Sometime in the last decade or so, while we were all worried about staying hydrated, American consumers made an important decision: why shouldn’t the bottled water products that they spend over $21 billion on annually reflect the same kind of dynamic branding, packaging, flavors and functional benefits that they expect from other major beverage categories?
Entering 2022, the beer industry remained in a state of recovery. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had wiped out an entire sales channel and shifted purchasing to off-premise retailers, which fueled a growing number of at-home occasions. Eighteen months removed from those events, the industry was still mounting its comeback.
BevNET’s annual Functional Beverage Guide is an important resource to thousands of beverage brands, natural food brands, craft beer brands, distributors, retailers, and bottlers.
From a global pandemic to war in Ukraine to a raft of economic challenges, 2022 is something of a golden age for anxiety and stress. In other words, it’s a good time to be selling CBD.
Once a category that had appeared stagnant, an influx of functional innovations has turned powdered beverages into a fast-growing space and a hotbed for M&A and investment activity.
So is it possible for an entrepreneur to thrive within the corporate colossus that just acquired your company? Surveying our beverage space, I can think of very few who have, which makes me think Brenner is right. The one who comes to my mind is Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman. He seems like the kind of guy with a high emotional IQ, if you believe that concept.
The Brewers Association’s (BA) largest industry event, the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), returns at its regularly scheduled time of year but also at a time of flux.
On the last day of a four-day event, the reports started circulating online, then on to the Natural Products Expo West floor. Claims from at least two women who were brave enough to speak up, to make it clear that men were harassing, threatening, and improperly touching them; that they were being treated like any success they found might be due to their sex appeal alone; that, as with so many places and experiences, they were being targeted because they were women.
In craft beer news: 42 North, 2085 Brewery Launch Open-Source Collaboration Beer to Support Ukraine; JuneShine Launches RTD Canned Cocktails In Next Step Toward Becoming Lifestyle Brand; Stone Brewing Invests $2.7M in Virginia Facility; Juice Force Hazy Imperial IPA on Pace to be Top 4 Voodoo Ranger Brand in 2022; Boston Beer and PepsiCo Launch Hard MTN Dew in Florida, Iowa and Tennessee.
Sometimes it all comes in a rush, like it did for me in the first two weeks in March. It started with my wife -- still holding our granddaughter in her arms! -- slipping and falling at the Museum of Natural History.
In food industry news: Good Culture Closes $64M Round, Targets $100M in Sales, LesserEvil Acquires R.E.D.D. Bar and 4505 Sells to Benestar Brands, CEO Says Company Will Move Beyond Meat Snacks.
After a two-year enforced layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was back to business at Natural Products Expo West this year, as brands, entrepreneurs and industry figures converged in Anaheim, California for the annual conference and trade show. But before the booths opened, attendees found themselves wrestling with two themes during much of the “pregame” programming — opportunity and urgency.
After two years of virtual events and pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions, an in-person return to the Specialty Food Association’s Winter Fancy Foods show brought an eagerness to boast about the people and processes behind each product. While every food and beverage brand has been subject to challenges over the past two years, many displayed a sense of pride in every unique supply chain approach. Exhibitors presented a variety of new flavor and nutrition profiles, shared the benefits of small-farming regenerative networks and displayed new creations using upcycled and side-stream ingredients.
Juice and drink smoothies by sales and growth.
In beverage news: Sanzo Lands $10M Investment from CircleUp; Disney-Pixar LTO Arrives in March; KKR To Acquire Majority Stake in Refresco; Cana Develops ‘Beverage Printer’; L.A. Libations Announces ‘L.A. Vibrations’ Marketing Unit.
