In an article published this past Sunday in San Jose's The Mercury News, LIFEAID co-founder and father of two Aaron Hinde shared the importance of educating our youth about the dangers of high caffeine levels in beverages and energy drinks. Here's the article:
The growth potential for functional beverage brands can at times seem limited by ties to specific use cases and niche audiences. In this saturated beverage market, however, consumers are increasingly seeking out products that provide something more, and functional beverage brands just need to figure out the right way to reach them.
Such is the case for LIFEAID, which has grown from a CrossFit-based brand with a direct-to-consumer model to a multi-million dollar company with a range of products sold at major national retailers. Speaking on June 13, 2019 at BevNET Live Summer 2019 in New York City, LIFEAID co-founders Aaron Hinde and Orion Melehan shared what they’ve learned on their journey from niche online brand to conventional retail, from investing in your team to making consumers a part of the innovation process.
As spring turns to summer, beverage makers from across a range of categories are launching a slate of new products aimed at quenching consumers’ thirst during the hot weeks and months ahead. In this gallery, we highlight a handful of the notable new products introduced to market or announced in the past month, including new packaging formats for Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice and CHERRISH, an imported flash-brewed coffee from one of Japan’s top RTD brands, and protein-packed chocolate milk versions of two classic candy bars.
LIFEAID
Timed for the summer season, functional drink maker LIFEAID has released two new products: FITAID ZERO and FITAID RX ZERO, both of which contain zero calories or sugar and are sweetened with stevia and monk fruit. The new items are available for sale in 24-packs through the company’s website and in 12 oz. cans at select retailers and gyms.
Mood33
Cannabis beverage brand Mood33 has released a new SKU — Peace — which combines 20 mg of CBD with 2 mg of THC.
Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Co.
Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company announced earlier this month its plans to transition to PET packaging for its 8 oz., 16 oz. and 32 oz. bottle sizes.
Oatsome
Oatsome is the latest brand to jump into the increasingly competitive oat milk category. Available in a one liter carton, the product is organic and free from any added gums or stabilizers.
BodyArmor
Sports drink brand BodyArmor entered the powdered mix category this month with the launch of two flavors — Fruit Punch and Orange Mango — in 3.56 pound bags designed to be used with five gallons of water.
Earth's Own
Canadian plant-based beverage maker Earth’s Own has released a new chocolate oat milk available in 1.75 liter multi-serve and 250 ml single-serve formats. The flavor uses 50% less sugar than regular chocolate milk and includes 4 g of protein per serving.
CHERRISH
CHERRISH, a line of ready-to-drink cherry juice-based beverages, has introduced a new 3 oz. “to-go” pouch format for its three SKUs: Cherry Pomegranate, Cherry and Cherry Blueberry.
Teavana
Teavana has added a new flavor to its lineup of sparkling craft iced teas: Blood Orange Mango White Tea. A blend of white tea, orange peel, champagne mango and a touch of cane sugar, the new flavor will be sold for a suggested retail price of $2.39.
Boss Coffee
Japanese beverage conglomerate Suntory is bringing its flagship ready-to-drink coffee to American audiences with the broad launch of Boss Coffee. The line, which highlights the use of flash-brewed coffee, will be available in 12-packs of 8 oz. cans in two varieties: black and cafe au lait.
By Max Knoblauch, SWNS | May 21, 2019 | Click HERE to read the full article in theNew York Post.
A sizable chunk of Americans are skipping work due to hangovers… from exercise.
According to new research, more than one in four active Americans (29%) have skipped out on work due to a workout “hangover” (post-exercise soreness that impedes one’s ability to participate in other life and work activities).
According to the new study, as many as 55% have suffered a workout hangover that’s caused them to stay inside all day, and a possible major cause of this may be that 60% of those surveyed said they don’t know enough about dietary and recovery supplements to make an informed decision about what process or products can help them.
Due to that knowledge gap, nearly half of those respondents (47%) have skipped recovery steps altogether.
In fact, the new study of 2,000 Americans who exercise uncovered that 65% have sustained injuries from their workouts — approximately three each year on average.
The most common injuries? Pulled muscles (68%), ankle sprains (48%), and knee strains (45%).
And the dreaded “workout hangover” is not just affecting work attendance, it has spread into American’s social lives, as well. Forty percent of respondents reported that post-workout muscle soreness has caused them to skip a party. Thirty-nine percent have skipped a get together with friends, and 32% have even had to skip dates.
The new survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of health brand LIFEAID Beverage Co., found that when respondents go too hard in a workout without the proper preparation, their lives become messier.
Fitness-focused Americans spend about one fourth (23%) of their typical workout going “too hard,” then paying the price in the form of workout injuries and increased recovery time.
Respondents skip approximately 36 workouts a year due to the dreaded workout hangover. Why all the soreness? It may have something to do with incomplete workout recovery techniques.
In fact, 40% of respondents don’t stretch to aid in workout recovery. More than one in three (36%) don’t get enough rest after working out, and over half (53%) don’t take supplements.
“Proper workout and exercise techniques go hand in hand with post-workout recovery. By helping to improve the speed and efficiency of recovery, one can directly help optimize their overall fitness in a whole new way by increasing strength, endurance… you name it,” Dr. Aaron Hinde, co-founder of LIFEAID Bev Co., said.
“So much emphasis has been placed on what you consume or drink before a workout, when in actuality it’s what your body needs to help it recover afterward that makes the real difference.”
The fact that a large majority of active Americans — 73 percent — have skipped workouts due to muscle soreness further supports Hinde’s point of view.
For many who exercise, soreness is a constant struggle, and they’d do just about anything to make it go away.
In fact, 45 percent of respondents would give up alcohol for a month to instantly recover from one bad bout of soreness. Forty-four percent would give up chocolate for a month, and 20 percent would give up Netflix for a month.
More than one in four surveyed (26 percent) would pay $100 to relieve their soreness and recover faster.
“Physical and mental fatigue from working out, particularly with today’s more intense exercise routines, is manageable and avoidable with the right nutritional education and recovery products, including specially-formulated drinks and supplements,” said Dr. Hinde.
“The key to avoiding the workout hangover is finding what type of products work best for your personal exercise regime, to help you recover as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
Functional drink line expands into retailers nationally while preparing for new product launches.
March 29, 2019 – Santa Cruz, CA – High-growth functional beverage brand LIFEAID, which produces premium vitamin drinks, recently closed a $7.7 million financing round to support the brand’s expanding distribution in retailers across the U.S. The round includes investments totaling $4.7 million from Everplus Capital,Cambridge Companies SPG and a half-dozen angel investors, in addition to a $3 million asset-backed line of credit with Dwight Funding.
LIFEAID Beverage Co. produces a line of nutrition-focused drinks for consumers with active, performance-driven lifestyles. The current LIFEAID lineup features six functional drinks, each with a unique proposition and dedicated consumer. In 2019, LIFEAID will expand its presence in Walmart and Kroger stores along with additional retailers nationwide. FitAid, the brand’s pioneering post-workout recovery drink, is a favorite of fitness devotees and professional athletes. ImmunityAid became a top-selling product for the brand just six months after being launched at the start of last fall’s cold and flu season, demonstrating the increasingly broad appeal of LIFEAID.
In addition to increasing the presence of its drinks in prominent retailers, including a new authorization with Wegman’s, LIFEAID Beverage Co. has also fully established its direct store delivery (DSD) network in the Pacific Northwest. New partners in the region include The Odom Corporation, Sound Beverage Distribution Inc., Craig Stein Beverage and NW Beverages. In Northern California, LIFEAID finalized a similar agreement with distributor DBI Beverage. The brand is starting to build a similar DSD network in the Northeast and is also increasing its presence in convenience stores like Giant.
LIFEAID CEO Orion Melehan stated, “Strategic investors and working capital financing are more important now as we continue to build the LIFEAID brand and platform of customized vitamin drinks — vitamins you’ll actually enjoy drinking. Our goal for 2019 is to emphasize product innovation and smartly capitalize on growth opportunities with partners that understand our vision, mission and the brand’s deep connection with its consumers.”
“We’re proud of the caliber of our latest investors, and appreciate the follow-on investments from some of our earlier ones who believed in LIFEAID Beverage Co.’s tremendous potential early on,” Melehan continued. “In addition to our equity financing, our new relationship with Dwight Funding gives us the flexibility to strategically invest in growth without additional constraints on working capital, given our growing inventory and accounts receivable.”
Joe Yu, principal of Everplus F&B Fund stated, “LIFEAID has shown an incredible and rare ability to continually capture the attention of a dedicated and rapidly growing audience of wellness enthusiasts. The functional beverage category is growing and we think LIFEAID will be an increasingly dominant player in that category. We are confident in the ability of LIFEAID’s forward-thinking and highly strategic leadership to achieve their goals, and we are very excited to be an investor in the company."
Dwight Funding managing partner Ben Brachot similarly commented, “LIFEAID is a leader in the wellness and performance space. We are excited to be working with a brand that has such a strong bond with its customers. The brand’s growth is built on a strong foundation that has set them up to become a household brand name.”
About LIFEAID
LIFEAID Beverage Co. was founded by Orion Melehan and Dr. Aaron Hinde in 2011 and is a pioneer in functional beverage. The brand offers nutrition-focused products including top-selling natural energy drink FitAid, as well as LifeAid, FocusAid, ImmunityAid, PartyAid and GolferAid. Visit www.lifeaidbevco.com.
About the Financial Round Partners
Everplus Capital, located in Newport Beach, California, manages a consumer-oriented fund focused on better-for-you food and beverage brands. Visit www.everplus-cap.com.
Cambridge Companies SPG is a highly respected strategic opportunity investment firm based in Newport Beach, California. Cambridge SPG turns opportunities into value by buying controlling and non-controlling interest in companies poised for growth. The firm focuses on retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG) as well as food & beverage. LIFEAID Beverage Co. is the firm’s 25th investment in the CPG space. Visitwww.cambridgespg.com.
Dwight Funding provides debt solutions uniquely tailored to the needs of growing consumer brands. With a nationwide presence, Dwight has deep ties to the CPG community and is able to provide its portfolio companies with strategic advice and solutions throughout the brand lifecycle. Visit www.dwightfunding.com.
A big thanks to Brad Avery of BevNET.com, Inc.for helping us share the news with the #beverage and #CPG financial community.
In a time when food is viewed as medicine, the LIFEAID Beverage Company is capitalizing on the expanding interest in better-for-you functional drinks through rapid innovation.
At BevNET Live Summer 2019 on June 12 and 13 in New York City, we’ll sit down with the company’s co-founders, Aaron Hinde and Orion Melehan, to explore how the company is using its deep roots in Crossfit culture to experiment with and expand its product set.
Since we last spoke to LIFEAID at BevNET Live in 2016, the company entered traditional brick-and-mortar retail, raised capital, released a number of new products and now has its sights set on c-store and mainstream retailers. In 2018 alone the company reported a 169 percent increase in sales and is aiming to triple its retail presence to at least 18,000 doors this year, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Kroger, and Sprouts stores.
Behind LIFEAID, FITAID, FOCUSAID, PARTYAID, GOLFERAID, and most recently IMMUNITYAID, the company continues to develop products aimed at niche target demographics and specific use cases. This talk will give BevNET Live attendees insight into how they use subcultures like Crossfit to activate their user groups.
Along with all star speakers like Melehan, Hinde, and others, attendees will also take part in networking and sampling opportunities, as well as offerings like the Beverage School startup session on June 11, and the New Beverage Showdown pitch competition.
Early registration savings are coming to an end! The early registration deadline is next month on Friday, April 26th. Register now to save $200 per ticket.
Additional information can be found on the BevNET Live Summer 2019 website. Questions about the conference can be directed to Jon Landis.
About BevNET Live
BevNET Live Summer 2019 will return to the Metropolitan West in New York, NY on June 12 and 13. A Beverage School for industry newcomers will also be held on Tuesday, June 11 at no additional cost.
BevNET Live is the premiere event for beverage brands, distributors, service providers, retailers and investors to discuss what’s next for the industry. With the industry’s foremost speakers and our New Beverage Showdown, BevNET Live attracts hundreds of brands to each event.
SANTA CRUZ — Local beverage company meets consumer needs.
LIFEAID Beverage Co. was founded in 2011 in Santa Cruz, California, by two Santa Cruz natives. Co-founders Aaron Hinde and Orion Melehan met at a CrossFit gym in 2009 and bonded over their shared frustration with the limited healthy, functional food and drink options for exercise and recovery.
A statistic in Healthline Media states that, according to the American Heart Association, men should not consume more than 37.5 grams of sugar per day, and women should not consume more than 25 grams per day. For comparison's sake, a 12-ounce can of Red Bull has 39 grams of sugar while a 12-ounce can of LifeAid has only 9 grams and uses all natural ingredients.
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According to Hinde, 70 percent of people now look at a label before they consume something (people care about what they put in their bodies now more than ever). When the company started, that simply wasn’t the norm.
“Instead of having a one-size-fits-all approach with 20 different flavor profiles, we did the exact opposite — we created just six unique blends to support different lifestyles, providing targeted nutrition within our market,” Hinde said.
If you're new to LIFEAID, the six different blends include:
While ImmunityAid is the company's newest blend, Melehan said he expects it to be their number two or three best-selling drink. Today, FitAid and FocusAid currently rank first and second, according to a company spokesperson.
LIFEAID Bevereage Co. offers six functional beverages with differing ingredients, flavors and use occasions: LifeAid, FitAid, FocusAid, ImmunityAid, PartyAid and GolferAid. (Photo by Elaine Ingalls) .
A Santa Cruz staple, LIFEAID has 67 employees nationwide with more than 30 of those working locally at the Santa Cruz headquarters located on Mission Street. The company sells drinks in 22 different countries.
“We want to really stand true to what Santa Cruz is all about and create clean, functional products for active lifestyles ...With our clean, nutritional blends, we can really have a positive effect on people’s health.” —Aaron Hinde
The Future of LIFEAID
LIFAID is sold at gyms, CrossFit events, natural food & specialty stores, drug & grocery stores, and is branching out to convenience stores. The brand is on its way to selling in all Nob Hill Foods, 11 of 13 Safeway divisions nationwide and approximately 4,300 Walmarts with a grocery component. The co-founders want to expand headcount, dip their toes into convenience store sales and transition from wholesale distribution to direct-store distribution.
The company has a number of goals for 2019. In terms of revenue, the company is growing more than 50 percent per year, on average. Melehan expects an average of 2.5 million cans sold per month this year, up from last year’s 1.75 million sold per month. In the next five years, the company aspires to reach $200 million in sales. While LIFEAID sales were 100 percent e-commerce a few years ago, according to Hinde, 2019 will be the first year that brick-and-mortar exceeds online sales.
LIFEAID currently has seven warehouses nationwide to help handle this growth ...
> > > Above excerpts taken from original article published on Feb. 17, 2019 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. You can read the full article by intern Elaine Ingalls at SantaCruzSentinel.com.
For more information about LIFEAID Bevereage Co. and the healthy products they sell, please visit LIFEAIDBevCo.com or call 888-558-1113.
Reporting a 169 percent increase in sales for 2018, LIFEAID Beverage Company announced last week it is aiming to triple its retail presence to at least 18,000 doors this year, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Kroger, and Sprouts stores.
The announcement comes as the company prepares to expand chainwide at Walmart with its FitAid, FocusAid, and ImmunityAidSKUs, as the retailer looks to grow its functional beverage set with national and regional brands.
LIFEAID VP of Sales Dan Leja told BevNET, "The company entered 429 stores Walmart last year and that the expansion marks a ten-fold increase."
The company has also expanded in Kroger; according to Leja, LIFEAID has experienced a “natural evolution” with the retailer, having first entered with a 40-store test in the Texas market in 2016 and slowly expanded over the past two years. The latest expansion brings the brand’s presence to 15 Kroger divisions, which Leja said is about 1,500 doors.
LIFEAID has also reformulated its nootropic-based FocusAidline to double its caffeine content to 100 mg per can. Leja said the SKU is projected to grow more than 500 percent in 2019 and will make up 40 percent of the company’s total placement.
Leja said the company is also seeking to increase brand awareness by working with “micro influencers” who can appeal to the company’s niche target demographics. LIFEAID will seek to grow its FitAidline within yoga studios, while the company is recruiting musicians and DJs to promote its PartyAidline.
“We really want to piggyback off of what we’ve done with FitAid and building the name within the Crossfit and functional fitness space,” Leja said. “It’s not gimmicky or anything like that. We’re truly passionate about the offerings that we have and we want to portray that in a professional manner.”
On the West Coast, LIFEAID is also building out its DSD network to service the convenience channel, working with distributors Hensley in Arizona, Golden Beverage in Utah, Bonanza in Nevada, and New Age in Colorado. The company is negotiating contracts currently to service the entirety of California and the Pacific Northwest.
“By building out this proof of concept we wanted a story we could take to distributors and not just sell them on hopes and dreams,” he said. “Most of our retail authorizations started in the west, so that’s why we’re building our DSD footprint there. We also have some high-level meetings coming up in the Northeast in the coming weeks to start carving out a DSD footprint there as well.”
Visit lifeaidbevco.com for more information about the brand, or to shop the entire lineup of their clean nutritional blends to fit your active lifestyle.
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – LIFEAID Beverage Company, the range of function-driven and nutrition-focused products popular with performance-conscious consumers, achieved significant business and brand-building milestones in 2018. LIFEAID enters 2019 in an exceptional position to become a recognized leader in the functional beverage category, health and wellness supplements and the emerging category of nootropics.
Increased 2019 Distribution at Walmart
LIFEAID started selling in approximately 400 Walmart stores in 2018, merchandised next to enhanced water brands. This year, the number of Walmart stores carrying LIFEAID will increase ten-fold, with the LIFEAID SKUs FitAid, FocusAid and the recently launched ImmunityAid selling in the retailer’s newly-planned ‘functional beverage’ section. According to LIFEAID co-founder and CEO Orion Melehan, “Consumers are actively looking for functional benefits in whatever they drink, and this is an excellent opportunity for brands like LIFEAID to connect with more performance-driven consumers across the U.S.”
Strategic Innovation: ImmunityAid and FocusAid
The range of LIFEAID products always emphasizes innovation – through thoughtful ingredient selection and formulation. In October 2018, the brand introduced ImmunityAid, a health and wellness-focused product created to help combat the negative effects of flu season. Upon launch, ImmunityAid became an instant success, and in 2019 will enjoy increased availability in approximately 8,500 retailers nationwide.
FocusAid, the LIFEAID brand’s ‘brain food’ nootropic product, has become increasingly popular as an alternative to coffee and energy drinks, is a top-selling SKU for LIFEAID and is becoming one of the best-selling nootropic products at retail, with sales of FocusAid up 162 percent in 2018.
Overall Retail Growth
LIFEAID launched in 2011 solely on e-commerce and did not enter retail doors until 2015, making its 169 percent retail growth in 2018 even more impressive. By the end of last year, the LIFEAID brand was available in approximately 8,000 retail doors including Kroger, Whole Foods Market, HEB, CVS, Sprouts and GNC.
In 2019, the brand will triple its total retail doors to over 18,000.
At Kroger, availability of LIFEAID beverages will increase from three divisions of the grocery chain to 15 divisions. Sales of LIFEAID at Kroger affiliate Safeway increased 350 percent vs. a year ago. In premium grocery chain Whole Foods, LIFEAID is the number three best-selling natural “energy drink.” Per SPINS, LIFEAID sales growth is up 169 percent for the full 2018 year.
Direct Store Distribution (DSD) Network
As part of the brand’s multichannel sales model, the LIFEAID senior leadership team is concentrating on increasing the brand’s DSD network along the West Coast, in Utah and in Southern Nevada. “We expect to have our West Coast DSD network fully in place by the end of 2019,” states CEO Melehan, “and will replicate a similar DSD architecture across the country starting in 2020.”
LIFEAID co-founder and president Aaron Hinde adds, “Our 2019 success will be based on adding a strategic mix of retail partners that increase our availability in key markets and also help build the LIFEAID brand through forward-thinking retail programming. While we remain dedicated to the consumer convenience of e-commerce and enjoy an increasing D2C online business, grocery and convenience stores represent extraordinary growth opportunities. Our innovation pipeline is robust, and LIFEAID is meeting existing, and identifying new, consumer need-states that inform the creation of our functional line. We’re excited about this upcoming year and what it means for our brand and the category of functional beverage.”
About LIFEAID
With a focus on great-tasting, wellness-enhancing and solutions-driven supplements that can be enjoyed as a drink, LIFEAID Beverage Co. has become a leading brand among health- and performance-conscious consumers. LIFEAID offers a range of beverages that meet popular consumer need-states including: FitAid, FocusAid, LifeAid, GolferAid, PartyAid and the newly launched ImmunityAid. Since founding LIFEAID Beverage Co. in 2011, Orion Melehan and Aaron Hinde have built the brand into a thriving consumer-focused business and wellness movement that is a standout on e-comm and social media, and one of the most dynamic brands at retail in the US and 20 other countries.
Visit lifeaidbevco.com for more information about the brand, or to shop the entire lineup of their clean nutritional blends to fit your active lifestyle.
Source: Press Release on BevNet.com - Jan. 25, 2019 at 2:30 pm
ImmunityAidSupport Blend making some buzz on BevNet!
On Instagram this Thursday, BevNet posted the above image with the following caption:
"@immunityaidis the latest product from @lifeaidbevco, a brand of functional beverages that serve specific consumer need states.
The new orange-flavored SKU launched at NACS in Vegas this October and is now available in retailers such as Whole Foods, H-E-B, Vitamin Shoppe and GNC.
The most common injuries? Pulled muscles (68%), ankle sprains (48%), and knee strains (45%).
