Three days prior to the blockbuster announcement that Amazon would acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, Matt Jimenez, the senior category leader for Whole Foods’ global grocery team took the stage at BevNET Live Summer 2017 and discussed recent changes to the company’s grocery management structure and buying processes.
During last week's BevNET Live Expo, suppliers and flavoring companies took over the conference floor to showcase their latest innovations. Reporters from BevNET sister site Project NOSH walked the floor to survey exhibitors on what they think are the top trends of the flavor world right now.
Available in two flavors, Hibiscus Berry and Vanilla Chai, Organic Tisane Alkaline Tea is a low-calorie herbal tea that was designed with hydration in mind. Brewed using alkaline water (with 8.0 pH+), the products have rooibos tea at their base.
In terms of setting up direct-to-consumer marketplaces, creating “full basket” solutions with Amazon Fresh, and simply providing a place for customers to search by keywords for specific products, the e-commerce titan has begun to exert an outsized influence in the ways consumers shop.
Bontá Hydration is a line of functional beverages that feature ingredients that are part of the Mediterranean Diet. Right off the bat, what the company is pitching seems a bit complicated. The products, while sporting a polished layout, nevertheless is complicated enough to require you to pick up the bottle and examine it.
In a deal that’s shaking the shopping experience for consumers, retailers, and food and beverage companies, Amazon’s scooping up of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion on Friday has hardened talk of large-scale disruption in the way consumers buy their groceries.
Amazon was also a prime subject for the first two speakers in an e-commerce discussion series at the just-concluded BevNET Live Summer 2017 event in New York this week.
This edition of the Taste Radio podcast features an interview with KeVita co-founder and former CEO Bill Moses, who discussed the key elements of his investment philosophy and his work with upstart brands.
Amazon announced Friday that it will acquire Whole Foods Market for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion, including Whole Food’s net debt.
As nitro cold brew moves out of boutique coffee houses and into the mainstream, brands are staking out footholds in this emerging market for both on-premise service and packaged products, and keeping the door open for as-yet-unexplored possibilities for infusing nitrogen into other beverages.
As the industry continues to mature, the manner in which individual brands choose to approach the issue of alcohol and sugar content in kombucha will likely play a significant role in determining the health of the category going forward.
If day one of BevNET Live Summer 2017 offered the goods on how to innovate and scope out the future of the beverage industry, day two was a crash course in the nitty gritty details of monetizing that future.
Rise Brewing Company is touting its coveted crown as the winner of New Beverage Showdown 13 after claiming the top spot in the early-stage beverage brand competition. Co-founders Grant Gyesky and Jarrett McGovern competed against entrepreneurs from five other brands participating in the final round of the Showdown, which is intertwined with BevNET Live Summer 2017 and held at Metropolitan West in New York City.
The delivery of the message was softer, with a few jokes thrown in, but the connective lesson from presentations at Day One of BevNET Live Summer 2017 was quite clear and quite serious: In a rapidly changing world, your business needs to keep up the pace or get stuck in the past.
