US consumer insights platform Instant.ly says its August survey measuring consumer intent to purchase recent soft drinks launches puts PepsiCo’s Gatorade Fierce Blue Cherry at the top of the chart.
NEW PRODUCT GALLERY: SIX HEINEKEN 2014 INNOVATIONS
Heineken UK marketing director Jacco van der Linden insists the company has changed its culture to be less afraid of failure and more realistic in its volume and value expectations for new brands.
'DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE LACK OF MILLENNIALS AT NAPA VALLEY TASTINGS,' RESEARCHERS WARN
Wine Intelligence believes the millennial impact on the current US wine market has been overstated but says only those firms that cater for their future buying habits will survive.
The UK supplier of one of the largest US moonshine brands Palmetto believes the corn-based spirit can thrive after he overcame regulatory hurdles to launch it on this side of the Atlantic.
Survata is 'democratizing' consumer insights, says CEO
Until pretty recently, food marketers looking to test new product ideas, brand names or pack designs could look to friends, family, and colleagues for cheap - though notoriously unreliable - feedback, or expect to spend serious time and money on hiring...
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters CEO Brian Kelley insists the firm is on track for a fiscal 2015 launch of its cold carbonated soft drinks system and is working closely with shareholder Coca-Cola to perfect the latter's brands for use.
Nestle USA is poised to launch a 26-serve Nescafe ‘to go’ liquid coffee concentrate that consumers can add to water to create RTD coffee on demand, along the same lines as its Nestea liquid water enhancer.
Nestle Waters USA CEO Tim Brown says he doesn’t think Coke ‘had a lot of heart’ for RTD tea brand Nestea in the US and suggests it blundered by treating it as a soft drink line extension.
ENERGY GIANT RUMORED TO BE READYING LAUNCHES TO GRAB MORNING, AFTERNOON, EVENING CONSUMPTION
Monster Energy has filed a US trademark for the term Ultra Sunrise and one analyst predicts the name will be used for a CSD that will take on $150m brand Mountain Dew Kickstart.
Microalgae supplier Allma tells BeverageDaily.com why it believes nutrient-rich ‘super algae’ chlorella has a big future in juices and smoothies as it inks a supply deal with Frulact.
The remarkable rise in popularity of craft beer in Australia might be driving mainstream brewery executives to the bottle, but for Glenn Cary, chief executive of the independent Balmain Brewing Company, it is only the beginning.
Comax Flavors agrees that the trend in the US towards greater flavour differentiation and localization is challenging for big beverage brands as it launches a range targeting Hispanic, Asian and younger consumers.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) boss John Brock insists people in the UK think Coca-Cola Life tastes just like standard Coke ahead of its September launch, but is this lack of differentiation necessarily good news?
ANALYSTS WARN DR PEPPER NEEDS 'CATALYSTS' TO DRIVE TOP-LINE GROWTH
Dr Pepper Snapple CEO Larry Young says he loves the young entrepreneurs who run his allied brands – these include Bai 5 and Vita Coco – but says the buyout prices startups demand are ‘ridiculous’.
The founder of Ireland’s best-selling health drink VITHIT insists the brand can succeed in the UK where US vitamin waters have failed, and reveals plans to launch the drink in the States via PepsiCo’s system.
While beverage’s biggest guns have pumped some serious cash into developing ‘mid-calorie’ versions of their iconic brands (Dr Pepper TEN, Pepsi Next, Coca-Cola Life), not everyone is convinced they will deliver the incremental growth to the ailing soda...
BEVERAGEDAILY BASEMENT TAPES: TYLER BALLIET, SECOND GLASS
Dubbed the 'Prince of Boston's Wine Revolution' by Stuff magazine, Second Glass founder Tyler Balliet tells us how to start a wine riot and his excitement about speaking at Wine Vision in London this November.
Monster Energy has launched two new drinks in the UK market via Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), with soda-energy blend Monster Assault seemingly pitched at more mainstream CSD drinkers.
Bottled water, energy and iced tea are expected to win big in 2014 as C-store operators predict a ‘banner year’ in packaged beverages led by brands including Sparkling Ice, Monster and Lipton.
Big Interview: Drazil Kids Tea founder Christine Wheeler
The CEO of Drazil Kids Tea thinks this unusually named (lizard spelled backwards!), ready-to-drink tea brand has what it takes to become the industry leader in the growing tea for kids segment.
Steve Hills, European contract manufacturing director, reveals ambitious six-year plan
PepsiCo Europe says it plans to grow the size of its contract manufacturing business six-fold in as many years to accelerate food and beverage innovation and boost productivity.
Heineken USA boss Dolf van den Brink says the brewer splits consumers into those who ‘live thoughtfully’ and ‘live legendary’ to understand beer-buying habits in an especially innovative market.
Consumers are tired of bars, says quinoa 'snack in a bottle' founder
While a scary percentage of new food & beverage brands end up quietly disappearing when their backers run out of cash, luck, or endurance, a small number succeed. But what distinguishes the winners from the losers?
The head of Tesco’s soft drinks buying team David Beardmore has urged aspiring brands not to turn up at the retailer’s HQ with a lengthy PowerPoint presentation but to do something different.
Our intrepid journalists sample interesting new beverage brands – to find out if the taste, texture, packaging and branding is up to scratch, or should be scratched off. Rebel Kitchen is up this week.
Premium golden rum The Duppy Share is following in the footsteps of spiced brands like Sailor Jerry’s and wants to offer millennials a great-tasting artisanal spirit at an affordable price.
THE BEVERAGEDAILY BASEMENT TAPES: CHRIS HANNAWAY, OVERLY SPORTS DRINK
Young entrepreneur Chris Hannaway and childhood friend Will Hammersley launched frozen yogurt brand Arctic Farm into Sainsbury’s at the tender age of 19. Now they’re back with sports drink Overly. This is Chris’s story…
Beverage Grades analyzes the 'DNA' of wine to identify cheaper bottles that taste almost identical to your favorites and its founders agree the technology should encourage US wineries to raise standards.
Archer Daniels Midland CEO Patricia Woertz insists that WILD Flavors' beverage and taste expertise complement her firm’s expertise in food ingredients and know-how in texture, function and nutrition.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will buy WILD Flavors for €2.3bn citing fast-growing demand for natural food and beverage flavors and ingredients as the rationale.
The US food and beverage industry anticipates continued sales growth in 2014 on the heels of strong performances the past two years, according to the second annual "US Food & Beverage Industry Study" from accounting, tax and advisory services...
Wine in a can alone is a touch too much for some purists but Friends Fun Wine has gone a step further by adding coffee to Chardonnay and Cabernet grapes.
Wine Vision organizer Andrew Reed insists a heritage-rich wine world must transform to tap the ‘radically different demands’ of millennials, ahead of the 2014 event where the president of Moët Hennessy will speak.
Rob Sands insists Constellation Brands ‘will stick to its knitting’ as beer rival AB InBev launches Mexican import brand Montejo this year and insists the beer poses no special threat to his firm’s stellar US beer growth.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi says she didn’t want a short-term ‘cut, slash and burn’ policy that would have seen the company make enormous earnings from 2006 despite the upset her long-term nutritional foods focus caused some investors.
US sales of specialty foods & beverages topped $88.3bn in 2013, up an astonishing 47% since 2008. To find out what all the fuss is about and get up to speed with the latest beverage trends, from tart cherries to blossom water, FoodNavigator-USA headed...
Innocent Drinks co-founder Richard Reed says aspiring entrepreneurs need to ensure they’ve got a ‘drink that the world genuinely wants in packaging that’s beautiful, distinctive and that works’.
Edrington says its new low-calorie rum Brugal Suspiro is attracting both male and female consumers in launch market Spain and sees a ‘lot of tarmac’ ahead of premium vodka brand Snow Leopard in Korea.
The founder of Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider insists Americans care less than the English about upholding cider ‘purity’ standards and says he is inspired by craft brewers rather than ‘some old guy who owns an orchard’.
Constellation Brands research shows that 'engaged newcomers' to wine in the US and Canada include a high proportion of young people who socialize with the drink, but warns they see the category as 'intimidating'.
Starbucks will launch ‘handcrafted’ Fizzio soft drinks in US cafes this summer, and one analyst says the brand represents ‘potential for bubbles everywhere’ and thinks the Seattle chain and Pepsi may take it to grocery stores.
Exotic and functional fruits and vegetables like cashew nut fruit, chu chu and their extracts are set for an easier passage into European Union markets if mooted simplifications to EU Novel Foods laws come to fruition, according to a UK-based expert.
Tate & Lyle has poached PepsiCo executive Nick Hampton to serve as its new CFO and one analyst says he must transition from branded goods to a more ‘commodity-influenced B2B model’.
Starbucks-owned brand Evolution Fresh is test marketing a new range of co-branded smoothies made with cold pressed, high pressure processed juice and Dannon Greek yogurt in 200 Starbucks stores in San Jose and St Louis.
Following on the success of ReishiSmooth, a trademarked all-natural fermentation process that uses mushrooms to remove the bitterness from chocolate and coffee, food technology firm MycoTechnology is betting on the nutritional appeal of green coffee extract...
EXPERT SAYS BRAND BROKE 'EVERY RULE OF HEALTH MARKETING'
Functional foods expert Julian Mellentin says Nestle’s failed health drink Nesfluid was a confusing launch promising nutrition, hydration and an alphabet soup of health benefits in a dubious-tasting beverage range.
Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes insists the spirits giant must ‘innovate at scale’ to ensure a larger share of its growth stems from fewer launches along the lines of Haig Club whisky and Captain Morgan White Rum.
Will Keurig Cold really turn the soft drinks market on its head? Can natural sweeteners pull diet soda out of its funk? And what’s the next coconut water?
The Honest brand could extend well beyond the ready-to-drink tea category into a wider array of beverages and even foods, says the co-founder of Honest Tea, which posted a 27% surge in sales to $112m in 2013, and is growing even faster this year.
