Review: Blue Monkey Coconut Coffee Drink

Blue Monkey’s Coconut Coffee Drink is a certified organic blend of coconut cream, sugar, coffee and added emulsifiers/stabilizers. It’s billed as a dairy- and soy-free coffee drink, and it features a somewhat light-bodied coffee flavor. Overall, it’s good, but we honestly feel as though more could be done with this product, starting with cutting the calories and offering more variety in flavors.

Special Beverage School Program to Take Place on June 3 at BevNET Live in NYC

The upcoming Manhattan edition of BevNET Live will feature a special edition of Beverage School, BevNET’s introduction to the beverage business. The program, which is free and open to qualified BevNET Live registrants, will be held on Mon., June 3, the day before the opening of BevNET Live, which takes place on June 4 and 5. The limited-seating session will be available -- at no cost -- exclusively to attendees of BevNET Live who are new (or relatively new) to the beverage industry.

Beverage School: Designing an Effective Logo

As the primary focus on most labels, it’s a given that a logo should be a memorable and recognizable symbol of a brand. However, the process of designing a logo is often a difficult path to navigate; every company wants its brand to stand out, but how does a logo most effectively align with what’s inside the bottle?

BevNET Magazine App Hits iTunes, Google Play

BevNET is pleased to announce the launch of the BevNET Magazine app in the iTunes and Google Play stores. As the first in the industry to offer a mobile/tablet app for its print publication, readers will be able to view the magazine in digital format on all Apple and Android devices.

Sweet Leaf Founder Hires Deep Eddy CEO

In a hotel across the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif., about 40 miles south of Los Angeles, Clayton Christopher had dinner with Eric Dopkins to discuss consulting. He didn’t expect to make a hire.

Review: INGO Cucumber-Watermelon

INGO has introduced a new watermelon variety to its brand of cucumber-flavored drinks. For a zero-calorie product, INGO Cucumber-Watermelon has, much like the flagship beverage, an extremely refreshing flavor without the use of any added sweeteners.

Federal Legislators Introduce Mandatory GMO Labeling Bill

With a stated purpose of establishing “a consistent and enforceable standard for labeling of foods produced using genetic engineering," legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have introduced a new bill that would require mandatory labeling of genetically modified (GMO) foods and ingredients.

Review: O2 Living

These days, it seems like there are an endless number of new raw juice brands landing on store shelves with many - if not most - offering an extremely high level of quality in terms of formulation. However, the branding and packaging for some of these products often falls short of matching what's inside the bottle; this is our most significant issue with o2living and its line of raw juice blends.

Go Inside HPP at BevNET Live

It's with HPP's evolving role in mind that BevNET is pleased to announce that HPP consultant Joyce Longfield, the CEO of JL Nutrition and Food Regulatory Consulting, will be speaking at BevNET Live in June. At a time when flavor, ingredient, package and function technology are helping to significantly alter the brandscape of the beverage industry, BevNET Live will offer an unprecedented, unvarnished look at one its most eye-catching change agents.

U.S. Bottled Water Sales Totaled $11.8 Billion in 2012

A new report from the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) states that in 2012, overall consumption of bottled water jumped by 6.2 percent to 9.67 billion gallons, while sales increased by 6.7 percent, totaling $11.8 billion. The statistics were compiled by beverage consulting firm Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC).

New Leaf Brands Acquires Beverage Network of Maryland

New Leaf Brands, which earlier this year announced plans to expand business operations via strategic acquisitions, has purchased Beverage Network of Maryland, a distributor in the Mid-Atlantic market with 20 brands and over 200 SKUs in its portfolio. New Leaf acquired Beverage Network for $2.9 million in cash and stock, and will retain Morris Stodard as its president.

Review: Go Energy

Go Energy is a new energy drink that attempts to differentiate itself from competing products via the addition of coconut water and resveratrol (a popular anti-aging ingredient). Unfortunately, the product is pretty underwhelming from a flavor and visual perspective.

Boston Consulting/IRI Study: TalkingRain Tops Small Companies in 2012

A new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Information Resources, Inc, (IRI) lists TalkingRain as the top performer among small companies ($100 million to $1 billion in retail sales) in 2012. The study, which analyzed 400 CPG manufacturers with annual revenues of at least $100 million, compared public and private CPG companies through dollar sales growth, volume sales growth and market share gains.