Caffeinated water segment once created a shock but, aside from some pockets of strength in Midwest, pretty much went below the radar once energy drinks arrived in late 90s. But Columbus, Ohio-based entrepreneur Brian Pitzer sees opportunity and has quietly been trying to build a brand called Avitae in Midwest markets like Ohio and Ill, lately recruiting longtime new-age exec Trent Moffat as evp sales. Trent's done stints at brands from Snapple to Waddajuice to New Leaf Tea. Line is packed in tapered half-liter plastic bottles with elegant polka dot motif in background (much smaller dots than Metro Mint packs, more like Benday dots of newspapers and comic strips). All-natural line is formulated from purified water and natural caffeine - 45 mg in current version flagged with yellow "Vitality" label cue, tho red-label version with 90 mg is due in Jan. SRP is $1.39-1.49 range. Trent figures there's market among consumers who want a lift but don't like coffee or diet sodas and are also seeking hydration. No calories and no aftertaste.

So far, brand has gotten placed in Kroger and Meijer, and authorized for Speedway's hydration shelf set, Trent said. For now, co is working area from Minn south to Kentucky, Ohio west to Iowa. DSD shops so far include Buckeye statewide in Ohio, Central in Chicago, Pure and RC Evansville in Ind. In conventional retail, brand aims to get on shelf near Smartwater or other enhanced waters, but it's also targeting military, gyms, hospitals and colleges. Once gaps are filled in current territory, co will evaluate where to go next. Founder Pitzer is marketer who's new to bevs but has worked on brands like BMW and Scotts in past. Brand info at avitae45.com.  

As GT's kombucha heads back to store shelves lotsa rivals and others have been saying their tests indicate that new brews are still not fully in compliance with regs limiting NA bevs to 0.5% alcohol by volume (BBI, Oct 22). Just hearsay, maybe even slander? Hard to be sure, since BBI hadn't actually set eyes on any of those tests. Now we have. At our request, bevco has sent us results of gaschromatography analysis undertaken by indie lab of 2 GT's bottles purchased around Oct 19 from West Coast retailer. First, of GT's Original, came in at 0.8% ABV, despite having week-and-a-half shelf life at time of Oct 26 test. ("Enjoy by" date was Nov 6.) Other was juice-infused Synergy line, where most severe problems have been. Gingerberry flavor tested that day came in at 1.5% ABV, despite having more than 3 weeks to go (enjoy-by date of Nov 18). That's just 2 bottles but not good sign, given sweeping recall undertaken by Whole Foods in Jun, in mos after issue first came to light. With feds keeping vigilant eye on category, this confirms there are some grounds for concern among many players in biz.  

Dan Cavanaugh, former AriZona Iced Tea exec who played key role in moving Honest Tea line beyond its natural-foods nurturing ground, has decided to move on. After building DSD network for organic line and helping get brand growing briskly enough to attract 40% investment from Coca-Cola, Dan had segued to foodservice role, with his duties there to be picked up now by Kassidy Bohmeyer, at time foodservice effort is being better synchronized with bottling system, echoing move under way at Coke itself. Kassidy herself has been at co about a decade, after starting as intern. Honest Tea co-founder/ceo Seth Goldman, speaking by phone from co's national sales meeting, was effusive in detailing Dan's contribution to co, saying "more than any person he helped to take our brand from natural foods to the platform we're on." He praised Dan's "leadership, passion, example, incredible work ethic."

Dan, 55, whose last day was Fri, said it was time to move on, his strengths being helping smaller cos get growing, and he plans to take his time looking for other opportunities in bevs or snacks. "It was a 3-year business plan, and I lasted the 3 years," he said of period since Coke's investment. "I'm proud to have helped the company get close to $100 million but I'm not a billion-dollar guy." (Coke's gauge of whether new brand is successful is $1 bil in sales.) Under plan, Coke has transitioned brand to bottling system and is viewed as likely to exercise option to acquire rest of Bethesda, Md-based co early in 2011. Seth noted that lotsa folks recruited and trained by Cavanaugh remain in key posts. He himself hopes to stay on as "tea-eo" once Coke has full control of co. 

Been a bruisin' few mos for POM Wonderful as once-skyrocketing brand suffers one reverse after another on legal front. Latest setback has come at hands of PepsiCo's Tropicana brand, after jury in US District Court in LA brought in verdict upholding Trop's labeling and rejecting all of POM's claims vs Trop's now-discontinued Tropicana Pure Juice Pomegranate Blueberry juice drink. In announcing verdict brought in late Fri, PEP rep couldn't resist getting on high horse, declaring "We're pleased that we won this case and the jury confirmed that Tropicana's labeling was not misleading. We discontinued the product in question more than a year ago and had no intention of reintroducing it, but we went to trial because we are a principled company that deals honestly with consumers." Pepsi also noted that jury found that litigant POM itself has "unclean hands" and has not been dealing fairly with consumers in its own labeling. This is 3d time in a few mos that legal challenge by POM vs rival bev marketer has been repudiated, even as co itself has been on receiving end of warning letters from FDA, consumer lawsuits charging misleading marketing and attacks on its ads in cities like Chicago.  

Bob Clamp has exited as ceo of boutique soda co Boylan Bottling, apparently as part of broader move by core investor Emigrant Capital to take more direct control of NJ co. In his place co apparently has recruited longtime craft beer exec Martin Kelly, who departed merged Pyramid/Magic Hat operation after it was acquired recently by North American Breweries, sources said. Boylan is long-established regional soft drink producer that has proved durable performer on retro-appeal glass-bottle biz and may have potential sleeper hit with juice-based Mash line, but Emigrant and its chmn Howard Milstein are known to have gotten impatient on garnering evidence that investment will garner adequate return after involvement spanning 6 or 7 years. Under Clamp, co has moved founding Fiorina family to less central role, sold off self-distribution operations in NJ and NY, and sought to simplify packaging mix to avert out-of-stocks that dogged soda line during key summer selling season. Kelly, who also had multi-yr run at Pyramid and successor operations starting in 99, is known to be willing to throw dice to drive growth - say by renaming Pyramid's core hefeweizen line as Haywire in bid for greater relevance. (So far, brand's still declining.) By coincidence, Martin becomes 2d Pyramid alum to recently take role in NA bev space, following move by former Pyramid chief John Lennon to Xenergy energy drink marketer Xyience in recent weeks (BBI, Nov 9). No immediate response to inquiry from Clamp, who generally hasn't been available to discuss Boylan activities in recent mos. There have also been rumblings of other top-mgmt and board changes at Boylan but BBI hasn't been able to put a finger on 'em yet.  

Dora's Naturals, refrigerated-brand distributor in NY that's making push to build shelf-stable portfolio, is startin' to make some headway. NJ-based shop has landed several bev lines with potential for broad appeal and solid volume, including Calypso lemonades, Jones sodas/energy drinks and Bob Marley relaxation line, said Marty Jay Zirofsky, new-age brand vet who's been enlisted to get effort off on right track. Also coming aboard are hi-end Harney Tea line, which has been self-distributing in NY, and glass-bottled Taste Nirvana coconut water line, which was hitching ride on Harney truck. Also in house are Guayaki yerba mate, Cell-nique functional line and kid-targeted Wat-aah water. Lots more on verge, bevs dir Marty Jay promised.

As reported, move buttresses system built on refrigerated bevs like Odwalla, Minute Maid, Sambazon and its milk brands, as well as hi-flyin' Fage yogurt (BBI, Jul 8). It pits Dora's vs megadistributors like NA-only Big Geyser and Coors/Corona house Manhattan Beer, as well as smaller Exclusive, which has long shown knack for getting new brands into right retail accounts. Also in mix in NY are Snapple and AriZona operations, which tend to focus mainly on own brands, and Canada Dry NY, Honickman unit which lately has been increasing focus on niche items. "We know the competition is very strong and we have to prove ourselves," said Zirofsky. "We may not be the biggest, but these are the right brands, and we won't take 2 or 3 from the same category" as some other shops do. Tho Dora's has gotten rap from some for demanding stiff, perpetuity contracts, Marty Jay said it's signed variety of deals and has also proved willing to be "financial partner" with some brands in funding growth initiatives.

Co maintains pre-sell sales force in 5 boros of NY and claims to service every store operated by every chain based in NY metro, which means its trucks are ranging from Baltimore north to Conn/RI border. It delivers to chains 3X per week. It's lined up "sub-partners" to work specialty areas like inner city, Korean grocers, corporate foodservice accounts, and suburbs in Westchester, NJ and Long Island. Co is in process of doubling size of 300,000-sq-ft warehouse in NJ. It operates about 50 trucks and employs 150.  

Winston-Salem, NC-based Primo Water Corp's initial public offering of 9.6 mil shares at $12 bucks apiece raised around $100 mil, which will be used in part to fund buyout of Culligan Store Solutions and Culligan of Canada. Buyout of Culligan assets is right around that figure, at $105 mil, reported AP. Shares rose 15% on its debut day Nov 5 on NASDAQ, noted MarketWatch. PRMW shares were down slightly to $13 in trading today.

While IPO did very well, financial blog Seeking Alpha told investors to "pass" on Primo stock offering given that marketer of purified water "has never been able to generate positive operating margins." Execs have already warned that core biz "will show a revenue dip in 2010," noted Seeking Alpha, as co contends with "inventory glut" from 09. "Either way a company not generating growth and with consistent negative margins and debt on the books should not be generating a market cap 3X revenues," concluded blog. Still, it did acknowledge "there could be potential" if PRMW can successfully integrate Culligan in "cost-effective" manner." Culligan has 4,500 retail locations and generated $26 mil in revs in 09. Primary customers for Culligan's 3- and 5-gal purified water bottles and dispensing systems are Loews, Sams's Club and Wal-Mart as well as Target, Safeway and Kroger. In assessing IPO, Seeking Alpha also reminded that "management team took Blue Rhino public in 1998," and soon after "there were auditing issues," with stock dropping to within $2 within a year after surging from $13 to $25 soon after IPO. Blue Rhino eventually climbed back up to $17 a share when it was sold to Ferrellgas in 04. "All in all, after the turmoil first year, Blue Rhino was a successful public company," growing from market cap of $94 mil in 08 to $340 mil in 04. Note also that Primo activity has spurred rivals like Nestle Waters to step up their own big-pack activity.