Beverage Startups
TOP 4 beverage startups in DrinkPreneur Live 2014
Last week the first DrinkPreneur Live event took place in London. It was an overwhelming experience for 20 finalist brands and over 100 visitors from the food and beverage industries. The feedback was that the whole day was worth almost a full years work!
It was a unique opportunity to meet David Beardmore – the senior buyer for soft drinks and juices category from Tesco’s and to deliver your sales pitch for a concept product and hear his honest and constructive critique. The panel of mentors, judges and speakers during the event was unexpectedly high profile – combined with FMCG marketing and design experts, who created, worked with and reinvented brands for P&G, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Tesco’s, VC and Financiers, who funded many food and beverage companies over the last 10 years and participated in shaping the industry as it is, distribution professionals, who carried many brands to the shelves of the major retailers as well as to the independent outlets.
It was an invaluable experience for the 20 new brand owners, who had a chance to speak directly with all of the mentors, including Richard Reed – co-founder of the Innocent drinks and JamJar investments. Most of the brands were only in their concept stage and were able to apply changes before their first production batches. Everyone is aware how fast can the money burn in this industry and how important might any minor twist or tweak be, so we are looking forward to following DrinkPreneur Events!
It was extremely difficult for the panel to decide who was worth to be nominated as the winning brand of the day as all 20 of them seemed to be worthy of the shelf space. Out of the 20 finalists these brands were awarded with the valuable prizes established by DrinkPreneur partners and Sponsors.
2nd, 3rd and 4th places and prizes established by Windfall Brands, MyDrink Beverages and Honey Creative were awarded for:
Smooch Smoothies – the unique packaging and product combination together with great design and a healthy business model was what dragged the attention of the high profile judges. The liquid breakfast and liquid snacking idea was out there in the market for a while, but Smooch managed to bring it to another level and deliver amazing product that they can’t wait to introduce to the European consumer.
Bella Berry – an exceptional beauty drink for the masses created 
by the founder of this product Suzanne Baker who was able to prove her product to be one of the future household items for both men and women. It is a unique and healthy concept that could be consumed on any occasion as a delicious refreshment and provide the functional health benefits for skin. We can’t wait to get our hands on the drinks that help us to shine from within.
Vegesentials Vegetable smoothies – Vegesentials Range has been innovatively combining the best of both fresh fruit and super veg in perfect balance for better nutritional value in deliciously raw mouthwatering smoothies and juices. 100% free from: Added 
sugar, water, additives, pre-packaged or artificial ingredients, dairy, gluten, concentrates, preservatives, ascorbic acid or heat pasteurisation. Made from scratch and conveniently packaged fresh wholesome fruit and nutritious vegetables, cold pressed and cold pressurised for the best taste, nutritional value and exceptional quality.
The winner of the event who was rewarded by Tesco’s, BlueBox corporate finance, FoodBev Media and Compare The Wholesaler was OOb:
OOb Bubble tea – Inspired by Taiwanese Pearl Tea and tapping into the recent bubble tea trend, OOb is the first brand of its kind to provide pearl tea in a ready-to-go format in the UK.
The OOb range is available in three flavours: apple green tea & lychee pearls, cranberry green tea & acai pearls, and mango green tea & acerola pearls.
All OOb drinks are made in the EU using handpicked ingredients and are full of antioxidants and vitamins harnessed from green tea leaves and ‘super fruits’, with one bottle offering 100% RDA of eight vitamins.
“After 14 months of extensive research and development, we are excited to bring to the market a truly unique and nutritious product,” said OOb founder Leonardo Laforgia. “Having tried my first pearl tea in Cambodia, I was determined to bring a similar product to the UK, as I knew there was a gap in the market for a drink of this kind.
Trying OOb is an amazing experience that left everyone on the Judges panel without any doubt that it has to be awarded with the winner title. It is innovative, convenient, well designed and delicious! We hope to see the product on the shelves this summer already.
DrinkPreneur Live 2014 was an incredible success that will be held next year again. Anyone interested in becoming a part of it please get in touch: kas@drinkpreneur.com
