LOS ANGELES, CA - Innovation is a word weighted with possibility—rooted in ideation, propelled by progress, and charged with hope. As the Southeast Produce Council’s Southern Innovations event approaches, set for September 10–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina, companies across the U.S. are preparing to showcase their visions, strategies, and solutions for the challenges shaping today’s marketplace and tomorrow’s opportunities. Ahead of the show, I connected with Phil Kooy, Chief Revenue Officer at Generous Brands, to gain insight into how the company is approaching the event and how its operation is built to embody innovation not just in thought, but in execution.
“Generous Brands’ mission is to inspire people through vibrant nutrition with brands like Bolthouse Farms, Evolution Fresh, Health-Ade, and SAMBAZON. With our recent Health-Ade acquisition, our portfolio now spans nearly $1 billion in premium beverages, making the Southern Innovations event an ideal time to discuss opportunities and possibilities,” Phil shares with me.
This year in Charlotte, Generous Brands will be featuring its seasonal launches for fall, which include a new Organic Cold Pressed Spiced Cider from Evolution Fresh and preparations for a second season of Sumo Cold Pressed Mandarin Juice.
“The cider has an incredible fresh taste profile, which you would expect from our cold-pressed lineup, and I guarantee it’s the best cider you have ever tried. We are elevating the cider experience, bringing much-needed innovation and excitement to a popular but sleepy category,” Phil explains. “Sumo had an incredible launch last year in our partnership with AC Foods, bringing the Sumo experience in a bottle to millions of Sumo followers. We received incredible feedback from both customers and consumers and have plans to expand the program this year based on demand.”
Bringing Health-Ade into the fold has only increased the power of Generous Brands’ diverse portfolio.
“The acquisition was incredibly exciting for us as it rounds out our beverage portfolio with a fully complementary segment and helps us drive availability and innovation around the macro gut-health trend for our customers,” Phil describes. “The response from the marketplace has been very encouraging. Customers are excited for Generous Brands to continue bringing category solutions through more innovation, more marketing investment, more category and in-store support, and more ideas to drive growth in refrigerated functional beverages for years to come.”
If you had not already felt the long-term vision at play for Generous Brands, you will now. As Phil tells me, the beverage category is highly dynamic: consumers get bored easily and are quickly on to the next. “What solution can I find in this beverage for what I need?”
“So the question I get asked the most is, ‘Help me find what is next. Where is the consumer going?’ Or, as I like to say, ‘skate to where the puck is going,’” Phil suggests. “If healthy soda sales are starting to slow as they cycle massive growth and dollars and brands move from refrigerated to center-store ambient sales, our job is to lead with solutions to replace those dollars for our customers. These are the biggest opportunities. Now that we have solutions within our Generous Brands platform to address needs across the consumer spectrum via Bolthouse, Evolution, SAMBAZON, and now Health-Ade, we are hard at work bringing these ideas forward. The longer-term vision is for our customers to win across the macro trends of protein, gut health, mood, and clean nutrition, among others, with a ‘build or buy’ mentality, where we identify additional opportunities that we may not be fully addressing currently.”
As Phil concludes, the produce industry is addictive for many of us because it’s on-trend, fast-paced, and ever-changing—and the refrigerated beverage set in the produce department is no exception.
Check out what Generous Brands is all about by visiting SEPC Southern Innovations Booth #222 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
