Beverage Industry last covered Monster Energy in our December 2007 cover story. At that time, Monster’s leadership team, including this year’s Executive of the Year honoree Rodney Sacks, chairman and chief executive officer of Hansen Natural Corp., was somewhat reluctant to participate in our cover photo shoot. Sacks, along with Monster Beverage Co. President Mark Hall and Hansen Natural Vice Chairman and President Hilton Schlosberg, obliged for the cover photo, but the company also extended an invitation to the Monster Beverage staff.
The concept of robotic aids have gone beyond Rosie the maid in the cartoon series “The Jetsons” and been embraced by modern households in everyday solutions, such as the Roomba brand of automated vacuums. For beverage-makers and distributors, robotic solutions have come to embody reliable, flexible and safer options for their operations. Within the industry, installation of robotic equipment continues to grow with new applications for manufacturing and distribution, experts say.
From ingredients to finished products to warehouse equipment, new ideas and solutions serve as fuel to keep beverage-makers and distributors going. As industry events such as Pack Expo demonstrate, equipment manufacturers maintain a pulse on the industry to offer new innovations to address current issues and anticipate future trends.
Rodney Sacks, chairman and chief executive officer of Hansen Natural Corp., Corona, Calif., in conjunction with his executive team comprised of Hilton Schlosberg, vice chairman and president of Hansen Natural, and Mark Hall, president of Monster Beverage Co., lead the company once known solely for its namesake natural beverages to international growth as the producer of one of the top-selling energy drinks on the market.
Earlier this year, Beverage Industry’s 2011 Product Development Survey forecasted a return to traditional flavors. Survey respondents indicated that traditional flavors, such as chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, remained popular choices, but rising stars such as superfruits were not as popular as lemon, lime and orange flavors. Now more than mid-way through the year, ingredient suppliers are reporting that industry flavor trends continue to include superfruits as well as several twists on traditional favorites.
Some parents and pet-owners have devised methods to hide medicine or supplements within the food and beverages consumed by their children and animals. These inventive methods parallel the behind-the-scenes work of flavor companies that collaborate with beverage-makers to increase the palatability of a new sweetener or functional formula.
It’s hard to know when inspiration will strike. During an interview for this month’s Beverage R&D article on flavor trends, Cathianne Leonardi, flavorist at Allen Flavors, Edison, N.J., discussed how she developed a line of beverage prototypes inspired by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit dedicated to late fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The “Savage Beauty” exhibit featured McQueen’s garments along with the audio and video presentations that accompanied the designs during their respective runway shows.
The modern beverage warehouse is a world of contradictions. Due in part to SKU proliferation, beverage distributors are constantly adapting their warehouses to fit more product in a given amount of space.
One of the keys to success can be as simple as: “location, location, location.” For developers of new beverages, the phrase is not as cliché as it sounds. Not only are consumers shopping across more channels than ever, retailers are offering more spaces for beverages, too.
As a hip-hop artist and actor, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is no stranger to collaborations. However, Jackson’s latest collaboration does not involve celebrities, but Pure Growth Partners, a New York City-based company that conceives and markets consumer brands with a philanthropic component.