Happy Innovation Takes Emotion Into Account: Craig Dubitsky discussed how he’s bringing his considerable experience in creating “joyful” CPG brands into his new coffee venture happy, co-created with actor Robert Downey, Jr., during the opening session of BevNET Live Winter 2024 on Monday. 

• “I'm allergic to this word ‘disruption," Dubitsky said during the presentation. “It's not about disrupting anything. No one ever said, ‘honey, next time you're getting some toothpaste, can you get me some of that Hello toothpaste, they're such challengers the way they disrupted my routine.’ No one says that.” 

According to Dubitsky, a product can only achieve cultural relevance via emotional innovation. These products are successful because they provide consumers with something that wasn’t in their lives before, improve the experience and have the ability to flip negative or neutral feelings about a product type in a positive direction, he said. 

Why Beverage Does, and Doesn’t Work For VCs: The beverage industry has given select investors high returns, but not all firms and businesses are primed for success in the sector. According to the panelists, including Rocana Venture’s co-founder and general partner Gurdeep Prewal, Willow Growth Partner’s founder and general partner Deborah Benton and Barrel Ventures managing partner Nate Cooper, whether or not VC cash is right for your business is dependent on the firm itself and the relationships a founder has built.  

• “Beverage can be a fantastic VC investment, because the outcomes can be huge, and have been huge, which is very much in alignment with how venture capital and portfolio construction for venture capital works,” said Benton. “Why it may not be a great investment for venture capitalists, candidly, a lot of VCs [don’t] know beverage very well.”

TikTok Shop 101: Social media could begin to play a key role in emerging brand’s sales strategies, according to Cameron Gould-Saltman, TikTok Shop’s head of food and beverage. He shared how the platform, an emerging product itself only 15 months post-launch, is utilizing data to constantly evolve how it works with brands.

Gould-Saltman explained that companies that have seen success on the platform are taking a creator-first approach to building their reach.

BevNET Insiders can access the full recap for all of the insights.

📹 Didn’t make the trip to Marina del Rey? Tune into the livestream here.

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Six beverage startups have emerged from a field of 12 competitors to land a spot in today’s final round of New Beverage Showdown 28 at BevNET Live Winter 2024, presented by Coca-Cola North America Revenue Streams.

🥤 Today’s final will include Dappy non-alcoholic functional beverage, Passion Joy sparkling passion fruit beverage, Melo sparkling kava drink, Guinep non-alcoholic cocktail, Grind with Gratitude performance water and THC-infused seltzer, and Recoup organic sparkling prebiotic drink.

👀 Tune into BevNET to watch the final round of the competition live, starting with part one at 11 a.m. PT and part two at 1:30 p.m. PT. 

🏆 The New Beverage Showdown champion will be announced at 3:15 p.m. PT at the closing of BevNET’s annual winter conference. 

Check out the full NBS semifinals recap on BevNET.

KeHE has introduced a new opt-in fee structuring program that allows emerging brands to trade associated, first-year onboarding fees for a consistent 2% flat rate, a move intended to make the distribution powerhouse “easier and more cost effective” to work with.

💸 Speaking at BevNET Live on Monday, KeHE senior category manager Christina Schmidt said the distributor introduced the new optional fee structuring program this month to help emerging brands simplify their spend forecasts with a consistent flat rate.

💬 “We know that forecasting can be a really big challenge, especially when you're launching and you're a new and emerging brand – it's kind of a roller coaster as you kind of get started within that initial, first year launch…[This is a] control allowance that waives you from those initial fees associated with onboarding. That 2% is less than the actual experience of those wage fees, so it consolidates them all into one allowance to help you as a brand forecast better.”

BevNET Insiders can access the full story for the full breakdown.

With the rise of rapid-service beverage concepts like Swig and Luckin Coffee, it was only a matter of time before the OG kings of fast food got in on the action. After McDonald’s unveiled CosMc’s last year, Taco Bell is following suit with Live Mas Cafe, an experimental drink-focused outlet that’s now slanging bevs out of its first location near San Diego in Chula Vista, Calif.

🧁 Expect indulgence: Drinks include Vanilla Crema Iced Coffee, Cinnabon Caramel Iced Coffee, Caramel Cafe Churro Chiller, Mexican Mocha Iced Coffee and Strawberry Lime Refresca Freeze. It’s not all drinks, either -- a limited food menu of “fan favorites” will also be available.

⏩ But maybe don’t expect to stay too long; the presence of self-ordering kiosks and minimal seating suggests Live Mas Cafe is geared towards on-the-go.

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