Talk in the bars is of reformulation to natural and lower calorie drinks. Yesterday, we spent a fascinating day judging more than 100 entries in the InterBev Beverage Innovation Awards, organised by FoodBev Media in partnership with the American Beverage Association and the IBWA.
Finalists will be announced and winners presented on Thursday evening (23 September) at a Gala Awards Dinner here at the venue, with all entries shown on the big screen presentation. You can join us if you book today.
Entries range from healthy and good-for-you juice drinks and teas, to energy drinks and calming relaxation drinks, though some of these have come under scrutiny with recent FDA rulings on melatonin.
A number of energy and water saving ideas surfaced in the sustainability category, but most interesting was the wide variety of packaging giving wider consumer choice, and convenience, longer shelf life, ease of portability and great surface area for marketing. The ‘Best packaging category’ is sponsored by Portola Packaging.
The next issue of Beverage Innovation magazine (October) contains this latest business intelligence – the entries and winners in each of the 12 categories will be highlighted here.
There have been a number of workshops already taking place, many of them under the auspices of the International Bottled Water Association. And a few press launches. Last night, for instance, we attended one held by Intermec, Microsoft and AT&T. We looked at the latest in mobile computing technologies applicable to those implementing a direct store delivery application or streamlining a distribution centre.
Moving on from the handheld bricks of the past, this new Intermec CS40 looks like a smartphone, offers a high speed 3D/2D barcode scanner, 3.2MP colour camera, 10-12 hours of operation in the field, yet is rugged enough to stand a 1.2-metre drop and harsh or humid environment. Where sleek meets wet. I’ll be back with more news from the show tomorrow.
Claire Phoenix is managing editor of Beverage Innovation magazine. Subscribe here.
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