Editor's Letter: Drinkware (Something to Drink?)

When I go to a restaurant, the hardest question for me to answer is the easiest for many people: “May I start you off with something to drink?”

If it’s a breakfast meal, I probably am trying to decide between orange juice, coffee or water. If it’s dinnertime, I typically reach for beer, wine or water. Bottles of Snapple, Gatorade and milk crowd my refrigerator — you’ve never seen a fridge so full without any food. And the top rack of my dishwasher is always full of cups and glasses days before I can fill the plate and bowl section on the bottom.

It seems my love of beverages is magnified by my love of options. And I’m not alone. In the U.S., we have freestanding stores on every other corner selling coffee. Right next door are businesses based solely on making fresh juice — at $5 a pop. Wine bars have become increasingly trendy, and beverage companies have created a multibillion-dollar industry by selling water — something we can all get for virtually nothing.

Beverages are no longer just for quenching thirst, but an experience worth savoring. So why not promote with drinkware? This is one promo people can’t get enough of. Personally, I’m always running out of clean cups. (In fact, I still use two large Visstun cups that the company sent me, along with a press release announcing the new line, more than a year ago.)

This year, a major part of our drinkware industry faced a challenge when the safety of reusable bottles made with bisphenol A (commonly referred to as BPA) came under fire. Hopefully, you’re not facing too much of a fight proving the scare tactics to be grossly overstated. If you are, your favorite drinkware suppliers should be able to help you get the facts straight and clarify the issue.

When concerns over lead and imports ballooned a year ago, our whole industry had to fight the negative PR. Now, regardless of whether you sell drinkware, the same is true — an attack on any part of our community, particularly such a large part, affects us all and undermines our legitimacy.

Drinkware will continue to be a hit with end users and a great branding tool. Better yet, your options are about as varied as the varieties of beverages out there.

Cheers!
Debrah Rosen
Managing Editor
drosen@vpico.com