For an entrepreneurial beverage company, getting to a million bottles might not be as glamorous as it sounds… just ask the founders of Hotlips Soda. The Portland, Ore.-based company, which has produced a line of premium fruit-based soft drinks since 2003, recently brewed its one millionth bottle of soda. Despite the milestone, David Yudkin and Jeana Edelman, the owners of Hotlips, aren’t celebrating.
In sports, timing and vision are important. So in September, 2009, when Mark and Jon Sider, a pair of highly competitive athletes and brothers, thought they saw a niche of white space in the sports drink category, they went for it. Despite the category’s domination by Gatorade, the brothers felt that the category had room for an all-natural product and that coconut water was the key to its creation. Less than a year later, Greater Than hit the shelves.
Once an outspoken critic of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), Michael Pollan has clarified his views. In an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the food writer now says that research on HFCS shows that the ingredient is no worse than sugar when it comes to the consumer diet. “I’ve done a lot to demonize [HFCS],” Pollan told the newspaper. “And people took away the message that there was something intrinsically wrong with it. A lot of research says that isn’t the case.”
With space rapidly filling up, BevNET Live Winter 11 is on track to be another sellout. If you haven’t already registered for the event, which takes place on December 5…
Coca-Cola has agreed to acquire Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling Co., the fifth-largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States, for $360 million. The agreement follows Coke’s $12.3 billion acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., its largest bottler in North America, last year. The deal is expected to help Coke streamline operations and reduce its overall costs.
Could a symbol, such as a check mark, on the front of a can or bottle help consumers make healthier beverage decisions? The Institute of Medicine (IOM) thinks so. The organization recently released a government-sponsored report recommending that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adopt a single, standardized front-of-package symbol system for all food and beverage packaging.
Recent news that big soda companies like PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Co., Inc. are planning to take price increases to compensate for supplier costs has left smaller companies wondering how they should keep up. BevNET.com spoke with several entrepreneurial beverage firms who face a tough choice: increase pricing or shrink margins. And while many seem to believe that there’s strength in their higher-end retail markets, there’s always the possibility that either they will want to expand – or the bigger fish will decide to spawn in the smaller specialty ponds, as well.
The 74th biennial tradeshow for the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) took place from October 16-18 in Las Vegas. There were more than 30 non-alcoholic beverage companies present, all of whom were very excited to get their products in front of the 4,000+ attendees -- particularly as wholesalers and independent beer distributors look to continue to diversify their NA portfolios.
It’s been a breakout year for Bai and its line of coffee fruit infused beverages. The brand started 2011 on a torrid pace, generating a substantial amount of interest at the Natural Products Expo West show in March and widespread acclaim for its flavor profile and clean, sharp packaging. Additionally, in recent months, Bai developed partnerships with powerful regional DSD distributors from some NIDA affiliates and also the Honickman Group, getting it access to a number of key markets in the Northeast, Southeast and West Coast.
Did you launch your beverage company in the past two years? If so, here’s a reminder to check out the upcoming the New Beverage Showdown 2, which is presented by Venturing & Emerging Brands. The New Beverage Showdown 2 , which will take place at BevNET Live Winter 11 on December 5 & 6 in Santa Monica, CA (register for BevNET Live here), is an amazing opportunity to put your brand on the industry’s radar — as well as take home the $5,000 prize that’s being offered.
MarketsandMarkets has projected the global sports and energy drinks market to reach $52 billion by 2016 in a new report. The report states that sales of sport and energy drinks…
In tiptoeing its way through a label refresh, Honest Tea might want to consider publishing a book about the experience. The company could call it, “How to Win Friends and Not Alienate Your Fanatic Consumer Base.” Though Honest Tea initiated redesign plans nearly three years ago, the company only recently – and quietly -- launched a new label design for its PET line of bottled tea and Honest Ade products. Seth Goldman, the President and “TeaEO” of Honest Tea, explained that as the company made the recent move into national distribution with Coca-Cola, the line needed a bigger visual impact on store...
Powdered drink formulations dominated the recent SupplySide West tradeshow, held October 11-14 in Las Vegas. Though often overshadowed by their RTD counterparts, manufacturers believe that powdered beverages – sometimes called…
Having been in the beverage distribution business for over 25 years, Lou Ferraro thinks he has learned a thing or two about what makes for a successful beverage brand. Ferraro was one of the first employees at distribution powerhouse Big Geyser in New York and has been involved in the growth and success of dozens of entrepreneurial beverage companies. Earlier this year, in what is likely to be the final exam for Ferraro’s accumulated knowledge, he opened Preferred Beverage.
