Starbucks is betting that demand for plant-based food/bevs extends beyond developed market in North America and Europe into Asia with plan to offer items from Oatly, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat this month. Roasting giant will offer likes of Oatly-based Oatmilk Cocoa Macchiato in Malaysia, Philippines and elsewhere, along with Spiced Impossible Puff and Maize Impossible Sandwich in Hong Kong, Impossible Rendang Pie in Singapore and Beyond Meat Bolognese Penne in Taiwan. Singapore will get Impossible Wrap that accessorizes Impossible Burger patty with avocado omelette, mushroom, caramelized onion and cheese.

Continuing efforts to become broadly accessible trading vehicle for investors, Keurig Dr Pepper is broadening its float of shares and switching listing from NY Stock Exchange to Nasdaq. JAB Holdings, which closely controls KDP thru its majority-held Maple Holdings unit, is converting some of interest its minority investors have in Maple into directly controlled shares of KDP, which will increase public float to 44%. JAB will then hold 44% and Mondelez the remaining 12%. After making switch to Nasdaq later this month, Keurig will continue to trade under KDP symbol.

Bhoomi bottled cane water has cracked Whole Foods' Northeast region, rolling out to 23 stores in NY metro this summer, Austin-based co reported. In novel twist, it's employing recyclable bottle that's made from sugarcane. Bhoomi, recall, was launched in New Orleans for table tennis athlete Arpit Bhopalkar after he couldn't find the cane water he'd relied on growing up in India . . . Icelandic Glacial has cracked Maverick Gaming, entering natl bev program servings 27 properties that include 1,300 rooms, 35 restaurants and 41 bars.

Hydration brand called Play Mode that purports to offer hipper, funner alternative to likes of Pedialyte has been quietly honing its packaging, positioning and distribution strategy as it broadens flavor range and for first time heads to East Coast.

Will we see any easing of restrictions on CBD in near future? The hemp industry took a step in that direction today with submission of bipartisan bill that would allow hemp-derived CBD and other non-intoxicating hemp ingredients to be marketed as dietary supplements, which would do much to dispel cloud of uncertainty that's hovered over nascent industry even if supplement regs themselves are often criticized for being too porous. Bill dubbed the Hemp & Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection & Market Stabilization Act of 2020 was submitted by Democratic Rep Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Republican Rep Morgan Griffith of Virginia. (The "market stabilization" phrase is reference to collapse in hemp prices that's resulted from continued regulatory uncertainty.) Bill is launching with growing list of endorsements that includes US Hemp Roundtable, Natl Grocers Assn, American Herbal Products Assn and supplement lobbyist Council for Responsible Nutrition. Hemp Roundtable said it's planning to inaugurate grassroots campaign next week to urge passage in Congress.

Another surprise departure in week that's already seen abrupt exits of Califia Farms ceo Greg Steltenpohl and JDE Peet's ceo Casey Keller: Danone said executive committee member Francisco Camacho, who's had evp job running Essential Dairy & Plant-Based International (EDP Int'l) unit, had departed yesterday "to explore new horizons." Danone chmn/ceo Emmanuel Faber will oversee crucial unit on interim basis while co "reviews its organizational options in the context of a world with Covid." It's not clear to us what that means. Camacho was 20-year vet applauded by Faber for way he "brought the business back to growth in recent years." Mexican-born exec had moved thru variety of roles in his 2 decades at Danone, including several Latin America assignments, managing Evian biz out of Atlanta during its ultimately unsuccessful marketing/distribution alliance with Coca-Cola and 6 years running global water portfolio, culminating with 3 years on dairy & plant-based biz.

Barely 3 months after its successful public listing, coffee giant JDE Peet's has announced a change at the top: Casey Keller is exiting as ceo and being succeeded by Fabien Simon, the JAB Holdings exec who put together the pieces that comprise JDEP. Keller's departure was blamed on pandemic, which made it difficult for his family to join him at corporate hq in Amsterdam, but announcement was brimming with enthusiasm for qualities Simon will bring to task, starting on Mon. "No one knows this business better than Fabien," per chmn Olivier Goudet, who's also ceo/managing ptnr of controlling shareholder JAB. "Not only did Fabien lead the successful IPO of JDE Peet's, he oversaw the very creation of JDE and its transformation into a global coffee & tea powerhouse." Simon, a JAB partner and cfo who's been JDEP board member, is Valeo and Mars vet who arrived at JDEP forerunner Jacobs Douwe Egberts in 2014 and proceeded to assemble coffee giant as rival to Starbucks and Nestle. It had been with that objective in view that Keller had arrived at Peet's 2 years ago after 7-year run at Mars' Wrigley unit, prepping co for what in May became biggest IPO in Europe at €2.58 bil (BBI, May 26). First public financial report on his watch proved solid (BBI, Aug 7) tho he so far hadn't been able to get Peet's-branded RTD coffees to ignite following disbandment of internal DSD arm out west, shift to shelf-stable recipes and broad access to distribution system of JAB-controlled Keurig Dr Pepper. (The co had quietly moved to a licensing model for alliance.) In statement, Goudet credited Keller with having "achieved strong growth and record market share gains" at Peet's Coffee, then taking helm of JDE Peet's where he "demonstrated remarkable leadership and great results amidst an extraordinary operating environment." Simon's elevation to ceo will be formally ratified at next board meeting.

Peter Strahm, a former Snapple and Red Bull exec who last year threw in towel on ambitious NY DSD operation called Drink King, has resurfaced on brand side as part of launch team for hard seltzer licensed from Stewart's Root Beer brand. Operating as Stewart's Enterprises Inc (SEI), co is aiming to launch Stewart's Spiked Seltzer in Oct/Nov, starting in NJ, where Strahm is based, and focusing initially on Northeast region. Launch team includes another familiar name from Snapple, Joe Poli, as cfo. NY-area financial exec named Frank Rubba is listed as chmn/prexy at co, but Peter demurred on disclosing rest of team quite yet. Some are likely to be familiar names to BBI readers, he indicated.