• 🍊 Tropicana Gets Crafty
• 🥃 Diageo Sells Rum Brand Pampero
• 🥤 Everlane Founder Launches Sports Drink
• 🔀 Crossover Beverage Guidance Takes Shape
• 🍊 Orange Juice, Regenerative Rice and Cottage Cheese

“A toxic culture of greed and narcissism, quid pro quos, and cronyism”

That is only a snippet of the vitriol laid out in an online letter from Pure Culture Organics’ founders Ludmila and Edward Smolyansky, published today. The Smolyanskys are aiming to force the termination of Julie Smolyansky as Lifeway Foods CEO, along with the resignation of the company’s lead director, Jason Scher, in addition to directors Pol Sikar, Jody Levy, Dorri McWhorter and Perfecto Sanchez. 

"Lifeway suffers from a pattern of retrenching and silence when faced with criticism, and mediocre results, often doubling down on past failures. The CEO’s narcissistically driven inability to self-reflect makes it impossible for the brand to achieve its full potential and value in the short and long term, and for Lifeway to move forward, she must get out of the way,” stated Edward Smolyansky in the letter.

Quick History: Ludmila and Edward are mother and brother, respectively, to Julie Smolyansky. Ludmila founded Lifeway alongside husband Michael in 1986; Edward has held a variety of c-suite roles at the public company since 2004 including CFO, COO and director. Ludmila and Edward’s contracts were terminated in 2022 and in 2023 they launched kefir brand Pure Culture Organics. 

The family feud has been fermenting since 2022 when Edward and Ludmila first moved to oust Julie as CEO and sell the company during a downturn. Those tensions were later carried into court when the mother-son duo debuted Pure Culture Organics and Lifeway filed two suits claiming Edward stole trade secrets; those complaints have since been dismissed.

While the Smolyanskys may have kefir in their blood, the familial tensions seem to run even deeper. Ludmila claims that Julie demanded a “gift” of one million Lifeway shares and when that request was not honored, filed two lawsuits against Pure Culture and spent over $1 million of Lifeway funds to silence Ludmila and Edward. 

The letter, which has been published on new platform “Life Back To Lifeway,” also targets Julie’s husband, Jason Burdeen, highlighting his job as “a former jeweler,” and goes on to claim he has been exercising “significant managerial control” over Lifeway despite not being an officer of the company. It also asserts that he has submitted “multiple affidavits under oath that were not true.”

But they aren’t entirely looking to clear house at the family-owned company. The letter also states that Juan Carlos Dalto “is the only qualified independent director” and should remain in his role. The Smolyanskys are also advocating for the adoption of an anti-nepotism policy along with an operational and strategic review of the business. They had originally called for, and secured, a review back in 2022, but claim the board failed to make good on that motion.

According to the letter, Lifeway is underperforming and its stock price (as of market close July 17) has lost 54% of its value since May 10, 2024. Edward also claims that despite Julie’s assertions it has seen "monumental results," the company has notched a CAGR of only 3.1% since 2016. 

Go Deeper: Lifeway Ferments a Future in Dairy Amid Growth Wave; Family Feud Lingers

Tropicana Brands Group (TBG) is hailing a “creative renaissance” as it mounts new marketing campaigns for its Naked smoothie and namesake OJ brands, looking to modernize its portfolio and push better-for-you options forward, such as its new Naked Lower Sugar line.

🎨 TBG formed in 2021 after PepsiCo divested much of its juice and smoothie portfolio to private equity firm PAI Partners. The company now aims to operate like a “$3 billion startup,” according to CEO Monica McGurk, and capitalize on its independent position by experimenting with messaging and innovation.

🎭 Naked is now positioned as a snacking product, in addition to breakfast and other traditional smoothie occasions, with a new marketing campaign called “When Thungry, Get Naked” – Thungry, of course, meaning “thirsty” and “hungry.”

🥤 For the Tropicana brand itself, the company has partnered with emerging brands like Milk Bar for on-premise collaboration products and is mounting its own marketing efforts to grow the orange juice and lemonade lines. That includes a new campaign dubbed “The Juice That Starts It All.” 

BevNET Insiders can get all the insights on Tropicana’s repositioning in the full story.

Introducing our exclusive quarterly industry reports from SPINS. This report, which focuses on Q2 trends in the juice category, features exclusive content created just for our BevNET Insider audience!

In recent years, the juice category has experienced some backlash as people have pointed out its high sugar content might not be all that “good for you.” As more brands use juice to sweeten products, its image gets more complicated. Will consumers begin to think of juice as a sweetener versus a healthy beverage?

Check out the full report to get all the answers and category insights.

Diageo has let go of another brand, announcing yesterday it has offloaded Venezuelan rum label Pampero to Italian food and spirits company Gruppo Montenegro. 

🥾 Pampero is getting the boot 18 months after Diageo purchased super-premium dark rum label Don Papa Rum, and as the group focuses on its core areas of tequila and whiskey. 

📉 The sale comes as Diageo shares and sales slump, and follows the disposal of another European-based brand, Safari. 

🇮🇹 For Gruppo Negro, bringing in the market leader for rum in Italy marks a new phase following the appointment of the group’s new CEO, Sergio Fava. 

Read the full story on BevNET.

Michael Preysman, the founder of clothing retailer Everlane, is seeking to make a splash in the beverage space with his new powdered sports drink brand, Magna. The brand touts itself as “the world’s first magnesium-powered daily hydration formula,” according to an Instagram announcement.

🍉 Available in four flavors at launch – Tea Lemonade, Peach Mango, Lemon Lime and Watermelon Lime – Magna’s zero sugar formula combines the three most potent forms of magnesium (L Threonate, Glycinate and Malate) with electrolytes to support focus, energy and recovery. 

🏄 Magna has been testing the science-backed formula for the last nine months among doctors and world-class athletes, such as freeskier Malou Peterson and surfer Barron Mamiya; these athletes helped both test and perfect the product, according to the announcement. 

🛒 Magna is now available direct-to-consumer via the brand’s website for $55 per box of 30 sachets. 

As hard versions of popular non-alc drinks (Hard MTN Dew, Simply Spiked) continue to hit the shelves, regulations are catching up to guide how these products are treated and packaged. 

📝 New guidance is aiming to shape how crossover products are marketed, packaged and sold at retail. For now, these guidelines have been mostly put out by trade associations, but states are also beginning to create their own regulations. 

⛔ Although much of the new protocols are presented as guidance, in a webinar yesterday, McDermott Will & Emery’s Alva Mather warned that the consequences of not adhering are immediate. 

📦 The lawyer also touched on new direct-to-consumer shipping legislation in certain states, and how scrutiny over the shipping of alcohol can impact brands. 

Read the full story on BevNET.

On the podcast this week, the team discusses the rise of the cottage cheese craze and one brand’s efforts to modernize the category. Then, senior reporter Brad Avery shares highlights from a conversation with the CEO of Tropicana Brands Group, including how the company aims to “operate like a $3 billion startup.” Additionally, managing editor Monica Watrous provides a glimpse at an exclusive report on food and beverage venture funding, and reporter Adrianne DeLuca details Lotus Foods’ recent $22.5 million capital raise.

Listen to the full episode on Nosh.