Latest news with #Snapple
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Keurig Dr Pepper beats profit estimates on strong U.S. demand
(Corrects paragraph 1 to say Thursday, not Tuesday) (Reuters) -Keurig Dr Pepper reported first-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its energy drinks and beverages among U.S. consumers. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT The Snapple maker saw resilient demand for its higher-priced ready-to-drink beverages, especially in the U.S. market, fueled by new flavor variants including Dr Pepper Blackberry and Snapple Peach Tea & Lemonade. Keurig has also benefited from the popularity of energy-drink maker Ghost's products, having bought a 60% stake in October. In contrast, bigger rival PepsiCo cut its annual profit forecast and warned of higher production costs and more volatility from President Donald Trump's trade tariffs, after narrowly missing quarterly profit estimates. MARKET REACTION Shares of Keurig Dr Pepper, which have risen about 10% so far this year, were up about 2% in premarket trading. CONTEXT U.S. consumers may face a surge in product prices following President Donald Trump's tariffs on trading partners. Tariffs have put the company's business in Canada and Mexico at risk, especially as Canadian consumers boycott certain U.S. products. Coffee prices could also rise further due to tariffs, hurting the company's margins and consumer demand. An ongoing destocking at retailers is expected to weigh on some packaged foods makers, but RBC analyst Nik Modi said Keurig's increased distribution of La Colombe coffee, Electrolit beverages and Ghost energy drinks may help offset those pressures. BY THE NUMBERS Keurig Dr Pepper posted an adjusted profit of 42 cents per share for the quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of 38 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. Net sales rose 4.8% to $3.64 billion, compared with estimates of $3.57 billion. Its biggest segment, U.S. Refreshment Beverages, saw an increase of 11% in sales. The company reaffirmed its annual revenue and profit forecasts from February. Sign in to access your portfolio
Reuters
24-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Keurig Dr Pepper beats profit estimates on strong U.S. demand
April 24 (Reuters) - Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP.O), opens new tab reported first-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its energy drinks and beverages among U.S. consumers. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT The Snapple maker saw resilient demand for its higher-priced ready-to-drink beverages, especially in the U.S. market, fueled by new flavor variants including Dr Pepper Blackberry and Snapple Peach Tea & Lemonade. Keurig has also benefited from the popularity of energy-drink maker Ghost's products, having bought a 60% stake in October. In contrast, bigger rival PepsiCo (PEP.O), opens new tab cut its annual profit forecast and warned of higher production costs and more volatility from President Donald Trump's trade tariffs, after narrowly missing quarterly profit estimates. MARKET REACTION Shares of Keurig Dr Pepper, which have risen about 10% so far this year, were up about 2% in premarket trading. CONTEXT U.S. consumers may face a surge in product prices following President Donald Trump's tariffs on trading partners. Tariffs have put the company's business in Canada and Mexico at risk, especially as Canadian consumers boycott certain U.S. products. Coffee prices could also rise further due to tariffs, hurting the company's margins and consumer demand. An ongoing destocking at retailers is expected to weigh on some packaged foods makers, but RBC analyst Nik Modi said Keurig's increased distribution of La Colombe coffee, Electrolit beverages and Ghost energy drinks may help offset those pressures. BY THE NUMBERS Keurig Dr Pepper posted an adjusted profit of 42 cents per share for the quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of 38 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. Net sales rose 4.8% to $3.64 billion, compared with estimates of $3.57 billion. Its biggest segment, U.S. Refreshment Beverages, saw an increase of 11% in sales. The company reaffirmed its annual revenue and profit forecasts from February.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Keurig Dr Pepper (NasdaqGS:KDP) Partners With MSG To Launch Snapple Mini Mart
Keurig Dr Pepper recently announced a multi-year partnership with Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. and Entertainment Corp., naming Snapple as the Official Tea Partner for significant events like those hosted by the New York Knicks and Rangers. This collaboration introduces the Snapple Mini Mart at the arena, showcasing heightened brand visibility. Despite an 11% price increase in the last quarter, notable market-wide declines set a contrasting backdrop, with significant drops in the Dow and Nasdaq. The partnership, alongside corporate leadership changes and completed equity offerings, provided some resilience amid broader market challenges. We've spotted 3 warning signs for Keurig Dr Pepper you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning. Uncover the next big thing with financially sound penny stocks that balance risk and reward. The new partnership with Madison Square Garden, positioning Snapple as the Official Tea Partner, could elevate Keurig Dr Pepper's brand visibility and enhance its market position, potentially impacting revenue positively. This aligns with their strategy to expand into high-growth segments and reinforce distribution networks, which could lead to improved earnings over time when integrated with their existing Direct-Store-Delivery model. Over a five-year period, Keurig Dr Pepper shares delivered a total return of 45.14%, indicating strong longer-term performance. Comparing with recent one-year performance against the US market's 5.8% decline and the US beverage industry's 4.9% decline, KDP demonstrated resilience, outperforming both benchmarks. This reflects its capacity to withstand broader market pressures. Regarding earnings forecasts, the enhanced brand partnerships might bolster revenue streams, reinforcing analyst expectations of revenue reaching $17.4 billion by 2028 and earnings of US$2.8 billion. As reflected in the price target of US$38.21, the current share price, slightly below at US$33.57, indicates a potential upside, deliberating market confidence in its future growth. However, investors should consider the potential catalysts and risks, including competitive pressures and inflationary costs, that could sway financial outcomes. According our valuation report, there's an indication that Keurig Dr Pepper's share price might be on the expensive side. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include NasdaqGS:KDP. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SNAPPLE® NAMED OFFICIAL TEA PARTNER OF THE NEW YORK KNICKS, NEW YORK RANGERS AND MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Partnership Expands Snapple Tea's Presence in its Hometown of New York, Offering Product Sampling, a Snapple Concession Space and More at Concerts, Comedy Shows, and Knicks and Rangers Games NEW YORK, April 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE: MSGS) ("MSG Sports") and Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: MSGE) ("MSG Entertainment") announced today a multi-year agreement with Snapple®, a beverage brand of Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), making the brand the Official Tea Partner of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, The Garden and MSG's Arena Concert Series. The partnership brings Snapple's beloved tea beverages to MSG through a brand-new, dedicated and fully-branded concession stand, the "Snapple Mini Mart." The stand is New York City themed, including a "Statue of Liber-Tea" photo opportunity and Knicks, Rangers and MSG signage, located outside Section 111 on the Sixth Floor Concourse, and open for public events at the arena. As the Official Tea Partner of the Knicks and Rangers, Snapple will be featured on in-venue digital signage throughout the arena on game days, including on GardenVision during select home games. Fans attending Knicks and Rangers games will have access to exclusive sampling opportunities from Snapple, providing them with a chance to be among the first to taste the latest innovations from the brand. Additionally, as the Official Tea Partner of the Arena Concert Series, Snapple will be showcased on select digital signage during Arena Concert Series shows and will have the opportunity to create and conduct sweepstakes for fans in connection with the Concert Series. Throughout the partnership, six Snapple flavors will be available for purchase at select concession stands throughout the arena, including Zero Sugar Raspberry Tea, Half n' Half Lemonade Iced Tea, Peach Tea, Zero Sugar Peach Tea, Lemon Tea, and Zero Sugar Lemon Tea. "We're excited to welcome Snapple as the Official Tea Partner of the Knicks, Rangers, The Garden and the Arena Concert Series. The addition of their New York City inspired concession stand is a perfect way to highlight their connection to the city, while also offering guests a variety of premium beverage options," said Doug Jossem, EVP, Global Sports & Entertainment Partnerships, MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment. "Together, we will continue to deliver exceptional experiences to our fans in the city and beyond." "Snapple's partnership with The World's Most Famous Arena allows us to reach existing and new fans in the brand's birthplace of New York City, while expanding to a global audience seeking flavorful beverages and experiences," said Derek Dabrowski, Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing, U.S. Refreshment Beverages at Keurig Dr Pepper. "We look forward to Snapple being a part of the fun and joy that comes from an experience at The Garden as we bring these two New York icons together." Snapple has a rich history that dates back to the brand's founding in 1972 by three childhood friends in Brooklyn, New York. Since then, the brand has excelled in developing innovative ready-to-drink teas and juice drinks with a current range of 27 flavors that include fun, collectible bottle caps with quirky facts. Visit or follow on TikTok and Instagram (@Snapple) to stay up to date on the latest news from the brand. About Madison Square Garden Entertainment Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (MSG Entertainment) is a leader in live entertainment, delivering unforgettable experiences while forging deep connections with diverse and passionate audiences. The Company's portfolio includes a collection of world-renowned venues – New York's Madison Square Garden, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and Beacon Theatre; and The Chicago Theatre – that showcase a broad array of sporting events, concerts, family shows, and special events for millions of guests annually. In addition, the Company features the original production, the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes, which has been a holiday tradition for more than 90 years. More information is available at About Madison Square Garden Sports Square Garden Sports Corp. (MSG Sports) is a leading professional sports company, with a collection of assets that includes the New York Knicks (NBA) and the New York Rangers (NHL), as well as two development league teams – the Westchester Knicks (NBAGL) and the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL). MSG Sports also operates a professional sports team performance center – the MSG Training Center in Greenburgh, NY. More information is available at About SnappleSnapple, a brand of Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), is a leader in great-tasting premium beverages. Founded in 1972 by three childhood friends, Snapple got its start in New York and is now available throughout the United States. Snapple prides itself on developing, producing, and marketing a wide variety of premium beverages, including ready-to-drink teas and juice drinks. For more information, visit or For the brand's latest news and updates, follow Snapple at or About Keurig Dr Pepper Keurig Dr Pepper (Nasdaq: KDP) is a leading beverage company in North America, with a portfolio of more than 125 owned, licensed and partner brands and powerful distribution capabilities to provide a beverage for every need, anytime, anywhere. With annual revenue of more than $15 billion, we hold leadership positions in beverage categories including carbonated soft drinks, coffee, tea, water, juice and mixers, and have the #1 single serve coffee brewing system in the U.S. and Canada. Our innovative partnership model builds emerging growth platforms in categories such as premium coffee, energy, sports hydration and ready-to-drink coffee. Our brands include Keurig®, Dr Pepper®, Canada Dry®, Mott's®, A&W®, Peñafiel®, Snapple®, 7UP®, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters®, GHOST®, Clamato®, Core Hydration® and The Original Donut Shop®. Driven by a purpose to Drink Well. Do Good., our 29,000 employees aim to enhance the experience of every beverage occasion and to make a positive impact for people, communities and the planet. For more information, visit and follow us @KeurigDrPepper on LinkedIn and Instagram. Contacts:For MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment:msgspr@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
24-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Seth Goldman Uses Tea To Further A Mission
Mission and values are important in the business world, and they're central to everything Seth Goldman has done during the last three decades. In 1998, Goldman left investing to start the beverage company Honest Tea with a former business school professor Barry Nalebuff. In 2011, Coca-Cola bought the less sweet, organic and Fair Trade certified beverage company. Coca-Cola then discontinued the tea line in 2022 (it still produces Honest Kids organic juices), so Goldman started a new value-centered CPG tea brand, Just Ice Tea, later that year. In 2024, Just Ice Tea surpassed $20 million in sales. I talked to Goldman about creating a successful business based on both customer needs and personal values, and how leaders can ensure their mission is at the core of what their business does. This interview has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. It was excerpted in the Forbes CEO newsletter. How did you get into the beverage business in the first place? Goldman: I had no previous experience, but I jumped in. I was working at a mutual fund company called Calvert that did socially responsible investing, and I always had that entrepreneurial itch, so I was trying to think about what would be an idea I could get excited about and build an enterprise around. After giving a presentation in New York City on behalf of Calvert, I went for a run in Central Park. After the run, I was thirsty and went to a beverage cooler. I said, 'There's nothing here.' I was with a friend who I used to run track with. He said there's lots of drinks. I said, 'I know, but they're all the same.' That idea of making a less sweet drink resonated with me. When I had been in business school, my professor had brought up a case study of Coke versus Pepsi, how they compete and what could be the strategies. We both, at that time, had agreed that there should be a less sweet drink. After that run sparked my memory, I reached out to that professor, Barry Nalebuff, and I said I'm interested in doing something about this idea. He was as well. He had just come back from India where he'd been studying the tea industry, and he'd come up with the name Honest Tea. It kind of all came together. I left my work at Calvert. I started Honest Tea out of my house. I got an appointment with a Whole Foods buyer. I went in there with five thermoses of tea I made in my kitchen and an empty Snapple bottle I had pasted the label on. And that was my start. Just Ice Tea cofounder and CEO Seth Goldman. Tell me about some of the values that you brought to Honest Tea. You were looking for a less sweet beverage, but beyond that, every business venture that you've done has been steeped in mission and value. The beverage is the medium for the message. Starting with a less sweet drink is, on its own, an intrinsically better option for people. Especially going back to 1998 when we started, where soft drinks were the largest source of added calories in the American diet, being able to bring a product with dramatically less calories in it was a great starting point. We had some organic ingredients in the beginning. [In] 1999, we brought the first organic drink. We converted everything over to organic around 2007. That's all about helping to reduce the amount of persistent chemicals that end up in our ecosystem and our bodies—organic means no chemical pesticides, no chemicals, synthetic chemical fertilizers or herbicides. Then, on top of that, fair trade. Because we're sourcing ingredients like tea and sugar, we have the opportunity to choose suppliers that are protecting the rights of the workers, both in terms of the wages they're paid, but also to uplift those communities by investing back into them. Over the years, we've invested in everything from education to healthcare to infrastructure to help these communities become more economically self-sufficient. The nice thing about all of those three approaches is it's great if the consumer embraces it and supports it, but they don't have to. They may just be thirsty and want a great tasting tea. The impact still happens as long as the consumer says, I want the tea, but I'm not going to invest in these things, or I want to invest in these things but I don't want the tea at all. It's all part of the same package. These enterprises are also about employee empowerment. As part of the business model always is employee stock ownership, stock options, that means that all of our employees have the upside of the success in the business. That's one step towards making employees feel like an owner. The other step is you have to give them empowerment. In order to be empowered, you have to have the information—so transparency in how the business is run, meaning you understand the financial condition of the company. Also, the autonomy, the ability to take action. It's not just to feel like an owner. You have to be able to control your destiny. If everyone's just telling you what to do, you don't own it. And then accountability, meaning if you succeed, then there's great benefits, whether it's a bonus or promotion. And if you don't succeed, there's no bonus, or there may be termination, but whatever it is, there's transparency around it. I don't ever want somebody to be fired and not understand why, and I certainly don't want somebody to get a bonus and not understand why. You sold Honest Tea to the Coca-Cola company, and they decided to discontinue the tea a few years ago. How did you come to the conclusion to start from scratch and make another tea brand? First of all, I definitely had to let the news sink in about Honest Tea being discontinued. Honest Kids is still out there thriving, so it wasn't a total loss. But it wasn't like as soon as I heard the news, I'm like: I'm getting back in. I had to think about it. It's real work. Even now that we know what we know, it's still real work and a real effort. I really had to think about, was it still an opportunity? And was it something I could be excited about? I was leaning toward that, and the thing that tipped me over was I started to get reached out to by old partners—whether it was retailers or distributors who saw the opportunity, and consumers who wanted to get the tea back. So we're hearing a lot of that, but the one that really got me was one of our tea gardens reached out and said, we really chose this path with you to invest in organic and fair trade supply chains, and it would be a shame if this decision we made was a failed experiment. For me, that was like, I can't let that happen. Not to mention the economic impact on those communities. So we decided. All this, by the way, was just in a matter of two weeks. We got the news in May 2022, and we knew if we were going to do it, we had to be in the market by no later than October. Once we made the decision after that two weeks, we took 90 days to get to market. It was a very fast movement. We've been on the market for two years. We're now larger than Honest Tea was when Coca-Cola first invested. It's happened very quickly. From a business standpoint, how is Just Ice Tea different than Honest Tea when you were establishing it? A lot of the fundamentals are there. The values we talked about: less sweet, organic, Fair Trade, those are embedded. What I didn't mention with Honest Tea is it took time. We didn't get to be Fair Trade certified at Honest Tea until 2011, so 13 years in. Just Ice Tea, day one, everything was organic and Fair Trade certified. We started from a much stronger mission commitment. I would say the business and the leadership is more mature—no surprise. More than a third of our team are former Honest Tea employees. I think that's a good reflection of the values around leading a team. These are not indentured servants. Nobody was obligated to come back, but a lot of our team really wanted to come back and build again. We moved much more quickly to growth. We skipped a lot of those painful growth years going from zero to $10 million, which during the Honest Tea days was about six years for us to get through that. We basically got there in year one. We are better financed, for sure, but we're also better informed. You're also chairman of the board of Beyond Meat. How did you get involved with them? I was a founding board member of [organic baby food brand] Happy Baby, and they sold to Danone around 2012. I had not a lot of free time, but I had new headspace that I could think about doing something new. In 2012, my wife read this article about this company getting started out on the West Coast, Beyond Meat, that was selling plant-based protein. My family has been vegetarian for 18 years. In 2012, when she read this article, she said, Boy, if this company succeeded, that would be a great thing because it sounds like it's so promising. I just reached out, literally with a blind email saying: I love the sound of what you're trying to do. If there's any way I can help, I'd love to. They needed help. They had heard about and seen my success with other businesses. I got involved as an advisor, and then board member, and then chair of the board. In 2011, [Honest Tea] had sold to Coca-Cola, so I started shifting some of my responsibilities to Coke corporate. Starting in 2015, I got to have a very unusual division of labor. Half of my time was with Honest Tea—Coca-Cola—and half of my time was executive chair of Beyond Meat. That allowed me to be there during some critical growth years, to bring in some new sales leadership, to help take the brand international, to help take the business public. At the end of 2019, I transitioned to chair of the board, no longer executive chair, and that freed me up to go back and create this new venture. What about chocolate manufacturer Tony's Chocolonely? You're chairman of their Mission Lock—basically their dedicated board guarding and protecting their mission and principles. How did you get involved with them? When we were launching Honest Tea in Europe, I got to know the gentleman who is now the CEO of Tony's Chocolonely. His name is Douglas Lamont, but at the time I was there, he was running Innocent, a juice brand that Coca-Cola now owns. We got to know each other and both [ran] mission-driven brands operating within a larger system. When Douglas was hired to run Tony's, he reached out to me and said: This is a business that's growing quickly. We have a great board, but the board's job is to represent shareholders. This business, which is so mission-driven, needs somebody to protect the mission. There's an understanding [the board] should be respecting the mission, but we wanted to create a role where somebody could speak out only for the mission—meaning not accountable to shareholders. This was a new role, a new model that Tony's created. And I am happy to continue to take on that role. It's really been enlightening for me to see different supply chains. A Dutch-based company, how they approach things. I got a chance to travel to Côte d'Ivoire last year, where Tony sources its cocoa, and really understand how it operates on the ground. It is quite different. With tea leaves, I would say we have a high level of confidence about there not being child labor involved because of the way tea leaves are picked and processed. The people picking the tea leaves literally have to come to the weigh station to get paid. It's not like you could have a child laboring in the field, and then someone else brings the tea leaves to the station. With cocoa, it's much more dispersed. There's cooperatives that are spread out over miles. So somebody comes in on a motorcycle with a bag of cocoa, you don't know who's been picking those beans. Tony's has had to invest in a much more comprehensive system to monitor what's going on. And even though they do, there's still the prevalence of child labor. It's much lower in the Tony's supply chain, but they don't claim there's zero child labor. They seek to lower it, and it's dramatically lower at their cooperative partners than in the rest of the country. But it still exists. It's not about whether it exists, it's how you address it. How important to you are mission and ethics when it comes to business? For me, that's the motivation for all this. I enjoy what I'm doing and I like the work, but for me, there's not a motivation just to make money. It's really thinking about: How do we deploy the markets to make a difference in the world and to make people's lives better, whether it's making them healthier, or make the planet better. I believe in doing it through market-based mechanisms. I'm not asking for any subsidies or charity. I'm just taking the challenge of finding ways to create value for consumers, and for these enterprises and for shareholders by trying to infuse values into the way we operate these businesses. And, I should say, also create value for our employees as well. When you were first getting started with Honest Tea, you started out just with the less sugar, healthier beverage. You started adding more certifications and organic ingredients as you went along. How do you build that kind of ethical portfolio around a business that you're working at? We used to have the [first] Honest Tea business plan online. We put in a statement around aspirations for social responsibility. At that time, we had no idea what we were going to be building, but we did put this statement in that we were always going to try to do things right by the environment, right by the stakeholders—whether they're the employees or the people in the supply chain. That statement really reads through even today, and certainly captured what Honest Tea was about, and it still captures what we're about at Just Ice Tea. Starting with intention is really important, because it's very hard to retrofit. Seeing people create businesses and say: How do I make this socially responsible? The right time to ask that is not 10 years in. It's in the beginning. We make it clear whenever we're raising capital what we're doing. You don't want to have somebody invest thinking we're going to be out there selling volume at the lowest price, and then they say: You're buying Fair Trade, which costs more. It's a different strategy. We have to be transparent with our shareholders and our employees about what we stand for. By the way, that's served us well. It's not like we're trying to hide anything. [We're transparent] when we meet with buyers as well. I had a great meeting with a national restaurant chain, and the first thing I showed in my presentation was a sourcing video from Mozambique, where we've been investing in that community. The woman I was meeting with was almost in tears, like: This is beautiful. We want to be part of this. That's how we operate. I firmly believe in being transparent with that. Not exploiting it like it's a fashion thing. It's core to what we're doing, and we declare this is who we are and what we stand for. You've been involved with plant-based meat, both with Beyond Meat and also with the restaurant you founded PLNT Burger. That segment has been through peaks and valleys. What has kept you going with a segment that has seen so many swings in both profits and popularity, and what have you taken from that? This underlines the importance of believing in what you're doing. I believed that plant-based meat is important for human health and for planetary health, back when I reached out to [Beyond Meat founder and CEO] Ethan Brown in 2012. I don't believe any less in it. I believe even more in it. It's challenging to go through that kind of high hype moment and moments of challenge, but what fuels you is the belief. It's great when you can have the belief and hypergrowth come together. That's exhilarating and energizing. It's challenging when they separate, and you learn who really believes in it or who's just there for the [ride]. The other thing is, as much as we've had these moments of challenge, it hasn't made me any less confident about the long-term opportunity. If something changed, let's say some competition emerged and I said, 'Wow, that's a better option,' I'll just tip my hat to those folks. That's not what happened. We needed to go back and strengthen our proposition and our messaging. You've learned a lot since you started Honest Tea and sold it to Coca-Cola. Knowing what you know now, would you sell Just Ice Tea or PLNT Burger to a larger company? What kind of considerations would go into it? It's obviously hard to anticipate. I don't think about the exit outcome. I think about how to create value with what we're building right now. I'm not even going to consider different ownership options with Just Ice Tea until we're well over $100 million in sales. I feel like I see that path for us happening pretty immediately, and we need to grow it with all the force that we've brought to it. I do believe in scale as a key vehicle for change, meaning I'm not trying to create a nice model to show others how it can be done. I want something that drives change itself. But I also don't feel like I need to own these things forever. An interesting postscript on Honest Tea: It's disappointing that it got discontinued, but the one consolation was that it wasn't a compromisable brand. Honest Tea stood for organic, Fair Trade, less sweet, and there was never an attempt by Coca-Cola to try to dilute that. To me, that's a better way for a brand to disappear than to start whittling away at it: make it sweeter, less organic, less Fair Trade. When I look at Honest Kids, I still have a great deal of pride in seeing that brand grow. Honest Kids now is in McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway, Chick-fil-A, Cava and Sweetgreen. Its integrity is fully intact. It's still organic, low calorie, and for millions of Americans, it is democratizing organic. It's the first organic product for millions of Americans because when they go to McDonald's, they're not saying: Let's go find an organic drink. And all of a sudden, here it is. When I was part of it, we were selling over 200 million units of Honest Kids at McDonald's a year. It's a 35-calorie drink that replaced an 80-calorie drink. That's a 45-calorie differential, times 200 million units. You're removing just under a billion calories in the American diet every year, just through having Honest Kids there. Getting to scale is important to really drive change. What advice would you give to a business leader on how to bring their mission and personal values to their business? The first thing is you've got to do some of your own personal reflection about what are the values that really drive you? Just like I was talking about with Beyond Meat, if I was only marginally caring about this stuff, it would've been very easy to just say, all right, I've had a good ride. I'm going to step away. What are the values and causes that are going to motivate you, even in a challenging moment, for business? Or if you say there's no financial payoff, if you were launching a nonprofit, what would be the causes that you would want your nonprofit to address? Obviously that's important for a founder, but it's also important for an employee, too. I can't tell you how many people I've interviewed over the years who'll say: I'm really excited about these causes you have. I care so much about them. And then I'd say: Did you work in any capacity to address them? It doesn't have to be in your for-profit work. In some cases, they say: I worked in a food bank and was trying to make healthier options available, or I work in a community garden. The work that people do, how they earn their living, is usually where most of their time is spent. And so it's wonderful when what you care about aligns with how you're spending most of your time. Is there anything else you wanted to add? Building brands, interacting with consumers and creating that brand love is a fun thing to do. Brands are so personal. Whether it's Tony's or Just Ice Tea or Beyond Meat or PLNT Burger, people do get very attached to these brands. Sometimes, they put tattoos on their butt, literally, but other times they make it part of their own lifestyle and they use it as it's a reflection of their values. When I was building [Honest Tea], one of my board members was Jeff Swartz, who was the CEO of Timberland. I remember walking with him one day, and we walked by somebody who had a Timberland hat on. He didn't say anything [at first], but then he says: I can never get over that. This person feels so attached to my brand that they wear it on their body. What could be more intimate than that? Then I realized, and I thought about it, I said: People take my brand and they put it in their body. That's what's more intimate. Building that connection with consumers can be so powerful. But it's also a serious task. There's a trust your consumer has when they put something in their body. You have to live up to that. That's a very serious obligation we take on. It doesn't mean our messaging has to be serious. We have to make it fun and inviting and colorful and all those things. But for me, that's a really wonderfully challenging creative process.
