Yes, she can be in-your-face aggressive. But flip side is that Housewives of Orange County star Kelly Dodd also is perceived as genuine and authentic, and that's what Positive Beverage canned sparkler is hoping to ride to position as approachable, highly-affordable nutrition delivery system, says her cofounder, Zach Muchnick, a sports nutritionist who comes out of luxury biz, working for Richemont in Beverly Hills on watch brands like Cartier, Piaget, Mont Blanc and Chloe. Duo is backed financially by local businessman and philanthropist George Argyros Jr, who was looking for an upgrade for the bottled waters he was consuming to tune of a dozen a day.

On recent "Tales from the Trenches" webcast that we reprised yesterday, Ethan's functional shot founder Ethan Hirshberg discussed how he'd shelved innovation that had been teed up for now-canceled Expo West, with view to conserving cash and minimizing stresses on supply chain and retailers alike. But Boulder, Colo-based co has proceeded with rebrand to more explicitly state function of each entry and the key ingredients that provide those benefits. So glass-bottle brand's ACV (apple cider vinegar) entry now is branded as Daily Detox, its MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) is Fast Fuel and Fire Shots is Immune Boost. As part of brand tweak, Ethan's has also made accompanying change to color palette, giving each function a unique hue that reflects its flavors and key ingredients, in contrast to current pkg lineup that uses different color for each flavor option with a given function. "Not only does this new packaging answer the question of function and occasion for each line, but we feel that it exudes more of the creative, fun and wholesome personality that the Ethan's brand embodies," per Ethan, whose dad, Stonyfield Farm founder Gary Hirshberg, has been presiding over "Tales from the Trenches" series (BBI, Apr 7). In separate change driven by sustainability, Ethan's also is ditching its plastic bottle caps for aluminum, move it estimates will cut use of nearly 10K lbs of plastic each year. Brand info at Ethans.com, which doesn't yet depict the new packaging look.

Researcher/consultancy Zenith International is offering further evidence that, so far at least, coronavirus pandemic hasn't completely squelched M&A activity. Despite the pandemic and accompanying lockdown measures, some 60 food & bev transactions were recorded on its Zenith Global M&A database for Mar, exceeding year-earlier level. Three transactions that exceeded $1 bil, including PepsiCo's move on Rockstar Energy for $3.85 bil on bev side, and another came in at $500 mil. Of the 60 transactions, 12 were in alcohol, 8 in dairy, 6 in soft drinks, 4 in packaging and 3 each in CBD, ingredients and snacks, Zenith reported. Some 39 were contained within national borders, including 29 in US, 4 in France and 3 in UK, and other 21 were international in scope. Counting both internal and trans-border deals, US cos featured in 35, France in 13, UK in 7 and Japan in 4.

Battening down the hatches for coming storm, Keurig Dr Pepper announced "strategic refinancing program" in which it's extending its debt maturities via public offering of senior notes. With co operating under analysts' gimlet eyes for debt it took on in Dr Pepper Snapple Group acquisition, KDP is going out of its way to signal that it's prepared for even a severe economic downturn. Thus, the refinancing "is another proactive step we are taking at KDP to increase our existing excess liquidity to a level that would far exceed potential increased liquidity needs, even in the event of a protracted downturn," said cfo Ozan Dokmecioglu. "We have consistently taken a conservative approach to managing our business, including our balance sheet and financial health, and today's announcement is yet another indication of this financial discipline." KDP indicated its total debt balance and deleveraging commitments aren't changing . . . After reporting that it's investigating potentially mon

Today, Consumer Edge Research's Brett Cooper reviewed PepsiCo's weaknesses and opportunities moving thru disruptive era. Lotsa moving parts to this one as PEP already was rethinking key elements of strategy before pandemic hit. Brett's bullish on co under its recently elevated ceo Ramon Laguarta. "PepsiCo's efforts during the rebase/reset year has put the beverage business in a better position," observed Brett. "The efforts undertaken have taken the sales growth rate from declines in 2017/2018 to what we see as an underlying rate of sales growth of +1.5-2% heading into a period of disruption" during COVID-19 crisis, he noted. PEP improvement is "owed to (1) better CSD performance, (2) improvements in sports drinks and (3) an acceleration in RTD coffee."

Drinkables may be smallish part of mix at organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, but its founder Gary Hirshberg suffered similar struggles to bev entrepreneurs in building his co, now owned by Danone, trying to meet payroll, dealing with copacker meltdown and trying to maintain perspective when walls seemed to be closing in. Over the years he's proved iconic mentor and investor in many bev brands, both personally and via his Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute. Last week, he and HEI responded to uncertainties created by pandemic by inaugurating a webcast series called Tales from the Trenches in which he sits down for Zoom discussions with entrepreneurs, including bev people like Nantucket Nectars cofounder and Castanea Group partner Tom First (on 2d episode last week) and with upcoming slate that includes Nixie founder Nicole Dawes and Orgain founder Andrew Abraham. (Among those Gary mentored was Honest Tea cofounder Seth Goldman, with whom he once engaged in epic, if unlikely, organic rap battle.) Helping moderate affair is Gary's son, Ethan, a bev entrepreneur in his own right via his Ethan's Functional Shots. The series kicked off a week ago with focus on Gary himself, full of hard-won lessons from his own experience at Stonyfield, where he's still chmn. Info on replays and upcoming events, including now-virtual boot camp and pitch session on May 7-8, at HirshbergInstitute.com.

After 8 years of struggling to stem losses and get co back on consistent growth track, ceo Jennifer Cue has stepped down as ceo of Seattle-based Jones Soda, succeeded on interim basis yesterday by pkgd food/produce vet Jamie Colbourne. The departure hadn't been signaled by Jen on recent earnings call, which chronicled another period of sales slippage and unrealized opportunities ranging from fountain and 7-Eleven partnership to Lemoncocco Italian-style refresher, promising canned line devised by Cue and her husband that suffered production hitches that led to out-of-stocks (BBI, Mar 26). Cue, who's 2d-largest investor in co and had served on exec team twice before, is leaving to "spend more time with her family" and will be available to assist Colbourne as needed. She retains board seat. As for Colbourne, he most recently served as ceo of JGC Foods, a maker of soups, sauces and entrees, after run as coo of Charlie's Produce, largest indie distributor of produce in Pac NW. He's served on boards of Litehouse Products, Tully's Coffee, Haagen-Dazs and 7 Up Canada. JSDA chmn Michael Fleming cited Colbourne's "unique experience in expanding distribution networks and landing partnerships with national retailers" as key asset.