Taste Radio

In this edition of the BevNET Podcast, we're joined by Michael Schwartz, the co-founder and managing partner of Organic Food Incubator, a shared production facility and resource center for early-stage food and beverage companies. In our conversation with Schwartz, who is also the founder of BAO, a brand of fermented foods and drinks, we delved into the current landscape for start-up brands in metro New York, and discuss top-of-mind ingredient and formulations embraced by entrepreneurs in the region. Schwartz also shared his take on effective sales, retail and distribution strategies for new brand owners, including why "you're your own best salesman." Also part of this week's podcast: a discussion about the surge in protein-infused foods and beverages, including what's trending in the space and why.

Big Geyser, the largest independent beverage distributor in metro New York, has played a critical role in the development of some of the most successful entrepreneurial beverage brands in recent years, including vitaminwater, Zico and Honest Tea. Jerry Reda, the company's COO, oversees a distribution network that includes over 25,000 retail accounts -- and navigating the day-to-day challenges as Big Geyser's trucks traverse the tri-state area brings an extra level of headache to the gig. In the city that never sleeps, it's a 24/7 job, but Reda, who we recently interviewed for this edition of the BevNET Podcast, says that he wakes up every day and loves what he does. Listen to our complete interview with Reda, who joined us along with another stalwart of the New York beverage scene, BevNET Magazine publisher Barry Nathanson. The conversation included a discussion on how the New York market has evolved, Big Geyser's role in the development of vitaminwater (and why the company ultimately parted ways with the brand), current trends ("We are extremely bullish on bottled water," Reda said), how it evaluates new business opportunities, and the qualities of entrepreneurs that make it big. Also as part of this week's podcast: a discussion about the growing relevance of taprooms for craft breweries, and a recap of the recently held KombuchaKon 2017 event.

Mike Repole, the co-founder of BodyArmor, is unsatisfied. Why? Because BodyArmor, despite its impressive growth in recent years, is not the world's top-selling sports drink brand. Repole, who also co-founded vitaminwater and is a horse-racing magnate and billionaire, clearly does not lack ambition. As part of a wide-ranging interview recorded for this edition of the BevNET Podcast, Repole, who joined BodyArmor as a co-founder through an investment in the brand in 2012, said that despite Gatorade's longstanding domination of the sports drink category, he believes the giant can be knocked off its pedestal. And for BodyArmor to replace it would be the truest representation of success. "We're not here for bronze medals," Repole said. "It's gold or nothing." Listen to our full conversation with Repole, recorded at BodyArmor's offices in Queens, which included details about his roots as a beverage entrepreneur, his view on how the beverage industry has evolved since the sale of vitaminwater, and why he thinks that "in five years, there will only be two sports drink [brands], and BodyArmor will be one of them." Repole also explained why today's beverage brands need to frame added sugar as a functional attribute: "you're not going to get away with sugar for taste and refreshment," he said. Also as part of this week's podcast, we discuss beverage companies that advertised during the Super Bowl -- and how effectively they were able to get their messages out to the audience.

Last week, the podcast team visited the Boston offices of Bevi, a high-tech water cooler that customizes still and sparkling water with unsweetened, zero-calorie, or organically sweetened natural flavors. We spoke with Bevi co-founder and CEO Sean Grundy about the internet-connected machines, which are placed in corporate clients, health gyms and hotels, and provide real-time data to the company about usage and service needs. Grundy also discussed the company's mission "to make the bottled beverage supply chain more environmentally friendly" by reducing use and consumption of packaged water products. This week's podcast also includes a conversation about the 2017 Winter Fancy Food Show, including a look at how the specialty food convention has evolved in recent years and become a forum to showcase innovation, something that bodes well for the convention and industry as a whole.

In the past two years, crowd investing firm CircleUp has morphed from solely a platform for investors to fund innovative, early-stage consumer brands into one that is also an investor itself. Last week the podcast team visited CircleUp's San Francisco office to speak with Ben Lee, the managing director of CircleUp Funds, the company's investment arm. We sat down with him to discuss the ways in which CircleUp aims to support early-stage fundraising for beverage entrepreneurs. Lee, who has overseen evaluation of thousands of early-stage consumer product companies, was previously the company's director of business development. From that perspective, he talked about what trends in beverage are proving especially important to investors, and why CircleUp's purview has increased so that it no longer describes itself as a "crowdfunding" platform.

BevNET's podcast team recently visited with Mike Burgmaier, the co-founder and managing director of Whipstitch Capital, an investment bank that provides mergers and acquisitions and private placement advisory services to consumer products companies. In this edition of the podcast, Burgmaier, who's worked with several fast-growing and high-profile beverage brands, including Essentia, Spindrift and KeVita, discussed the current climate for CPG financing, competition for investment dollars and what he views as the key attributes for successful brands.

Year two of the BevNET Podcast begins with a discussion on trends to watch in the worlds of non-alcoholic beverages, craft beer and natural foods. In this edition, the podcast team is joined by BevNET editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman and the editors of BevNET's sister sites, Brewbound's Chris Furnari and Project NOSH's Carol Ortenberg, each of whom offered their take on the most pertinent trends and issues within the industries they cover.

It took us a couple of weeks to recover from the biggest BevNET Live conference yet, but in this edition of the podcast, we reflected on the three-day event, which was held from Dec. 4-6 in Santa Monica, Calif. With over 600 attendees and more than 150 beverage brands represented at the show, BevNET Live Winter 2016 showcased the breadth of cutting-edge trends and innovative beverage concepts, including many that appeared on the main stage during New Beverage Showdown 12. We discussed some of these nascent trends and their potential for mainstream adoption. We also examined the traction of well-capitalized ideas like high-tech cold-pressed juicing system Juicero and Ripple, a line of pea protein-infused, plant-based milks, whose founders presented at BevNET Live.

In this edition of the BevNET Podcast, the team is joined by Grant Prentice, the vice president of strategic insights for FoodMinds, a food nutrition communications and consulting firm. FoodMinds advises food and beverage clients on ways to enhance business and marketing efforts through scientific research and public policy efforts. Prentice and FoodMinds this year completed research and insights work on behalf of the Can Manufacturers Institute and as part of our discussion, he revealed and explained findings on how packaging can impact beverage drinkers' experiences and reinforce or complement beverage brand equities.

Greg Steltenpohl, the CEO of Califia Farms and a beverage entrepreneur for nearly four decades, is constantly thinking about innovation. For Steltenpohl, who cut his teeth in the beverage business in 1980 with the launch of super-premium juice brand Odwalla, meeting the evolving needs of a growing base of young, educated and health-conscious consumers has made new product development a cornerstone focus for Califia. Since launching in 2010 the company has embraced several fast-growing beverage trends, including dairy alternatives and cold brew coffee, and introduced a steady stream of new brand and line extensions. But Steltenpohl is pushing for more. The podcast team recently met with Steltenpohl at Califia Farms headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, and as part of a wide-ranging discussion he offered insight into how the company identifies opportunities to innovate and executes from concept to product launch. Steltenpohl also discussed the role of package design and technology and predicts how each will evolve in the coming years, particularly as it relates to consumer education and marketing. Additionally, Steltenpohl revealed Califia's plans to launch a line of organic products as part of its overall innovation philosophy.