It may be hard to imagine how, just a few short years ago, even to an informed readership like BevNET’s, kombucha was just a curiosity. And while it would be premature to deem kombucha as a mainstream beverage, things are changing.
Dr. Udani, the founder and CEO of Medicus Research, will be speaking to the main BevNET Live audience as a correspondent from the trenches of the regulatory battlefield to discuss best practices for a beverage industry that is becoming increasingly engaged in the same conflicts and discussions with the agencies that govern supplements and drugs.
Among the new and intrepid, Coco Cafe is the tallest of the small, while Illy is showing positive growth and also indexing in the refrigerated section with another $3 million or so not included here. Still, it’s a long way to the top.
Made with a USDA Organic blend of water, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, cane syrup and ginger juice/puree, CideRoad’s switchel starts out with a pretty traditional formulation. It’s definitely not as strong as some of the other brands that we’ve sampled, but it does feel as though it’s something that’s geared towards the mainstream.
The Wall Street Journal reported that PepsiCo and SodaStream have agreed to a “small-scale, limited-time test” that will begin in the coming weeks.
Amid a downturn in consumption of legacy soda products, upstarts like Minta, Sipp, Something Natural and POP Water are gaining steam in variety of regions across the country and in retailers ranging from single-store grocers to regional giants.
In the following video on BevNET Food and Beverage University, Mamma Chia founder Janie Hoffman discusses the process by which she was able to identify and partner with co-packers that could mass produce a beverage that incorporated a novel and often challenging ingredient to work with, which in her case, is the chia seed.
A look at how the retailer is exploring new ways to execute behind its core competency.
BluePrint’s attempt at a seasonal flavor is this product, which is a blend of everything that you’ll find in the flavor name: orange juice, organic cranberry juice, organic apple juice, organic agave, organic ginger and organic cinnamon. Rather than being spicy, we’d describe the flavor as having a “holiday spice” that’s similar to what you’d find in homemade cranberry sauce. However, we’d like the product to be a bit less sweet than it currently is (it has 59g of sugar per bottle).
Coke today revealed that Joe Tripodi, its Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, will be succeeded be Marcos De Quinto, who has been President of Coke’s Iberia Business Unit since 2000.
As various kinds of water innovation continue to surface in the beverage marketplace, broad modifiers are becoming harder to use. “Functional” or “Enhanced” water means a lot of things these days.
Body Armor, the upstart sports drink brand that hopes to topple Gatorade from its long-held category leadership, may have to face an FTC hearing over its tagline, “Upgrade Your Sports Drink.”
A study recently published in the American Journal of Public Health, summarized by Time, found that daily consumption of carbonated soft drinks can age white blood cells by almost two years.
Up Mountain Switchel is another rendition of the classic beverage that is the product’s namesake. It blends water, Vermont maple syrup, raw organic apple cider and fresh ginger root into a product that is loaded with flavor. On the outside, it’s hard to miss the 16 oz. mason jar that the company has chosen. Rather than make it look fancy with a custom cap or custom bottle, it seems intentional that it looks like a stock mason jar.
