Olipop doubles down on health claims as Pepsi, Coke enter better-for-you soda space
The co-founder of Olipop built the seven-year-old brand around disrupting the $97 billion soda space with a healthier offering. Now, as beverage giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo amass a deeper presence in the better-for-you category, he's spending big bucks to back up his company's nutritional claims.
Ben Goodwin, Olipop's CEO, said health and wellness brands charging people a premium for their products have a responsibility to prove their claims. So far, this transparency has been largely missing from the better-for-you soda sector, where positive attributes are a major selling point in attracting consumers.
Olipop claims to have bucked that trend after publishing a company-funded study in June showing its Vintage Cola resulted in a better blood sugar response compared to leading traditional cola. The soda maker is conducting additional longer-term assessments to gauge Olipop's effect on blood sugar and digestion. It has plans for more studies and partnerships going forward.
'That should be the expectation if a consumer is going to pay a premium for something that they believe is going to benefit their health,' Goodwin said. 'It's a reality that no other player in the functional soda, modern soda space has done any empirical research whatsoever.'
Olipop was founded in 2018 by Goodwin and David Lester to create healthier, better-tasting soda options for consumers watching what they eat and drink. The offerings, which come in flavors such as Strawberry Vanilla, Cream Soda and Crisp Apple, contain up to 5 grams of sugar, fewer than 50 calories and are loaded with prebiotic fiber to promote gut health.
But Goodwin is aiming to do more than tout the product's health attributes. The studies, he said, not only add credibility to the offering but also provide another way to differentiate it from competitors beyond its taste profile.
'At the end of the day, people are willing to spend money on things that they resonate with and that they perceive as valuable,' he said.
The studies also help insulate Olipop from any potential enforcement from regulators or lawsuits challenging the claims made by the beverage manufacturer. Goodwin is hopeful the data will eventually provide enough support to show the health benefits of Olipop so that one day the soda can be offered by doctors and insurance plans as a preventative measure.
But even without the additional data, the fast-growing California company sits in an enviable place in the beverage sector. As people look to curtail their sugar intake and increase their consumption of better-for-you offerings and products that contain functional ingredients, Olipop and competitor Poppi have thrived.
Olipop turned profitable in 2024, with sales doubling to more than $400 million year-over-year, according to the company. Earlier this year, it was valued at nearly $2 billion after raising $50 million from investors to expand marketing, add flavors and increase availability in spaces traditionally dominated by legacy sodas.
Roughly half of its growth is from legacy carbonated soft drinks such as Pepsi and Coke, with the rest coming from new shoppers entering the category and current soda drinkers adding Olipop to their carts.
The fast-growing better-for-you soda space has been dominated for several years by Olipop and Poppi, the latter of which was purchased earlier in 2025 by beverage and snacking maker PepsiCo for $1.95 billion. PepsiCo rival Coca-Cola entered the space in February behind its own launch of Simply Pop.
Goodwin said the PepsiCo deal and Coke's presence in the space served to validate the growth potential of the healthier soda category. Olipop continues to post 'strong double-digit' growth, running counter to the broader carbonated soft drink space that has dropped 5% this year.
Despite the presence of the beverage giants and other smaller startups, Goodwin remains confident that Olipop will continue to thrive.
Six years ago, 'people thought this was a crazy idea,' he said. 'We are the creators of the category and the most authentic player with the most long-term vision."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
27 minutes ago
- Forbes
Tour Championship's Future At East Lake In Question
The PGA Tour comes to a conclusion this week at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA, and there are rumors the host site could be changing. East Lake has hosted the Tour Championship since 2004, when its primary sponsor, Coca-Cola, urged the Tour to move away from its previous rotating site, Champions Golf Club in Houston, TX. Since its inception in 1987, the Tour Championship has been held at eight venues, including Pinehurst No. 2, The Olympic Club, Pebble Beach, Oak Hill, Harbour Town, and Southern Hills. 'It's been discussed,' said Adam Scott, a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board. 'We've questioned everything at some point. I couldn't tell you contractually how long we're tied there, but East Lake is where it's at.' Title sponsors of the PGA Tour Playoff series may have influenced the location decisions. FedEx, headquartered in Memphis, TN and sponsor of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, helped turn what was once a rotating event into a fixed one. Previously, the Westchester Classic (later known as The Barclays) was held at Westchester Country Club in New York from 1967 to 2007 before rotating between venues along the East Coast. The BMW Championship, formerly the Western Open, also provides a case study. For decades, the event was tied to Chicago: played at Butler National from 1974 to 1990 and then at Cog Hill from 1991 to 2006. Its proximity to the Western Golf Association's headquarters played a major role. A rebrand and new title sponsor later, the BMW Championship became a rotating event, ironically no longer confined to the 'West.' 'I don't hear fans say it is an exciting golf course to watch golf,' professional golfer Peter Malnati said of East Lake. 'I know it does a lot for the community and that's very important, but I think it would be cool for our biggest trophy to be given away at a course that really excites fans. But there are a lot of things that have to be done in the right way to make that happen. I think East Lake works really hard to be an amazing host. I'd love to see our fans be excited about where we play the Tour Championship in addition to the tournament itself.' The current contract with East Lake Golf Club ends in 2027. With the BMW Championship already rotating and frequent player feedback about the heat and humidity in Georgia in August, the Tour Championship could be next to move. SSG, with its $1.5 billion investment into the PGA Tour, might consider adding another stop in its headquarters city, Orlando, FL, though that too would be another steamy summer site. Jason Day has voiced support for rotating playoff venues, starting with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, where he struggles at TPC Southwind. 'I'm like, when can we leave?' Day said. 'But I definitely think we should move around a bit, yeah, for sure.' Several major metropolitan areas in the U.S. currently lack regular PGA Tour stops but could provide fresh tests if the playoff events rotated. Cities like Chicago, Denver, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, and Portland could all offer championship caliber venues. Cooler climates in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest would also give players a more comfortable environment to compete in. Normal Tour venues must have facilities for fields of around 150 players, but the reduced playoff fields require less dining, practice, and locker space. However, infrastructure for media, grandstands, and broadcast technology will still be critical factors in venue selection. With East Lake's contract expiring, a new investor in the mix, and shifting sponsor priorities, both the Tour Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship could soon be on the move.
Atlantic
an hour ago
- Atlantic
A MAHA Progress Report
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent the past six months working fast to embed his Make America Healthy Again creed into American life. Over the summer alone, he has struck deals with some food companies to phase out some petroleum-based food dyes, waged a war against pediatricians over COVID-19 vaccines for young children, seemingly toyed with the idea of shipping fresh food to Americans in ' MAHA boxes,' and pledged to reboot the nation's dietary guidelines from scratch. I spoke with the Atlantic staff writer Nicholas Florko, who reports on health policy, about how the MAHA-fication of the country is coming along. Nicholas Florko: We've seen Robert F. Kennedy Jr. take actions that will weaken our vaccination system in the United States, confirming some of public health's worst fears. But there have also been some surprising successes in his term. RFK Jr. has embraced the role of a dealmaker, and we've seen him leaning on food companies in particular to change their offerings and get rid of synthetic dyes. He's been able to do that simply by asking and by making handshake agreements, as opposed to what we would normally expect from a health secretary—for him to use his regulatory power to force these changes. Stephanie: Why are these handshake agreements proving successful? Nicholas: Food companies likely realize that it's in their best interest to get on the good side of the Trump administration. We see this throughout all sectors of business, but for the food sector, these changes are small enough that companies can make them without dramatically hurting their bottom line, while also earning a lot of brownie points with the administration. Stephanie: That reminds me of President Donald Trump's announcement in July that Coca-Cola, famously his favorite drink, had agreed to make their soda with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup. To what extent is Trump influencing health policy? Does RFK Jr. have a lot of latitude? Nicholas: The Coca-Cola issue is an interesting one because while it's true that RFK Jr. is very anti–high-fructose corn syrup, he's also publicly called sugar a 'poison.' So this is one of those instances where you wonder what is behind RFK Jr. supporting this change. He must know that this isn't actually going to significantly improve public health, but also probably realizes that this is important to his boss. That being said, I think that RFK Jr. does have some latitude. If you left Trump to his own devices, you probably wouldn't see the same level of aggression toward food companies overall, unless he had a personal stake in the situation. Stephanie: With back-to-school season under way, many students are getting up-to-date on their shots. How does this year's vaccination season compare to years past? Nicholas: We haven't seen huge changes, but we are seeing some hints of what might come. Much of the action thus far is around COVID vaccines. In February the president issued a largely symbolic executive order barring schools from enforcing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but by the time that was issued, virtually no schools actually had such a policy. RFK Jr. also softened the CDC's recommendation for kids to get the COVID-19 vaccine. That's probably been one of his most controversial decisions, prompting a high-profile clash with pediatricians; a leading pediatrics group put out its own suggestions saying that children should be getting vaccinated. But we haven't seen major changes to the other vaccines typically required for returning to school. Stephanie: That disagreement must make it confusing for parents to know who to listen to. Nicholas: It's reasonable to assume that a good portion of people will listen to RFK Jr., but those people may be already skeptical of vaccines and see him as a trustworthy messenger, versus folks who are on the fence. I think that's really the question: Where do those people who are on the fence go? Do they take RFK Jr.'s suggestion, or do they trust their doctor? Stephanie: In May, you wrote a story that was alarming for salad lovers, specifically about how bagged lettuce should be avoided. What's happening with America's food-safety system? Nicholas: One of the earliest, most concerning changes for food safety happened when DOGE came into the federal agencies. Advisory committees focused on food-safety questions were shut down. People were being laid off—such as the administrative staff in charge of making sure that inspectors can go out to farms. Some layoffs seem to have been rescinded, but there's a broad worry about what will happen to the day-to-day operations that we all depend on to keep us safe. Stephanie: A recent story about the recall of frozen shrimp with potential radioactive contamination has caused a bit of a panic about where America's food safety is headed. How did you take that news? Nicholas: One thing that gives me some hope is the fact that this is the sort of thing that we caught, and there have been recalls by Walmart. That's really the big fear when it comes to food safety: that if we attack these federal programs, they're not going to be able to actually find the food that might get us sick before a lot of people get sick. So I think this is actually a good sign that things are working relatively well. Stephanie: Out of all the stories you've written this past summer about the MAHA movement, is there one that keeps you up at night? And is there one that makes you feel hopeful for where American health and safety is going? Nicholas: Honestly, the stories that keep me up at night are by our colleague Katie Wu. Her recent one on RFK Jr.'s COVID revenge campaign has really stuck with me. My own story that both keeps me up at night and that makes me hopeful is related to states, which are taking up the MAHA charge in a very quick fashion. It's felt like Republican governors and legislatures are all trying to out-MAHA one another to ingratiate themselves to Trump and to RFK Jr. Some of these ideas are good from a public-health perspective, but these states are doing a lot of things really fast, which is what worries me. For example, some states are blocking people from using food stamps to buy soda and other junk food. There's a question of how that policy will be implemented, how the attempts to enact these restrictions could affect the entire food-stamp system. Other states have passed laws banning artificial dyes in their school meals. Again, it's one of those ideas that's a good step, but the devil is in the details of how it's executed. How does this flurry of activity in the states actually affect people in the coming months? Does this ultimately make America healthier, or does it send our food system into chaos? Here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Today's News A New York appeals court voided the roughly $500 million civil-fraud penalty against President Donald Trump, calling it 'excessive,' but upheld the finding that Trump and his company committed long-running business fraud. Business restrictions on Trump in New York remain, and the state plans to appeal. More immigrants are leaving the U.S. than arriving, according to the Pew Research Center. The shift, affected by Trump's strict immigration policies, is the first of its kind since the 1960s. California lawmakers passed the first of three bills on a redistricting plan backed by Governor Gavin Newsom that would shift as many as five Republican-held U.S. House seats toward Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms. The move comes a day after Texas state House Republicans passed a new congressional map that could add five U.S. House seats for the GOP. Evening Read What We Gain When We Stop Caring By Anna Holmes Sometime in the early aughts, the comedian Amy Poehler made a vulgar joke while sitting in the Saturday Night Live writers' room waiting for a midweek read-through to begin. As detailed in Tina Fey's 2011 memoir, Bossypants, Jimmy Fallon, who was also in the show's cast at the time, jokingly recoiled and told Poehler to stop it. 'It's not cute!' Fallon exclaimed. 'I don't like it.' 'Amy dropped what she was doing, went black in the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him,' Fey writes. ''I don't fucking care if you like it.'' Read the full article. More From The Atlantic Read. In 2022, The Atlantic 's Culture writers recommended the books that they read too late —but that you should read now. Take a look. This is how the 17th-century painter Rachel Ruysch became one of the greatest still-life painters in the history of art, Zachary Fine writes. When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Federal court orders Chemours to stop PFAS discharge from West Virginia facility
This story was originally published on Manufacturing Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Manufacturing Dive newsletter. A federal judge has ordered The Chemours Co. to stop releasing PFAS chemical waste into the Ohio River from its Washington Works manufacturing facility in Wood County, West Virginia, according to court documents filed Aug. 7. The ruling is a response to a request filed by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition in February. The environmental nonprofit has asked the federal court to intervene and order Chemours to stop releasing the harmful 'forever chemicals' waste, notably hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and its ammonium salt (GenX), saying it could jeopardize public drinking water sources. HFPO-DA and GenX are used in the manufacturing process of fluoropolymers, according to the Chemours website. DuPont de Nemours developed the fluorochemicals in 2009 as part of a U.S. EPA program to phase out perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA, as part of the agency's efforts to address the impact on public health and natural resources. However, the EPA has been assessing the impacts of HFPO-DA and GenX since DuPont submitted the chemicals to the agency. The agency found that oral exposure could impact public health, such as the liver, immune system, kidneys, and offspring development and may cause cancer, based on animal studies, according to a 2023 fact sheet. In April 2023, the EPA ordered Chemours to address the PFAS pollution released by the plant into stormwater and identify the extent of contamination from the discharges. The directive was the first EPA Clean Water Act enforcement action taken to hold companies accountable for discharging PFAS into the environment. Chemours 'blatantly violates' the Clean Water Act, by allegedly releasing past the HFPO-DA and GenX pollutant limit set by the law, increasing exposure and putting the public health at risk, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote in the ruling. 'This agreement is memorialized in a permit,' Goodwin wrote. 'But Defendant Chemours has treated its permit more as full permission to act without constraint. Chemours boldly violates its permit and admitted as much at the preliminary injunction hearing.' Chemours is disappointed in the court's ruling, stating it 'strongly disagree with its characterization,' and plans to appeal, Cassie Olszewski, a Chemours spokesperson, said in an email. 'Washington Works has demonstrated positive progress in reducing its PFAS emissions,' Olszewski said. 'As recognized by the court in the ruling, Washington Works' HFPO-DA discharges in question have fallen within the permitted limits in recent months, and we will look to maintain this compliance as we continue to implement abatement actions and take other steps at the plant.' Washington Works' complicated history The Washington Works plant is an infamous entity in the history of PFAS litigation. The plant was the first PFAS-producing chemical site to be investigated in the U.S. after West Virginian farmer Wilbur Tennant and environmental attorney Robert Bilott accused DuPont of knowingly dumping harmful PFAS contaminants into the surrounding community in the late 1990s, which Goodwin cited in his opinion. The case kick-started the era of increased scrutiny of the impacts of PFAS on humans and the environment. It led states and cities to file their own suits against the companies, many of which are ongoing today. DuPont owned the Washington Works plant from its opening in 1948. The site began producing Teflon and plastics in 1951. Chemours took over the Washington Works site and Teflon production — as well as their environmental issues — in 2015, when DuPont split Chemours and Corteva off as separate entities. Washington Works still produces fluoropolymer products, according to the Chemours website. Goodwin points out that Chemours has been aware of the hazardous chemicals since its predecessor was sued in 1999, including Tennant's lawsuit. The ruling is also part of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition's ongoing lawsuit with Chemours, which the nonprofit filed in December 2024, accusing the company of violating the Clean Water Act at the Washington Works facility. The law allows the public to hold companies accountable and sue for violating the Clean Water Act if federal, state and local agencies do not enforce the regulations in the permit. Additionally, the public can request the court to intervene if they can prove the entities are putting residents in danger, which Goodwin said the West Virginia Rivers Coalition does. The nonprofit attached reports to its initial lawsuit that detailed the various levels of toxic substances released from the Washington Works facility's discharge outlets, indicating that the company had exceeded the required limits, to which Goodwin agreed. The HFPO-DA limits for outlet 002 are a monthly average of 1.4 micrograms per liter and a daily maximum of 2.3 micrograms per liter. Whereas the limits for outlet 005 are a monthly average of 1.1 micrograms per liter and a daily maximum of 2.3 micrograms per liter. A Chemours salesperson testified that the Washington Works facility produces various per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to address demand from its customers in the semiconductor, aerospace, telecommunications, energy and national security sectors. Chemours workers have also stated in their dispositions that the facility has been noncompliant for the past seven years; however, it has been working toward compliance since the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection permit took effect in 2018. 'Nothing that we've thought of that we could do immediately that would allow us to get into compliance,' according to the testimony from plant manager, James Hollingsworth. 'We've looked hard at that.' The company will also continue to experience issues during 'wet weather events' until Chemours has installed all compliant equipment, Hollingsworth added. Moreover, Hollingsworth stated that if the Washington Works plant is ordered to reduce production to zero, it will result in 500 job cuts. Goodwin argues that the plant occasionally shuts down for regular maintenance and safety inspections, which can last up to 55 days. During that time, employees are working on the equipment and not production, Goodwin wrote. Chemours modified discharge outlets 002 and 005 by routing streams of water buildup from 'several large, industrial-size rooftop HVAC units' and a roof drain to an existing granular activated carbon treatment system, according to court documents. 'But these modifications did not require [Chemours] to halt production or shut down the plant, nor is there any evidence that employees have lost their jobs because of these changes,' Goodwin wrote. 'By granting the pending motion, I can order [Chemours] to comply by any means necessary with the Permit,' Goodwin said in the court filings. 'The Defendant could shut down its Plant, modify its manufacturing processes, reduce production, or send process wastewater off-site to achieve compliance. Compliance may be expensive and burdensome, but it is possible.' The company has been sampling results from the public water systems, which Olszewski said are safe for consumption. The company has also installed and operated water treatment systems, Olszewski said in the email. 'Chemours is committed to manufacturing its essential chemistries responsibly to minimize impact to the environment and ensure the well-being of our neighbors,' Olszewski said. The PFAS lawsuits keep coming The West Virginia lawsuit follows another related to the Ohio River and the Washington Works facility, which the company settled. Chemours, DuPont and Corteva reached a $110 million settlement with the state of Ohio in November 2023 over PFAS contamination claims of contamination from the Washington Works factory. The state claimed that emissions of the PFAS chemical PFOA from the factory harmed the health of nearby Ohio residents and contaminated the environment for more than 70 years. Earlier this month, the three companies also reached a proposed settlement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to pay $875 million over a 25-year period to resolve all legacy PFAS-related claims in the state. Chemours is paying 50% of both settlements as part of a 2021 memorandum of understanding agreement between the three chemical companies. The New Jersey settlement resulted in a $381 million net loss in its second quarter, compared to $60 million year over year, according to Chemours' earnings report. The West Virginia and New Jersey cases are two of many lawsuits Chemours is facing. Come October, Chemours, DuPont, as well as 3M and Corteva, are all slated to have a court date for the first bellwether personal injury trial, according to a securities filing. The plaintiffs are accusing the companies of causing kidney cancer due to their PFAS usage. The court has directed all parties to negotiate and reach a settlement ahead of the trial. Recommended Reading DuPont, Corteva and Chemours reach $875M PFAS settlement with New Jersey Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
