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.
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...
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.
Tesco’s top soft drinks buyer has tipped collagen-based beauty drinks for the top despite the lack of EFSA-approved health claims in the area, after startup Bella Berry caused a stir last week in London.
DRINKPRENEUR LIVE! START-UP ACCELERATOR: LONDON, JUNE 11 2014
Tesco’s top soft drinks buyer has warned entrepreneurs that the category graveyard is full of promising brands that failed because they ran out of cash, despite getting their concept ‘spot on’.
Diageo has confirmed circa. 200 job losses across its head office and regions as the Johnnie Walker and Guinness producer targets annual cost savings of around £200m by 2017.
Charbrew founder Adam Soliman tells BeverageDaily.com his entrepreneurial brand is keen to take on Unilever iced tea Lipton with a healthier UK alternative launched into Holland & Barrett this week.
Suntory’s $16bn takeover of Beam Inc. shocked many industry insiders but the likes of Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Bacardi likely sighed with relief, according to Rabobank.
Vital Juice CEO Edward Balassanian insists the product is outselling larger rivals including Hain Celestial’s BluePrint he says evangelize nutrition in juice that only his brand delivers.
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.
Starbucks bought Teavana for $620m in 2012 and plans to take tea upmarket in the States, but one investor warns the price of success may be depressed margins and earnings.
Diageo plans to spend $115m on new Kentucky bourbon distillery and warehouses to distill the company current brands and future products, as it seeks to expand its share in the American whiskey category.
Heineken has worked with P.E.T Engineering to develop a one-liter Amstel PET bottle with glass-like engravings that underpin the brand’s heritage and premium positioning.
Chr. Hansen claims its new wine culture is a ‘fantastic launch’ that will greatly increase the speed and predictability of malolactic fermentation and remove the need for producers to use sulfites as preservatives.
Vita Coco’s UK CEO Giles Brook tells BeverageDaily.com he doesn’t understand ‘brands that rubbish other brands’ following an attack by coconut water rival INVO on his product’s nutritional and health benefits.
Premium coconut water brand INVO has justified its ‘slight attack’ on UK market leader Vita Coco and other rivals' nutritional and health benefits, insisting it needs to educate people on its own uniqueness.
Suntory would be the “favourite” to buy Scottish liqueur brand Drambuie, one analyst has claimed, as news emerged that owners the MacKinnon family were exploring a possible sale.
C&C Group admits its main US hard apple cider brand Woodchuck bucked the overall industry growth trend with falling sales in 2013/14 as big beer player AB InBev enters the category with Jonny Appleseed, but insists it has a plan to get back on track.
“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.”
ZENITH INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL SOFT DRINKS CONGRESS 2014, LISBON
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.
Maverick Drinks insists that Bitter Bastards cocktail bitters break new ground via clarification using a centrifuge machine that subjects them to a force 5,000 times that of the Earth’s gravity.
Krones explains that digital direct printing removes the need for labels and unlocks limitless bespoke bottle design opportunities, but admits ink costs are now a barrier to beverage uptake.
Taste, price and style are the three most important purchase drivers for American beer consumers, a new survey says, while 63% of respondents prefer beer brewed by small independents.
This new BeverageDaily.com slot sees us scour the supermarket shelves for exciting NPD, with drinks scored for taste, texture, packaging, branding and price. Oatworks Oat-Powered Fruit Smoothies are first in the firing line!
EDITOR'S COMMENT: ZENITH & BSDA UK SOFT DRINKS CONGRESS 2014
Skeptical Englishman and former schoolboy squash drinker Ben Bouckley predicts that Vimto’s super-concentrated squash won’t wash in a market saturated with budget options, despite Mio’s US success.
ZENITH INTERNATIONAL & BSDA UK SOFT DRINKS CONFERENCE, MAY 7
Bottlegreen insists that premium glass cordial sales are booming in the UK as the brand – which counts Princess Anne as a fan – pushes new flavors including blackcurrant and coffee.
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.
Scottish distiller Edrington has established a sales, marketing and distribution company in the US called Edrington Americas - and says it can now hit US cities nationwide with brands including The Macallan and Brugal rum.
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.
Celia Holt tells BeverageDaily.com that she lives and breathes innovation, having previously worked as head of innovation at the UK's largest food manufacturer, 2 Sisters Food Group, and taking a leading hand in creating products including the nation's...
Zenith International chairman Richard Hall has expressed skepticism over RTD coffee’s credentials as the ‘next big thing’, despite impressive growth since 2003.
GEA Procomac insists its main focus at Interpack 2014 will be sensitive dairy products, with machines and packaging on show designed to handle milks, milk-based drinks, drinkable yogurt and probiotics.
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!
spiritsEUROPE insists that laws on production and labeling of organic products including spirits present opportunities for small to medium-sized distillers in particular to better cater for consumer needs.
Tropical flavors may help US juice brands stem sales losses, according to Mintel, which notes a raft of recent launches using tastes popular in exotic destinations where some consumers have roots.
Suntory Whisky has used 3D printing technology to create a series of intricately shaped ice cube shapes – ranging from a shark to an electric guitar, Japanese temple, even the Statue of Liberty.
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.
Despite Coke’s worrying soda sales slide, CEO Muhtar Kent revealed yesterday that not-from-concentrate juice brand Simply Orange brand bucked broader category declines to grow double digit in the US last year.
Vita Coco’s UK CEO Giles Brook says he would welcome a strong rival to accelerate growth in coconut water and predicts £75m sales for his brand in 2014.
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
Cold Press MD Andrew Gibb reveals the HPP juice and smoothie brand’s sales could hit circa. $5m in 2014 and is unfazed about taking on the might of Innocent Drinks and Tropicana.
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.
Winemakers could use bees to accelerate the ageing of wine, according to two English researchers, who could have hit upon an interesting new sideline for the insects’ keepers.
