At an annual convention and trade show for beer distributors last week, the National Beer Wholesalers Association warned attendees of what they see as unfair encroachment by PepsiCo’s Blue Cloud Distribution, according to Wall Street analysts who wrote about the meeting. When asked about criticisms leveled at PepsiCo and Blue Cloud, Blue Cloud executives sent BD the following rebuttal, which is reprinted in its entirety...

Creations Continues. Fanta Reformulates. Sports Drinks Ambitions.
Meals Marketing. Smartwater Gets Smarter.

Coca-Cola’s North America Operating Unit hosted executives from its franchised bottling system at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta recently to discuss market plans for 2023. Next year’s playbook is centered on “Epic Bets,” Coke North America representatives told bottlers in attendance. The bets include 1) marketing Coca-Cola during...

Niagara Bottling, one of the largest beverage manufacturers in North America, is seeing a continued shift by brands from hot fill and retort beverage processing to aseptic processing for beverages that are sensitive to certain microorganisms that could cause spoilage. Aseptic filling uses high temperatures for a short period of time to sterilize a beverage liquid. The liquid is then cooled to ambient temperatures and placed into a sterilized package within a sterilized processing environment until capped and sealed. Hot fill and retort methods, also used to package drinks that contain few or no preservatives, require heavier packaging, including glass, to withstand high temperatures for longer periods and during the filling process. According to Niagara VP of Commercialization...

Pabst Brewing has discontinued its Pabst Blue Ribbon Hard Coffee product and is depleting existing inventory, two distributors told BD. One of the distributors said the core SKU is now unavailable to them. The distributors...

PepsiCo will unveil a new lemon lime soda called Starry at the annual NACS show for convenience store operators that starts today, according to company sources. While details are scarce, BD has learned that the drink is a new brand within the lemon lime soda category dominated by Coca-Cola’s Sprite. Starry will include regular and zero sugar versions, according to the sources. It will be available nationally starting in...

Pricing growth remained elevated through the first half of this year at US retail for non-carbonated beverage categories tracked by BD. As shown in the table, that led to dollar sales growth even as volume declined for all tracked categories except plain bottled water. Pricing growth for the first half of the year for all categories except sports drinks...