PREDICTIONS FOR 2016
LESSONS FROM BREWBOUND AND BEVNET LIVE
PREMIXED COCKTAILS ARRIVE
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Contents • Volume 14 • No. 1
22
COLUMNS
FEATURES
ON THE COVER
4 First Drop Time to Make Room
26 Premix Cocktails Aim for the Bar Experience with Mixer Brand News
22 Suja CEO Jeff Church, BevNET’s Person of the Year for 2015 with the Best of 2015
6 Publisher’s Toast Recalibrating Pricing 14 Gerry’s Insights An Alternative Take on the New Year
DEPARTMENTS 8 BevScape Deals, Deals, We Got Your Deals 10 New Products New Zico Blend 12 Channel Check Energetic New Year 34 Promo Parade Coke Lands Speith
30 Trend Oracle Predictions for 2016
EVENTS 16 BevNET Live Winter Roundup Brand Building, Biohacking, and New Beverage Showdown X 20 Brewbound Session Winter Roundup Growth Strategies on Display in San Diego
PREDICTIONS FOR 2016
LESSONS FROM BREWBOUND AND BEVNET LIVE
PREMIXED COCKTAILS ARRIVE
cover.indd 1
1/22/16 11:57 AM
COVER PHOTO: Courtesty of Suja
32 Show Preview Natural Products Expo West
BevNET Magazine (ISSN 2165-6061, USPS 24-552) is published bi-monthly except monthly in March, June, September, and October by BevNET.com, Inc. 44 Pleasant Street, Suite 110, Watertown, MA 02472. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to BevNET Magazine, Subscriber Services, 44 Pleasant Street, Suite 110, Watertown, MA 02472
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The First Drop By Jeffrey Klineman
For all of the sturm und drang about investment in beverage companies – and we’ve certainly been part of the weather – it was interesting to see that the first big deal of the year was the sale of none other than good old Sunny Delight, one of the few brands to be able to actually give our esteemed publisher a run for the money in terms of longevity. But I suppose it shouldn’t be such a surprise – after all, it follows a couple of years in which a lot of the investment money that had been expected to trickle into entrepreneurial coffers instead went into the buying and selling of establishedto-slightly-tired brands between large funds and food conglomerates. Last year, two big deals launched the overall M&A value in the consumer space into the stratosphere: the Heinz/Kraft merger and the AB InBev/MillerCoors merger. Skittering across food and beverage, however, we saw a lot of these Sunny D-type deals: the sale of Green Giant to B & G Foods; Perdue buying Niman Ranch; Apple & Eve going to Lassonde. As we discussed at BevNET Live, a lot of the money going toward entrepreneurial beverage brands was much more exploratory – $3 million to $30 million, typically growth capital.
Time to Make Room
The disconnect in size would be of concern but for the fact that having big companies and funds shed older brands should mean that they are indeed looking to re-orient themselves for the future. General Mills and Campbell Soup Co., to name two, have been remixing their structures to better accommodate consumer trends. (The Coca-Cola Co. has also been working hard at it, but nevertheless has to feed the big red monkey on its back.) So yes, it’s discouraging when an investment market that has been described as an 11 on a 1-10 scale (as opposed to the Nigel Tufnel scale, in which 11 is a sonic phenomenon) might seem to be skipping over the little guys – but, in fact, it’s making room for them. The move from canned to fresh, from preserved to raw, from corn syrup and saturated fat to real sugar and whole ingredients, and from one-size-fits-all to bespoke will benefit emerging ecompanies sooner than later. Where do we see this re-ordering reflected? It’s in the parts of the culture that are growing. When a place like America’s Test Kitchen starts to put out a Paleo cookbook, there’s a fusion between specialty diet and mainstream. When a huge entity like Campbell Soup decides to label products
4 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
that use GMO ingredients, that means that there’s awareness among big strategics that trends are evolving into market forces. Still, there are always going to be a lot of losers before companies become huge winners. In speaking with investors and board members lately, one thing that comes up is that it’s one thing to have an on-trend product, another to have a quality brand, and even more to have a good company. Inevitably, when you speak with any investor, from angel to fund to strategic, they always talk about the bet they’re making on team, as well as on product and trend. As we look to the new year, we see so much that is yet unsettled – definitions of raw and natural, legislation to tax sugar or ban plastic bottles, science in dispute. But one thing that is indisputable is the overall wave that has brought these issues to the front: a growing number of people want to be healthier, and they want their beverages to either help with that – or, at the very least, not hurt it. That doesn’t mean the end of the road for long-standing brands, though – it just means it’s time to make room. Sometimes that has to happen on the balance sheet as much as it does on the shelves.
Publisher’s Toast
MAGAZINE
Recalibrating Pricing
By Barry Nathanson
www.bevnet.com/magazine Barry J. Nathanson PUBLISHER bnathanson@bevnet.com
Jeffrey Klineman EDITOR-IN-CHIEF jklineman@bevnet.com
Ray Latif MANAGING EDITOR rlatif@bevnet.com
Neil Martinez-Belkin STAFF WRITER nmartinezbelkin@bevnet.com
Jon Landis STAFF WRITER jlandis@bevnet.com
Chris Furnari BREWBOUND EDITOR cfurnari@bevnet.com
Carol Ortenberg PROJECT NOSH EDITOR cortenberg@bevnet.com
SALES John McKenna DIRECTOR OF SALES jmckenna@bevnet.com
Adam Stern SENIOR ACCOUNT SPECIALIST astern@bevnet.com
John Fischer ACCOUNT SPECIALIST jfischer@bevnet.com
Jacqui Brugliera SALES & MARKETING ADMIN jbrugliera@bevnet.com
ART & PRODUCTION Matthew Kennedy CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aaron Willette SENIOR DESIGNER
You don’t realize how much you need the time off until you take it. While many of you who know me think I’m on a permanent vacation, that really isn’t so. I just make it seem that I am. So my lovely wife, Liliane, and I spent a most restful and enjoyable 10 days in Florida over the holidays. While I thought it would be time away from beverages, a true diehard is never far from the fray, and like an old hound on the beach, I just couldn’t stop looking. While doing the Florida thing – going around to the beach, the pool, the tennis courts, and dining out (only about half were early-birds), we still had to do the shopping. So on my treks to Publix, Walgreens, and the local equivalents of New York bodegas and mom-and-pops, I had to survey the beverage aisles for variety and pricing. I have to say that I was taken aback by the number of brands that were on promotion. It’s fait accompli that the big guys are always on some type of pricing cycle, usually in alternating weeks, but I was shocked to see that many of the premium and super premium brands were also. I would hazard a guess that three or four out of every ten brands were on discount. It was across all categories and pricing variations. That was a startling amount. When I returned, I wanted to see if this
was just a geographic aberration, or perhaps a series of steroidal holiday specials – so I spent some time running around some Gotham Whole Foods, Fairways, and others. Sure enough, I saw the same things: same formats, different locales. Even HPP juices, one of Whole Foods’ signature categories, seemed highly reliant on promoted sale pricing. Now, I’ve always felt that the pricing was unsustainable in the long run, but the twofers and discounts were shocking. Yet, there was spacing on those marked-down shelves and the non-price promoted brands facings seemed full. Super-premium water was in the same boat, which is a tough indication for a supposed margin creating category. If we New Yorkers had the space in our tiny apartment caves, I guarantee we would all be stocking up on the brands with this pricing. All along the shelves, juices, teas, flavored waters and more weren’t spared from having to sell at a discount. I don’t know if it is the time of year, or a new reality that “if you discount it, they will come.” It has taken many years to achieve merited pricing for many of the beverage categories. I hope marketers and retailers can sustain the rightful margins they deserve. Right now, the consumer is the only possible beneficiary of this largesse.
6 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
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Bevscape The latest news on the brands you sell
Global Aspirations Drive JAB Holding’s Acquisition of Keurig Green Mountain In December, JAB Holding Co. snapped up pod-based, single-serve beverage system maker Keurig Green Mountain. JAB is a privately held group with controlling stakes in Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Caribou Coffee Company along with several other coffee- and consumerfocused companies. JAB agreed to pay Keurig shareholders $92 per share in cash, a premium of approximately 77.9 percent over Keurig’s closing stock price on December 4, 2015, valuing the company at approximately $13.9 billion. The agreement was unanimously approved by Keurig’s board of directors.
Keurig will operate as an independent entity, according to JAB chairman Bart Becht, who hailed the deal as “a major step forward in the creation of our global coffee platform,” one that rapidly expanded toward the end of the year, with Peet’s acquiring Stumptown Coffee and taking majority ownership of Intelligentsia Coffee. The deal was seen as positive for Keurig shareholders, including the Coca-Cola Co., which last year purchased 10 percent of the company for $1.25 billion and later increased its stake to 16 percent. In a press release, Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent praised the agreement saying that the company “will continue our collaboration with JAB in order to capitalize on the growth opportunities in the single-serve, pod-based segment of the cold beverage industry.”
DEALS, DEALS, WE GOT YOUR DEALS
The end of the year saw a lot of people signing on the dotted line. Here’s a quick list: Celebrity Trainer Jillian Michaels Buys Lucky Jack Organic Coffee
REBBL Completes Capital Raise Led by Mark Rampolla’s Powerplant Ventures
Biggest Loser star Jillian Michaels has purchased a controlling interest in emerging cold brew brand Lucky Jack Coffee Co. The cost was not disclosed. David Seldin, a venture capitalist whose fund, Anzu Partners, has also invested alongside Michaels in the past, is part of the investment group, she said. Las Vegas-based Lucky Jack is the first bottled line of organic, nitrogen-infused cold brew coffees, according to its new owners. It was started by Richard Karno, who is best known as the founder of Gourmet Coffee Warehouse and Groundwork Coffee, a pop-
On Dec. 24, REBBL, a San Franciscobased brand of adaptogen-powered herbal elixirs and tonics closed its first capital raise beyond friends and family. Led by Powerplant Ventures – an investment fund co-founded by ZICO founder Mark Rampolla – the round also included investments from Arif Fazal’s Blueberry Ventures, equity crowdfunding platform CircleUp and personal investments from former Boulder Brands executives Duane Primozich and Carole Buyers. REBBL did not disclose the amount of the raise.
ular organic coffee roaster in Southern California. Karno will remain on board as head of innovation, while Giancarlo Chersich, the CEO of Michaels’ own Empowered Media, will take the role of acting CEO. “We’re looking for companies that have the hip factor, the cool factor,” Michaels said. “Is the branding on point, something you want to hold in your hand, and how is the taste?” With nautical imagery on its 10.5 oz. “stubby” bottles, Lucky Jack has six SKUs and combines coffee and other ingredients with nitrogen in gas and liquid form. It is named for Lucky Jack Aubrey, a British naval officer in a series of books and the movie Master and Commander. The product retails for an average of about $3.69 per bottle with an MSRP of $3.99.
“This company has so much potential and we wanted the crème de la crème of a team to be with us and help us on this ride,” said REBBL CEO Sheryl O’Loughlin. “We knew we couldn’t do it alone.” Rampolla, who, along with Primozich, joined REBBL’s board of directors, told BevNET he’d had his eyes on the company for quite some time, stemming from a longstanding relationship with its co-founder Palo Hawken, who played a role in developing ZICO’s chocolate-flavored variety. “For a while I’d been intrigued by the concept of super herbs as the next superfood wave,” said Rampolla. “Then they developed this line of coconut milk-based elixirs and I was all over it. I’ve always believed there was a lot of opportunity for coconut milk and I didn’t think anyone had done a grab-and-go version that was delicious, and this was.”
8 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
Voss Water Sells Majority Stake to Reignwood Group
Anheuser-Busch Finishes Year with ThreeCourse Meal
Reignwood Group, the parent company of Red Bull China, has acquired a majority stake in Voss for a reported $105 million for slightly more than 50 percent of the premium bottled water brand. Voss CEO Jack Belsito discussed the investment with BevNET, saying that the company had begun scouting potential strategic investors about a year ago, eventually connecting with Reignwood Group via Goldman Sachs, which served as an advisor to Voss throughout the process. “We were looking for an investment that would carry some other type of catalyzing benefit, which in this case is a significant selling and distribution infrastructure in China and a vision of creating a global health and wellness beverage company,” said Belsito. “It was more than just money coming in. Those things really connected well with us.” Voss’ sales increased by 25 percent in 2015 to $77.5 million. The deal comes a year and a half after Reignwood’s purchase of a 25 percent stake in Vita Coco, a $165 million investment based on a valuation of $665 million.
Anheuser-Busch InBev closed the year by purchasing three beer companies in five days, capping the spree with the acquisition of Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed and the deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2016. The news cames just one day after the company acquired London’s Camden Town Brewery, and four days after it said it would buy Arizona’s Four Peaks Brewing. Breckenridge Brewery will sell approximately 70,000 barrels in 2015, the company said in a statement. A-B has now acquired seven U.S. craft breweries since 2011, including Goose Island, Blue Point Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing, Elysian Brewing, Golden Road and Four Peaks Brewing. All seven breweries are part of what A-B calls “The High End Division,” which also includes brands like Stella Artois, Shock Top and Virtue Cider. The company has expanded its interest in the craft category globally, too, purchasing five international outfits — London’s Camden Town Brewery, Toronto’s Mill Street Brewery, Brazil’s Cervejaria Colorado and Cervejaria Wäls and Colombia’s largest craft brewery, Bogota Beer Company.
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BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
9
New Products The newest options for cooler and shelf
WATER Cascade Ice has added two new flavors to its 20 SKU lineup of zero-calorie sparkling waters. The new additions, Cherry Limeade and Kiwi Strawberry, were the winners of the company’s “Pick a Flavor to Savor” fan poll on the company’s Facebook page and are scheduled to hit shelves at the top of 2016. Paackaged in 17.2 oz. plastic bottles, the waters retail for $1.29. For more information, please call Unique Beverage Co. at (425) 267-0959.
ENERGY Celsius is adding two new flavors to its line of naturally-flavored, calorie-burning energy drinks: Sparkling Watermelon and Sparkling Grape Rush. Like the rest of Celsius’ lineup, the new offerings contain no sugar, no high-fructose corn syrup, no aspartame, no artificial flavors or colors, no gluten and are low in sodium. They will be available in single can and 4-pack formats beginning in February 2016 at a suggested retail price of $2.39. For more information, please call (561) 276-2239.
COCONUT WATER ZICO has added a Strawberry Banana flavor to its Chilled Juice Blends line. Containing 60 calories per 8 oz. serving, ZICO’s latest is free of artificial flavors, fat and cholesterol. The new offering will initially launch on the west coast and be available in an on-the-go 16.9 oz. Tetra Pak for a suggested retail price of $3.49. For more information, please call ZICO at 212-545-6067.
JUICE LuliTonix is launching a libido-nourishing “erotic juice blend” ahead of Valentine’s Day. The company’s “Love Sex Magic” ‘enchantment elixir’ contains goji berries, hibiscus, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, rose petals, orange oil, raspberries, maple syrup and figs. The product will be available online at lulitonix.com and in stores in February
10 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
2016. For more information, please call LuliTonix at (212) 226-2412. Tio Gazpacho has added a new flavor to its line of HPP ready-to-drink gazpachos: Gazpacho Rosado. The new addition features organic certified and naturally ripened watermelon with hints of spice. Like all of Tio’s flavors, Rosado is 100 percent vegan, USDA-certified organic and free of chemicals and preservatives. It will be available at selected retailers at the top of 2016 for a suggested retail price of $8.99 per 12 oz. bottle. For more information, please call Tio Gazpacho at (305) 395-8130. Love Beets has added a new flavor to its line of USDA-certified organic beet juices. Organic Beet Juice with a Hint of Ginger, like the rest of the juices in Love Beets’ lineup, is gluten-free, with a 100 percent clean ingredient deck and no added sugar. Love Beets’ latest comes in a sleek 14 oz. glass bottle and can be found in retailers nationwide as well as Love Beets’ online store. For more information, please call Love Beets at (856) 305-8222. Suja has launched a new line of probiotic waters containing 2 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) of vegan probiotics. The new range has launched in four flavors - Raspberry, Ginger/Lime, Pineapple/Lemon/ Cayenne and Orange/Ginger/Pineapple - which are currently available exclusively at Target for a suggested price of $2.99 per 14.5 oz. bottle. For more information, please call Suja at (858) 422-0381.
TEA Bhakti Chai has launched two new varieties of its authentic Indian chai. Bhakti Nog, which features holiday season spices blended with cardamom and fresh ginger chai, and Bhaki Noir, which blends fresh pressed ginger chai and chocolate, are both vegan, gluten free and preservative free. The new offerings are available exclusively at Whole Foods for a suggested retail price of $3.29. For more information, please call Bhakti Chai at (303) 484-8770.
DAIRY ALTERNATIVE BEVERAGES Happy Planet has launched a line of all natural, nut-based smoothies in four flavors: cold-brewed coffee, salted caramel, vanilla chai and chocolate. Made with almond and cashews and free of dairy, soy and any preservatives, the new smoothies are available in both 325mL and 900mL bottles at grocery and natural health stores across Canada. For more information, please call Happy Planet Foods at 1-800-811-3213.
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Channel Check
SPOTLIGHT CATEGORY
Energy Drinks SOURCE: IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide) 52 Weeks through 11/29/15
What’s HOT & what’s NOT in stores now
With Coke distribution fully engaged, it looks like Monster is starting to close the revenue gap that has long separated it from Red Bull: brand family to brand family, it’s just a couple of percentage points behind, and stock market analysts are already drooling about a cherry-flavored version of Zero Ultra. And guess what else is benefitting? NOS. With Monster’s brand team behind it, the supporting player in the Coke energy portfolio for Hansen’s non-energy brand trade is flying, up 18 percent. Pepsi is under-represented here because of the strength of AMP’s kickstart, which is around $300 million. Rockstar still has a strong presence, but other brand families have been pretty much relegated to also-rans.
Brand
Dollar Sales $2,993,899,776
8.06%
Monster Energy
$1,473,334,016
11.68%
NOS
$411,715,552
18.21%
Monster Energy Lo Carb
$317,127,648
0.46%
Monster Rehab
$317,045,427
2.87%
Java Monster
$317,022,784
13.61%
Rockstar
$268,557,344
-0.04%
Monster Mega Energy
$254,012,432
4.25%
Red Bull The Blue Edition
$198,826,944
26.05%
Red Bull The Summer Edition
$169,203,408
N/A
AMP Energy
$153,169,456
8.86%
Monster Energy Absolute Zero
$149,488,688
-16.65%
Full Throttle
$137,997,984
1.33%
Red Bull The Red Edition
$136,051,616
16.79%
Monster Energy Ultra Red
$119,714,272
-4.56%
Rockstar Sugar Free
$118,266,352
1.67%
Rockstar Pure Zero
$116,891,664
11.84%
Rockstar Punched
$115,222,344
15.53%
TOPLINE CATEGORY VOLUME $33,238,560,473
4.8%
Energy Drinks
$11,616,928,768
10.73%
Bottled Juices
$7,049,328,128
2.73%
Tea/Coffee
$5,164,045,824
13.27%
Botled Water
$13,747,004,416
9.53%
Sports Drink Mix
$90,168,440
-1.11%
Beer
SOURCE: IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide) 52 Weeks through 11/29/15
12 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
Change vs. year earlier
Red Bull
TEA Brand
COFFEE Brand
Dollar Sales
Private Label
$230,180,048
Dollar Sales
Change vs. year earlier 10.77%
International Delight
$62,639,668
Gold Peak
$206,695,968
27.33%
Starbuck Iced Espresso Classics
$38,187,556
N/A
Red Diamond
$144,318,864
-0.15%
Starbucks
$31,976,864
187.73%
Milos
$104,914,328
16.21%
Bolthouse Farms Perfectly Protein
$21,038,896
-2.68%
Turkey Hill
$90,200,960
8.61%
Califia Farms
$8,590,791
154.55%
GT’s Kombucha
$48,892784
42.44%
Private Label
$6,298,378
13.46%
Swiss Premium
$40,923,600
-13.88%
Bolthouse Farms
$5,859,340
-22.46%
Turkey Hill Nature’s Accents
$33,520,414
4.25%
Starbucks Discoveries
Lipton Pure Leaf
$28,641,824
28.35%
Bolthouse Farms Perfectly Protein
$19,578,734
-1.13%
Dollar Sales
-16.34%
$4,404,903
-85.91%
Stumptown Coffee Roasters
$2,527,618
201.09%
Caribou Coffee
$1,993,671
N/A
ENERGY SHOTS Brand
Change vs. year earlier
SPORTS DRINKS Change vs. year earlier
Brand
Dollar Sales
5 Hour Energy Extra Strength
$567,608,320
15.66%
Gatorade Perform
Change vs. year earlier
$3,304,766,720
4.25% 4.00%
5 Hour Energy
$502,850,400
-9.51%
Powerade ION4
$794,259,968
Stacker 2 Xtra
$17,275,876
0.47%
Gatorade Frost
$443,400,832
0.86%
Private Label
$13,679,250
14.09%
Gatorade
$399,101,376
81.85%
Tweaker
$12,543,613
28.93%
Gatorade G2 Perform
$348,349,216
-10.88%
Stacker 2
$9,923,906
7.02%
Gatorade Fierce
$296,926,080
65.12%
Street King
$8,198,523
-6.84%
Powerade
$231,640,928
17.42%
Stacker 2 6 Hour Power
$6,645,600
-28.29%
Powerade Zero ION4
$201,611,296
5.95%
Rhino Rush
$6,059,310
83.52%
Gatorade G2
$54,693,372
28.46%
Stacker 2 Extreme
$5,318,225
7.49%
BodyArmor
$41,454,428
222.83%
BOTTLED WATER Brand
Dollar Sales
SPARKLING WATER Change vs. year earlier
Brand
Dollar Sales
Change vs. year earlier
Private Label
$2,222,660,608
11.95%
Private Label
$398,257,600
10.59%
Dasani
$1,054,543,104
8.56%
Sparkling ICE
$359,157,824
15.42%
Aquafina
$1,019,669,376
9.92%
Perrier
$194,091,216
9.74%
La Croix
Nestle Pure Life
$911,289,280
1.62%
Glaceau Smart Water
$779,196,544
19.57%
$142,252,960
52.25%
San Pellegrino
$114,151,120
Poland Spring
$628,336,000
10.02%
8.21%
Polar
$92,541,144
Glaceau Vitamin Water
19.96%
$481,785,664
2.98%
Sparkling ICE Lemonade
$63,571,988
-15.09%
Deer Park
$430,475,680
4.92%
Schweppes
$52,926,484
37.65%
Ozarka
$363,317,856
5.58%
Topo Chico
$48,498,960
22.59%
$304,049,888
18.53%
Glaceau Fruit Water
$36,630,644
-18.68%
Fiji
RFG. FRUIT DRINKS Brand
Dollar Sales
DOMESTIC BEER Change vs. year earlier
Sunny D
$240,713,536
-14.90%
Brand
Dollar Sales
Bud Light
$6,131,797,958
Change vs. year earlier 0.9%
Minute Maid Premium
$208,955,088
-4.65%
Coors Light
$2,400,491,102
1.4%
Tropicana Trop50
$154,578,432
2.52%
Budweiser
$2,137,521,022
0.9%
Welch’s
$94,639,072
4.64%
Miller Lite
$2,007,008,016
3.8%
Tropicana
$56,781,496
-11.31%
Michelob Ultra Light
$1,071,954,799
19.6%
GT’s Kombucha Synergy
$43,600,100
55.16%
Natural Light
$1,069,925,812
-3.6%
Simply Fruit Punch
$33,665,248
N/A
Busch Light
$847,708,552
1.7%
Bright & Early
$32,780,448
-14.32%
Busch
$634,210,305
-2.4%
Simply Tropical
$22,645,096
N/A
Miller High Life
$465,212,696
0.4%
78.04%
Keystone Light
$446,728,111
-4.7%
KeVita
$18,106,150
SOURCE: IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm (@iriworldwide) 52 Weeks through 11/29/15
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Gerry’s Insights By Gerry Khermouch
Is this the year that alternative beverages really break out? Like many others who inhabit this world of beverage innovation, I’ve been predicting for years – a couple of decades! – that the moment of ignition is at hand, when these items explode from niche to mainstream. Sure, over the years soda has slipped a lot and bottled water has gone from an obscure necessity in places where the tap water is bad to fashion accessory of the young and active. Energy drinks have exploded, but they can be viewed as just a new twist on sodas, and they certainly don’t represent a move toward health and wellness. (Even boutique sodas, using real sugar and somewhat better ingredients, developed only a small, if durable, niche.) There have been incremental additions to the landscape in segments like iced tea but, at least until recently, most were just a new breed of sugar water, often coldfilled and made from tea powder, with any actual tea taste barely perceptible or even purely imaginary. Vitaminwater was a cleverly disguised sugar water delivery system and big segments like isotonics haven’t budged in their essential formulation in decades. Starbucks, together with Pepsi, built an impregnable iced coffee franchise, but so far much of that business has been Frappuccino drinks that I tend to view as milkshakes for grownups. So that promised land of healthier, more authentic beverages? It was kind of like the old saw about Brazil: “It’s the country of the future, and it always will be.” But maybe this time is different (to use that old fallback of economic prognosticators during the early stages of a bubble). Even an eternal optimist like me knows the boom in better beverages won’t be an explosion, certainly not as long as most peoples’ incomes are stagnating, income inequality keeps growing and the big strategic players wield the usual tools, from control of the distribution system to ironclad exclusive restaurant and arena contracts, to maintain their hegemony. But still … I think there is more reason for optimism now than in recent years.
An Alternative Take on the New Year
This isn’t an anti-Big-Soda screed: the changes may be giving those companies enough of a nudge to finally get serious about accommodating consumers’ desire for more authentic, healthy products. There’s no reason they can’t fully participate in these new realms and some of their recent investments suggest they are moving in this direction. So what signs are showing me that the pace of change may be about to accelerate? For starters, it’s the dramatic shift among mainstream retailers’ beverage assortments. Not so long ago, remember, such relatively small retailers as Whole Foods comprised the main bastion for natural and organic foods. These days, other classes of retailers have enthusiastically jumped aboard, broadening their selections and making it easier for younger brands to get in and scale up – to the point that there is real concern on Wall Street that the natural food pioneers like Whole Foods and The Fresh Market may find themselves in trouble soon. These mainstream retailers include the supermarket behemoths Safeway and Kroger, as well as the mass merchandisers Walmart and Target, once unlikely oases for these types of products. Convenience stores have been a bit slower to come along, but recall that once there was very little overlap between the offerings to be found at Natural Products Expo West and the National Association of Convenience Stores show. Now stroll the NACS floor and you’ll encounter coconut waters, organic milks, coldpressed juices. Clearly, many marketers are betting that opportunity is at hand in a channel that not long ago coasted on sales of gasoline, soda, beer and cigs. This is all happening, of course, as increasing numbers of consumers, particularly younger ones, are gravitating to food and beverage styles that have heritage, use a narrow, understandable ingredient list, and tend toward fresh. Another compelling sign: decisive moves we’ve seen lately among fast food and fast-casual chains to upgrade the
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quality and ingredients of the beverages they serve, in parallel with moves they’ve been making on the food side. These are enterprises in a ruthlessly competitive category, with thin margins, where lucrative exclusive contracts awarded to the big beverage companies can make a serious difference in their viability. Yet we are still seeing a growing number of chains writing sodas out of their children’s meals, picking up natural and even organic brands (as Wendy’s did with Honest Tea). Moving up the value chain a notch or two, Panera Bread has fired a shot across the bow of its longstanding beverage partner Pepsi that CSDs sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup are being written out of the menus in coming years. Edicts like this seem to have spurred a bout of innovation at Pepsi, which has launched realsugar-sweetened sodas like Caleb’s Kola, Stubborn Soda and 1893. (Meanwhile, its executives imply that a viable natural sweetener that might resolve the dilemma is right around the corner.) As concepts like Pret a Manger, Dig Inn, Sweetgreen and Chopt flourish, they are opening doors to new beverage concepts. And while the relentless consolidation of independent retailers that traditionally have served as incubation grounds for new beverages poses a challenge, that is at least partly balanced by a fragmentation occurring elsewhere in the landscape that is opening doors to new brands. I’m talking about such channels as food trucks, yoga studios, spinning classes and crossfit boxes. The major beverage companies and their distributors seem to barely know the existence of some of these, let alone have them locked up in binding contracts, so they offer a sort of stealth respite for new brands. So am I getting ahead of myself again? Yeah, it’s quite likely. Still, I’m pretty excited about seeing how this year plays out. Longtime beverage-watcher Gerry Khermouch is executive editor of Beverage Business Insights, a twice-weekly e-newsletter covering the nonalcoholic beverage sector.
BEVNET LIVE SANTA MONICA 2015
DAVE ASPREY
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FOUNDER & CEO BULLETPROOF
BRAND BUILDING, BIOHACKING & THE NEW BEVERAGE SHOWDOWN X As much as the spirit of BevNET Live is one rooted in education, collaboration and mobilization, the bi-annual conference for beverage entrepreneurs, suppliers, distributors, retailers and investors has always embraced the fiercely competitive nature of the industry. So as day one of the event’s 2015 winter session began, 15 upstarts started cranking up their pitches in pursuit of victory in the New Beverage Showdown. The contestants, whose startup products varied from those challenging the status quo of existing beverage categories (sports drinks, coconut water, matcha, plantbased milk alternatives) to those looking to establish themselves as pioneers in entirely new ones (sun protective drinks, bottled bone broth) pitched their products to a five-headed panel of expert judges, who evaluated the brands based on their concept, taste, packaging design, function and overall likelihood to succeed in today’s ever-evolving beverage landscape. The whittled-down roster of finalists would reflect important trends emerging in the food and beverage world: Bru Broth (a bone broth company), MALK (a nut milk maker), Tea Riot (a functional tea brand), 1821 Bitters (cocktail mixers), Three Trees (almond milk) and Chuga Chaga (adaptogenics) advancing to the final round of six.
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As competition cooled, the event moved toward strategy and case studies: BevNET Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman took to the stage to recap the trends that had affected the beverage industry in 2015. Given the monumental growth of RTD cold brew coffee, the year in review would also serve as a fitting introduction for the morning’s first featured speaker, Stumptown Coffee Roasters president Joth Ricci. His presentation, “Keeping the Soul of the Premium Brand,” arrived on the heels of Stumptown’s acquisition by Peet’s Coffee in October, arguably the most high profile validation of the “third wave coffee” category to date. Ricci would also use his stage time as a platform to announce an upcoming product launch for Stumptown: a dairy-free, coconut milk-based cold brew coffee, which he said came in response to consumer demand for a dairy-free cold brew coffee offering. Made without carrageenan or stabilizers, the new product is set to launch at the top of 2016. Self-identifying “biohacker” Dave Asprey next shared his journey from Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur to the man behind the Bulletproof Coffee craze to his most recent venture with FATwater. In doing so, Asprey offered the audience a look into how he’s been able to build a cult-like following for products that boldly defy conventional notions of what’s considered a good-for-you beverage.
“The brand that you’re building is in partnership with the community that you’re serving,” Asprey stated. “So if you’re building a brand, you figure out who your target market is and you spend as much time with them as you possibly can. You understand them psychologically. Ideally you are one of them, and you show them that you’re one of them.” Kevin Klock, CEO of Sparkling Ice’s parent company Talking Rain, would follow Asprey, exploring the “More Money, More Problems” growing pains that can arise after a company experiences the level of success that Sparkling Ice has. In doing so Klock pointed to building a brand that can appeal across wide demographic groups, meeting adjusted retailer expectations and new performance standards for innovation and personnel as examples. “For us, I think the biggest challenge has been being able to step back and rather than just focus on growth to focus on steady, smart growth,” Klock revealed. “To take the right steps to settle in and get this whole new system working.”
founder of Tio Gazpacho, discussed the opportunities that their Showdown wins provided in terms of exposure, as well as their ongoing business strategies. The panel discussion also provided beverage entrepreneurs with a deep dive into the challenges faced by growing brands and how Health-Ade, Tio and Rau have approached them. “You have to have a strong business plan,” said Allan. “I did not for a while and it wasn’t until I finalized a really strong business plan that people started to pay attention. Day 2 of the conference began with a data focus, as the team of IRI’s Brian Reed and Kathryn Peters of SPINS, who explored trending beverage categories across different retail channels. The gist: what was once niche is now mainstream. Reed reported volume growth of three percent for the total beverage refreshment category, with a steady decline in traditional types of beverages like carbonated soft drinks, refrigerated orange juices and shelf stable juices offset by 19 percent growth in natural bever-
JEFF CHURCH
KATHRYN PETERS
JOTH RICCI
JESUS DELGADO-JENKINS
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, SUJA
EVP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, SPINS
PRESIDENT, STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS
EVP & CHIEF MERCHANDISING OFFICER, 7-ELEVEN
7-Eleven’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, would sit down with BevNET’s Klineman next, giving some insight into how the convenience store giant has recently begun opening its doors to support smaller, innovative entrepreneurial brands, and assisting them in catching on in the retailer. “In the last 24 months I’d say we’ve become very open to doing regional and local products,” Delgado-Jenkins stated. “You don’t have to be in every single store. You don’t even have to be in every single store within a region. If we’ve got 900 stores in Los Angeles but your product only makes sense in 400 of those stores, we’re very open to driving that type of presence.” Before announcing the New Beverage Showdown’s finalists, BevNET Managing Editor Ray Latif sat down with three recent winners of the competition to discuss how each has fared since. Daina Trout, the CEO and co-founder of Health-Ade, Daren Myers, the co-founder of Rau Chocolate, and Austin Allan, the
ages. Peters would attribute the findings to consumers’ increasing demand for variety and innovation, as well as those in attendance. “It’s really those of you in this room that are driving a lot of the innovation and the new dollars that are coming into refreshment beverages,” she stated. Peters would also note that despite the declines in traditional beverage categories like CSDs, companies have still been able to post dollar sales growth in spite of losses in volume by way of things like innovative packaging choices, pointing to the success of items like Coca-Cola’s 8 oz. mini cans as an example. Suja Juice co-founder and CEO Jeff Church graced the stage next, pulling back the curtain on all that went into Suja’s massive year that culminated in the August announcement that the Coca-Cola Company had acquired a minority stake worth $90 million in the cold-pressed juice category frontrunner. Church also outlined what a Coke-backed Suja means for the brand as it heads into the new year with new muscle behind it.
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JEFF HANSBERRY & JIMMY ROSENBERG
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EVOLUTION FRESH
“What I’ve loved about the relationship so far is that Coke recognizes that they do certain things really well as a big company, like distribution, like cost, but that there are certain things they don’t do as well, like innovate quickly or speed to market,” Church said. “So we’ve been able to get those advantages of a larger company like Coke while retaining the entrepreneurship of a smaller company.” Church’s remarks were followed by the return of the New Beverage Showdown’s six finalists who extended their “elevator pitches” from Monday’s semi-final round to a proper five minute presentation. While most of the brands had passed the taste test by this point, judges still expressed a handful of concerns they had about the contestants pertaining to their packaging, brand identity, and their ability to compete with larger players in their respective categories. In introducing Campbell Fresh, the new, store perimeter focused division in which his company now resides, Bolthouse Farms president and general manager Scott LaPorta declared that the company was looking to expand either by innovation or by acquisition — noting that C-Fresh, as it is called, wanted to go into 30 different categories from its current 10. Bolthouse’s 3-year foray into the convenience store channel had taught LaPorta that in-store promotion, sharp price points, and “providing an unduplicated choice” are keys to success in that channel. Kent Pilakowski, president and founder of sales management and consulting firm IGNITE, then discussed “push points” in his presentation on growth strategy for evolving companies,
NEW BEVERAGE SHOWDOWN X WINNER
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MALK ORGANICS
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explaining that scale comes through professionalizing at key moments and when CEOs determine their core abilities and fill out the rest through hiring or contracting. Next to the stage, Evolution Fresh President Jeff Hansberry and founder Jimmy Rosenberg discussed the roles that each play in nurturing the vision that led to the brand’s acquisition by Starbucks in 2011. Hansberry and Rosenberg reflected on how the two companies first saw alignment in DNA and values and why a focus on quality first and foremost drives Evolution’s growth strategy amid a rapidly changing cold-pressed juice category. Fashion industry executive turned juice bar entrepreneur Alex Matthews detailed the development of his company Juice Served Here, which has expanded from a single Los Angeles location to 12 locations as part of a “store per month” plan launched at the top of 2015. Matthews revealed he expects to continue opening Juice Served Here locations at the same rate heading into 2016, saying the climate of the city’s juicing culture warrants such accelerated expansion. Following Blake Mitchell and Becky Nelson’s (of design and branding agencies Interact on Shelf and Bex Brands, respectively) look at packaging trends being seen across the industry,
SCOTT LAPORTA
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BOLTHOUSE FARMS
Campbell Soup Company’s vice president of beverages Kelli McCusker explored the process of reframing longtime legacy brands in order to adapt to an ever-evolving market. Since joining the company in 2014, McCusker’s been working towards doing just that with Campbell’s V8 brand, pushing product innovation and promotion to breathe new life into V8’s core offering: vegetables. “Job number one is doing the right new things, but what’s more important is having the courage to step away from the old things that have worked in the past, because sometimes those old things might keep you steeped in the past instead of propelling you to where you need to go,” she said. “Forward.” As the afternoon came to a close, competition ruled once again: the New Beverage Showdown’s judges returned to the stage one last time to announce a winner. While the audience vote belonged to Missy and Kristen Koefod of 18.21 Bitters, it was Houston-based nut milk brand MALK Organics that won over the judges, taking home the $5,000 cash prize. Full of knowledge, full of competitive fire, the year-end break was over: it was time to start selling again.
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FEATURED ABOVE: COO, HAYES HUMPHREYS & FOUNDER, STEVE CRANDALL OF DEVILS BACKBONE
GROWTH STRATEGIES ON DISPLAY AT BREWBOUND SESSION SAN DIEGO BY JANE LOTHROP
SLOW GROWTH ISN’T ALWAYS SEXY, BUT IT’S SMART. That was the key takeaway during the Winter Brewbound Session, held on Dec. 3 in San Diego – and an idea that many of the day’s presenters espoused as they shared advice and business lessons with nearly 250 beer industry professionals. Sifting through the day’s presentations and panel discussions, a common theme emerged: even amidst eye-popping valuations and double-digit volume increases, patient, sustainable growth is the most
effective way to build a strong business in today’s crowded craft environment. Three presenters, in fact, Odell Brewing founder Wynne Odell, New Holland Brewing vice president Adam Lambert, and Devils Backbone founder Steve Crandall – who presented alongside his COO, Hayes Humphreys – each explained that the conscious control of certain elements of a brewery’s finances can lead to both a healthier business and a better bottom line. In his presentation, Lambert showed a blueprint for how to become a more
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profitable brewery, emphasizing predictable, manageable growth. “It’s ok to be in the middle ground,” he told an audience comprised of brewers, distributors and investors. “Having modest, executable goals is actually pretty normal and it’s a measure of great success.” Following a year marked with extraordinary transactions and staggering industry growth, Lambert stressed the importance of not becoming distracted by large numbers. In his mind, these kinds of striking events should be viewed as outliers rather
than standards to model a business after. “I think growing in a controlled, methodical fashion is actually better than this explosive growth that a lot of people are having right now,” he said. That approach echoed the principles espoused by the first presenter of the day, Wynne Odell. Odell described a conservative approach to scaling production and broadening distribution, showing that the choices her company made early on allowed it to achieve success through controlled growth. From the outset, Odell said, the three founders of Odell Brewing decided they wanted full control over their business and the quality of their beer. They achieved this by retaining full ownership of the company, steadily entrenching themselves in markets
WYNNE ODELL
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presentation of it,” she said. Colorado still represents 60 percent of the brewery’s distribution and Odell products are only sold in 11 states – but Odell is now the 34th largest craft brewery in the U.S., according to the Brewers Association, projecting 111,000 barrels in 2015. Playing the long game still enabled Odell’s founders to eventually cash out, however – in July, the company sold 51 percent back to the management team and 19 percent to an employee stock ownership plan. A tight distribution footprint is something that also worked well for Virginia’s Devils Backbone, as COO Hayes Humphreys and founder Steve Crandall took the stage and described the issues faced by new, rapidly-growing breweries. Founded in 2008 as a backwoods brewpub, Devils
FOUNDER, ODELL BREWING
around their home base, and, early on, staying frugal: In its early years, if the owners could not purchase or pay for something with readily available cash, they didn’t buy it, she said. Relying solely on cash flow kept the company from growing too quickly and from acquiring debt the owners couldn’t afford. One investment the company did make was in independence – using profits from its first year of operation, the founders bought out initial investors. “Certainly one of the best moves we’ve ever made is to buy that back,” she said. In addition to the buyout, the founders kept things small, deciding they could control product quality and the company image by fortifying their position in Colorado and slowly broadening distribution into contiguous states. “The further you ship your beer, the less control you have over the quality and
Early on, “we did a lot, we did everything, we said yes to every opportunity that walked through the door,” Humphreys said. “As we’ve evolved we’ve tried really hard to think about ‘what are the key components of our success and how do we kind of double down on those things?’” As a result, the company has a strict policy of turning down anything it’s not completely sure it can manage, like new distribution. This not only helps to protect the brand’s image, but also the consistency of the brewery’s production and sales. Humphreys and Crandall say they refuse to let the brewery’s service in its home state suffer. Capacity limitations put them at risk of shorting distributors and retailers, something the company always tries to avoid. “These distributors have made commit-
ADAM LAMBERT
Backbone is now the largest brewery in Virginia – the company expects to produce about 65,000 barrels this year, just three years after going into outside distribution. That kind of high demand and fast success might seem ideal, but Humphreys and Crandall described it as a constant struggle. “The one thing people say is ‘oh, you don’t have enough beer – that’s a good thing,’ – that’s the absolute worst thing,” said Crandall. He explained that at Devils Backbone, local demand has routinely impeded the company’s ability to expand into new markets – but that has had the odd effect of helping make the process of brewery expansion somewhat more manageable, particularly in terms of more consciously considering new growth opportunities. Now, Crandall and Humphreys have learned the importance of saying ‘no.’
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VP, NEW HOLLAND BREWING
ments,” Crandall said. “That is the biggest thing I’ve learned – you don’t want to short your distributors.” But that’s balanced with a sense of opportunity – after all, the duo suggest being flexible. Recently, Devils Backbone earned placement in more than 930 J.D. Weatherspoon pubs – located throughout the U.K. Unfamiliar with export rules and the new marketplace, Humphreys initially shied away from international expansion opportunities. But when Weatherspoon suggested a contract brewing arrangement, Humphreys and Crandall made an exception. And if all else fails, sometimes you just need to improvise. “There’s no guidebook on how to go through this,” said Crandall. “How to build the infrastructure and the people and the mechanisms that are involved. So you have to go through it.”
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A Q&A WITH BEVNET’s 2015 PERSON OF THE YEAR
Suja Co-Founder & CEO Jeff Church In just three years, Suja has evolved from a high pressure processed juice startup to a prime-time player in the super-premium juice category. Those changes mean that, despite the company’s growth, Jeff Church is still a very busy man. Dividing his time between fueling growth with strategic financing, including last year’s $90 million investment from the Coca-Cola Co., and building a diverse network of retail partners – while maintaining a strong emphasis on product innovation – Church has his hands full overseeing the company. And it still has a long way to go before it can fulfill what he sees as its mission: democratizing organic juice. In the following Q&A, Church, BevNET’s 2015 Person of the Year, reflects on the achievements of Suja since 2012 and the steps to success along the way. In a year of transition for Suja, what's been the most challenging aspect of your job? The most rewarding?
Balancing the time required to raise capital was challenging. We did it six times in just three years since we launched the company while holding onto the reins of a wildly growing and changing business during that same time frame. Also, keeping up with continued growth and scaling accordingly. Most rewarding parts of the year: Being recognized by the largest beverage company in the world, the Coca-Cola Co., that we were a brand that they wanted to get behind to help us achieve our vision and mission. Creating and realizing partial value for all of our investors who have been with us for all or a part of the past three years. Seeing how consumers are reacting to the more value-focused Es-
sentials line and how positively they react towards organic, Non-GMO products and that they are willing to trade up from lower quality beverages to Suja despite a dollar or greater premium versus what they were previously buying. As one of the founders of Suja, what did you identify in the cold-pressed juice category that you saw as having significant growth potential?
A lack in the marketplace for organic, non-GMO juice that wasn't pasteurized and had a long enough shelf life. In 2012 there were certainly brands that were selling organic and non-GMO juice, but either they had a shelf life of three days or were pasteurized, therefore degrading the nutrients inside the bottle. We saw a huge gap in the marketplace for a juice that checked all the boxes and knew that HPP would be a game-changer. There was an energy, buzz and pull for the concept of cold-pressed juice that was normally either made at home or sold expensively in juice bars and was now going to be available at your local retailer throughout the country. The fact that people were paying $8-10 for a 16 oz. bottle of juice was unbelievable. One of our co-founders, James Brennan, who has been in the entertainment business for the majority of his career, was initially drawn to the brand because juice was among the highest priced items at his nightclub. Also, the large market of juice, not niche, provides opportunity to not get pigeonholed with a varietal such as acai or a pomegranate.
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The beverage industry is often unforgiving when it comes to mistakes. What steps have you taken to minimize errors?
Constantly doing what we refer to as “culde-sac” testing and listening regarding new products. Getting data points from as many people as possible. Some people may be annoyed that we don’t always use classical marketing tactics, and we’ll let our innovation teams know what our families or kids thought about new ideas. However, it's important to get perspectives from as many people as possible as you are then able to draw certain trends that you might not have otherwise seen. Also, rapid innovation followed by quick kills or adaptations if not working the way we had anticipated. We’ve launched over 80 SKUs and have killed 30 in just three years. Not letting great get in the way of good with innovation. Getting something out there to get feedback on so you can then improve it and take it to an even better spot is a great way to minimize potential failures. Relatively small capital raises to minimize dilution and maintain a scarcity of resources forcing frugality. Surrounding yourself with industry professionals whom will keep you on the rails. People like Nick Giannuzzi who is an attorney to emerging CPG brands, Janica Lane, an investment banker from Piper Jaffray, Bill Weiland, founder of Presence Marketing and gateway to building great natural brands. Listen with the intent to understand – particularly with customers and their feedback. You’re never going to not mistakes, so when you do, act fast and pivot. Be willing to take the path of MORE resistance to change something that is not working.
You've cited luck as being an important part of Suja's success. How can companies best take advantage of fortuitous opportunities?
Primarily by being ready when things get aligned and can be acted on. Generally we don’t get to choose when the opportunities present themselves, yet I know many people who, when presented with an opportunity, will cite personal timing as the reason not to take action. When I first jumped off the corporate ladder, it was literally the same month that my fourth child was born. Had I not done that then, I don’t think that I would have been presented another compelling opportunity for a long period of time. Scaling smartly; being able to quickly pivot when different opportunities present themselves yet always remaining true to the goal you set out to accomplish on day one of starting the business; surrounding yourself with a team that believes in the bigger mission and will work tirelessly to get the work done. Also, having someone on your key staff team [who] has “been there, seen it, done it,” access to smart people around you, and listening super carefully to your retail base. Partnering with the Coca-Cola Co. is an opportunity only a few beverage companies have experienced. How did Suja best position itself for the opportunity?
When you are a relatively small company like Suja and are having conversations with a corporate giant like Coke, it is both flattering and intimidating. However, throughout the entire process, the one thing that mattered most to us was that we never put profit (or the idea of profit) before the integrity of our products. Which meant no shortcuts, no compromises, and most importantly, staying true to our promise of delivering the highest quality HPP, organic and non-GMO juices and smoothies. We realized what a huge opportunity this partnership could offer in terms of getting our product into the hands of even more Americans, and at an affordable price, but our commitment to producing the highest quality juice always remained priority number one. Getting to know Coke’s Venturing and Emerging Brands unit early proved to be connection points into the organization that were later highly beneficial. Being flexible and open to a minority investment was also important to making a deal occur. Large CPG companies can from time to time change their philosophy on minority or majority investments. Coke’s current thinking is to do minority investment deals in order to retain the entrepreneurial culture of the small businesses and not have to integrate into the larger Coke business where processes and integration could potentially overwhelm the smaller entrepreneurial brand. Coke’s not interested in too early stage where proof of concept hasn’t yet occurred and wouldn’t be too interested if the business had grown beyond an inflection point and wasn’t at the stage that it could benefit from Coke’s competencies enough.
BRAND OF THE YEAR
Califia Farms Califia Farms stepped into the fray from many different directions in 2015, with a product suite that engaged consumers across the store, creating a brand with the personality of a new friend whom you’ve nevertheless known for years. From almond milk to juice to cold-brewed coffee, this brand gets its energy from both changing trends in dairy and from changing values to present something that slides easily into the lives of consumers, with attention-getting packaging that does the trick of engaging them right away while making what might have seemed a bit edgy feel normal through great taste and visuals. The fact that this company is an agriculturally-based, vertically integrated enterprise coming straight from the fields of California means an unapologetic approach to branding that is in sync with the changing American diet. From single-serve RTDs to smoothie and coffee ingredients, the company is operating like a dairy farm with trees, a next
generation Ocean Spray or Sunkist. By bridging the gap between social mission, flavor, function, and agriculture, Califia Farms is the brand of the year. BEST NON-CARBONATED BEVERAGE
MALK Organics There’s clearly a big market for dairy alternatives, but there has been a growing gap in the subset of high pressure processed (HPP) varieties as many of the established brands have been eschewing lowacid nut milks from their lineups. With MALK, we have a brand that’s entirely focused on HPP nut milks and has done so with clever, well-designed branding that, with its opaque 12 oz. bottle, offers a nice twist on a familiar package. As for the liquid, MALK offers a variety of nut milks, including almond, pecan, and cashew that offer consumers both the staples they know and more exotic varieties and flavors. It’s a well-executed mix of a really nice package, great tasting liquid, and plays in white space that’s nestled between on-trend and rapidly growing categories.
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BEST TEA OR TEA-BASED BEVERAGE
BEST SMOOTHIE OR MEAL REPLACEMENT
Matcha LOVE
Genius Juice
Ito En’s Matcha LOVE is the winner of BevNET’s Best Tea or Tea-Based Beverage of 2015. In a breakout year for matchabased beverages, Matcha LOVE’s ready-todrink line has the best potential to lead the nascent category. Blending organic green tea and organic matcha, the products are well-conceived and on-trend, offering consumers a smooth drinking experience in an unsweetened and zero-calorie format.
With upgrades in packaging and formulation, this brand’s primary product is now made with only two ingredients, organic coconut water and organic coconut meat, and is high pressure processed (HPP). Rich and viscous, with a full-bodied coconut flavor from start to finish, the smoothie is lightly sweet from the natural sugars in the coconut water and milk, and includes no added sweetener. With a new 12 oz. bottle and label graphics, Genius Juice significantly improved its branding and gave it a leg up on competition in the bottled smoothie category.
BEST ENHANCED WATER
FATwater
BEST JUICE
Bolthouse Farms 1915 Bolthouse’s move into the high pressure processed juice category is one that has been carefully calculated and superbly executed. While many juice upstarts are just pumping out more of the same in terms of packaging and the liquid, Bolthouse 1915 takes a unique approach on both fronts. The company has created a great looking custom bottle that looks bigger than its 12 oz. size. The formulations are clearly the result of Bolthouse’s expertise with blending and flavors and presented in such a way that the lineup can have really broad appeal in a rapidly evolving category.
Bulletproof’s FATwater is a low-calorie beverage that takes one of the brand's foundational ingredients, XCT Oil, and uses it in a ready-to-drink form. The name FATwater is definitely a conversation starter. It bucks the trend of food and beverage brands that are trying to sell you on fat-free or low-fat products: this one is proud to feature fat (2g per bottle) as part of the formulation. Packaging is a 16 oz. bottle with a simple white label. There’s no mention of Bulletproof on the front panel, but the label is straightforward and consistent with the copy on Bulletproof’s other products. And again, we feel as though the name itself is going to catch attention. All in all, this is a product that thrives in its ability to deliver something that’s simple and familiar, but true to Bulletproof’s platform. It's definitely a product to watch.
BEST PRODUCT REVAMP
Temple Turmeric
BEST PACKAGING INNOVATION
What’s great about the revamp of Temple Turmeric is that it wasn’t a brand in need of one. The company probably could have continued on as Tumeric Alive, but it took a gamble at the chance of something that potentially has a broader reach; it’s clean, simple, and straightforward. And it was a well-executed transition that was about as seamless as any rebrand we’ve ever seen.
Cuvée Coffee Cuvée Coffee was the first cold brew brand to market a nitrogenated offering. It’s really the first time in “third-wave coffee” where a shelf-stable format is truly a straight replica of something you’d buy in the shop. Moreover, the addition of nitrogen is a big trend in “craft” beverages and one that translates really well to cold brew coffee.
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BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Organic Valley “Save the Bros” “Save the Bros” just plain made us laugh, of course, but there’s more behind this award than just a good tagline. It’s a very pointed attempt by Organic Valley to make a grab for mainstream protein consumers, and a surprising – and insightful – move from an organic brand that is trying to extend beyond the natural channel. Organic Valley forcefully avoided the trap that brands that are leaving incubation channels rely on far too much: let’s face it, wholesome and crunchier-than-thou can easily turn off a whole set of consumers, especially the Bros. But this one used all the elements of a 360-degree brand, with an initial media and billboard buy, as well as a long-range social media plan that continued to focus on consumer acquisition and has led to long-term recognition. Smarter than your average Bro, indeed.
BEST KIDS’ BEVERAGE
Daily Greens Half Pint Formulated with mainstream-friendly ingredients and flavors, these drinks are well-positioned to appeal to parents seeking a healthy upgrade for their children. With its colorfully designed 8 oz. bottle, Daily Greens has done well to create a line with its own identity while maintaining its connection to the rest of its offerings. At $3.99 per bottle, we’d guess that the Half Pint line is attracting more than a few adult consumers who are buying the drinks for themselves.
BEST CARBONATED BEVERAGE
Spindrift Seltzer It’s not so much that the new 12 oz. can format for Spindrift’s Seltzer line is all that innovative. But it’s enabled the company to extend distribution of the carbonated waters, which taste incredible. Formulated with real fruit and fresh squeezed juice, Spindrift Seltzers are low-calorie, fizzy and contain only natural ingredients. Combined with a thoughtful approach to branding and label design, the company has a winner on its hands.
BEST PACKAGING DESIGN
NüBrü Coffee An impressive year for sales of cold-brew coffee was as impressive for package design in the fast-growing segment. For us, the European design aesthetic of NuBru is exceptional among its peers. The use of different label colors and the subtle change in badges denote the different varieties clearly, while maintaining the overall feel of the brand, and, most importantly, allowing NuBru to stand out on the shelf.
BEST MIX, CONCENTRATE OR POWDER
Cocktail Crate BEST FUNCTIONAL BEVERAGE
REBBL Super Herbs Focused on unique sources of nutrition, REBBL’s product line includes a range of bleeding edge ingredients, including reishi mushrooms, maca and quillaja. We’re impressed with REBBL’s approach to marketing these esoteric, yet highly functional, ingredients; it’s both novel and effective, and it certainly helps that the beverages taste great. Combined with REBBL’s organic and fair trade sourcing methods, we think the brand has a very bright future. BEST COFFEE OR COFFEE-BASED BEVERAGE
Chameleon Cold-Brew RTD As one of the pioneers of the cold-brew coffee category, Chameleon has remained on a course of creating innovative and high quality offerings, and these new beverages articulate that approach. Moreover, Chameleon’s Chicory, Mexican and Espresso coffees stay true to the company’s focus on dairy-free cold brew and are exceptional in formulation and flavor.
Amid an expanding set for new craft cocktail mixer brands, Cocktail Crate shined brightest in 2015. From its striking flask-shaped glass bottles to a range of uniquely formulated offerings, including a Sriracha Margarita and Grapefruit Daiquiri, the brand exudes high quality and innovation. Bolstering its shelf presence, Cocktail Crate’s large-block font logo is memorable and impressive, emerging among a crowded field of mixer brands.
250 FREE CUSTOM LABELS Labels & Stickers for Beverages 250 minimums available with 2 day production time on most products
Questions? 866-774-7900 www.stickergiant.com/bevnet
BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
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PREMIXED COCKTAIL MIXERS AIM TO BOTTLE THE BAR EXPERIENCE BY RAY LATIF BY HIS OWN ESTIMATION, CHARLES JOLY MAKES THE WORLD’S LARGEST MOSCOW MULE – a few tweaks of the traditional recipe notwithstanding. Despite a batching process measured in gallons instead of ounces, Joly, the cofounder of premixed cocktail brand Crafthouse Cocktails, wants to deliver the same level of quality and drinking experience that consumers would expect from a freshly prepared Moscow Mule. It’s something that he believes has been missing from the category of ready-to-serve cocktails. “What’s been historically offered in a bottle has not been great,” Joly said. “What people have come to know in bottles are these drinks that are made to mimic and taste like a cocktail.” Eschewing preservatives and flavor enhancers, Joly, an acclaimed Chicago bartender, now oversees commercial-scale blending of vodka, ginger beer, fresh lime juice and cane sugar. Filled into swing-
top 750 mL glass bottles and shelf-stable when sealed, the Mule is one of three varieties in the Crafthouse line, which also includes a Southside and a Paloma.
HITTING THE IRON... Joly started Crafthouse Cocktails in 2013, along with business partner Matt Lindner. At a time when small-batch spirits and mixers are in high demand, they see broad opportunity to capture hearts, minds and tastebuds with convenient, premixed cocktails that address consumers’ desire for natural, artisanal products. Joly’s not alone. In just the last two years, a range of super-premium prepared cocktail products have come to market, some developed by established spirit brands like High West and Jefferson’s Bourbon, some launched by service industry professionals, and other entrepreneurs who saw white space for better options than had currently been available.
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Even the international conglomerates are getting into the mix. Last year the venture capital arm of beverage alcohol giant Constellation Brands acquired a minority stake in Crafthouse, citing a desire for “deeper knowledge of emerging opportunities.” Three months later Constellation bought Ballast Point for $1 billion, and included in the deal was the craft brewer and distiller’s budding line of canned cocktails. In October, Diageo launched Studebaker, a brand of premixed cocktails made with Canadian whisky. The line includes a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned. “This is a new category,” Joly said. “We’re not rehashing what has been done in the past. We are, along with a handful of other brands, creating a new category. Now you have people that, in my case and the case of some other people doing it, are bartenders. This is what we do, making these products as an extension of our profession and our passion as opposed to them
coming the other way from a business proposition and the being sent off to a lab somewhere where they’re made by people that really don’t even drink cocktails.”
SLIMMER SALES Joly won’t mention it, but the category’s past – and present – includes Skinnygirl Cocktails, a line of low-calorie, spiritbased blends that burst onto the scene in 2009. Launched by reality television star Bethanny Frankel, Skinnygirl markets a range of bottled cocktails, including Margarita, Cosmopolitan and Sangria varieties, that primarily target female consumers. Within two years of its debut, Skinnygirl had annual shipments of 100,000 9-liter cases, and in March, 2011 spirits conglomerate Beam Global acquired the brand for $120 million. Buoyed by Beam’s vast distribution network, sales of Skinnygirl surged by 388 percent and the brand reached the 500,000 case mark that year, becoming the fastest-growing spirits brand in 2011, according to market research firm Technomic. But in 2013, Skinnygirl sales were down 26 percent. Beam CEO Matthew Shattock blamed unfavorable summer weather for the poor showing, but the company’s annual report said something different, announcing that "the substantial decline in Skinnygirl is largely due to the substantial decrease of the U.S. readyto-serve spirits category in 2013." Sales of Skinnygirl cocktails have since remained on a downward trajectory. According to data provided by IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, the products pulled in $11.6 million in the 52-week period ending on Dec. 27, plummeting 31.3 percent from the same period a year ago. The overall category of prepared cocktails is down nearly 3 percent in that time frame, and aside from big gains for Jose Cuervo-branded products and Clubtails, which sells a line of can-packaged cocktails, most brands endured significant declines. Dave Willis, the co-founder of Bostonbased spirits maker Bully Boy Distillers, blames the category’s weakening sales on a selection that hasn’t evolved with the times. Despite widespread interest for and availability of artisanal spirits, Willis,
whose company produces a ready-to-serve Old Fashioned and also a rum-based punch, sees a lack of similarly positioned offerings in the bottled cocktail category as contributing to a stagnant shelf.
THE CRAFT CONUNDRUM Indeed, with the exception of Skinnygirl, the set has long been the dominion of summer-friendly cocktail blends, including pina colada, daiquiri and margarita varieties, marketed by brands like Malibu and Bacardi. The notion of sharing shelf space alongside those products is something that has caused most of the craft distilling community to shy away from developing packaged cocktails, Willis said. Most, but not all. Willis embraces the idea of a bottled cocktail as a way to introduce the Bully Boy brand to new consumers in a form that he believes best showcases its spirits. “It’s a great opportunity for small distilleries to flex their creative muscles,” Willis said. “Every craft distillery has a cocktail that’s made with their spirits that’s their favorite, and it’s nice if we can showcase the best expression of that cocktail and do it in a way that’s easy and approachable.” Trey Zoeller, the president and founder of Jefferson’s Bourbon, concurs. Amid a renaissance in barrel-aged cocktails that are prepared and served in upscale bars across the U.S., Zoeller collaborated with Esquire magazine to produce a bottled offering. Two years in the making, the Esquire & Jefferson's Manhattan: Barrel Finished Cocktail debuted on the market in April. Crafted with six-yearold bourbon that has been cut down to 82.3 proof, sweet and dry vermouth, and barrel-aged, spiced cherry bitters, the ready-to-serve beverage was created to draw interest from bourbon enthusiasts as well as consumers new to whiskey. “Almost everybody getting into the whiskey and bourbon category specifically, they’re not going to go straight into drinking [the spirits] neat or on-therocks,” Zoeller said. “You ease into that, and cocktails help.”
FINDING THEIR PLACE Zoeller said that while not every retailer understands how to sell bottled cock-
tails, the Jefferson’s Manhattan has been doing well, particularly in the Northeast. Expanding awareness, education and, ultimately, sales of the product will require significant sampling and continued positioning alongside Jefferson’s bourbon, he said, noting that side-by-side shelf placement has been an effective retailing tool. Berkshire Mountain Distillers, on the other hand, wants its Gin & Tonic and Vodka & Tonic cocktails placed in coolers. Chris Weld, the founder of Berkshire Mountain, sees cold shelf space as important for trial of the brand’s singleserve cocktails, which include the Gin & Tonic, a blend of its Greylock Gin and an unfiltered tonic created by the Sheffield, Mass.-based distillery and made with cinchona bark, citrus peel and other botanicals. (The bark gives the beverage a distinct brown color, and it requires a lot of education – and sampling – to get consumers comfortable with it, Weld said.) Unlike Jefferson’s and Berkshire, however, brands like Crafthouse Cocktails and Austin Cocktails, which markets a line of better-foryou cocktails made with herbs, fruit juices and organic agave nectar, are independent and have to rely on introducing themselves to the public one store demo at a time. Each, however, has landed an airline: A two-serving bottle of Crafthouse Cocktails’ Moscow Mule is available on select United Airlines flights, while Austin Cocktails’ Cucumber Vodka Mojito had a limited run on Virgin America’s beverage menu. While few beverage brands of any type are likely to replicate the rapid rise of Skinnygirl, Joly sees opportunity in a similar distribution pattern – if he can take it beyond its current footprint of four U.S. states. While Joly described the prototypical Whole Foods shopper as “exactly the type of person that enjoys” Crafthouse products, he, like a growing cohort of premium brand owners, is also eyeing placement in Target as the next step in getting his products into liquor cabinets and refrigerators across America. “Target has a refined selection and the product that they carry is of a good quality,”Joly said, noting that Crafthouse has already undergone several successful retail tests at the mass merchant. “I think they’re a great place for us to be.”
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Brand News
Cocktail Mixers
Barsmith recently achieved Non-GMO Project verification for its Honey Ginger, Lime Juice and Simple Syrup flavors, becoming the first cocktail mixer brand to be verified by the non-profit. According to the company, all of Barsmith’s products will complete the verification process by the end of 2016. Since its launch in January of 2015 the brand has achieved nearly 20,000 points of distribution across the United States. HABARITA has added two new flavors to
its line of habanero craft margarita mixes: Peach and Watermelon. The brand’s parent company Fiery Fusions also recently announced an agreement with Oak Beverage in Blauveltt, New York for distribution of Habarita throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Long Island and Westchester county. Owl’s Brew recently introduced Wicked Green, featuring a blend of green tea, habanero, lemon and lime. Priced similarly to Owl’s Brew’s other flavors ($6.99-$9.99 for an 8 oz. bottle, $14.99 - $16.99 for the 32 oz.), the company recommends pairing Wicked Green with mezcal, tequila, vodka and gin.
a peach, raspberry and vanilla blend designed for making bellinis. The brand also recently added distribution through UNFI, KeHE Distributors and Island Fresh for the New York City area. Jack Rudy Cocktail Co.’s new Sweet Tea Syrup is an homage to the brand’s southern roots in Charleston, SC and Lexington, KY. The company recommends mixing its latest offering with vodka or bourbon. The company’s other mixers include small batch tonic, elderflower tonic, and sweet batch grenadine. Powell & Mahoney recently received a growth capital investment from Fenwick Brands which will go towards expanding the brand’s distribution network. The company’s new ginger beer is currently available at select Target and Wegman’s stores. Cocktail Crate has expanded its distribution footprint into Central Market stores in Texas, Whole Foods’ northeast region and Williams Sonoma stores nationwide. In January the brand debuted its new Spicy Michelada mixer at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. SQZ Shots, a line of portable, fruit-fla-
Liber & Co. is expanding its in-house
production capacity three-fold to produce up to 30,000 cases annually. The brand’s line of cocktail syrups are available in six flavors: Real Grenadine, Fiery Ginger Syrup, Texas Grapefruit Shrub, Spiced Tonic Syrup, Pineapple Gum Syrup and Classic Gum Syrup Q Drinks. Following recent placements
at independent bars and restaurants such as Fiscal Agent in Los Angeles and Blue Hill in New York City, Q Drinks’ line of cocktail sodas have secured mandates at a number of national on-premise accounts including Soho House, Roy’s, and Carnival Cruise Lines. American Juice Company has added
a new flavor to its line of all-natural cocktail mixers: the Harriet Peach Stowe,
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vored liquid shot mixes, are now available for purchase online. The company has launched a promotion providing free shipping to customers who purchase all four SQZ Shot flavors: Sex on the Beach, Washington Apple, Blue Kamikaze and Red-Headed Shot. Wine-a-Rita’s Peach Bellini Drink has added Atlanta’s 2015 Best Beverage to its list of accolades. The company recommends blending the frozen drink mix with white wine, champagne, or ginger ale. Pickett’s Ginger Beer Concentrate is
an all natural ginger beer syrup that can be used to spice up drinks. It is available in ‘Medium’ and ‘Hot n’ Spicy’ varieties. Packaged in 16 oz. bottles, Pickett’s 2-packs are available for purchase on the company’s website for $29.99.
Trend Oracle 2016 By Jeffrey Klineman
We often ask event speakers to consult their crystal balls for the future of the beverage business. This time, we reached out to friends so that you wouldn’t have to travel. So here’s what they’re thinking about as they look down the road, and also, what we think some of our biggest questions are for the industry in 2016: Operational Uncertainty: Brands are being built on trends that are still being proven out while they’re on the market, and the FDA is taking a harder look than it has in the past. Consider the agency’s low level of response to inquiries about energy drinks – where there has been a much higher level of public concern – to its ongoing look at high pressure processing, a much smaller category. Roll in the TTB’s uncertainty about the treatment of kombucha and you’ve got two fast-growth categories that are still on shaky regulatory ground. So the big question is, will the agencies finally draw up and enforce boundaries about process and labeling? Retail Retrenchment: With so many new products fighting for space in produce, dairy, and cold vaults, and retailers knowing that delivery systems are going to eat into share long-term, how will stores re-focus their space allotments? Meanwhile, convenience stores continue to welcome innovative products: how edgy will they get? The Bubble Bubble: How much longer will Sparkling Ice and LaCroix have the field to themselves? The two companies have been the big winners when it comes to zero-calorie carbonated refreshment – Can these wildly successful products grow into brand platforms capable of maintaining independence, or will they become someone else’s tuck-in? Snackification: changes came to HPP juices last year as they shifted from a cleanse-based need state to a simple good-for-you, nutritional enhancement. Now, with more body from added protein and grains, as well as introductions like gazpachos and bone broth, the technology is well-positioned to fulfill the 150-300 calorie snack-to-meal space that PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has long anticipated. But will Pepsi be able to take advantage of that promise, or has it already gone to the independents?
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QUESTIONS FOR THE CROWD What beverage trend, possible regulation, new ingredient, labeling trend, etc. will you be tracking or expect to have an impact on the business in 2016? Laura McCord, Senior Director of Retail Growth Solutions, KeHE Distributors:
We believe coconut still has a lot of penetration runway as an alternative to mainstream isotonic. And maple water as a domestically sourced isotonic is a growth story to watch in 2016. Turmeric as a functional ingredient will continue to gain noteworthy momentum in beverages. We’re seeing beet in juices explode and expect that to continue into 2016. Cyrus Schwartz, CEO, Dora’s Naturals:
I expect craft sodas, cold brew teas and coffee and natural hydration (i.e. coconut water, maple water, watermelon water, etc.) to be the meaningful growth categories in 2016 Todd Berardi, Founder, Hi-Ball Beverages:
We are bullish on organic/ fair trade certification, so we track and highlight this constantly. We just returned from filming a mini-documentary in India on our organic caffeine supply chain. Duane Primozich, Managing Director, Boulder Investment Group:
I think 2016 will be the year we see some interesting bone broth products emerge. It is still unclear what format will gain the most traction for this new product category, but it is clear that there is high demand for the benefits.
Neil Kimberley, VP Strategy and Brand Development, Essentia Water:
Big beverage companies will start to proactively reduce the size of soft drink aisles, leaving space for other beverages. If they don’t, retailers will. Meanwhile, new delivery alternatives will arise as a route to market.
What (Ex: beverage trend, possible regulation, legal theme, ingredient, consumer demand, etc) would you be happy to find in the rear-view mirror as we leave 2015? Laura McCord:
Kvass inspired beverages are likely to be in the rear-view mirror as we leave 2015. We won’t be disappointed! Bob Burke, Founder, Natural Products Consulting group:
Frivolous, disingenuous, money grabbing, unprincipled, extortive, class action lawsuits especially when most of the time no one was really actually “harmed”. These are not to be confused when companies do cross lines. Cyrus Schwartz:
I would like to see more clarity on the definition of “raw." Todd Berardi:
Even though we are not playing in HPP or the Kombucha space, I am ready to stop hearing the noise and see real regulation and transparency to insure these products are truly safe for consumers from a production standpoint and alcohol level….we all know supply chains are not perfect, and I feel like it’s a ticking time bomb with products that require refrigeration.
What are you most excited for (in your own company or the industry) in 2016?
Who or what company, entity, or trend will you be keeping an eye on in 2016?
John Warburg, Managing Director, Warbros Venture Fund:
Michael Schaefer, Head of Beverages and Foodservice Analysis, Euromonitor International:
I'm curious to see how the sparkling water/flavored seltzer category plays out. It seems like a logical recipient of the dollars draining out of big CSD. I also have a vested interest! I'm also curious to see what, if anything, develops in the energy and iced coffee categories (another vested interest). They continue to be dominated by huge companies - and, in my opinion, low quality products. When, if ever, will a natural/ higher quality/better-for-you brand finally start to make some significant headway? Laura McCord:
At a macro-level, we’re excited about the growing awareness around health and social responsibility issues among mainstream Americans that are driving change in food and agriculture. We’re thrilled and honored to be a part of this revolution! With the optimism and idealism that the millennials bring to the marketplace, combined with their financial resources, we hope to see a greater emphasis on Fair Trade items as well as Certified B Corporations. Jim Tonkin, Healthy Brand Builders:
I’m looking forward to more validation studies to determine how well HPP withstands bacteria, advances in the plant protein space, and the way the industry continues to find new and exciting ways to expand around flavor.
There’s a growing influence of restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and other away-from-home channels in the new product development process. In the same way that bars drive the development of new product trends in alcoholic beverages, coffee shops and other quick-service channels can be expected to play a growing role in the development of non- alcoholic drinks trends. Mark Rampolla, Co-Founder, Powerplant Ventures:
I’m interested in Lance Collins and Core; I wasn't sure before but I think he's going to repeat again. I’m very impressed with traction he's getting on baseline and it sounds like cool innovation is coming. Also, the launch of Juicero. I’m not sure what will happen but it will be big splash or big thud. Either way interesting! John Warburg:
I'll be watching Bai. I’m fascinated by what Ben Weiss has done there and very curious to see how it turns out for him and his investors. Bill Sipper, Managing Partner, Cascadia Managing Brands:
Watch Whole Foods. Same store sales are down. There have been several shakeups at the regional and national level. With all the competition out there today it will be interesting to see if Whole Foods will balance themselves out. It is a big year, one way or the other, for Whole Foods. Besides Kroger, Walmart, and Target, mainstays like Sprouts and The Fresh Market have upped their game.
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Trade Show
Natural Products Expo West Preview
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
Natural Products Expo West
Anaheim Convention Center, Hilton
March 9-13, 2016
Anaheim and Marriott Anaheim
FLOOR HOURS Friday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS OF INTEREST
Wednesday, March 9
Thursday, March 10
Friday, March 11
Saturday, March 12
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
10:30a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
What is “Natural”: Dissecting Public Commentary to the FDA
Local & Fresh: How to Stand Out in a Competitive Market
Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering: Concerns and Opportunities
The Evolution of Influencer Marketing
Marriott, Grand Ballroom G/H
Marriott, Grand Ballroom J/K
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
State of the Natural Products Industry: Products & Consumer Trends Fueling Growth
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Natural Flavors & Colors: Supply Solutions for Growing Demand Marriott, Grand Ballroom J/K
Marriott, Grand Ballroom J/K
Marriott, Grand Ballroom F
Marriott, Marquis Ballroom South
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Labeling Litigation: Strategies for Marketing Products While Avoiding the Courtroom Marriott, Orange County Salon 2
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Market Intelligence: Collecting Insights to Better Understand Your Customers Marriott, Grand Ballroom J/K 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Food Service - The New Frontier for Natural Brands
Non-GMO Where Are We Now?
Launching Success: Tips for Keeping Your Next Product Rollout On Track
Marriott, Grand Ballroom G/H
Marriott, Grand Ballroom F
Marriott, Grand Ballroom G/H
ALPHABETICAL EXHIBITOR LIST Exhibitor
Booth
Exhibitor
Booth
Acai Roots
3100
Bone Broths Co.
8002
Chia\Vie
5171
DRINKmaple
8513
Alkame Water Inc.
168
Botanic Water
9006
CideRoad Organic Switchel
8418
drinkme Beverage Co.
5428
Alkazone/Better Health Lab, Inc.
2677
Boxed Water Is Better LLC
8716
Clear Alaskan Glacial Water
9401
Elite Naturel USA LLC
2709
ALO Drink by SPI West Port, Inc.
3176
Brands Within Reach LLC
5524
Clearly Kombucha
5193
EnerBee
971
AOI Tea Company
2798
Brew Dr. Kombucha
H935
Coco Libre
5306
Evolution Fresh
4496
AQUAhydrate
4653
Bruce Cost Ginger Ale
3099B
Coco5
H429
Feel Natural Energy
H238
Argo Tea
5618
Bucha Live Kombucha
4583
Cocoa Metro Drinking Chocolate
H716
Fire Cider
H608
Avitae Caffeinated Water
983
Buddha Teas
H201
COTT Beverages
8520
FitPro Protein
790
Bai Brands, LLC
148
Bundle Organics
8916
Crio Bru
8063
FOCO Pure Coconut Water
5651
Bare Bones Broth Co.
Booth
H1004
Exhibitor
Exhibitor
Booth
C2O Pure Coconut Water, LLC
5163
CytoSport, Inc.
1788
Forager Project
5174
Bhakti Chai
5517
Califia Farms LP
5078
Dahlicious, LLC
9313
Ginger People, The
4197
Black Bear Energy, LLC
1487
Caliwater
2194
Daily Greens
5773
Ginseng Up Corp
H414
blk Beverages
5257
Castle Rock Water
893
Dark Dog Organic Energy Drink
184
Golazo
5248
Blue Bottle Coffee
H20
Celebes Coconut Corporation
2998
Diabolo Beverages
2085
GoLive Probiotic & Prebiotic Products
5429
Blue Monkey
5245
Chameleon Cold Brew
5488
Double Cola Company, The
8301
Good Karma Beverage, Inc.
4548
Bolthouse Farms
4339
Cheribundi
4196
Dream Water
5220
good2grow
8508
32 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
ALPHABETICAL EXHIBITOR LIST Exhibitor
Booth
Exhibitor
Booth
Exhibitor
Booth
Exhibitor
Booth
GoodBelly by NextFoods
3167
Koa Organic Beverages
9417
OJO Fortified Eye Care Nectar
1400
Stonyfield Farm, Inc.
2338
Gradys Cold Brew
8907
Kohana Coffee
5167
Orgain, Inc.
2200
Stur
5719
Greater Than Sports Drink
9610
Kombucha Wonder Drink
2811
Organic Fair Inc.
Suja Juice
5592
Green Sheep Water
9664
KonaRed Corporation
689
OurTrueRoots
9020
Superleaf LLC
8054
Guayaki Yerba Mate
2905
KOR Water
3470
Owl's Brew
393
Taste Nirvana Int'l Inc.
1992
GURU Beverage Inc
2236
Kura Nutrition
8807
Pacific Foods
2531
Teaonic
8913
GUS - Grown-up Soda
3898
Lakewood Organic Juice Company
2520
Paragon Fruits
1003
teapigs US
8815
Hain Celestial Group, The
2736
LifeAID Beverage Co
Penta Water LLC
3188
Teeccino Caffe Inc.
3978
Hansen's Natural
2561
Lifeway Foods, Inc.
4047
Pocas International
8415
Temple Turmeric
5676
Happy Tree
5593
Lily of the Desert
1605
Pok Pok Som
1989
The New Barn
9657
Happy Water
9633
Limation Limeade
H1008
POM Wonderful
4186
The Pickle Juice Company
8061
Harmless Harvest Inc.
5438
Little Miracles Drinks, Ltd.
5389
powercrunch
4179
Third Street
4090
Harney & Sons Tea Co
4182
LIVE Kombucha Soda
5347
Powerful Yogurt
5770
Thirsty Buddha Coconut Water
5864
Harvest Soul, Inc.
H113
Lorina, Inc.
5832
PowerICE
8615
Titan Tea
9116
Hawaiian Ola
H506
Lotus Elixirs
8001
Pressery
5471
Total Happiness Naturals
119
Hawaiian Springs Artesian Water
4687
Love Beets
142
Purity Organic, LLC
1794
True Nopal Cactus Water
5774 5805
H1026
3198B
Lumi
2322
Purple Life Laboratories, LLC
H502
TrueToniqs
HEALTHEE
2526
Makana Beverages Inc.
H339
Q Drinks
5481
Tu Me Beverage Company
H22
Hemp2o
H724
Make a Stand
9216
Rawpothecary Goodz
9019
Uncle Matt's Organic, Inc.
2508
Herbal Mist Yerba Mate
H1028
Mamma Chia
2305
Real Bone Broth
789
Unique Beverage Company LLC
9403
Health-Ade Kombucha
2898B
Hiball
4396
Mangajo Drinks Co.
3788
REBBL
8613
UPTIME Energy
5785
High Brew Coffee
5828
Market Connections Group
5294
Rebel Kitchen
5333
Velu Wheat Grass
9639
Honest Tea
2876
Marley Beverage Company
100
Red Ace
1876
Venturing and Emerging Brands
5841
Honeydrop Beverages
9312
Marley Coffee
5606
Reed's Inc
112
Veri Soda Company
4547
HOTLIPS Soda
H912
Marquis Beverages
8704
Reliant Hydration Inc.
Vertical Water
5395
Icebox Water
H538
MatchaBar
9658
Revive Kombucha
107
Vita-V Energy Co
5789
Icelandic Glacial
5255
MetaBrand/I AM Enlightened
5153
Rumble
5835
VOSS of Norway
5458
ICONIC
9208
Mocktail Beverages Inc.
H200
Runa LLC
3104
Wai Koko Coconut Water
5735
illy issimo
2874
Moonshine Sweet Tea
9301
Rushmore Superfoods
1785
Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water
8070
5314
H515
Mountain Valley Springs
8015
Sambazon
2213
WANU Water
164
Intelligentsia Coffee
H1025
Mulberry Love
5189
S채pp Organic Birch Tree Water
5602
WhiteWave Foods
3042
INVIGORADE
H800
MUNKIJO
1894
Sencha Naturals
4771
Wholly Oats, LLC
9001
Invo Coconut Water
5381
Naked Juice
2863
SIPP eco beverage co.
2432
Wild Tonic
9613
iQ Juice
5551
Naked Juice
2857
Slingshot Foods
9414
WTRMLN WTR
8906
ITO EN (North America), Inc.
3850
Napz/NaturallyU
H320
Smart Juices LLC
2813
Xing Tea - Aspen Pure Water
H221
Jax Coco
5251
National Beverage Corp.
4665
Smart Juices LLC
9219
Xyience Energy Bars
9676
Jones Soda
H332
Natural Choice Beverages, Inc.
9119
SoBe Emerging Brands
3058
Yakult USA
4786
Juice Served Here
8923
Nestle Waters North America
4538
Soul Fizz
H408
Zenify
5795
JUICEOLOGY
9206
nutpods
H326
Spindrift Beverage Co.
5798
Zevia LLC
4373
Karma Wellness Water
5143
Nuun Active Hydration
2066
Splash Beverage Group
5274
ZICO Beverages LLC
2877
KeVita Sparkling Probiotic
2609
Nuvia Cafe
1884
Sri Lanka Gold
8027
Zola
3113
Kin Chia
5583
OhYeah! Nutrition
5442
Steaz
2612
Inko's Tea
BEVNET SHOW COVERAGE SPONSORED BY:
BEVNET MAGAZINE JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
33
Promo Parade Promotions, events & specials for the industry
Coca-Cola Announces Multi-Year Partnership with Top-Ranked Golfer, Jordan Spieth In 2015, Jordan Spieth became the face of professional golf by winning The Masters and The U.S. Open Championship, claiming the PGA TOUR’s 2015 FedEx Cup with his win at the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola, and finishing the season at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Fresh off of his impressive win at the 2016 Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii, Coca-Cola announced that Spieth will
become an ambassador for the brand’s sports marketing campaigns and beyond. The new multi-year partnership will feature Spieth in television advertising, digital and social media, point-of-sale, out-of-home, experiential marketing, packaging and more. Golf fans can expect to see Spieth promote the company’s Dasani brand as well. Spieth will be featured in a steady stream of initiatives throughout the PGA
Tour season. As an Olympic hopeful, he also will become a member of Coca-Cola’s 6-Pack of Olympians and Paralympians during the run up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, as golf returns to Olympic competition for the first time since 1904. Coca-Cola’s partnership with Spieth marks the latest chapter in The Coca-Cola Company’s rich history with golf, which dates back to Bobby Jones — co-founder
Berkshire Mountain Distillers Presents The Craft Brewers Whiskey Project Berkshire Mountain Distillers is proud to announce its newest endeavor, the Craft Brewers Whiskey Project, a project for which it will be distilling a multitude of different beers from a select group of craft brewers. The resulting whiskey, bound to be momentous, will then be aged at the distillery for an undetermined amount of time before it is released.
Unlike Berkshire Mountain’s wildly popular Cask Finished Bourbon project, in which the distillery’s bourbon was finished in casks from brewers including Samuel Adams, Ommegang, Terrapin and Founders, with each variety only available in the state of the brewery from where the cask hailed, the whiskey from the Craft Brewers Whiskey Project will be available in multiple states.
34 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 BEVNET MAGAZINE
of The Masters and regarded by many as one of the greatest players of all time. Jones appeared in a Coca-Cola advertising campaign in 1947 honoring the great champions of sport and he became a Coca-Cola bottler shortly thereafter. Spieth won the 2015 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta — Jones’ home course, where he is said to have played his first and last rounds of golf.
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