The expertise and high-level corporate industry experience of BMC Strategic Associates™ (BMCSA) gives us a unique ability to provide management consulting to the world’s leading food and beverage companies. By employing some of the most knowledgeable and experienced beverage experts in the world, we are able to provide meaningful insights and practical solutions in addressing even the most challenging of client needs.
BMCSA™'s approach allows for fast project starts and efficient performance which result in effective and practical solutions that draw on our vast reservoir of proprietary market information, extensive experience and unparalleled access to the industry.
BMC Advisors (BMCA) was designed to advise owners of middle-market beverage companies on asset sales, asset acquisitions and valuations. BMCA leverages more than 40 years of beverage experience and more than 50 completed transactions along with extensive proprietary data and research while being able to provide unparalleled industry access and expertise.
BMCA adheres to a strict code of confidentiality throughout the transaction process to provide expert counsel to each of our clients. Areas of specialty include asset sales and acquisition, equity funding, M&A advisory, evaluations, expert witness and impairment services.
When it comes to keeping tabs on the ever changing beverage market, no one does it better than BMC Research/Analytics (BMCRA). We offer both custom and off-the-shelf research from our proprietary DrinkTell™ database that provides a complete picture of the beverage landscape to assist you with your decision making in the form of reports, databases, custom research and private presentations.
BMCRA uses total market volume and dollar data that sets itself apart from "measured channel" data sources and includes added value through insights, analysis and projections needed to make the right decisions to thrive in today's marketplace.
The DrinkTell™ database and predictive model is BMC's comprehensive portal to anything beverage. Subscribers are able to create customized cross-category reports and access key information in just a few clicks from any device. DrinkTell™ is the tool beverage companies, beverage industry suppliers and advisors need to quickly analyze the beverage landscape and spot growth opportunities.
The culmination of more than 40 years tracking the beverage industry, DrinkTell™ offers all-sales-channel inclusive U.S. beverage data, import and global statistics and much more. DrinkTell™ provides the insight necessary to enhance decision-making and maximize team performance.
The Beverage Strategist™ delivers invaluable data-driven industry insights and analysis directly to your email in-box every two weeks in newsletter format. Covering both alcohol and non-alcohol beverage categories, The Beverage Strategist™ provides you with the information and analysis you need to navigate the ever-changing beverage marketplace.
The publication is designed to let you quickly access key industry insights and provide you with data, forecasts and other information from BMC's DrinkTell™ database including brands to watch, new product launches, Wall Street analyst reports and much more. A one-year subscription to 24 issues is available for $945.
Beverage Marketing Corporation's annual and quarterly research reports draw from our more than 40 years of experience serving the U.S. and global beverage industry to provide the big picture as well as the detailed data and market insight necessary to track shifting trends and evaluate the competition. Each BMC Report provides a total market, all-sales-channel-inclusive portrait of historical and current market trends as well as future prospects within its subject range.
BMC Reports also act as decision support tools, providing reliable data and an objective third party view to help companies identify opportunities and determine which ones best fit their strategic plans and growth objectives.
For more than 40 years, Beverage Marketing Corporation's annual publication, The BMC Beverage Company Database has been the leading guidebook to the U.S. and Canadian beverage industries. Continuously updated and expanded, the data contained in each listing of this directory provides valuable contact information along with other information pertaining to the company's area of beverage business. With 6,500+ listings containing 14,500+ brands and 19,500+ industry executive names, this database is the defining tool when indentifying key industry leads in the U.S and Canadian beverage marketplace.
BMC annually co-hosts The Beverage Forum, the only global all-beverage executive conference. This international marketing conference has brought together top beverage professionals for knowledge exchange and networking for more than 25 years and provides a grand stage on which to feature the finest of the beverage business.
The Beverage Forum consistently features top beverage executive presentations and interviews, lively panels debating the pressing topics of the day and engaging breakout sessions that provide a more hands-on environment to dissect complex topics.
Visit the Forum's web site »
11/6/2019
Written by: Brian Sudano
This piece is part 1 of a 3-part series of articles regarding misleading messaging of hemp/cannabidiol (CBD) beverages in the U.S. After posting all three pieces, we will combine them into a single piece for those readers that are interested. Much speculation is circulating around the emerging cannabis/hemp based beverage market in the United States. Some enthusiasts view them as miracle plants that can be everything from a treatment for epilepsy, as in GW Pharma's drug Epidiolex, to a non-addictive pain treatment, sleep aid and anti-inflammatory or anxiety treatment, among other things. Industrial hemp (hemp) is defined by the U.S. government as from the cannabis plant or hemp tree and containing less than 0.3% THC. Although there are very positive therapeutic data, much of it has not been through rigorous scientific testing to prove these benefits (with the exception of treating epilepsy). The same holds true regarding tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the component associated with psychoactive activity in cannabis plants and the other most widely known single cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD) found in both cannabis and hemp plants. Why CBD versus other cannabinoids? The level of active CBD in hemp plants is much greater than other cannabinoids. As a result, it is the easiest to measure in preparations from hemp plants. This made it the logical molecule to isolate. Fascination with the molecule has only increased with the approval of Epidiolex, which is delivered as an oil formulation at high dose levels (compared to many neuroactive drugs) of 100 milligrams (mg) or greater twice per day. A decades-old Food Drugs and Cosmetics Act prohibits any use of or claim to the presence of (and implied or explicit benefits related to) molecules that are being developed and/or approved as a drug cannot be used in any other product including beverages and foods. This provision applies to CBD. Even public knowledge that a molecule is undergoing clinical trials towards seeking the approval as a drug triggers the above prohibition. The enforcement of the Food Drugs and Cosmetics Act has resulted in CBD beverages being pulled off shelves in many markets. In addition, the FDA sent Cannaleaf, the large Massachusetts-based cannabis/hemp company, a warning letter to remove claims against CBD in violation of this act. Although the federal law against placing CBD on the label appears to be fairly clear, marketers continue to market products as CBD beverages at their own peril. However, states in which CBD is legal and products are grown and produced within the state, not crossing state lines are viewed as legal since they are outside the federal government's jurisdiction. From a practical perspective, this eliminates most if not all national companies from marketing CBD designated beverages as these companies have vast supply networks and the odds of them introducing a CBD beverage produced and marketed in a single state is slim to none. The most recent farm bill legalized Industrial hemp with THC levels of less than 0.3%. This made industrial hemp and products produced from the same federally legal allowing shipment across state lines. Based on the recent development that Industrial hemp is legal while CBD is federally illegal, many marketers are changing the labeling on their products. In the early stages of category development, the industry became accustomed to listing products with the number of milligrams of CBD per serving. This practice has resulted in some products now indicating the number of milligrams per serving of hemp. But what is in the hemp (e.g. hemp solids, cannabinoids and terpenes)? Since it is not federally legal to call out CBD and most of these beverages indicate full spectrum hemp (or in some cases, full spectrum CBD), it is uncertain what exactly is in the number of milligrams. It appears that marketers may be misleading consumers as many will assume it is CBD. There also is no credible information related to the relationship between the amount of CBD consumed and any of its benefits claimed in the industry. In the next part of this series, we will explore the different technologies used to extract hemp including the benefits and short comings of each. For more on the hemp, CBD and THC markets including market size and implications / opportunities for the beverage industry, see Beverage Marketing Corporation's report entitled Cannabis Beverages in the U.S.
This piece is part 1 of a 3-part series of articles regarding misleading messaging of hemp/cannabidiol (CBD) beverages in the U.S. After posting all three pieces, we will combine them into a single piece for those readers that are interested.
Much speculation is circulating around the emerging cannabis/hemp based beverage market in the United States. Some enthusiasts view them as miracle plants that can be everything from a treatment for epilepsy, as in GW Pharma's drug Epidiolex, to a non-addictive pain treatment, sleep aid and anti-inflammatory or anxiety treatment, among other things. Industrial hemp (hemp) is defined by the U.S. government as from the cannabis plant or hemp tree and containing less than 0.3% THC. Although there are very positive therapeutic data, much of it has not been through rigorous scientific testing to prove these benefits (with the exception of treating epilepsy). The same holds true regarding tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the component associated with psychoactive activity in cannabis plants and the other most widely known single cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD) found in both cannabis and hemp plants. Why CBD versus other cannabinoids? The level of active CBD in hemp plants is much greater than other cannabinoids. As a result, it is the easiest to measure in preparations from hemp plants. This made it the logical molecule to isolate. Fascination with the molecule has only increased with the approval of Epidiolex, which is delivered as an oil formulation at high dose levels (compared to many neuroactive drugs) of 100 milligrams (mg) or greater twice per day. A decades-old Food Drugs and Cosmetics Act prohibits any use of or claim to the presence of (and implied or explicit benefits related to) molecules that are being developed and/or approved as a drug cannot be used in any other product including beverages and foods. This provision applies to CBD. Even public knowledge that a molecule is undergoing clinical trials towards seeking the approval as a drug triggers the above prohibition.
The enforcement of the Food Drugs and Cosmetics Act has resulted in CBD beverages being pulled off shelves in many markets. In addition, the FDA sent Cannaleaf, the large Massachusetts-based cannabis/hemp company, a warning letter to remove claims against CBD in violation of this act. Although the federal law against placing CBD on the label appears to be fairly clear, marketers continue to market products as CBD beverages at their own peril. However, states in which CBD is legal and products are grown and produced within the state, not crossing state lines are viewed as legal since they are outside the federal government's jurisdiction. From a practical perspective, this eliminates most if not all national companies from marketing CBD designated beverages as these companies have vast supply networks and the odds of them introducing a CBD beverage produced and marketed in a single state is slim to none.
The most recent farm bill legalized Industrial hemp with THC levels of less than 0.3%. This made industrial hemp and products produced from the same federally legal allowing shipment across state lines. Based on the recent development that Industrial hemp is legal while CBD is federally illegal, many marketers are changing the labeling on their products. In the early stages of category development, the industry became accustomed to listing products with the number of milligrams of CBD per serving. This practice has resulted in some products now indicating the number of milligrams per serving of hemp. But what is in the hemp (e.g. hemp solids, cannabinoids and terpenes)? Since it is not federally legal to call out CBD and most of these beverages indicate full spectrum hemp (or in some cases, full spectrum CBD), it is uncertain what exactly is in the number of milligrams. It appears that marketers may be misleading consumers as many will assume it is CBD. There also is no credible information related to the relationship between the amount of CBD consumed and any of its benefits claimed in the industry.
In the next part of this series, we will explore the different technologies used to extract hemp including the benefits and short comings of each.
For more on the hemp, CBD and THC markets including market size and implications / opportunities for the beverage industry, see Beverage Marketing Corporation's report entitled Cannabis Beverages in the U.S.
« Back to Latest News