Boston-based Advent International said it's teamed with CDIB Capital to acquire "significant equity position" in International Coffee & Tea LLC, which operates fast-expanding Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chain. Also investing via transaction is Mirae Asset Private Equity, while controlling shareholders the Sassoon family will up their stake too. Transaction was completed Sep 12. Will Kussell, former prexy/chief brand officer of Dunkin' Donuts and now a member of Advent's Operating Partner program, will pick up vice chmn post on Coffee Bean's board . . . Dry Soda is offering 1,350-unit Kroger chain first dibs on canned entries in Cherry and Pear flavors, first time Seattle-based culinary soda marketer has offered exclusive to a retailer. Cherry Dry clocks in at 60 calories and Pear Dry at 80 calories per can.

In this letter we often marvel at aggressive promos we spot in grocers behind mainstream bev brands, even in era in which big-bevco execs assure investors we're enjoying "rational" pricing environment. Labor Day deals of Vitaminwater at 67 cents and 88-cent quarts of Powerade were good example (BBI, Aug 30). But with economy sluggish and consumers skittish, even natural-foods arena is becoming more of a free-for-all on pricing. This was borne out by noon visit on Sat to massive Whole Foods store on NY's E Houston St, which serves uncommonly diverse customer base of students, artists and leftwing shoplifters as well as usual families, young professionals and the like. Tour of grab-and-go cooler turned up some surprising deals for purportedly premium retail venue, and not only among brands marketed by big bevcos who're usual suspects in deep promos. It's enough to dispel retailer's "Whole Paycheck" image and that of premium segment as always sticking to principles on pricing.

Best deal: Pepsi's Izze brand in 12-oz glass bottles, marked down from $1.79 to $1.39, with instant-redeemable coupon of 75 cents posted at shelf, for net price of 64 cents. (Hard to resist, and BBI editor found his Sparkling Clementine tasty.) But independently owned and marketed sparkling brands also were on deal: Grown Up Soda cut from $1.69 to $1.39, not much different than Snapple pricing in nearby bodegas. Bruce Cost Ginger Ale was down from $1.99 to $1.69. Those deals, tho, were no contest vs 12-oz cans of Whole Foods' 365 brand, at usual 69 cents. Given full top shelf, private-label line was nearly depleted on BBI visit. Lotsa takers, clearly.

On tea side, Pepsi's Tazo, sometimes seen on deal at mainstream grocery at well below $1, was at its regular $1.39 price vs Coke's Honest Tea glass bottles at $1.79. (There's been some speculation that Starbucks eventually may throw in towel on maintaining Tazo as premium RTD in favor of launching Teavana line.) Glass-bottle Joe Tea held its $2.19 retail, while Ito En's Teas's Tea was promo'd at 2 for $3 and its Oi Ocha held its SRP of $1.99. Harney Tea was discounted from $2.19 to 2/$3.

In other categories, Hint plastic bottles were priced at 3 for $5 while glass-bottle Hint Fizz was knocked down from $1.99 to $1.39. Hiball Energy 16-oz cans went from $2.99 SRP to 2 for $4, echoing deals seen in c-stores on mainstream brands like Monster. Vitaminwater and Zero extension, nominally $1.79, were going 4/$5. (By now, that's no surprise.) On coconut water front, 11-oz tetras of Vita Coco were getting regular $1.99 price vs same-size Zico at its regular $1.49, echoing national trend that sees Vita Coco winning hegemony. Zico's PET bottles were $1.99.

But fresh side of cooler seemed to be operating in different world entirely. Suja fresh-pressed juices were getting their usual $8.99 per bottle with several flavors nearly out of stock, and both facings of Harmless Harvest coconut water were depleted, at $4.89. (Consumers could still purchase 12-unit cases below at $48.) Mamma Chia was getting its frontline of $3.79, too. And in another cooler near checkout, with similar deals on Izze and the like, extensive kombucha selection also was at full price all the way. Few seem to be bellyaching about those prices.

Array of bottled water brands from Aquafina and Dasani to indie brands like Hint, Voss and Wat-aah have piled into Drink Up initiative launched late last week by Michelle Obama and actress/dir Eva Longoria as way of weaning Americans from addiction to sugared bevs. Working under umbrella of Partnership for a Healthy America, effort brought together a dozen public and private orgs to encourage folks to drink water more often. "Drink just 1 more glass of water a day and you can make a real difference for your health, your energy, and the way you feel," said First Lady at Wis event. "So Drink Up and see for yourself."

Promoters of initiative figure Drink Up logo will appear on nearly 300 mil packs of bottled water, more than 500 mil bottles of water, 200K packs of reusable bottles and 10,000+ reusable bottles. In addition, 10K+ outdoor public taps are expected to carry brand in coming years. About 1 bil media impressions have already been committed, including online and digital out-of-home media. Among those committed to initiative are water filter cos Brita and Soma, reusable bottled water cos Brita and S'well, and bottled water brands Aquafina (from Pepsi), Beverly Hills 90H2O, Dasani (from Coke), Evian, Voss, Hint and Wat-aah. American Beverage Assn is supporting effort, and Nestle Waters brands like Deer Park, Poland Spring and Pure Life will make more limited commitment for some packaging, vehicles and social media messaging. Info at YouAreWhatYouDrink.org.

Here's bit of a shocker: Gerry Martin, 17-year vet of New England giant Polar Beverage and its face to emerging brands looking to latch onto Polar's extensive financial, distribution and production capabilities, is moving on to company you may never have heard of. Gerry notified supplier contacts late last week that he's signed on with soft drink concentrate maker Al's Beverage Co Inc of E Windsor, Conn. In note, Gerry offered no explanation for move but said he's leaving Polar in great hands and is "extremely grateful to Ralph, Chris and the entire Crowley family, John Wetzonis and all my colleagues. It has been fun." Gerry's title was vp marketing and immediate consumption sales, and he was point person for outside brands picked up by Polar for distribution and sometimes production and investment, too, including likes of Neuro, Bai, Fiji, Hydrive, Karma and OnDemand. It's also major DPS house, meaning Gerry will be on familiar ground at Al's. Martin's new co operates 2 subsidiaries: Al's Beverage Co, which makes fountain concentrates for Dr Pepper Snapple Group and for private-label customers, and Al's Beverage Distributors (formerly Jason's Soda Co), which distributes fountain soft drinks and bev dispensing gear within Conn, per its Web site. It also markets its own soft drink brand, Al's.

So far, Honest Tea must be counted as rare success story among premium brands that Coca-Cola has acquired: it's kept founding ceo Seth Goldman at center of action, navigated successful transition to Coke bottling network without unduly alienating core followers who shop natural stores, and continues to grow briskly. That's stark contrast with past fumbles by KO that put brands like Mad River or Planet Java out of biz, sent Vitaminwater into discount doldrums and more recently allowed Zico Coconut Water to fall way behind independently owned rival Vita Coco. (Some better success by KO integrating the Fuze and NOS brands it acquired with Fuze Beverage.) Still, KO makes no secret of its desire to have new brands hit $1 bil in retail sales as measure of success, and Honest Tea's trajectory - approaching $200 mil in retail sales this year - doesn't point to that # any time soon despite pattern of "continued acceleration," in Goldman's phrase. As result, Bethesda, Md-based co is planning fundamental rebranding next year that will see belated move to proprietary PET bottles, related revamp of labels and, as result, hopefully better results in efforts to click in so-far-resistant convenience store channel.

Proprietary plastic bottle is in works, confirmed Seth, and co also is exploring changes that might allow label to better utilize bottle's real estate to sell brand. Initiative puts further perspective on Seth's decision to step up hands-on role in marketing as marketing chief Peter Kaye moves on (BBI, Aug 23). Seth, who credits parent Coca-Cola for offering valuable insights in process, hopes to have new look out in market by 2d quarter of 2014. Co has forged strong connection with its consumers, Goldman noted, but "we need to find ways to bring in more people" as brand continues in work to democratize organic bevs. To date, grocery and mass merch channels are brand's strongest channels, as is foodservice, where brand gets big lift from Coke tie, but c-stores and their impulse buyers have remained stubbornly resistant to blandishments of Honest Tea and, for that matter, organic rivals like Sweet Leaf Tea, now owned by Nestle Waters North America. Further down road, co may invest in proprietary look for glass bottle too, package dedicated to serving natural channel rather than going on Coke trucks for mainstream biz. It's the PET bottles that go on red Coke trucks for mainstream retail accounts.

For those who read absorbing graphic-novel-style memoir called Mission in a Bottle just released by Goldman and his cofounder, Yale prof Barry Nalebuff, this brings things full circle to early days when duo agonized over whether going to proprietary bottle was worth the investment - at one point, partners coveted square bottle only to find that mold would run $90K, per the book. Instead, they moved to then-novel panel-less Amcor bottle, which allowed them to look fairly distinctive on shelf until bevy of other bev brands adopted same package and rendered it generic look.

Still, decision to conserve resources can't be said to have been wrong call: brand has thrived, hitting $89.3 mil in sales last year, and on track to do maybe $106-108 mil this year, per estimate from Seth today. Sometime later this month or in first week of Oct, Honest Tea will have cycled thru all of last year's sales, with everything incremental from there, he noted.

Looks like Healthy Beverage Expo, whose inaugural show this year was co-located with long-running World Tea Expo, will come back for 2d go-round, albeit in different locale. Shows will shift from Las Vegas venue of 2013 to Long Beach, Calif, in 2014, hosted at Long Beach Convention Center from May 29-31. Registration for both will open in mid-Jan, with details available at WorldTeaExpo.com and HealthyBeverageExpo.com. Next year's shared theme takes a cue from municipal effort vs sugared bevs in Long Beach called "ReThink Your Drink," adding phrases, "Better Beverages, Better Business."

Amazon Beverage has brought on Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima as lead endorser for rainforest-ingredient bev brand. "Adriana leads a handful of lesser-known Brazilian models - call them the 'Amazon women' if you must - who will be the face of the product," Forbes reported. At 32-year-old model's insistence before coming aboard, co will move source of its coconut water from Asia to Bahia province in Brazil. Co was founded by Nivea Brasil ceo Paulo Zottolo and has 3 investors in Brazil, mag reported. It's invested $10 mil so far in developing line and launching it in Calif and Brazil, and has $15 mil in warchest to fund expansion . . . Looks like grocery magnate Ron Burkle's Yucapia Cos investment vehicle is acquiring foundering Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain from UK grocer Tesco, tho billionaire isn't ready to reveal yet what new direction he'll take upscale 199-unit chain that operates in Calif, Nev and Ariz. Tho Tesco's arrival 3 years ago was greeted with anxiety by regional retailers, it fumbled launch and ended up taking $1.5 bil writedown of investment in Apr and saying it would exit US market . . . Bai Brands has abandoned NIDA distributors Great State, Atlas, Tomassetti and Rogo in favor of shift to Polar Beverage for much of New England territory, BevNet reported.

Ongoing tussle between big aluminum users, including brewers and soft drink producers, and London Metal Exchange (LME) still unresolved. Recall that producers have major beef over how long it takes to get aluminum out of warehouses, which costs them many millions extra. General counsels for Beer Institute and American Beverage Assn just sent letter to London Metal Exchange on behalf of Aluminum Users Group criticizing proposed fix that would still keep aluminum users waiting in 100-day lines. This fix, wrote lawyers, doesn't really fix current "dysfunctional" system that's "prone to manipulation." If system "left uncorrected," could mean "long-term harm to the entire aluminum market." Net-net: users seek "more transparent and efficient physical delivery settlement with an end to lengthy queues." Detailed list of technical corrections from attys seeks to significantly shorten period between orders and delivery, a better process to resolve disputes and adoption of "more coordinated regulatory oversight" of LME's practices, including warehouse rules, plus a "regulatory framework across countries and regions" to assure fair mkt for metal. Tussle was stoked by NY Times expose last summer that detailed blatant abuses of almost comical proportions.

Closely watched consumer confidence survey by Natl Assn of Convenience Stores has done a 180 based on evidence of latest poll: it still finds c-store shoppers in doldrums, but for first time this year isn't blaming gas prices as overriding factor. Trade group based in Alexandria, Va, for first time charted rise in consumer pessimism over 30-day period in which gas prices fell. Some 61% of respondents reported being pessimistic about economy vs 58% a month earlier, when gas prices were actually higher, NACS reported. Rate of pessimism was statistically consistent through US by region and gender, per NACS Consumer Fuels Survey. True, 88% of consumers continued to acknowledge that gas prices have an impact on their reading of economy, but overall "it appears that general uncertainty - whether over gas prices or market volatility or the situation in Syria - is putting a significant strain on consumers, and that could negatively affect discretionary spending," said NACS govt relations vp John Eichberger.

Last issue BBI noted how VPX ceo Jack Owoc likes to stir the pot. Sure 'nuff, his denunciation of "underperforming" DSD shops in Calif that he'd dumped for new network drew scathing response from one of them, Mussetter Distributing in Sacramento area, which distributed Redline and other VPX brands for well over 4 years. BBI details it here, both in fairness to Mussetter point of view, and because it offers glimpse of rough-and-tumble machinations in key state that increasingly seems to be stage for marketers' abrupt changes in direction.

Cordial but clearly steamed Jason Mussetter, house's gm, termed himself "flabbergasted" at development, which he said occurred without any prior warning that performance needed to improve and right in midst of 3-month Redline incentive program. House received no letter saying rights were revoked, no call from Owoc or sales chief or even regional rep (who was reassigned within VPX) - just spectacle of product showing up at local rival Saccani, who'd been displaced by Mussetter over 4 years ago. "Blindsided," Jason said. This, he said, at house that relies on Redline as its single energy brand, not hedging bet with multiple brands as some other terminated houses do. Mussetter didn't offer details of buyout but implied it wouldn't be particularly generous, and noted on top of that he likely would have to foot bill for now-moot incentive program - after all, sales force did perform. Indeed, tho Redline sales had been down about 10%, distrib had recently reversed trend via targeted price promos and 3-month incentive program running thru Sep, its largest behind any of its NAs this year. "We've gone above and beyond . . . now we've got to go deconstruct Sacramento," removing glide racks and other collateral that was just installed at retail. Bottom line: "Honestly, this was the most cowardly move I have ever seen made by a supplier," Jason said. Tho move hurts, it doesn't leave distrib in any danger: it's got hot Sparkling Ice brand; stable of local and regional craft beers; such steady performers as Hubert's Lemonade, Purity Organic juices and Xingtea, and just picked up Popchips snack line from Coca-Cola's Sacramento operation.

BBI referred some of Jason's allegations to VPX' Owoc, who proved unabashed and not in least contrite. "In life you have to perform -- PERIOD!" wrote Jack, who generally prefers to communicate by email. "When our fairly new Fla DSD sells more in a few days than a long-time established Calif DSD sells in a year, their crying falls on deaf ears. So, Yes, it's true!"

VPX upheaval is just latest in Golden State that seems to have become trendsetter in abrupt terminations. Red Bull North America, based in Santa Monica, has made an art of sudden terminations without cause, in Southern Calif and other parts of country, usually in favor of shift to self-distribution. And Monster terminated Lenore in San Diego back in Apr, well into spring selling season, after distributor reportedly had negotiated shelf programs with retailers and otherwise was ready to hit ground running for summer. (Brand went to Bud house there about same time it was pulled from Bud houses in NY market.)