PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, the country’s No. 1 and No. 2 sports drink makers, face challenges on two fronts. On one side sits Electrolit, which has taken share by appealing to consumer desire for greater functionality and by embracing Hispanic consumers. On the other side sits Prime Hydration, which rose to...

Beverage pricing growth in the US for both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo is likely to decelerate during the second half of this year, mostly as the rate of input cost inflation slows, according to those companies’ leaders. During analyst calls and interviews with BD during the recent spate of second-quarter earnings reports, executives said pricing for the second half of this year will be driven primarily by increases already

Bang Energy owner Vital Pharmaceuticals won approval from a Florida bankruptcy judge today for a $362 million acquisition of most of the company’s assets by major creditor and competitor Monster Beverage.The companies formaly announced the asset purchase agreement July 3 after the Federal Trade Commission ended an antitrust review early. The sale would include...

Natural Products Expo West was nearly back to pre-pandemic form this year with more than 3,000 exhibitors and 65,000 attendees. The show, held last week in Anaheim, California, hosts the vanguard of consumer health and wellness trends, mostly in packaged food and beverage. Had you been at Expo West in 1999, you would have seen bottled organic tea brand Honest in its infancy, a dozen years before Coca-Cola would eventually acquire the company in full from co-founder and fair trade tea evangelist Seth Goldman. While many brands at the show will fail, they often still represent trends that will one day go mainstream and generate meaningful growth, usually at premium pricing. As a result, Expo West is a magnet for strategic companies, private equity investors, distributors, and retailers looking for the next big trend or growth brand. With all of this in mind, BD walked the show floor — 10 football fields in size — for three days, spending most of that time in the “Hot Products” zones, where the smallest and newest companies exhibit. Here’s what caught our attention: