If you operate a new beverage company (meaning your brand is less than 1 year old), the New Beverage Showdown 2, which is taking place at BevNET Live Winter 11 on December 5 and 6, is your chance to get your brand in front of the industry (What is the New Beverage Showdown 2?).  However, the deadline to apply is rapidly approaching, with applications due by this Wednesday, November 9.  Aside from exposure to our audience of investors, distributors, and other industry professionals, there's $5,000 in cash going to the winner.  Click the link below to apply now.  Questions?  Feel free to contact me via email.

Call it the culmination of a long-term courtship: fast growing natural brand Xing Tea has partnered with Coast Brands Group to try to expand its presence in national chain accounts.…

In what is being described as the first “greenwashing” lawsuit in the state’s history, California Attorney General Kamala Harris filed a complaint last week against Balance Water, AquaMantra, and ENSO Plastics for deceptively marketing and labeling their packaging as biodegradable and recyclable. The lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for how beverage companies choose bottle manufacturers and label their products.

Mike Repole, who helped revolutionize the beverage industry as the co-founder of Vitaminwater, has sets his sights on the changing the way consumers look at fast food. Repole is now the chairman of Energy Kitchen, a so-called “healthy, fast-casual eatery” that offers low-calorie menu items like turkey burgers and baked fries. Repole has stated that he wants to “transform the entire fast food industry” and hopes to open 1,000 new Energy Kitchen restaurants throughout the United States over the next ten years.

For an entrepreneurial beverage company, getting to a million bottles might not be as glamorous as it sounds… just ask the founders of Hotlips Soda. The Portland, Ore.-based company, which has produced a line of premium fruit-based soft drinks since 2003, recently brewed its one millionth bottle of soda. Despite the milestone, David Yudkin and Jeana Edelman, the owners of Hotlips, aren’t celebrating.