US neurotech startup Think Drinks says it plans to conduct high-calibre peer-reviewed study to prove the benefits of what it claims is the world’s ‘first functional nootropic’ brain beverage.
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.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi says the company is positioning itself as the highest growth food and beverage manufacturer in a ‘relatively low growth’ US retail landscape where fresh food is trending strongly.
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...
A daily glass of beetroot juice may boost the aerobic fitness of swimmers, reports a new study that supports the sports nutrition potential of beetroot previously reported for cycling, walking, and running.
Monster Beverage Corporation has moved to quell investor disquiet as a jury trial starts to decide if it is liable for injury suffered by a teen whose mother claims its drinks caused his heart attack.
Six weeks after the Supreme Court gave POM Wonderful the green light to sue Coca-Cola over its juice labels, Walmart has been targeted in a consumer class action lawsuit making near-identical allegations.
The Coca-Cola Company has patented what it says is a new method allowing it to naturally fortify beverages including colas with high vitamin levels using a single micro-organism.
Brands are increasingly using modern bio-technology to develop ‘next generation’ fermented functional beverages, researchers say, but they warn that many drinks still face challenges prior to possible commercialization.
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.
FULL-SUGAR LEMONADE DRINKERS FELT MORE GUILTY THAN STEVIA PLACEBO GROUP
An intriguing French study suggests that students who drank sugary lemonade before completing a ‘guilt inducing’ task felt more guilty than peers who consumed a stevia-sweetened zero-calorie alternative.
Brainwave Drinks insists it’s targeting anyone with a brain and says the drink will appeal to consumers as keen on maintaining a healthy mind as warding off Alzheimer’s or dementia.
The most successful ‘beauty shot’ on the UK market Pure Gold Collagen has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for making ‘implied beauty and appearance claims’.
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.
INDUSTRY VOICES: ADOMAS PRANEVICIUS, MYDRINK BEVERAGES/DRINKPRENEUR
Adomas Pranevicius, general manager of MyDrink Beverages tells BeverageDaily.com readers how to choose the right contract manufacturer for their product – and why it's vital to assess everything from capabilities to communications and returns policies.
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?
PepsiCo, Heineken, Diageo and SAB Miller are all risers in the OC&C league table of Global Top 50 FMCG players in 2013, but China's Tingyi Holdings was the rising beverage star.
Drinking a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage before and during a match did not help UK Championship trainee soccer players maintain blood sugar concentrations during the second half according to a new study.
When consumers think about GMOs, they tend to contrast them with “some hypothetical alternative food that is pristine”, when in most cases, going ‘non-GMO’ just means returning to a food production system that is less efficient - and worse for the environment...
Fourteen years after Unilever spent $2.3bn (€1.7bn) to buy Slim-Fast, it has sold up for an undisclosed sum to a private equity player. Analyst and author Julian Mellentin tracks the decline of a mega-brand and considers what he sees as a category in...
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.
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Hain Celestial over the marketing of its BluePrint high-pressure-processed (HPP) juices on the grounds that the plaintiff derailed his own case by submitting scientific papers to the court which contradicted his...
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…
Functional foods and beverages are the thin edge of the innovation wedge and are growing by leaps and bounds. Panelists in a recent online forum hosted by NutraIngredients-USA laid out the trends in this booming sector.
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...
Canadean says there will be increasing demand for drinks that reduce the risk of dementia with the number of people afflicted by dementia predicted to triple within 40 years.
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.
NESTLE PRUNES US BEVERAGE PORTFOLIO, INKS COFFEE-MATE DEAL WITH KEURIG
Brynwood Partners has bought Nestlé USA brand Juicy Juice for a multi-million dollar deal and reportedly insists the brand can still be hugely successful in a troubled juice category the Swiss multinational has jumped out of.
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’.
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.
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 launch of stevia-sugar sweetened Coca-Cola Life into the UK signals a new era in sugar reduction, as it suggests stevia will soon be big in soft drinks, and may open up the use of sweeteners in foods, according to Professor Jack Winkler, former Professor...
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.
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.
Moms remain the traditional guardians of their kids’ diets, and Little Me Tea founder Melinda Hicks tells us the rise of moms turned beverage entrepreneurs is as natural as her products.
