Sugar.. public enemy #1?
If protein is hot, and fats are back (with some caveats), sugar was definitely off the menu at Expo West this year with zero-calorie naturally sweetened brand Zevia continuing to notch up "phenomenal growth," even with longstanding customers, said CEO Paddy Spence.
"In one leading natural channel retailer, we have a 45% share of the carbonated soft drinks category and we are growing sales at 35% year-on-year."
When Zevia launched, it contained stevia extract and erythritol, then went on to cut the latter, and add monk fruit, but now just features stevia extract from longstanding supplier Sweet Green Fields as it has gained more knowledge of how to optimize formulations and the stevia extracts have continued to improve, he said.
Asked about his exit strategy, Spence said going public was one option given his desire to retain independence and the brand's ability to scale: "I think when we started people were switching from [artificially sweetened] diet soda to Zevia, but now we're also seeing switching from full sugar sodas as well."