Beatles were well ahead of their time, beverage wise. Using a little poetic license, I assume they meant things should be natural. Yes, I know they didn’t really mean that, but I wanted a lead-in to the theme of natural, and I love the Beatles.
Amid growing concerns about the safety of artificial sweeteners, and faced with declining sales of its diet carbonated soft drinks (CSD) The Coca-Cola Co. has launched a series of new ads defending the company’s use of aspartame.
Line extensions are officially the name of the game here, as we see why the combination of Coke distribution and Monster Energy is so potent: look what it’s done with Monster Rehab. It’s now bigger than Rockstar, according to IRI. Meanwhile, Java Monster and Red Bull Total Zero are also huge products in their own right, filling out strong market niches.
Nine months after its acquisition of Hydrive Energy, Austin, Texas-based Big Red has revamped and relaunched the brand, which the company now markets as an "energy water."
