After eleven early stage beverage brands took to the stage in Santa Monica this morning to kick off day one of BevNET Live Winter 2021 event, the field has been narrowed to six who will compete for the title of champion in tomorrow’s final of New Beverage Showdown 22, sponsored by Coca-Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands Unit (VEB).
The final round of the competition will include mood boosting alternative-cocktail hiyo, alt-dairy pecan milk maker THIS PKN, tea and lemonade maker Simplicity Beverage Company, functional kid-focused fruit shake Gnubees, pumpkin seed milk maker Patch Organics and functional cold brew coffee Later Days Coffee Co.,
The finalists were selected from a field of 11 competitors which also included spirulina-infused drink FUL Foods, circadian rhythm-balancing beverage brand Intent, cocktail-alternative brand Mingle Mocktails, electrolyte-infused, mission-driven Change Water and low-caffeine cascara beverage ALLDAE Cascara. Each entrepreneur had two -minutes to pitch their brand to the panel of judges on a range of better-for-you and better-for-the-planet beverages ranging from distinct dairy alternatives to function-forward cocktail alternatives.
The judges for the semi-final round included BevNET CMO Mike Schnieder; Brian Kelley, Chairman/CEO, Pearlrock Partners; Emily Vangelovski, Sr. Brand Manager at Coca-Cola of New Revenue Streams — Emerging Brands; and Thuy Nguyen, Category Manager, Good Eggs.
The competing brands presented a variety of innovations that crossed categories lines with many functional drinks intended to extend beyond their typical use occasion. While the judges highlighted that each competitor brought great ideas and unique products to the stage, closing commentary included suggestions for product improvement including aligning flavor and formats with use occasions and packaging modifications to make the beverages pop on-shelf.
Looking towards the final round, the judges have encouraged finalists to dive deeper into their individual brand stories and show how they have differentiated themselves within their respective categories.
“Some of [the brands] gave really good intel and background on why they are here, the purpose and the brand story,” Vangelovski said. “And some, they needed to pull that a little bit further through.”
“From a scalability standpoint, someone once told me that to make a great beverage, you have to find something you can be the low cost producer of and something the world can’t live without,” Kelley added. “That sounds really simple, but it’s really difficult and if you think about what the world can’t live without you really have to think about your brand… the cost will come down the road if you have a big enough idea. I would focus on the idea first — we have a lot of good ideas here, but they are going to require some streamlining and extracting to get them there.”
The final round of the competition will take place in two parts with part one at 11:00 am PST and part two at 2:00 pm PST. The winner of New Beverage Showdown 22 will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday, December 7 at 3:20 pm PST at the closing of BevNET’s annual winter conference.
The winner of the competition will receive a $10,000 awareness-building advertising package and join the cohort of previous New Beverage Showdown champions such as Agua Bonita, Kite, Moment, Corsa, HopTea, CANN, RISE Brewing Co., and Health-Ade Kombucha.