Six startup beverage brands emerged from a field of 12 contestants to secure a spot in tomorrow’s final round of New Beverage Showdown 27 at BevNET Live Summer 2024, presented by Coca-Cola North America New Revenue Streams.
Thursday’s final will feature Kace fruit tea, OK Energy, Explorer Cold Brew, Flyers zero-proof THC cocktails, Holy! Water ketone beverages and Pretty Tasty ready-to-drink collagen tea.
The finalists were selected from a group of 12 competitors which also featured Lily non-alcoholic functional beverages, Jas alcohol-free cocktails, Healtea sparkling iced tea, Grim Reaper Coffee Co., NOLIQ alcohol-free cocktails, and Bear Maple sparkling functional beverages. Each entrepreneur had two minutes to pitch their brand to the panel of judges.
The judges for the semifinal round included Mike Schneider, CRMO, BevNET; Lexy Prosszer, Investment Principal, Btomorrow Ventures; Janki Gambhir, Senior Director, Marketing – Red Tree Beverages, The Coca-Cola Company North America; and Max Baumann, Founder and CEO, Basemakers.
Looking toward the final round, the judges encouraged finalists to lean into their respective market opportunities while showcasing their passion.
“The passion with which you present the product you created, and being able to succinctly summarize that, that’s what I always look for in founders,” said Prosszer.
Tune into BevNET.com tomorrow, June 13, to watch the final round of the competition live, starting with part one at 11 a.m. ET and part two at 1:15 p.m. ET. The New Beverage Showdown 27 winner will be announced at 3 p.m. ET at the closing of BevNET’s annual summer conference.
In addition to bragging rights, the winner of the competition will walk away with an industry awareness-building package valued at $10,000 and join the cohort of previous New Beverage Showdown champions including Calexo, Parch, SANS, Plink!, Hiyo, and Cann, among others.