The cold brew coffee craze is sweeping through the beverage industry, and it seems like everyone’s trying to get a piece of the action. But we’ve seen this story before: companies flocking to a hot category, and often times ending up with a less-than-successful outcome (see: energy drinks, cold-pressed juice).
“It’s just a sign of how this industry works,” BevNET CEO John Craven said in a new podcast. “When people see opportunity, you get the herd moving quickly trying to get their troops on the front line for this — hopefully — big surge in cold brew consumption. But right now, there are certainly too many brands relative to the amount of volume out there for cold brew.”
Amid a saturated market for RTD cold brew coffee, we decided to take a look at a few beverage categories that we see as ripe for disruptive and timely innovation. Listen to our take, which includes examples of a few companies quietly taking advantage of white space in traditional categories, in the latest edition of the BevNET podcast.
Podcast notes (some background on our topics of conversation):
Chameleon’s effort to build awareness for cold brew coffee.
BevNET Magazine June 2016 article on innovation in the tea category
A review of Sweet Leaf’s discontinued Coffee & Tea Blend
Kids’ drinks — selling to the millennial mom
New Beverage Showdown 11 semifinalists: Bossi, Leaf & Love Lemonade, Monfefo, Vive Organic
Ella’s Kitchen Pressies cold-pressed juice for kids
Green Mustache presents in the finals of New Beverage Showdown 5
Twitter handles: Ray – @bevtrayde; John – @bevnetcraven; Jon – @lonjandis
