Headlines

It’s not so much been a long time coming as it is a long way for them to come, but Red Bull has finally announced that it was going to move three flavored line extensions from overseas into U.S. markets. The company says it will unveil the three tomorrow at the opening of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in Las Vegas.

Count the Sambazon team among those organic beverage entrepreneurs -- including Mama Chia's Janie Hoffman and Honest Tea's Seth Goldman -- who are publicly supporting Proposition 37, which would force companies using Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) to label their products as such.

The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) annual show is less than a week away in Las Vegas. The largest event for the convenience and petroleum retailing industry, NACS is also one of the beverage industry’s most important events of the year. This year’s show features over 100 beverage companies, and BevNET has created a ready-to-print planner to help you navigate the event.

As Rising Beverage Co. prepares to relocate its headquarters from Newport Beach, to Los Angeles, Dan Holland has stepped down as CEO citing concerns about a long commute. Rising Beverage, the marketer of twist-cap brand Activate, has elevated COO Reza Mirza to the role of president. According to Mirza, Rising Beverage chairman Michael Eisner, the former chairman of Disney and the father of Activate co-founder Anders Eisner, will take a more active role in the company.

It's down in the trenches, dirty, and often ugly. That's the entrepreneurial beverage business, according to Jack Brennan, a managing partner at advisory firm GBS Growth Partners, and a beverage industry veteran with decades of experience in beverage distribution, retail sales, marketing and finance. Brennan, who cut his teeth launching new business ventures in Asia with The Coca-Cola Co., Inc., currently advises early stage companies on growth and development strategies.

FRS recently cut a significant number of positions (albeit fewer than 20) as it realigns itself to transition from a sales and marketing model supported significantly via PepsiCo’s warehouse division to one that is staffed by brand incubation house L.A. Libations.

Rebranding itself as a product for everyday active consumers, AQUAHydrate has unveiled a new logo, label, and marketing strategy. Under a new management team led by former Pabst and Fiji chief John Cochran, and backed by a number of well-known celebrities and investors, including Mark Wahlberg, Sean Combs, and grocery magnate Ron Burkle, the company has shifted its focus away from a narrow set of elite athletes to "a broader swath of active, health-conscious consumers."

I’m from the old school. I’ve written, many a time, my aversion for much of modern technology, although often it’s not in longhand anymore. Friends, both personal and professional, are aghast that I still haven’t embraced a smart phone and the world that it opens up. My colleagues kid me about it, although they seem to accept that they’ll never see me log into our Sales Force system anytime soon. I just turned 64, and, somehow, I’ve been able to get by and stay connected to the industry just fine.