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As a small company growing at 20 percent a year in a narrowly specialized segment of the beverage distribution business, Nampa, Idaho-based Idaho Springs Water succeeds by controlling costs in every corner of its fleet operations, including vehicle acquisition and maintenance, routing optimization, and fuel costs.

Today’s industrial environment is filled with ways to increase profit, meet challenges of competition, improve market share, reduce operating costs, and manage state-of-the-art production and distribution facilities throughout the supply chain.

It’s hard to believe that only a year ago (April 6, 2016, to be exact) Facebook Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced via a Facebook post that Facebook Live was available to all Facebook users.

Consumers love their functional beverages almost as much as they love coffee. One company sought to combine the two and that resonated with the readers of Beverage Industry.

When conversing with a friend recently, I realized how much I “consume” information. I follow various local, state and national news outlets. The stack of books that I plan to read this summer includes more non-fiction than fiction. My “to watch” list is filled more with documentaries than scripted TV. However, I won’t pretend that reality shows aren’t on in the background while I am doing chores or cooking meals.

In the beverage, supply chain and packaging markets, tradeshow season is in full swing. I recently attended ProMat and ProFood Tech at McCormick Place in Chicago, and will be heading to Las Vegas later this month to attend the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo, which will take place June 26-28.

Across the total beverage spectrum, the results in volume, market share and profit have been less than desirable for the past three to five years at least. Many factors have affected increases and decreases; however, the cost of producing a case of sellable beverages for the market begs a major question: what is the total production cost for each case?

As many are preparing for the upcoming long weekend, many stay-cationers will be stocking up on grilling favorites like hot dogs, burgers and beer. The readers of Beverage Industry also must have had their mind on beer during the Readers’ Choice New Product of the Month poll for April.

It’s no secret that consumers are demanding more from their food and beverages. More and more beverage-makers are answering this call by developing new products that blur category lines. Although these hybrid drinks are fulfilling the functional and refreshment needs of consumers, research from Mintel sheds light on what might be next for these emerging beverage options.

The 2017 Women’s March, International Women’s Day and Equal Pay Day are some of the recent national events that have highlighted women’s contributions to society. These events also got me thinking about diversity and women in the beverage industry.