10 Mar US: Coca-Cola adds to its lead over Pepsi in hot new category
Coca-Cola continues to be more aggressive than its nemesis PepsiCo in chasing the red-hot, low-calorie sparkling water business.
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10 Mar Five emerging trends that will reshape the beverage industry in 2016
Natural ingredients. Soda’s decline. The rise of energy drinks, dairy alternatives, and ready-to-drink tea and coffee — manufacturers are already aware of major movements sweeping through the beverage industry. But lesser-known trends are poised to be just as disruptive.
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09 Mar UK: Ugly water eyes up the opportunity for unsweet beverages
The founders of Ugly, an unsweet, fruit infused sparkling water brand, believe consumer palates will become less focused on sweet in the coming years. This can open up opportunities for beverages such as unsweetened iced tea, unsweetened cold brew coffee, and further innovations in bottled...
09 Mar Savanna ‘goes loco’ with special release tequila-flavoured cider
Savanna, Distell's popular premium cider with a taste for the unexpected, has 'gone loco' with the launch of a bold new special release variant, combining the crisp taste of Savanna Dry with fresh tequila flavour in a market first for South Africa.
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09 Mar The rise of Brosé
The reinvention of rosé continues apace, with superior grapes, innovative production methods and sustainable sourcing all bidding to capture consumer imagination in an increasingly crowded and fashionable category. The message from the market’s new releases is clear: pink is premium, but the rosé category’s rebrand...
09 Mar Cider rides stellar in Distell’s extensive drinks portfolio
Stellenbosch-based liquor conglomerate Distell might be best known for its wine and brandy brands – but the company’s spirited growth in the last decade-and-a-half has been underpinned by incredible successes in the cider segment.
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09 Mar SA’s first two Starbucks stores to open in April
That Starbucks would finally be coming to SA made headlines last July - now comes news that the first two stores will open in April at Rosebank and the much-anticipated new Mall of Africa in Midrand.
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29 Feb SA Beverage Association set to dispute proposed sugar tax
The Beverage Association of South Africa says a move by government to curb obesity through a new sugar tax is ‘disappointing’ and will most likely fail.
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28 Feb US: Monster goes vertical in acquiring longtime flavour supplier
Monster Beverage has agreed to purchase its primary flavour ingredients supplier, American Fruits & Flavors, for $690-million.
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24 Feb South Africa to implement sugar tax on soft drinks
Among the sins that the government taxes, South Africans can now include sugar along with the likes of alcohol and tobacco.
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24 Feb The great fragmentation of the food-bev landscape
There are food-bev companies where the directors and shareholders still believe that their business teams must look for new “high volume opportunities”. Believe no more, asserts UK trends thinktank on food and health, New Nutrition Business.
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24 Feb Cape Town’s Truth Coffee Roasting named best coffee shop in the world – again
UK newspaper, The Telegraph, has released its 2016 list of the best coffee shops in the world, with South Africa’s very own steampunk-themed Truth Coffee Roasting in Cape Town sitting proudly in the number-one spot.
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24 Feb Those bubbles in your soda may someday help save the planet
A Swiss company, Climeworks, is not the first company to figure out how to suck carbon dioxide out of the air. It may become the first to make money from it at an industrial scale, including putting it in soft drinks.
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18 Feb Seven top taste drinks trends for 2016, with a South African slant
Jo'burg drinks development consultancy, Slo-Jo, works with most of SA's top restaurant chains in keeping their drinks menus fresh and appetising. Trend watching is key in its business - and here is Slo-Jo's take on taste trends for 2016, mainly in the context for SA's...
17 Feb Coconut that opens like a can of soda wins top innovation award
A Spanish company has come up with an ingenious option to market and merchandise raw, organic coconut water – currently the super-healthy darling of the beverage world – in its own natural container. And it's just been awarded a major global innovation award.
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17 Feb Bottle of SA wine earns R1.3m on auction
A bottle of South African wine fetched R1.3 million ($82K) at the recent AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine auction as a 42 percent jump in prices saw total proceeds from the sale double from two years earlier.
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17 Feb Japan’s Asahi to buy Peroni and Grolsch brands
Japanese brewer Asahi has agreed to buy SABMiller’s Peroni and Grolsch beer brands for over 400bn yen (€2.55bn - £2.3bn), a sale aimed at easing antitrust approval for AB InBev’s $100bn-plus takeover of SABMiller, agreed last year.
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16 Feb Innocent founder Richard Reed: ‘It is crazy how significant packaging is
The co-founder of the UK's famous Innocent drinks, Richard Reed, believes the importance of packaging in products can not be underplayed and argues it is often more important than the product itself.
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16 Feb Coravin sticks it to the wine cork
Every year, Fast Company, the trend-setting/following magazine and website, publishes an annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. There is one interesting beverage-related company on the 2016 role of honour.
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16 Feb New clues to what really causes alcoholic liver cirrhosis
Livers and alcohol do not get on well together. That is well known. But precisely how alcohol destroys the liver of someone who drinks too much has been a mystery. New research is pointing to the role of gut bacteria.
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