CHANGES ARE COMING, SAY LEADING FUTURE OF BEVERAGES SPEAKERS – GET READY

Recently at the Global Beverage Forum, over 50 leading innovators working as future of beverages speakers across the drinking industry assembled to debate emerging trends poised to quench ever-diversifying consumer thirsts in the coming years. Several compelling perspectives shared on stage by leading futurist consultants revealed the top shifts ahead.

Future of beverages speaker Baron Murphy, founder of the Functional Beverage Society, described the mainstream rise of “wellness-centric drinkables” incorporating supplements from collagen to cannabinoids. However, the futurist consultants predicted category blurring with monitorable impacts may draw increased regulatory scrutiny by 2028.

Later in the morning, veteran entrepreneur and fourth-time future of beverages speaker Andrea Chen brought attendees to their feet previewing her company Numilk’s patented synthetic dairy proteins matching the taste, texture and nutritional content of traditional milk. The consulting expert emphasized how precision fermentation technology requires a fraction of the land, water and emissions – making affordable animal-free milk at scale a reality within four years.

Shifting focus to sustainability, expert and environmentalist Micah Lambert built urgency around agriculture stress from climate change, water scarcity and population growth negatively impacting global commodity crops long-term. As a future of beverages speaker, he made the case for established brands to fund regenerative plantation conversions, while startups implement hyper-local sourcing.

As the day proceeded, attendees gained insight into numerous other advancements from blockchain supply chain tracing for transparency to cans and bottles embedded with safe-dose supplement powders activated upon opening.

In closing remarks, leading future of beverages speaker Emmabeth Verastrand, Head Chef of forward-thinking café chain Urban Roots Kitchen, channeled the underlying ethos driving innovation. As this celebrated industry figure stated, “The opportunity across ingredients, branding and production modes lies in delivering exciting health discoverability for the conscious consumer of 2030 seeking emotional satisfaction simultaneously through the body, heart and soul.”