Iced tea segment drew hit of awareness as retailers put it front and center during National Iced Tea Day yesterday, part of extended National Iced Tea Month. Wendy's added free giveaways of its recently added Honest Tropical Green Tea as well as limited-run Fruitea Chillers via #sipmeup and to walkin trade. Dunkin' Donuts ran mobile promo offering any size or variety of tea for 99 cents as part of broader stepup in tea activation that's seeing arrival of regional offerings Sweet Tea and Sweet Tea Lemonade in Southeast and Iced Green Tea in Northeast, NY and Chicago. Argo Tea is offering free iced tea in its stores from 2-5 pm on Fri.  

Steve Hughes, Tropicana and Conagra vet who's built Boulder Brands from acquisition vehicle into $516 mil (sales) natural food conglomerate, abruptly stepped down as chmn/ceo yesterday as co predicted first decline in quarterly sales in 4 years. With its Balance biz projected to decline 16-18%, co dialed back quarterly sales guidance to $122-124 mil range, vs analyst consensus view of $134 mil, prompting skid in share value to lowest price in 3 years. Balance segment comprises Earth Balance and Smart Balance plant-based butter alternatives and Level Life diabetes-mgmt brand. Co's coo James Leighton, a vet of Conagra and Hain-Celestial, is taking ceo reins temporarily until board finds Hughes successor. Tho co is primarily a food play via brands like Smart Balance, Earth Balance, Glutino and EVOL, it's also aggressively approached emerging bev brands via equity fund founded 2 years ago with partner Presence Marketing under name Boulder Investment Group (BIG) (BBI, Dec 16) . . . Dan MacCombie, who founded Runa Guayusa with his Brown Univ classmate Tyler Gage, is moving on from full-time role at co offering bev line based on Ecuadoran rainforest herb with stimulating properties. Speaking this morning, Tyler said as Dan's role had gotten restless as his role evolved mainly to running sales, tho he'll remain part-owner, board member and consultant to co, which numbers among its investors actor Channing Tatum and MetaBrand Capital. Dan told BBI that, after run of 6+ years since launching brand out of college, as age 30 approaches, he wants to move back to focus on supporting ecosystems and communities, which has been key part of Runa's mission in Ecuador. No word yet on who will pick up sales duties at NY-based co.  

WhiteWave Foods, whose modest investment in Daily Greens was focus of BevNet Live presentation last week (BBI, Jun 9), now has made considerably bigger bet on plant-based bev space with agreement this week to purchase Vega $550 mil in cash. Vega is Vancouver-based maker of powdered shakes and nutrition bars that generated $100 mil in sales last year and has been growing at 30%+ this year. Still, that represents rich multiple paid by Denver-based WhiteWave. Following anticipated close in Q3, Vega will remain based in Vancouver, under direction of prexy/founder Charles Chang, major shareholder along with VMG Partners. Also to remain in mix is Brendan Brazier, former pro Ironman triathlete who created Vega's first products. WWAV will fund deal under existing $1 bil revolving credit facility and expects deal to be modestly accretive to earnings.  

Coca-Cola's Glaceau unit has initiated new phase of Smartwater campaign featuring longtime brand endorser Jennifer Aniston, depicting electrolyte-enhanced water brand as companion in "everyday moments of progress" of TV star, shown walking on to set, traveling to meetings and pitching ideas. "Sip. Dash. Connect," reads copy in one ad showing actress exiting cab. Tagline is "Up. Up. Up." Campaign is running in lifestyle mags and out-of-home in key markets NY, LA, Miami . . . Red Bull North America has brought back brand's camouflage-themed "camo" can for 4th year, this time with extra fillip of activation: first-ever Red Bull Global Rallycross event to be hosted on active military installation. Event, flagged on can graphics, will draw such racing luminaries as Top Gear host Tanner Faust, former Formula 1 drivers Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr, and former X Games stars Bucky Lasek and Brian Deegan. It airs on NBC on Sun, Jul 5. Related online game, Red Bull Global Rallycross Challenge, sends merch and racing experiences the way of players scoring fastest times. The cans are sold on military bases, with portion of proceeds going to Military Warriors Support Foundation and its Homes4WoundedHeroes program.  

Self-styled turnaround expert David Fuselier, who obtained control of tea and lemonade marketer New Leaf Brands 4 years ago but has been sparing with details of strategy, admitted yesterday that plan had fizzled. "The past 18 months have been immensely disappointing to the board, management, shareholders and all stakeholders alike," he said in statement issued by publicy traded NLEF, now based in Danbury, Conn. "We sought to build shareholder value by re-invigorating our flagship New Leaf beverage brand and expanding into the beverage distribution market. For a variety of reasons, both have failed, and we are now assessing our corporate mission." Tho many in trade said acquisition of Baltimore/DC-area distributor Beverage Network of Maryland had foundered early on, in statement Fuselier blamed factoring co he claims reneged on key terms, then declared NLEF in default, dispute now in courts. "This lender put 24 people, with families, out of jobs and destroyed an otherwise good operation. We didn't need a lender to purposely and maliciously drill it into the ground -- anyone could do that," he said. Fuselier promised to announce "new corporate mission" in coming week.    <A  

Fox News report about string of 50th anniversary celebrations thrown by PepsiCo described one as "secret star-studded bash" that "left shareholders with a massive bill." Event hosted in NY by Jerry Seinfeld and featuring performance by crooner Lionel Richie "exceeded $1 million, all of which was picked up by PepsiCo shareholders," sources told Fox. While noting "there is nothing illegal about companies holding such parties," the report makes huge stretch to make comparison with former Tyco ceo Dennis Kozlowski's infamous $2 mil birthday party for his wife. That wasn't exactly a legit corp event. PEP rep told Fox, "To honor the 50th Anniversary of the merging of PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, we held several private events yesterday to engage our employees, partners and customers. We did so in a responsible manner to thank those who have enabled us to deliver strong financial results over our first 5 decades."  

After its proposed 2-cent tax on sugared bevs came up short last fall, politicians in SF continue to take aim at soft drinks industry. Latest initiative to require health warnings on any ads advanced among a committee and is now headed for another vote by Board of Supervisors next week and then possibly moves to mayor for approval. "Believed to be the first of its kind," the ad ban is just "part of a package of ordinances meant to curb consumption of sugary drinks," noted Wall Street Journal. San Fran officials also want to ban any ads for sugared bevs from city-owned property as well as parks and buses, and also prohibit use of any city funds to purchase them. "That ordinance would likely impact an annual Mountain Dew sporting event that takes place in city parks," officials told WSJ. "We know health warnings work," said Supervisor Scott Wiener. "They worked with cigarettes and they'll work here." Proposed label would read: "WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. This is a message from the City and County of San Francisco."  

Monster seems to be entering its enhanced alliance with Coca-Cola as loyal foot-soldier in advancing KO's broader aims, launching a new subline called M-100 that apparently targets KO rival Pepsi's best-performing CSD, Mountain Dew. Tho co is keeping mum on details, new 16-oz subline hits market Aug 1, in formula that tastes like Dew and contains 100 calories, 100 mg of caffeine and 100% of RDA of 4 vitamins. It breaks in am/pm and QuickTrip c-store chains out west and Hess and Speedway c-store chains on east, line-priced with core Monster brand. It's not immediately clear whether M-100, for which Monster Beverage filed trademark on Apr 20, is reference to firecracker of that name. (Dew is listed by Pepsi as containing 110 calories and 36 mg of caffeine per 8-oz serving.) Word is another new subline is coming right behind it, too, suggesting no letup in Monster innovation machine despite distractions of protracted closing of deal with Coke. As part of alliance, Monster has transitioned distribution in about half of country from Bud system to Coke bottlers.

Launch is coming as key part of alliance, Coke investment in Monster, is anticipated to close imminently. As part of transaction, Coke's energy brands - including US players NOS and Full Throttle - all head over to Monster Beverage, with co planning US portfolio in which Monster will challenge Red Bull at top tier, NOS will serve as fighter vs Rockstar and Full Throttle will serve as more value-oriented entry. As part of transaction, all of MNST's non-energy brands are to head over to Coke, which may keep key members of that mgmt team based in LA area as western outpost of Coke's VEB brand incubation unit (BBI, Mar 6).  

Fortune mag cover piece called "The War on Big Food" does brisk job of delineating the box big food and bevcos find themselves locked into as consumers increasingly reject highly processed megabrands in favor of natural items with attributes like natural or non-GMO status. To show how big stakes are, article cites Credit Suisse analysis which found that top 25 US food and bevcos have lost equivalent of $18 bil in mkt share since 09. "I would think of them like melting icebergs," said Credit Suisse's Robert Moskow. "Every year they become a little less relevant." Piece surveys retailers' responses: Target boosting shelf space for "New Age players" like Chobani yogurt, Hampton Creek mayo and Lifeway kefir; Kroger's growing its Simple Truth line of natural food to "an astonishing $1.2 billion in annual sales in just 2 years." Notes Fortune: "Compounding the frenzy is that many brands are discovering they don't need shelf space to begin with. Natural and organic food company Hain Celestial, with more than $2 billion in revenue, says Amazon is among its top 10 vendors in the US."

As for the big mfrs, they're in rush to acquire these New Age players, tho article points to challenges in successfully integrating them and blending lower-margin items into current biz models. At Campbell Soup, for instance, "while sales of soup are only simmering these days, its operating margins are greater than 20%, which is significantly fatter than margins for most other packaged-foods categories," per Morningstar data. CPB acquisitions like Plum Organics and Bolthouse Farms' bev biz "are the opposite: Sales for both lines have been leaping ahead at double-digit growth, but their margins are comparatively slim." That's produced lower margins for Campbell and "raised flags with some Wall Street analysts." Hain Celestial founder/ceo Irwin Simon is frank about tradeoffs: "It's something I've been beaten up about on a regular basis," he told mag. "But thank God, my growth is not the same as theirs either." For items that are non-GMO, organic and have no artificial ingredients, "you're always going to give up 10-15% on margin." That's tradeoff Irwin is not convinced big players are willing to make. "They want to have Annie's and Small Planet, but on the other hand they want to sell genetically modified ingredients," he said. "You can't go both ways. You've got to put your stake in the ground."  

Green-driven move in Jan 2013 to ban bottled water from Univ of Vt campus has produced a definitely unintended consequence: it's driven students and faculty to consume more sodas and other sugary bevs. "It was very well-intentioned," Rachel Johnson of UVM dept of nutrition and food science told news outlet NECN. "But consumers didn't change their behavior. They continued to purchase beverages in plastic bottles, but since the healthiest choice was no longer available, they chose unhealthy beverages." Proponents of move are arguing that failure doesn't discredit idea, pointing to lapses in execution: for instance, college installed 75 filling stations for reusable water bottles at locations that were distant from student dining halls, where bottled-bev consumption is high. Now UVM Dining, operated by Sodexo foodservice co, is offering free cups and putting new tabs on soda dispensers in dining areas so customers can get free drink of water with meals. It's also installing Coke's Freestyle fountain units, which won't necessarily yield nutritionally better choices, but will replace plastic bottles with paper cups. And it's broadening range of healthy bevs so that, this fall, at least half of bevs available on campus will contain 40 calories or fewer per 8-oz serving.