PepsiCo, GNC join forces for Phenom

PURCHASE, N.Y., and PITTSBURGH One of the world's largest food and beverage businesses is teaming up with a specialty retailer of nutritional products to develop and sell fortified coconut water products.

PepsiCo and GNC said its Phenom brand will launch during second quarter 2011 and exclusively will be sold at GNC stores and GNC.com. The companies added that the line will address the growing demands of health-conscious consumers for natural products that help them with their daily regimen.

“This is the first time GNC has joined forces with a leader in the food and beverage industry to introduce a new line of products, and we are delighted to have PepsiCo as our partner,” said Joe Fortunato, CEO of GNC. “Coconut water has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing categories in the beverage industry, and we believe this joint venture represents an exciting opportunity to launch a fortified and differentiated line of coconut water products. We believe the combination of PepsiCo’s strong capabilities in the global consumer beverage market with GNC's vitamin and mineral capabilities will uniquely position the Phenom brand of coconut water in the health-and-wellness market.”