“The Beverage Whisperer” Assesses Emerging Categories
Ken Sadowsky, the senior beverages advisor in the U.S. for Verlinvest, offers his take on the development and growth potential for a number of developed, emerging and nascent beverage categories.
Review: Drink Maple
Marketed as a “pure maple water,” Drink Maple is made with a single ingredient: maple sap. If you’re like most people, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear maple sap is maple syrup. Yet when it comes to flavor, this product is a distant cousin from the stuff that you put on pancakes.
Vitaminwater Adds Stevia, Fans Go Bonkers
Visit the vitaminwater Facebook page and you’ll find that its columns are built with anger of the once faithful. All this because vitaminwater has begun using a blend of cane sugar and stevia.
CSPI: Marketing of V8 Juice Blends is “An Elaborate Con”
CSPI has threatened to sue The Campbell Soup Co. over what it believes to be misleading statements about the "juice content, nutritional value, and overall healthfulness” of V8 juice blends.
Supreme Court: POM Can Sue Coke for False Advertising
The Court ruled in favor of POM, stating that the company may support its claims under the federal Lanham Act, which covers false advertising.
Review: o2Living Kids Juice
o2Living has extended its platform of cold-pressed, high pressure processed juices to include a kids' line of drinks. The line is comprised of four varieties, each packaged in 8 oz. bottles with striking black labels, a welcome shift from the often clear or white packages that we've seen with most similarly-positioned juice brands.
XYIENCE Partners With Polar Beverages
XYIENCE announced Wednesday that it has reached a new partnership with Polar Beverages for distribution of its sugar- and calorie-free Xenergy line in the New England market.
Press Clips: Soda Taxes and Food Stamps
While there has been a great deal of talk about soda tax legislation as a way to combat rising obesity rates, a growing number of health advocates want to restrict the use of food stamps for purchases of sugary drinks. A recent study bolsters that argument.
KeVita Pulls in $6 Million in New Round
Proceeds from the financing will be used to deploy “some new marketing initiatives to even further accelerate” the development of KeVita, CEO Bill Moses said in a statement.
Review: Skinny Lemon Co.’s The Master Cleanse
Skinny Lemon Co.’s The Master Cleanse Beverage is a literal translation of... well... a “master cleanse” beverage. That said, it’s made with water, lemon, maple syrup and cayenne. Flavorwise, it’s exactly what you’d expect: slightly sweet, slightly tart and pretty spicy. But can the product hold up against other HPP versions of the products? And what about the approach of having only a single SKU ?
Ross Leaves Cheribundi; New CEO Odwalla’s Steve Pear
He endured a massive crop failure, redesigned the entire line, and in the end, felt he’d had a good four years, but Brian Ross has left Cheribundi.
Connecticut Rep. DeLauro Working on Soda Tax
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) says that she’s working on legislation to tax beverages with added sugar. She hopes to introduce the legislation “in a matter of weeks.”
Review: Health Ade Kombucha (New Varieties, Label)
Health-Ade has added two new varieties -- Carrot and Beet -- to its line of kombucha drinks. The new flavors are certainly some of the more adventurous that we've seen hit the category, and while we were a bit apprehensive as to how the two beverages (each sporting the brand's new label design) might taste, the first sips alleviated any concern.
Video: Vital Juice’s Plan for a National Network of “Micro-Juiceries”
The template for Vital’s micro-juicery model is its current facility in Seattle, which has systems in place that allow the company to “track produce all the way from the vendor through to the bottle."