BD attended the Natural Products Expo West show last week at the Anaheim Convention Center & Arena outside Los Angeles. The event has become a showcase for products capitalizing on consumer health trends, which often evolve to mainstream appeal and drive acquisitions by large consumer products companies. Food and beverage offerings as usual dominated the show, which included more than 3,500 exhibitors spread across the equivalent of almost 10 football fields. Here’s an analysis of beverage themes and trends that emerged from this year’s show:

Last August, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated named Dave Katz president and COO. He spent 25 years preparing for the role. BD spoke to Katz about refranchising, competition with a reorganized PepsiCo beverages unit, methods to fuel revenue growth and even CBD.

Coke has expanded tests of a lower-calorie flagship Coca-Cola variant launched in Mexico in 2017 (BD 10/6/17). The product

Bang Energy’s access to production capacity hasn’t kept pace...

There were no valentines exchanged between Coca-Cola and investors on Feb. 14 after the company offered a cautious full-year 2019 earnings forecast. Coke shares declined more than

Super Bowl sponsor PepsiCo is used to being in enemy territory. The last four Super Bowls were hosted by cities where Coca-Cola enjoys a market share lead in carbonated soft drinks, as the table below shows. While the same holds true this year for Super Bowl LIII, the stakes are even higher as Coke’s hometown Atlanta plays host. 

On Dec. 20, Dirty Lemon parent company Iris Nova announced $15 million in seed funding that includes a minority investment by Coca-Cola. Coke’s Venturing & Emerging Brands unit has paid close attention to Dirty Lemon. The brand gained attention for its unique go-to-market strategy, which founder and CEO Zak Normandin has named c-commerce, or “conversational commerce.”