Pitaya Plus has gained new distribution in over 100 Ralph's stores in Southern California. Ralph's is the first mainstream grocer to carry the all-natural pitaya (more commonly known as dragonfruit) drink, which is also distributed in hundreds of natural foods stores along the East and West coasts, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, and New Leaf.
Calling New York City's proposed ban on large containers of sugar sweetened drinks an "arbitrary" idea that "complicates the practical realities of commerce," Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman expressed frustration with Mayor Mike Bloomberg's plan in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal today.
Despite weaker sales for the mid-calorie soda, PepsiCo has launched two limited-edition flavors for Pepsi NEXT. Pepsi debuted Pepsi NEXT Cherry Vanilla and Pepsi NEXT Paradise Mango earlier this week, and each will be available nationwide through September 8.
Hey, readers: if you’re in the beverage innovation game and haven’t yet read Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine: How Creativity Works (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), you ought to put it on your summer…
Long overlooked in favor of their ready-to-drink counterparts, powdered drinks have benefited from a spate of innovation in recent years with manufacturers launching a range of new products and formulations specifically targeted to meet consumer demand for functionality. Armed with an array of novel ingredients and flavors, powder drinks are aiming for prime placement and wider distribution in mass market and grocery chains.
The long-running patent infringement lawsuit between Sandwich Isles Trading Company, maker of KonaRed coffee fruit beverages, and VDF FutureCeuticals appears to be nearing an end. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently made its final ruling that VDF's patent claims against KonaRed - related to coffee fruit production methods and technologies marketed by VDF - are invalid. VDF now has until September to appeal the USPTO's decision.
A recent Wells Fargo Securities survey of convenience store retailers found that most saw an uptick in beverage sales over the July 4 holiday as compared to sales last year, according to Convenience Store News. The survey, which polled beverage retailers representing thousands of convenience stores, revealed that 75 percent of respondents had better beverage sales than last year with 40 percent indicating that sales had increased by more than 5 percent.
Looking for a unique edge in a weakening soft drink market, PepsiCo Inc. plans to launch a new malt-flavored version of Mountain Dew later this summer, according to Reuters. PepsiCo will initially test Mountain Dew Johnson City Gold at Kroger and 7-Eleven stores in select cities in the Midwest as well as Denver, Colo. and Charlotte, N.C. beginning in late August.
The evolution of the sports nutrition category has been riddled with a range of so-called groundbreaking formulations and chemically manufactured ingredients that are often advertised as “developed for the highest athletic performance.” Yet with the recent exception of coconut water, the infusion of protein into sports drinks represents an added ingredient with the most definable appeal to consumers, and in particular, serious athletes.
With distribution in over 100,000 accounts across the U.S., Honest Tea has now set its sights on increasing brand awareness and, today, launched its first integrated marketing campaign. Dubbed "Refreshingly Honest," the campaign will emphasize Honest Tea's use of healthy and organic ingredients and incorporates a variety of ad mediums including television, social media, and outdoor signage.
Calling Under Armor’s lawsuit against the company “a prime example of trademark bullying by a corporate giant,” Body Armor says it’s ready to do battle with the sports apparel company. In its first response to the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Under Armour in April, Body Armor, a multifunction beverage, stated that “it is nearly impossible that consumers or retailers of either brand would confuse the two” and vowed to fight what chairman Mike Repole called a “ridiculous” claim.
As a growing number of angel investors in early stage beverage companies comes from within the industry itself, the insight of successful beverage company founders and executives who have gone on to become successful investors became an informative panel discussion at BevNET Live Summer 2012.
Say hello to the hottest new sub-sector of the sparkling category, “ICE”. Why ICE? What does it mean? We don’t know, maybe it’s a regional thing. Actually, it’s a regional…
A look at how the energy drink category continues to grow by expanding its footprint horizontally into other categories, including coffee and sports. The cause of this varietal explosion? Competition,…
