Cherries have always had a strong association with Valentine’s Day, but last Feb. 14 was especially sweet for the team at CherryPharm, the company behind the line of tart cherry juices that are now known as Cheribundi. That’s because the company consummated a deal of a different kind on the holiday, closing a $4.5 million equity round led by Greenwich-based Emil Capital Partners, along with its previous lead investor, Cayuga Venture Fund, and other shareholders.

It turns out that even beverage giants aren’t immune from the recent outbreak of lawsuits infecting the industry. Earlier this week, the JD Journal reported that Coca-Cola was hit with a lawsuit claiming that the name and marketing of the company’s Simply Orange brand are misleading. The suit contends that the beverage is not simple orange juice; rather, it is juice that is heavily processed and contains added flavorings and constituents to change its color, consistency, taste, and aroma.

Looking to strengthen its position as a natural alternative to traditional sports drinks, ZICO has unveiled a new team of athlete endorsers. And while Team ZICO appears to be the big-name part of the company's marketing initiatives for 2012, the company says it ZICO has more in store. Marketing VP Bill Lange told BevNET that the company will pump up its marketing spend by 75 percent over 2011 and is close to signing a "major celebrity" as an endorser.

Hoping to take advantage of the vast access to fresh fruit in the state for use in its premium, locally-sourced drinks, Spindrift Soda is opening a West Coast facility in California wine country. The company, which produces a line of all-natural, fruit juice-infused sodas, has opened a new production facility in Healdsburg, California, and will begin distributing in the state later this week.

Watching a small but well-distributed rival create share in a market white space without responding isn't on the menu at Coca-Cola, apparently. The CSD giant has filed a trademark for Dasani Drops, defined under Goods and Services as "Concentrates and syrups used in the preparation of soft drinks; syrups for beverages."

Citing a lack of scientific data to support a change in policy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected a request to ban bisphenol A (BPA) from cans, bottles and other packaging. The FDA decision was made in response to a petition filed by the Natural Re­sources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2008 which called for an end to the use of BPA – a chemical commonly used in the lining of cans and plastic bottles - in food and beverage-related products.

Hoping to revitalize a brand tormented by sluggish sales and angry investors, PepsiCo enlisted hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj to lead a new global marketing campaign for its flagship cola, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. The endorsement deal with Minaj is one piece of PepsiCo’s estimated $600 million marketing budget in 2012, an increase of 15 to 20 percent from last year.

Already known for its portfolio of all-natural and organic products, Brooklyn-based High 5 Distributors has made the move to a strictly vegan product mix. Citing personal and ethical reasons, Steve Torres, the founder of High 5, stated that the company has stopped carrying all non-vegan beverages and snacks, and noted that all new and current High 5-distributed products also undergo an examination to determine that the ingredients are never tested on animals.