KENYA – Highlands Drinks Limited, a Kenyan-based beverage manufacturer, has unveiled its Club Lemonade to give consumers a wide array of options in its diverse portfolio of soft beverages.
The soft drinks beverage market is today valued at US$2.686 billion, according to data from Statista. This is remarkable growth compared to its value in 2014, pegged at US$1.667 billion by the same research firm. Over the next five years, the market is expected to grow annually by 5.76% to reach a market value of US$3.554 billion in 2027.
Highlands having a heritage spanning over 60 years, has a wide range of soft beverage products in its portfolio comprising mineral bottled water, carbonated drinks, and energy drinks.
Its flagship product was the Highlands drinking water, and the company later added the Highlands Cordials coming in Orange, Pineapple, Tropical, Mango & Lemon flavors.
The company’s game changer that destabilized the market dominance of Coca-Cola company in the carbonated drinks segment was the introduction of its CLUB soda brand, which comes in 10 different variants.
In a LinkedIn post dating back to August 2021, Joachim Westerveld, Chief Executive Officer at Highlands Drinks Limited, said the company adopted a blind sensory technique to make its refreshing Club Drinks taste even better.
Keeping to its diversification and innovation mantra, the beverage company also introduced a new kid on the block dubbed ‘Energy in control’ in 2020.
The carbonated soft beverages landscape in Kenya has radically changed with more brands coming in to take on the market leader American multinational beverage company Coca-Cola.
In 2021, Bidco, one of the largest food companies in the region, diversified into soda, launching a new Ginger soda.
Planet Tangawizi is an additional brand in the Planet range of beverages already available in the Kenyan market in three flavors of Soda, namely Planet Orange, Planet Passion Pineapple, and Planet Mixed Berries plus Planet Aqua water available for wholesome family refreshing consumption.
Local brands including Club Soda have also delved into the sugar-reduction quest, which the Coca-Cola company led with the zero-sugar variant of its flagship brand Coke which is mainly targeted at people conscious about the number of calories they drink.
Club Soda, in turn, has only partially replaced sugar in its drinks with other intensely sweet non-nutritive sweeteners such as Aspartame and Acesulfame K.
For all the latest food industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
