During a Jan. 30 conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss Coca-Cola’s fourth-quarter earnings report, CEO James Quincey was asked about potential impacts from the Coronavirus outbreak in China. And in an interview, he discusses plans for Costa Coffee in the US...

Keurig Dr Pepper Chief Commercial Officer Derek Hopkins has been as close as anyone to the merger of Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple. Hopkins served as chief integration officer for the transaction and before that was president of Keurig Green Mountain’s US business. His experience in the global beverage industry is deep, with stints at Coca-Cola, AB InBev, Bacardi and Guiness Diageo. The following is a recap of his Future Smarts conference interview in Dec. 9 in New York.

Coke CEO James Quincey joined Future Smarts after a visit that morning to the New York Stock Exchange, where he and other executives celebrated Coca-Cola’s 100th anniversary as a public company by ringing the opening bell. Quincey now is in his third year as CEO of Coke. He was additionally named chairman of the board in April. Quincey joined Coke in 1996 and has spent the majority of his career in Latin America and then Europe before becoming COO under former CEO Muhtar Kent in August of 2015. Quincey’s focus as CEO has been to grow brand Coke while diversifying the company’s portfolio to everything from coffee drinks to plant-based offerings. Early this year, he closed on the acquisition of UK-based Costa Coffee, a chain of cafés stretching across Europe...

This story is a recap of highlights from his Future Smarts conference appearance Dec. 9 in New York.

Convenience store retailers are among those looking to better understand the hectic and uncertain US market for CBD-infused beverages. A raft of CBD products from ready-to-drink coffees to relaxation shots have flooded the market since Congress legalized industrial hemp production late last year, even though the FDA hasn’t legalized CBD for use in foods and beverages. To help store owners make better sense of the market, the convenience store trade group NACS hosted CBD workshops and a “CBD Pavilion” at the organization’s annual trade show, held this year in Atlanta. The CBD display area was a first for NACS. Underscoring the challenges of the emerging category, the CBD Pavilion ...

A photo gallery with this story catalogs the 25 beverage products on display at NACS’ CBD Pavilion.

This year's NACS trade show in Atlanta, with exhibits that covered the space of almost two football fields, offered a first look at innovation being sold into retailers for 2020. The products pictured are some of the newest innovations from Coke, PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper and Nestle. These products mostly launch late this year and early next year.

PepsiCo brought together executives from its US bottling system in August to review new product and marketing plans for 2020. The company hosted the meeting at its Purchase, New York headquarters. Attendees included company-owned and independent franchise bottling executives. The gathering came six months after PepsiCo reorganized its North America beverage business into five divisions, four in the US and one in Canada. The meeting’s theme was...