Pepsi first digital fountain that offers up to 1,000+ beverage combinations looks great and we think a scaled-down version could add verve to the US home.
The healthy beverage segment continues to steal market share from sugar-sweetened soft drinks and diet soda, as consumers’ perception of the role of beverage in their diets evolves alongside changing policy and public health initiatives.
“One question I like to ask an entrepreneur – usually when they’re really tired after presenting for an hour and a half, is ‘what keeps you awake at night?’ A good entrepreneur has to be a paranoid entrepreneur.”
The executive director of one of Europe’s biggest investment funds managing $1bn in assets insists that big brands like Pepsi and Coke are not cracking innovation and lag behind young beverage entrepreneurs.
Robust volume and value sales growth for soft drinks in Nigeria has led Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCE) to invest in a 42,000 bottle/hour Sidel line for PET bottles.
Drinkpreneur Live – the world’s first event devoted to unearthing the next generation of beverage industry entrepreneurs – will launch at a live event in London, UK on June 11.
BEVERAGEDAILY.COM SCORE: 88.75% - 'ZENITH HITS TOP GEAR'
We're starting up a new slot at BeverageDaily.com called 'Was it worth it?' to review beverage conferences and trade shows. First up is Zenith International's Innobev Global Soft Drinks Congress in Lisbon. The sun was shining there...
Fever-Tree CEO Charles Rolls insists Schweppes is no longer the ‘great old British company it was’ and insists the brand is scared by his firm’s giant steps in premium spirits mixers.
Free Drinks insists consumers have been trapped between ‘sugary sweet and water’ in adult soft drinks with little in-between, as it ramps up distribution of its ZEO brand across the UK in 2014.
Zenith International chairman Richard Hall has expressed skepticism over RTD coffee’s credentials as the ‘next big thing’, despite impressive growth since 2003.
We’re in the business of telling stories, in the best possible sense. So if you have one to tell us about your job in the beverage industry – please get in touch with BeverageDaily.com!
CEO JOHN BROCK 'guardedly optimistic' on aspartame's EU future
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) boss John Brock says he believes Europe is in a ‘better place’ on aspartame than the US after EFSA's December safety ruling, despite a slight dip in diet soda sales for Q1 2014.
A US analyst warns that Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has suffered a ‘slightly challenged start’ with its new 1.75 liter contoured PET bottle in Great Britain.
Testing the consumer liking of a new product may be an overrated idea that ‘breeds mediocrity’ and means products fail to differentiate themselves against the competition, according to David Howlett of MMR Research.
CEO NOOYI 'FEELS GOOD' ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN BEVERAGES
Zenith International says that 19 supermarket and other retail buyers have registered to attend its 2014 UK Soft Drinks Conference slated for May 7 in Central London.
INNOBEV GLOBAL SOFT DRINKS CONGRESS, LISBON: FROM ZERO TO 400M LITER HERO
AJE’s CMO and Zen Buddhist master Jorge Lopez Doriga tells BeverageDaily.com that AJE ‘isn’t your typical capitalist company’, although flag brand BIG Cola is the fourth best-selling soft drink worldwide.
Japanese academics say that students in a taste test comparing the world’s two bitter cola rivals were more likely to prefer Pepsi to Coke when asked to give reasons why.
BUT BONNIE HERZOG SAYS PEPSICO COULD BE ON RECOVERY ROAD
US beverage analyst Bonnie Herzog says she is ‘increasingly concerned’ about The Coca-Cola Company’s ability to reach its 2020 vision due to a US soda slowdown and global instability.
There’s a reason why soda is generally sweet and comes in three flavors (cola, lemon & lime and root beer), because that’s what sells, right? Wrong, says DRY Soda founder and CEO Sharelle Klaus, whose best-selling flavors include lavender, rhubarb...
INNOBEV GLOBAL SOFT DRINKS CONGRESS: FINAL THOUGHTS
San Diego-based flavor innovator Senomyx has entered into a collaborative agreement with PepsiCo to identify flavors with "modifying properties intended to restore the desired salty taste in products with reduced salt".
NATURALLY SWEET SODAS POSE MARKETING NOT R&D CHALLENGE - ZEVIA
Naturally sweetened soft drinks such as Coca-Cola Life could pose problems for big soda since they risk cannibalizing standard product sales, one analyst suggests.
MINTEL'S BIG CONVERSATION: MILLENNIALS DON'T CARE FOR TRADITIONAL CATEGORIES
Beverage concepts that seem wacky or weird right now could sparkle in the future, says Mintel analyst Jonny Forsyth, who notes strong sales for Kirin’s fiber-fortified cola in Japan since 2012.
Despite a trend toward reduced sugar consumption in the US, many Americans are still getting far too much added sugar in their diets. But how do consumers really feel about sugar? And how should manufacturers address sugar and sugar reduction efforts...
Canna Energy says it has sold around 150,000 cans of its hemp oil infused energy drink in its first 100 days and is hot on the heels of Red Bull and Monster in terms of sell-through in many Colorado locations.
Beverage brands can blur the lines both within the category and steal outside cues to create novel products such as beer-flavored ice cream that arrest the consumer’s attention, according to Mintel.
The energy drinks market has become more segmented in recent years, but relentlessly negative PR, a flurry of lawsuits and an FDA-probe have not dampened consumers’ enthusiasm for the original caffeine-fuelled formulas, says one beverage industry veteran.
PepsiCo was the biggest loser in US carbonated soft drinks in 2013, according to Beverage Digest, with worrying volume and market share loss data contrasting sharply with Monster’s stellar sales.
First Lady Michelle Obama has called it “liquid sugar” and the World Health Organization warns that much of our sugar intake is “hidden” in processed food and beverages such as soda (a 12-ounce can contains 10 teaspoons). As public health officials continue...
Postmenopausal women who drink two or more diet drinks a day may be more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems, according to new research.
Diet soda sales remain in a funk according to the latest Nielsen data, with dollar sales in the four weeks to March 15 plunging 7.3%. Regular soda fared somewhat better (+ 0.6%), while energy drinks (+8.3%) and sparkling water (+26.2%) continued to steam...
Muhtar Kent took home $10m less in 2013 than the previous year, but having trousered $20m can still afford the odd luxury, as our resume of Coke's Top 5 paid executives shows.
STATEMENTS 'MISINFORMED AND DO NOT REFLECT FACTS' - COKE
Coke has hit back at investor David Winters after he insisted that an ‘excessive’ compensation deal proposed for management from 2014 will hit normal shareholders – including teachers and nurses – hard.
A US lawsuit insists Coke made false, deceptive claims that its eponymous brand was ‘healthy and natural’ in the wake of a ‘Category 5’ consumer hurricane that saw soda sales slip from 2008.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) says it would be keen to buy or distribute more brands like Capri Sun to expand in still drinks alongside increasing its footprint in Western Europe.
Flavor expert Senomyx - which is collaborating with PepsiCo over sweet taste modifier Sweetmyx (S617) - has been rapped over the knuckles by the FDA for implying that the agency had approved (ie. sent a letter of ‘no objection’ about) its GRAS determination...
Monster Energy Ultra topped the IRI beverage league table for the best-selling newcomers in C-stores in 2013, while Red Bull Total Zero and Bud Light Lime Lime-A-Rita also starred.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he is concerned by the activity levels of activist investors as eBay investor Carl Icahn fires off regular Tweets calling for it to spin off Paypal.
Obese US adults drink ‘significantly more’ solid food and consume more calories than obese peers favoring sugar-sweetened drinks, says a large-scale study questioning the impact of diet drinks on weight control.
PepsiCo has hit out at activist investor Nelson Peltz for continuing to press for a split between its beverage and snack arms, and says his use of data is ‘selective, and in many instances misused’.
InnoBev Global Soft Drinks Congress: April 7-9, Lisbon
The global soft drinks industry faces a ‘seesaw year’ in 2014 but the challenges posed by mature markets and categories are amply offset by opportunities elsewhere in the sector.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) boss John Brock says the company is interested in buying still drinks brands but warns that the European juice market is far less profitable than in North America.
'Pepsi's been outmaeuvered by coke, outshone by dr pepper' - crusading investor
Nelson Peltz insists that Coke has PepsiCo on the back foot and says the latter is even outshone by Dr Pepper despite a stellar beverage portfolio including Gatorade, Tropicana and Mountain Dew.
