There’s no excuse – it’s time for my annual office cleaning column, where I look around my beverage collection and mine it for insight. This year it will be especially poignant (for me, at least) as in July I’m moving to a new office a few blocks from my present digs. I have to clear out as much as I can before the move, and that makes for sober reflection of the huge collection of beverages I’ve amassed over the course of 21 years in the industry.
Last week, BevNET Live Summer ’13 turned New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion into a networking and educational mecca for nearly 600 beverage entrepreneurs, suppliers, retailers, distributors. Below are five photo galleries from the event, each showcasing the range of premium content and opportunities offered to attendees of BevNET Live.
Filmed from within the cozy confines of the New Beverage Showdown lounge at BevNET Live Summer '13, we spoke with Justin Prochnow, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig LLP specializing in regulation affecting the beverage industry, who offered up a brief look at some of the most current and pressing legal issues facing beverage brands.
Seemingly every month, an energy drink company takes a black eye from a new, harrowing slate of news, another lawsuit, a demeaning study, a band of legislators with belts tied too tight and constituencies to appease. Whether justified or not, energy drinks have been painted as an evil that’s worthy of no more than the pariah life. But the industry isn’t exactly flabbergasted.
Accepting too many disparate offers has the potential to spread a brand too quickly or even to gut its identity. Therefore, several speakers at BevNET Live last week in New York City echoed Nancy Reagan, advising entrepreneurs to “just say ‘no.’”
As rising waves of demand attract new entrants into the probiotic beverage category, GoodBelly recently made a few significant moves to stand out from the crowd.
Neuro has found distribution in Target, and also killed Sun in favor of Daily. Although, since it's hard to have Daily without the Sun, it's kept the Vitamin D in Daily.
Simply put, the rapid emergence of Sparking ICE on the national stage has been nothing short of extraordinary. Yet, is it possible for the brand to sustain its stratospheric rise? Kevin Klock, the CEO of Talking Rain, has no doubt. In an interview at BevNET Live Summer ’13, Klock indicated that present sales of Sparkling ICE were just the tip of the iceberg and estimated that the brand would reach the $400 million mark by the end of the year.
Vita Coco, the number one-selling coconut water brand in the U.S., has introduced Vita Coco Kids to the market. Made with coconut water, filtered water, natural fruit flavors and vitamin C, the beverages, which come in wedge-shaped 6 oz. Tetra Pak containers with an attached straw, will hit shelves beginning in July.
One week after Ben Weiss, the founder and CEO of bai, said at BevNET Live in New York that he expects his company’s sales to increase fivefold this year, he followed his words with an executive shift, announcing Tuesday that Ken Kurtz has been promoted to company president.
With Mike Kirban’s new-age-y approach to management, which he shared on stage during BevNET Live Summer '13 last week in New York, he revealed that he had established Vita Coco as a state of both mind and business.
It's not quite a Vitaminwater-sized payday for the company's former president, Mike Repole, but for nearly $200 million, Repole and the other investors in snack food company Pirate Brands should keep the horses Repole loves deep in hay and alfalfa for quite a while.
The Coca-Cola Co., Inc. has extended its reach into the rapidly growing world of water enhancers with Powerade Zero Drops, a new line of zero-calorie liquid concentrates. Aimed at on-the-go sports drink consumers, the new products are infused with the same range of electrolytes as its flagship brand.
It's rare to see Don Vultaggio, the co-founder of AriZona Beverage Co., out in a public forum, as he was during his appearance on Tuesday during BevNET Live Summer '13 in New York. But he appeared to be in a fine mood, letting his own style, which symbolizes an insightful, unique nature that has carried his company to sustained achievement, wash over the crowd.
