Seth Goldman (Just Ice Tea) on Selling Honest Tea to Coca-Cola, Starting Again, and the Future of Food
Social Currency with Sammi Cohen
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Show Notes
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.
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Check out Just Ice Tea
Here’s what Sammi covers with Seth:
00:00 Seth Goldman’s Social Currency
00:50 Building Honest Tea Before The Market Existed
03:03 Creating Demand Through Sampling
05:00 Bootstrapping And Staying Scrappy
06:06 The Coca-Cola Investment Story
09:26 Inside The Coca-Cola Acquisition
10:48 Culture Clash With A Corporate Giant
11:00 The Day Honest Tea Was Discontinued
12:10 Why Seth Decided To Start Again
15:26 Why Beverage Is The Hardest Category
19:29 Launching Just Ice Tea Differently
20:53 The Mission Behind “Just Ice Tea”
23:17 What Makes The Product Different
25:00 From Eat The Change To Just Ice Tea
26:46 Betting Early On Beyond Meat
28:05 The Rise, Fall, And Rebuild Of Alt Meat
35:05 What It Takes To Build A CPG Brand
36:45 The Power Of Relationships And Karma
37:00 Would Seth Sell Again?
39:11 Seth’s Daily System For Clarity
40:03 The Future Of Food
41:18 The #1 Thing Founders Must Validate
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