Nov 30, 2018

Veteran CPG executive Arnold Ventura cut his teeth in food and beverage as the founder of bottled aguas frescas brand Coba. While ultimately unsuccessful, his experience as a beverage entrepreneur laid the foundation for his career, as he went on to take leadership roles at PepsiCo as part of its emerging brands unit...

Nov 27, 2018

The first thing you'll notice about AriZona co-founder Don Vultaggio's office is that it’s immense. We’re talking the size of an average apartment and fashioned with old-school sensibilities; think lots of wood, marble and leather. The second thing you'll notice is the commercial kitchen to the left of the entrance,...

Nov 23, 2018

Nik Ingersöll spends a lot of time thinking about ugly bananas.

The co-founder and CMO of Barnana, a fast-growing producer of snack foods made from imperfect and misshapen bananas, Ingersöll is responsible for the brand’s marketing and design strategy. To put it another way, his job is to get people excited about...

Nov 19, 2018

Upon its launch in 1998, few could have predicted the runaway success of alkaline water brand Essentia, including the company’s founder and CEO Ken Uptain.

After two decades on the market, Essentia has developed into a premier bottled water brand that is nearing $180 million in annual retail sales, numbers that...

Nov 16, 2018

Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn say the best insights and feedback about their brand come from an “Ugly Mob.”

It may sound unseemly, but the mob is actually a group of loyal consumers of Ugly Drinks, a flavored sparkling water brand co-founded by Thomas and Benn. Based in the U.K., Ugly made its U.S. debut earlier this...