Seth Goldman (Just Ice Tea) on Selling Honest Tea to Coca-Cola, Starting Again, and the Future of Food

About this episode

Seth Goldman shares his journey of building Honest Tea, its acquisition by Coca-Cola, and his new venture Just Ice Tea.

Seth Goldman built one of the most iconic beverage brands of the last two decades… only to watch it get discontinued by Coca-Cola. In this episode, Seth tells Sammi the full story: bootstrapping Honest Tea in the late ’90s when the category didn’t exist, educating consumers one sample at a time, and eventually partnering with Coca-Cola to scale what he believed could become a billion-dollar brand. Then came the gut punch: years after the acquisition, Coca-Cola made the decision to shut Honest Tea down. Instead of walking away, Seth did something few founders would do— he started over. He shares how he launched Just Ice Tea, rebuilt his supply chain using decades-old relationships, and scaled faster the second time around. Sammi and Seth also get into what it really takes to build a sustainable CPG brand, why most beverage startups fail, and the one mistake founders make before they even launch: focusing on branding before validating taste. Plus, Seth shares his long-term perspective from his work with Beyond Meat—and why he still believes the biggest consumer shifts take decades, not years. Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter Check out Just…

People in this episode

Host: Sammi Cohen

Guest: Seth Goldman

Topics covered

• beverage industry
• entrepreneurship
• sustainability
• consumer packaged goods
• business strategy

Keywords

• Honest Tea
• Coca-Cola
• Just Ice Tea
• entrepreneurship
• sustainable brands
• beverage startups
• consumer demand
• supply chain

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Coca-Cola, Honest Tea, Just Ice Tea, Beyond Meat

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