Cover Story: Coca-Cola United builds for the future This spring, in order to better serve its customers, Coca-Cola United opened a new 781,000-square-foot production and distribution facility in Baton Rouge, La., for its Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Co. division.
Category Focus: Tea sales slow, but innovation is up Tea benefits from a reputation for both health and refreshment, which has put it in something of a sweet spot for the past several years. But economic challenges have hit this category as hard as any other, resulting in retail sales losses for the ready-to-drink category, and only a slight gain in the bagged and loose leaf segment, according to data from Information Resources Inc., Chicago.
Sunkist Naturals Lemonade Sunkist Naturals, owned by Maverick Brands, added Sunkist Naturals Lemonade to its line of juices. The Lemonade contains antioxidants and no preservatives. The flavor is seasonal and replaces the Tangerine SKU. The company will begin production of Tangerine again in the fall. Sunkist Naturals Lemonade is packaged in 15.2-ounce bottles and retails for $2.99.
Propel PepsiCo Inc. relaunched Propel in a new lighter bottle that uses 33 percent less plastic and 30 percent less label material than the previous bottles. It also added a Blueberry Pomegranate variety and launched two new sub lines with added nutrients: Propel Body and Propel Mind. Propel Body is available in Peach Mango and contains 10 percent of the daily value of fiber, the company says. Propel Mind comes in Black Cherry, and contains vitamin E, plus choline. The new flavors and packaging are available in 20- and 24-ounce bottles, as well as 16.9-ounce six- and 12-packs. A 20-ounce bottle retails for $1.59
Lipton Sparkling Green Tea The Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership announced the launch of Lipton Sparkling Green Tea. The product is a blend of fruit flavors, green tea and sparkling water. Lipton Sparking Green Tea is available in regular Berry and both diet and regular Strawberry Kiwi. The flavors are packaged in 20-ounce and 1.5-liter bottles, and 16.9-ounce 12-packs.
Bottled Water Reality Check Critics of the bottled water industry often claim “tap water is just as good” as bottled water and, since there is no difference between the two, the packaging and transportation of bottled water is a terrible waste of non -renewable resources.
