Liquid I.V., the powdered water enhancer acquired by Unilever in 2020, is closing in on $1 billion in net sales, according to the company. The brand will reach the milestone in the “near future,” the company said, while declining to define that timeframe. The “hydration multiplier,” which promises to hydrate as much as 2.5 times faster than water and is used by some consumers as a hangover remedy, is the largest single-serve drink mix brand on the market with a...

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 buzz around artificial intelligence is growing louder, and companies want to know whether this tech will actually help them in their work. Launched in November, ChatGPT has given mainstream users access to a form of A.I. that can create everything from poetry to legal briefs. This kind of machine learning has broad implications for companies and brands, including within the beverage sector. ChatGPT’s potential to disrupt caused a “code red” inside Google, according to the New York Times. Setting aside the important debate around the efficacy and ethics of A.I., the following story is intended to help make sense of the current hype surrounding GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) technology...

Coca-Cola will put Sprite Zero Sugar on center stage today, widely publicizing a new package design and the brand's first global marketing campaign. The overhaul comes as PepsiCo spends to promote its new lemon-lime soda, Starry, which is targeted to...