Keurig Dr Pepper
Keurig Dr Pepper’s plans for this year include expansion of its cold-brew offerings and a coconut flavor for Dr Pepper. COO Timothy P. Cofer said innovation in 2024 will start “with our largest push ever into cold coffee” as the company sees “a significant opportunity to develop this incremental at-home occasion, offering cold coffee shop quality for a fraction of the price.” Before the summer, Dr Pepper will add a coconut-flavored limited-edition. Other plans include new C4 Energy flavors and increasing the scale of Electrolit sports hydration in the US.
Other Companies
Florida-based Celsius Holdings, Inc. has announced expansion into Australia and New Zealand, aligning with its international growth plans for markets where energy drinks are important. CELSIUS has chosen Suntory Oceania as an exclusive manufacturing, sales and distribution partner in Australasia. The brand is working with Suntory Beverage & Food Great Britain and Ireland on the expansion program there, scheduled for the second quarter of 2024.
Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman believed there was a place for the brand even after Coca-Cola stopped production almost two years ago. Within two weeks, Goldman announced a new brand to fill the space and launched Just Ice Tea in September 2022. Sales of the brand reached $16 million last year and could hit $20 million this year. It took eight years for Honest to sell that much. Just Ice contains no sugar and is Fairtrade certified and organic. The team retained their reputations from their involvement with Honest and Goldman says that some retailers give the brand shelf space before trying it. Just Ice has nine tea flavors, some continuing Honest tea’s flavors, and it’s already the best-selling tea brand at Whole Foods. It also added aluminum cans in February, to run alongside its glass bottles. Unlike Honest, Just Ice uses agave rather than sugar, and avoids plastic bottles.
In collaboration with Myprotein, a sports nutrition brand, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee launched Original and Caramel varieties in the UK with protein-enriched milk offering 5.6g of protein per 100ml. The new products come in 4x250ml multipacks and Jimmy’s 380ml signature “bottlecans”. Britvic’s UK retail commercial director, Ben Parker, said the brand is aware that consumers want on-the-go protein beverages and “the Jimmy’s Myprotein Iced Coffee will appeal to those looking to incorporate more protein into their diet.”
Liquid Death, a healthy drinks brand based in the US, plans a rollout in Australasia through Soulfresh, a local distribution company that focuses on healthy, better-for-you food and beverages. The products can be bought at 7-Eleven stores in Australia as well as in selected independent grocery stores. Rai Bostock, Soulfresh’s general manager, said Liquid Death is a “true disrupter” and is “turning the health and wellness category on its head with its sometimes-shocking, always-entertaining take on consumer marketing”. Founded by Mike Cessario, the brand uses taglines like “Murder Your Thirst” and “Death To Plastic”. The recyclable 500ml tallboy cans feature the brand’s skull logo. It is the third most followed beverage globally, behind Red Bull and Monster.
Crafted cold-brew coffee brand Chameleon Organic Coffee has expanded its ready-to-drink portfolio with 8oz. cold-brew cans in four flavors: Nitro Black; Double Espresso; Sweetened Black; and Flat White. Each flavor has sweetened and unsweetened options and each can contains around 130mg of naturally occurring caffeine. The new line joins its existing lineup of 10oz. cold-brews and 32oz. multi-serve concentrate cold-brews and will be available for the summer, online on Amazon and at ChameleonCoffee.com, as well select retailers nationwide.