Established brands continue to lead the drink mix category, although some varieties did experience contraction in the last year. The overall drink mix category grew 1.6 percent for more than $609.7 million in sales for the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago. Fruit drink mixes made up a majority of the category with $590 million in sales, which represents a 1.6 percent growth.

The juice and juice drinks market saw new products that combined flavors and explored sweetener profiles. Minimal growth took place in both the shelf-stable bottled juice and juice drinks category as well as refrigerated juice and juice drinks, an upside compared to last year’s slight decrease for bottled juices and relatively flat sales for refrigerated offerings.

Zevia added Strawberry, Cherry Cola and Lime Cola to its line of stevia-sweetened soft drinks, bringing its portfolio to 15.

Growing up, Paddy Spence, chief executive officer of Zevia, loved carbonated soft drinks (CSDs).