Six startup beverage brands emerged from a field of 12 contestants to secure a spot in tomorrow’s final round of New Beverage Showdown 25 at BevNET Live Summer 2023, presented by Coca-Cola North America New Revenue Streams.
Thursday’s final will feature The Bad Tea Co extra caffeinated tea, Gutsy fermented beverages, Gorgie sparkling energy drinks, PARCH non-alcoholic agave spirits, daio sparkling water and Life Cider sparkling apple cider vinegar lemonade.
The finalists were selected from a group of 12 competitors which also featured Tatu protein water, Jabin sports beverage, Soldadera coffee, Oodles of Doodles kids drinks, Lemonback spicy lemonade and Milonga Yerba Mate, pitched as a THC-infused functional drink. Each entrepreneur had two minutes to pitch their brand to the panel of judges on a range of drinks ranging from Mexican-style cold brew to non-alcoholic spirits.
The judges for the semi-final round included Mike Schneider, CMO, BevNET; Andrew Guard, Founder, Right Coast Brands; Janki Gambhir, Sr. Director of Revenue Streams, Beverages, The Coca-Cola Company North America; and Kim Coffin, SVP & Chief Forager, Sprouts.
Looking toward the final round, the judges encouraged finalists to dive deeper into their individual brand stories and show how they have differentiated themselves within their respective categories.
“I think the theme of today has been about conservative, smart innovation and understanding cash flow and running a proper business. Products here need to be able to solve all of those things while also solving consumer problems,” said Guard. “The businesses that are best set up to do both of these things are going to be the ones that are going to most likely succeed.”
Coffin told participants that the final round of the showdown is about “going back to what your differentiation [is] within the category, how you’re going to stand out and who your target audience is.”
Tune into BevNET.com tomorrow, June 15 to watch the final round of the competition live, starting with part one at 11 a.m. ET and part two at 2 p.m. ET. The New Beverage Showdown 25 champion will be announced at 3:45 p.m. ET at the closing of BevNET’s annual summer conference.
The winner of the competition will walk away with bragging rights and an industry awareness-building package valued at $10,000 and join the cohort of previous New Beverage Showdown champions including SANS, Plink!, Hiyo, Agua Bonita, Kite, Cann and HopTea.