A few months after Honest Tea partnered with Wendy’s to launch a new organic green tea beverage exclusively in the fast food chain, the company’s Honest Kids brand is now being rolled out nationwide at Wendy’s as part of a revamped kid’s meal and is currently available in select Chick-Fil-A stores.
The category of cold-pressed juice has matured, and at Whole Foods, the largest retailer in the natural grocery channel, there's not much more room -- if any -- for brands seeking a national presence within the chain. That's the assessment of a high-ranking Whole Foods executive who spoke with BevNET on the floor at the 2015 Natural Products Expo East.
Hood's Milkwise beverage is described by the company as “a proprietary blend of water, lowfat milk, sugar and other ingredients blended together to optimize taste while delivering lower sugar, fewer calories and more calcium than traditional dairy milk."
Approximately 12 months ago, Braintrust Investments, a Burr Ridge, Ill.-based private investment firm, announced that it had acquired premium white tea brand Inko’s. Over the past year, Braintrust, led by former Pabst Brewing CEO Kevin Kotecki, has tweaked Inko’s branding, formulation and product lineup, and the company showcased the updates at the recently held 2015 Natural Products Expo East.
Perhaps more than any particular hot new trend, what stuck out at last week’s Natural Products Expo East trade show at the Baltimore Convention Center was the visible growth and continued maturation of beverage categories and brands which were in their infancy just a few short years ago.
As demand for cold-pressed juice continues to expand, Goodnature, one of the largest manufacturers of commercial cold-pressing equipment, sees opportunity to make production simple and feasibly available for a wide range of retailers, particularly neighborhood cafes and small, independent grocers, with the launch of a new machine designed to fit on most commercial kitchen countertops.
In its response, Coca-Cola pledged to fight its bill, saying that it “firmly believes that the assessments are without merit and plans to pursue all administrative and judicial remedies necessary to resolve this matter.”
Within the natural channel, the development of the cold-brew coffee category has been rapid and highly visible, and a new report from market research company Mintel confirms that the beverage is a hot commodity.
KBI today announced the news, with president and co-founder Hannah Crum calling the latest initiative “the next logical progression for an industry that is proactively self regulating.”
While for years the Non-GMO Project has held a virtual monopoly on certification, NSF International, a global independent organization that writes standards as well as tests and certifies products for the food, water, health sciences, and consumer goods industries, is now launching its own program.
As volume sales of carbonated soft drinks remain in a freefall, major soda manufacturers continue to push the envelope with price increases, yet struggle to offset the sustained declines.
In a company release, Califia stated that new capital “will be used primarily to invest in deepening production and distribution capabilities, research and development, new hires, and sales and marketing.”
Nearly a year after PepsiCo unveiled a limited test of two of its soda brands for use in SodaStream’s at-home carbonation machines, the two companies have expanded the partnership, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For those attending the 2015 Natural Products Expo East, we've created a handy printable Show Planner, which includes a comprehensive list of beverage exhibitors listed both alphabetically and by booth number.
