The April 2013 Beverage Industry includes a cover story on Vermont Hard Cider Co., as well as articles about carbonated soft drinks, vodka and whisky, and an Up Close with RealBeanz feature. Check it out today!
If you were to ask Bret Williams a year ago whether he would ever sell Vermont Hard Cider Co., the answer would have been, “No.” When the president and chief executive officer of the Middlebury, Vt.-based company originally purchased the Woodchuck hard cider brand and facility in 2003, it was not about developing a big company or brand; it was about saving jobs.
Within the last five years, global launches of carbonated drinks have grown significantly, according to a December 2012 report by the Netherlands-based Innova Market Insights titled “Carving New Niches for Carbonates.”
From the heart of Brooklyn, N.Y., the home of Coney Island and the Brooklyn Bridge, comes RealBeanz, a ready-to-drink gourmet iced coffee company brimming with New York pride. The self-described “up-and-coming” brand plays off of the classic, artsy Brooklyn vibe to showcase its borough spirit and connect with its “kind of young, kind of hip, and kind of fresh” consumers in the 18- to 35-year-old demographic group, says Jenna Burke, director of public relations and social media for RealBeanz.
Although the vodka sub-category remains the No. 1 segment in terms of volume sales, whiskey has become so popular that it is beginning to take over as the No. 1 spirit on a dollar sales basis, according to Bump Williams Consulting’s monthly wine and spirits report, which cites Chicago-based SymphonyIRI data.
Vermont Hard Cider Co. President and Chief Executive Officer Bret Williams estimates that when he joined the Middlebury, Vt.-based company in 1996 as its first sales associate that the company shipped approximately 300,000 cases a year. In 2012, the company shipped 3 million cases of its Woodchuck Hard Cider brand, he says.
New software, distribution and inspection equipment, packages and more.
April 15, 2013
Charles Ross & Son Co. introduced a new multi-purpose laboratory mixer, the HSM-100LCI-T. Made of Type 316 stainless steel wetter parts polished to a 150-grit finish, the table-top unit features a dust- and fluid-spray-resistant enclosure, color touch-screen controls that display speed, percent of load, batch time and temperature, and an electronic push-button lift.
After the show’s close, New Hope Natural Media, the host of the show and a division of Penton, reported a record number of new natural and organic product launches, as well as record exhibitor and attendee numbers.
Although I am no longer covering local Earth Day events, connecting with brand owners, suppliers and everything in between has shown me that environmental emphasis still is a part of my journalistic career.
The Kegavator facilitates unloading kegs from delivery trucks more safely than the traditional brute force method, says co-creator 1 Stop Material Handling, North Easton, Mass.
There is no shortage of new product launches within the energy drink and shot sector. According to the Netherlands-based Innova Market Insights’ database, 124 energy drink and shot products launched in the United States in 2012. Of those product launches, energy/alertness was the top health positioning.
Just like the Secret Intelligence Service wouldn’t send James Bond on a mission without the best gadgets, distribution managers need to ensure that their sales and distribution representatives in the field are equipped with all of the tools to get the job done.
In the days since the first can of beer was sold in 1935, aluminum cans have grown in popularity and evolved into a sustainable packaging choice for beverage-makers.
Years ago, the word “flexibility” carried a different meaning in the filling systems space — it might have referred to different packaging formats and beverage categories. Today, proliferation of SKUs and the increasing number of particle-filled beverages have stretched the word’s definition in the beverage industry.
The American diet, which tends to be less rich in fish consumption compared with Japan, China and almost any other country where fish is the major source of dietary protein, also tends to be low in omega fatty acids, says Sam Wright IV, chief executive officer of Crowley, La.-based The Wright Group.
BI Nutraceuticals, Long Beach, Calif., announced that its East Coast facility located in Islandia, N.Y., has received a Safe Quality Food (SQF) 2000 certificate from NSF International, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Similar to how college basketball coaches instituted end-of-game timeouts in order to strategize a “sure-fire” inbounds play during March Madness, retailers and brand owners are calling their own plays when it comes to merchandising. Retailers and brand owners have taken a methodical approach to different merchandising tactics for brands and categories in order to engage consumers and stimulate purchase behavior, experts note.