BevNET Live Summer 2022 returned to New York City on Wednesday for the first time in three years at a “precipitous time,” according to Jeff Klineman, BevNET Editor-in-Chief. Beverage industry leaders and professionals convened during the first session of the two-day industry conference, which opened with a state-of-the-industry discussion featuring insights from retailers, brands, investors and distributors.
While the pandemic may be waning, brands remain vulnerable to looming disruptions, the panelists cautioned, including an uncertain economic climate and continued unexpected supply chain disruptions. In the midst of the chaos, there was an aura of positivity despite the existential threats ahead, with panelists and presenters spreading sentiments of “we are all in this together” in a variety of ways throughout the day, each supplemented by a lesson on how to sustain with purpose and drive onward even when execution becomes a seemingly impossible task.
Growth For Orgain: Learning The Power Of ‘I Don’t Know’ And Other Lessons From An Nontraditional CEO
As founder and CEO of Orgain, Dr. Andrew Abraham built an organic nutrition shake brand by focusing on heart over ego. After sharing the story that led to the brand’s creation, including overcoming a battle with cancer, Abraham said this experience sparked an unerring drive to know more and do better, leading him to devour books on nutritional science and how quality ingredients impact the body’s recovery from disease.
During Orgain’s early years, Abraham ran the company on his own – along with some help from his alter-ego Mike, used for customer service calls. After running all aspects of the business and with his face already on the back of the bottle, consumers calling the line started to express confusion as to why the founder of the brand was still answering the phones. So Abraham began answering the phone as “Mike,” and quickly became “the best customer service rep Orgain ever had,” in addition to his role as CEO.
Eventually, Abraham and “Mike” brought on a few more team members, but maintained the scrapiness of the brand’s roots. After hiring his first VP of operations, Abraham said he unintentionally opened the floodgate of “everything he was doing wrong” and began to recognize how hiring the proper team could actually save him money in the long run.
As the team grew and Orgain took on the nutrition category, Abraham fought to maintain focus on its original mission. That mission has also been shaped by the way he operates as a leader, through a top-down approach that encourages, and almost requires feedback on the brand’s performance from team members at all levels of operations. By establishing an open door policy and holding monthly town halls, Abraham said he has created a work environment in which employees are free to voice their concerns about the company and ways it can improve.
David Klavsons Talks About Turning Around Calypso And The Power of Palm Trees
In 2017, David Klavsons took the helm at Milwaukee-based King Juice, the parent company of lemonade brand Calypso, with the intention of turning around the company and putting it on the path to profitability. On stage on Wednesday, he talked about how when he assumed the role, the state of the business was even worse than he first thought.
“We didn’t even have sales reports, we didn’t even know where this stuff was being sold,” he said.
Within the past four years, Klavsons has executed that turnaround, putting Calypso on an upward trajectory and claiming the spot of the top-selling single-serve lemonade brand. Although he’s structured the company’s long term growth with sustainable, actionable goals and mapped out a clear direction on what Calypso can become, Klavsons said the work is not over.
“You have to start with research regarding what you’re going to do, but it never ends,” he emphasized. “You constantly have to be adjusting that model and learning your way through it.”
Before the turnaround was even in sight, Klavsons said his first goal was to identify Calypso’s key consumer. Through data and analytics, the company garnered extensive insight into what aspects of the brand resonated with consumers: namely, the concept of an ‘Island in a Bottle’, specifically from the palm trees on the pack, had an overwhelmingly positive response among its fans.
Armed with that knowledge, the brand steered focus towards marketing tactics and how to iterate the product against broader consumer interests like low sugar. That trajectory has been steadily and incrementally executed with the help of what Klavsons called his new world class Calypso team. Echoing similar sentiments as Orgain founder Andrew Abraham’s, Klavsons emphasized “it’s all about the team.” The two CEO’s advised founders in the audience to hire people that are “better and smarter than you,” and to go after experienced individuals with track records for building effective areas.
However, Klavsons ended by cautioning other brand leaders not to chase their growth vector’s all at once, emphasizing the importance of being aware of the direction but not prematurely executing unless that next step is securely within the organization’s capabilities.
Kathy Galloway Shares Excuse-proof Recipe For Infusing Purpose, Mission and Vision
Purpose is a reason for being beyond financial success and infuses motivation that sustains farther than any bottom line, according to Kathy Galloway, founder of kgalloway consulting. Every founder should strive to infuse a draft of their mission, purpose and vision into the brand upon its creation, she recommended, starting with defining its “why” and using that as its north star.
“I strongly believe that you can’t screw up….you can’t get this wrong,” said Galloway. “You are showing up with a positive intention and trying to create a purpose for yourself. If you have to pivot, or you have to optimize, no one is going to blame you for going from something good to going to something better. There really is no reason for you not to attempt this and have at least a draft of it. You literally cannot screw this up.”
Other highlights from the day include:
- Harmless Harvest CEO Ben Mand, Ocean Spray CCO/GM Monisha Dabek and Uncle Matt’s Organic CEO & founder Matt McLean shared lessons for innovating and calculating growth during uncertain times and the value of remaining flexible with margins while continuing to execute against your roadmap.
- Soda’s spilling back into consumer’s carts, according to Nat Noone, CEO of New Wave Soda; Tom First, founder of Culture Pop; and Allison Ellsworth, co-founder of Poppi. The three better-for-you CSD makers tackled the intricacies of infusing emotional responses into the revival of the soda set and how consumers are resonating with brand authenticity, above all else.
- Adult non-alcoholic beverages are moving beyond trend status, according to panelists George Daines of Whole Foods; Morgan McLachlan of AMASS Botanicals; Marcos Salazar of the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association; and Pauline Idogho, founder and CEO of Mocktail Club. Salazar cited recent data that found almost half the U.S. population does not drink alcohol and of the population that purchase non-alcoholic adult beverages, 80% do consume alcohol at other times.