Gatorade goes organic as PepsiCo joins natural-ingredient push
PepsiCo Inc. is introducing a version of Gatorade that is certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, testing whether a product originally created in a lab with artificial flavors and colors can adapt to America's growing natural-food movement.
PepsiCo Inc. is introducing a version of Gatorade that is certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, testing whether a product originally created in a lab with artificial flavors and colors can adapt to America's growing natural-food movement.
After two years of research, the company is now selling strawberry, lemon, and mixed berry G Organic in some Kroger Co. supermarkets, said Brett O'Brien, Gatorade's senior vice president and general manager. It plans to expand the rollout to select grocery, natural, and convenience stores over the next few weeks. The suggested retail price for the new drinks is $1.69 for a 16.9-ounce bottle, 50 cents more than for Gatorade Thirst Quencher, the nonorganic equivalent.
Gatorade, which controls 70 percent of the sports-drink market, is facing increasing pressure from new challengers such as coconut water as consumers are focused more than ever on ingredients.
But the introduction of G Organic isn't without risk. PepsiCo recently faced a backlash after switching sweeteners in Diet Pepsi, forcing the company to reintroduce a version with aspartame less than a year after removing it. A brand extension of Gatorade - which already includes zero-calorie G2 - could confuse consumers.
Gatorade was developed in a lab at the University of Florida in 1965 after an assistant coach there asked researchers to look into why his football players - the Gators - were suffering from such heat-related illnesses as dehydration.
A single-ingredient product such as coconut water benefits from a lack of such engineering. The most difficult part of creating G Organic was getting the amount of electrolytes and carbohydrates to the levels of other Gatorade products without boosting calories, O'Brien said.
