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Blisswater Industries has announced the release of Yaksha Blue Moon by the House of Blisswater, a limited-edition artisanal whisky made from the rarest and most unique Indian ingredients, to enhance the holiday season for whisky aficionados. This limited-edition whisky, which has been painstakingly blended with fine Indian malt and five-year-aged Scotch malt, promises a taste experience unlike any other. 

Yaksha Blue Moon has a rich and unique flavor because to its infusion of exotic botanicals, which include hand-picked saffron from Kashmir and a touch of nutmeg from the Nilgiris. Yaksha Blue Moon is poised to make a significant impact in the premium spirits industry by combining its rich history with contemporary innovation.

"With Yaksha Blue Moon, we’ve created a whisky that’s not just about taste but about bringing together the rarest and most exotic of Indian ingredients and blending them into something extraordinary. It’s a reflection of our journey, our passion for quality, and a tribute to the rich heritage of Indian craftsmanship. Every sip atells a story, with botanicals from the valleys of Kashmir to the foothills of Niligirs and now at Bengaluru DutyFree and we’re proud to share our creation with whisky lovers,” said Varna Bhat, Founder & Master Blender, Blisswater Industries.

Yaksha Blue Moon is exclusively available at Bengaluru Duty-Free, Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, offering travelers a unique opportunity to experience this exceptional whisky that showcases the very best of India’s flavors and craftsmanship. 

Peak Spirits, a global spirits company, has announced the launch of Jin JiJi, an exquisite dry gin that reflects the very spirit of our country. 

With botanicals inspired by the India’s most popular brew and now a global favourite - Masala Chai, Jin Jiji is a masterpiece crafted with passion and tradition.

Derived from the Hindi word "जिजीविषा", Jin Jiji embodies a zest for life that permeates every facet of this exceptionally delicious gin. 

Widely available internationally, including in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and across Europe, its debut in India beckons ginthusiasts to celebrate life and honour the brand’s jijivisha philosophy of spreading happiness and positivity.

Founded by Ansh Khanna, a well-travelled global citizen, who has always been intrigued by the art & science of crafting spirits, and Master Sommelier Ken Fredrickson, a master sommelier with over two decades of experience in the wine and spirits industry, Jin JiJi is the amalgamation of knowledge, passion for excellence and diverse influences transformed into a truly distinctive spirit.

"Versatile, vibrant, and uber chic – Jin JiJi is our wildest gin dreams putting on their evening best. We aimed to create a gin that’s not just about remarkable taste but also a delicious blend of regional Indian goodness and traditional gin-craft, with a splash of Himalayan sweetness tailor made for the global palette,” shared Khanna.

Envisioned as a global brand, Jin Jiji was first unveiled internationally in 2019, and has swiftly risen to prominence, becoming the favored gin in many Michelin-starred restaurants such as Indienne in Chicago. 

From the nomenclature to the flavour palette, every detail, including the label design, draws inspiration from our rich cultural heritage, weaving a tapestry of traditional Indian motifs inspired from the vibrant array of botanicals that pepper through our country. The incorporation of Devanagari script alongside the Latin script in the logo serves as a powerful nod to the deep roots and cultural heritage of India.

Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL), the FMCG arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, announced it will acquire 50 per cent equity stake in Gujarat-headquartered Sosyo Hajoori Beverages Private Limited (SHBPL) which owns and operates a beverage business under the flagship brand ‘Sosyo’.

The Hajoori family will continue to own the remaining shares of SHBPL, the beverage manufacturer's current promoters after 100 years.

With a history of about 100 years in juices and carbonated soft drinks (CSD), Sosyo is a renowned Indian brand. The business was founded in 1923 by Abbas Abdulrahim Hajoori and is currently a major force in the Iranian soft drink industry. Abbas Hajoori and his son Aliasgar Hajoori own SHBPL, a company that specialises in inventing formulas and has a number of beverage brands in its portfolio, including Sosyo, Kashmira, Lemee, Ginlim, Runner, Opener, Hajoori Soda, and S'eau.

The Sosyo brand boasts a loyal customer base in Gujarat.

Isha Ambani, Executive Director of Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, commented on the transaction: "This investment enables us move forward our mission of empowering regional heritage businesses and offering them new growth prospects. We are happy to add Sosyo's century-old legacy beverage brands to our portfolio of consumer brands and are convinced that our expertise, consumer insights, and retail distribution prowess will enable Sosyo's growing momentum pick up speed.

RCPL wants to provide Indian consumers more power by providing them with a variety of locally produced consumer brands and goods that are of superior quality. The historic beverage brand "Campa" and the recently created packaged consumer products brand "Independence" are currently included in the company's brand portfolio. Additionally, RCPL is developing a unique and focused retail distribution network for its portfolio of rapidly expanding consumer brands.

Abbas Hajoori, Chairman of Sosyo Hajoori Beverages Private Limited, commented on the joint venture with RCPL in a statement that reads in part, "We are delighted to enter into this partnership with Reliance Consumer Products, a strong and willing partner that can help Sosyo rapidly scale up its reach. By combining our relative advantages, we could make Sosyo's distinctive beverage goods available to all Indian consumers. It is a turning point in our nearly 100-year history in the beverage industry.

After purchasing the renowned brand Campa, Reliance will further bolster its beverage range with this joint venture. Additionally, Sosyo can create a distinctive value proposition for its product portfolio and customers by utilising its experience in formulations.

Homegrown spirits brand Nao Spirits and Beverages has raised USD 2 million as a Series A investment led by existing investors, family offices and a boutique VC firm.

With this, Nao Spirits has now raised a total of USD 5 million since inception.

“We have been absolutely privileged to enjoy the continued support of the F&B community and consumers alike as they have propelled us along these past few years. It has further been heartening to receive a very tangible vote of confidence from our new and existing investors who have got behind us in this time which has proven to be challenging for most,” said Anand Virmani, Co-Founder & CEO, NAO Spirits and Beverages.

Founded in 2015, Nao Spirits launched its first brand and India’s first craft Gin, Greater Than London Dry, in 2017 followed closely by a contemporary sipping Gin, Hapusa Himalayan Dry, in 2018. Together, these brands have been spearheading the resurgence of the premium Gin category in India. These Gins are already found in 8 different cities across the country, namely Goa, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Nagpur, alongside 14 export countries.

Also Read: How This Gin-Brand is making it to the globe during the pandemic

The new infusion of funds is expected to provide a working capital boost to help the brands expand to new states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya along with new export markets.

In addition, the management of the company hopes to inject further excitement in the brands as well as the category as a whole through its amplified marketing efforts and strengthening of its team.

In FY19 it clocked a turnover of  USD 450,000, FY20 witnessed a turnover of USD 1.2 million and the projected turnover for FY21 is USD 3 million. 

“The last 24 months have been very positive for the business as we've been able to drive serious volumes across all our markets. The current fund raise has come in at a great time as we unlock our next phase of growth by further strengthening and streamlining our operations & supply chain, growing our team and expanding our footprint in India and the overseas markets,” added Abhinav Rajput, Chief Operating Officer at NAO Spirits and Beverages.

As part of its sustainability strategy, PepsiCo is eyeing to reduce the use of virgin plastic content by 35% across its beverage portfolio by 2025.

The company's target will be achieved through the increased use of recycled content and alternative packaging materials by many of its beverage brands like Bubly, Aquafina and Lifewtr.

The beverage giant also aims to expand the SodaStream business, which it bought for $3.2 billion last year. This expansion will help the company in stopping the use of approximately 67 billion single-use plastics by 2025.

This new target is in line with PepsiCo’s existing sustainability targets. The company eyes to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable; and increase its use of recycled content in plastic packaging to 25%.

Ramon Laguarta, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, said, “While our efforts are far from done, this is one more step in PepsiCo’s journey toward helping to build a world where plastics need never become waste.”

“Even as we work to accelerate business growth, we continue to make important progress toward a circular economy for packaging, a responsibility we take very seriously,”

Simon Lowden, President of PepsiCo Global Foods, and the Head of PepsiCo’s ‘Plastic Agenda’, stated, “We’re intentionally setting ambitious goals to drive meaningful progress. PepsiCo is already one of the world’s largest buyers of recycled plastic, and if there was more available, we’d buy it – and if there were more markets where we could use it, we would. We are committed, and partnership is key.”

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Tata Starbucks has entered into the western state of Gujarat with the launch of five stores in the cities of Surat and Ahmedabad. The Seattle-based coffee chain now has 157 outlets in 10 cities including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, among others.

The company is planning to open more than 30 outlets in India in the current financial year. This will be the largest number of store additions by the coffee chain in a year since it launched its first outlet in the country in Mumbai in 2012.

In India, Starbucks is operating through a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages started its first store in India in October of 2012. The company added 25 stores in the country in the financial year 2017-18, and another 30 in the financial year 2018-19.

Navin Gurnaney, CEO, Tata Starbucks Private Limited, said, “So two years ago we built 25 stores, last year we did 30, and the plan this year is to substantially exceed last year’s number. We will open more stores in FY 20 than in any other year in the past in India.”

India is one of the top five fastest growing markets for the coffee chain globally.

“And we remain committed to the growth plans. We will be thoughtful but we will be aggressive as we go forward,” Gurnaney added.

The company invests Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore in opening a new outlet in the country. Starbucks will continue making such investments as it rolls out more cafes at malls, busy markets, metro stations, airports and office complexes.

Gurnaney stated, “We are going to rely on depth in the market where we exist already and breadth as we go out to new cities and states.”

Brewhouse Ice Tea is planning to raise around $2-3 million by the end of this fiscal. Last year, the Delhi-based start-up had secured $2.6 million funding from Food Empire Group, Singapore-based FMCG firm.

Siddharth Jain, Founder and CEO, Brewhouse Ice Tea, said, “The company has been growing by over five times, annually. While the funds will take care of its growth for the next couple of months, it might need to raise additional capital in the next six-eight months.”

So far, Brewhouse has sold about one million bottles of flavoured ice tea.

“We are looking to sell around 5 lakh bottles a month and hope to achieve that this year. Capital is sufficient for now, but we might go in for next round of fund raising after six-eight months,” Jain added.

Presently, the company has four flavours like citrus green, classic lemon, classic peach and honey mint. It is further eyeing to add four more flavours, including masala, forest berry, mojito lime and jamun berry tea, to keep up with health-conscious millennials.

Brewhouse is present in more than 4,500 stores across 10 cities such as Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru. The brand is targeting to reach out to 10,000 stores by the end of this fiscal.

The start-up has collaborated with more than 500 restaurant and cafe partners for the distribution of its brand.

Jain stated, “Our products go well with all types of cuisine, hence we enter into tie-ups with hotel chains, restaurants and cafes. Nearly 30 per cent of our sales come from institutional tie-ups.”

Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo India has made a profit in 2017-18 after a gap of seven years. The profit was driven by cost-efficiency measures, high-margin products and higher capacity utilization.

PepsiCo has reported a net profit of Rs 190 crore in 2017-18. The company posted a loss of Rs 148 crore a year previously. The last profit PepsiCo reported was in 2010-11. The beverage company exited the fourth quarter of 2017-18 with double-digit growth momentum.

Rajdeep Datta Gupta, Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo India, said, "Focus on profitable channels, packs and innovation, cost management and productivity to offset inflation, local agriculture programmes and procurement for citrus and corn, and maximising capacity utilisation were factors that brought balanced growth."

PepsiCo launched 80 products and variants, including flavours, pack sizes and packaging between 2015 and 2018. Out of its products, Lay's, Kurkure, Quaker and Doritos were the key growth drivers. The new high-margin products like Pepsi Black and energy drink Sting also showed 'encouraging results'.

New York-based Purchase's India unit said in 2016 that it was taking a three-year reset to transform its portfolio for sustainable and profitable growth. It has rationalised its portfolio for operational productivity as well as reinvested in marketing expenses.

"Higher capacity utilisation is helping leverage cost lines. Strong cost-management is offsetting the inflation that we are seeing," Gupta said.