Beverage Digest is walking the show floor along with about 65,000 other attendees at Expo West in California this week. We'll investigate natural ingredient trends that could one day drive the growing and profitable functional packaged beverage market. We're also looking for what's new within existing ready-to-drink segments and product lines, and talking to the founders and leaders who propel the sector.

We'll share our observations in live updates here, so check back through the next couple of days.

Subscribers can email us if there is something specific you'd like to ask about. For those attending the show, feel free to send any noteworthy observations as well.

Input Costs Still Elevated, Tracking Inflation. Volatility Expected.

Independent Coca-Cola and PepsiCo bottlers generally anticipate average annual retail carbonated soft drink pricing growth of between +3.0% and +6.0% during the next five years, an informal BD survey found. US CSD pricing at retail in 2022 reached almost +15.0%. Some bottlers said pricing growth will likely trend in the +7.0% to +9.0% range. Outliers predicted...

The big story of 2022 was surprisingly low price elasticities in the US for carbonated soft drinks as manufacturers raised prices to offset runaway costs for everything from labor to packaging. At retail last year, CSD pricing jumped almost +14.8% last year, driving category dollar sales up more than...

G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers, PepsiCo’s largest fully independent US franchise bottler, is preparing to distribute Hard Mtn Dew on the same “blue trucks” that distribute Pepsi-Cola and other non-alcoholic brands. In an interview at BD’s Future Smarts conference in New York on Dec. 5, G&J CEO Tim Trant said the Cincinnati-based company has applied for beer distribution licenses ...

Deal Provides Compensation Levels Based on Extent of Bottler Brand Building.

Comes as Jack and Coke Launches in Mexico, Heads to U.S. Next Year.

Coca-Cola has agreed to compensate US bottlers for the extension of the company’s brands into the alcoholic beverage sector, BD has learned. The bottlers began signing agreements...

Bottling executives within the US Coke and Pepsi soft drink systems have experienced a business environment during the past three years like no other in their tenures. A global pandemic shut down most fountain sales and drove consumers to retail, where a sudden sales spike stretched infrastructure and workforces. Then supply chain disruptions forced bottlers to...