Nine years ago, Seth Goldman walked into a Whole Foods Market Inc. store with an empty bottle bearing a mocked-up label and five thermoses of iced tea he brewed in his kitchen.
He walked out with a purchase order for 15,000 bottles, the first step of a journey that has transformed him from the marketing manager of a social investment fund to the chief executive of Honest Tea, a beverage company he said will have sales of nearly $25 million this year.
Honest Tea is one of many independent drink makers carving out space in the increasingly fragmented U.S. nonalcoholic drinks market, worth about $105 billion a year, to the detriment of established companies.
With hits including Glaceau’s vitaminwater, which comes in rainbow hues, and Red Bull’s energy drink, agile start-ups are gaining traction as consumers seek alternatives to the traditional soft drinks sold by the industry giants.
Photo by Honest Tea.
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