Mike Weinstein is a beverage guy. After joining Pepsi-Cola in 1972 (it was his only job offer) and working for them in bottling and brand management for 6 years, he got the beverage bug and stayed a fixture in the industry. He left Pepsi in 1978 to join K&E Advertising in NYC and worked in account management on Coca-Cola’s newly acquired wine business (Taylor, Sterling,) as well as new soft drink products. He was recruited from K&E by the A&W Root Beer Company to be VP Marketing in 1981. In 1986, as A&W’s SVP Marketing, he was part of the management group that purchased A&W in an LBO for $70 Million. Despite extreme high leverage (100:1 Debt to Equity) the company accelerated its growth rate with acquisitions (Squirt, Vernors), brand licensing (Country Time) and new product development (A&W Cream Soda). A&W Brands, Inc. went public in 1987 and Weinstein was promoted to Executive Vice President, becoming President and Chief Operating Officer in 1991. In 1993, Cadbury Schweppes purchased A&W Brands for $330 Million and he left the company to form Liquid Logic Consulting, which specialized in services to the soft drink industry.

After 18 months of consulting, which included completion of a manual titled, “The Complete Insider’s Guide to the US Soft Drink Industry”, Weinstein got the itch to build another company. He led the effort to purchase Mistic Beverages, a small new age beverage company, which was acquired by Triarc Companies in 1995 and he was appointed CEO. In 1996, Weinstein was given added responsibility for the Royal Crown Company, also owned by Triarc. In the spring of 1997, Triarc acquired the ailing Snapple brand from Quaker Oats for $300 Million, 2 ½ years after Quaker had purchased it for $1.7 Billion, and combined all the companies under Weinstein (along with Stewart’s Beverages, acquired late in 1997).

The turnaround of Snapple under new management was nearly immediate. After years of double-digit volume declines, Snapple stabilized by the end of 1997 and resumed solid growth in 1998. In the fall of 2000, on the eve of a planned Snapple IPO, Cadbury Schweppes acquired the Snapple Beverage Group (SBG) for $1.4 Billion (valuing the Snapple brand at close to $1 Billion). Weinstein continued to run SBG for a year and then was appointed President, Global Innovation and Business Development for Cadbury. At the end of 2003, Weinstein announced his retirement. In January 2005, Mike co-founded a beverage start-up company called INOV8 Beverage Company. INOV8 launched a unique energy drink called HYDRIVE in the summer of 2006. HYDRIVE is the first full power energy drink made from spring water. In September of 2006, Mike was elected to the Board of Directors of the H.J. Heinz Company.

Weinstein was named Beverage Industry Executive of the Year in 1999 and was elected to the Beverage World Hall of Fame in 2000. He was named Westchester County (NY) Executive of the Year in 2001 and received the Beverage Digest’s prestigious “Visionary Award” in December 2004.

The personal stuff…

Weinstein received a bachelor’s degree with honors in Economics from Lafayette College in 1970 where he was Captain of the Varsity Swimming and Water Polo teams, and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1972.

He was an avid distance runner and triathlete when his knees were better, with a personal marathon best of 2:43. He continues to do distance cycling, kayaking, and enjoys scuba diving and underwater photography in the Caribbean.

He is a Board member of NFTE, the National Federation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. As part of that board, he teaches low-income high school students about the beverage industry. He is also Section Secretary for his class at HBS and a member of the Trustee Committee on External Affairs for Lafayette College.

Back to Home

Mike Weinstein - The Rule Breaking Beverage Guy