On Episode #189 of the PricePlow Podcast, we bring you a special panel discussion from SupplySide Global 2025 featuring the brilliant minds behind CREATEA Mighty Mango, the groundbreaking collaborative concept beverage that's redefining what's possible in functional drink formulation. Building on the viral success of last year's XPO NRG, CREATEA takes beverage innovation to the next level by focusing on commercial viability, natural ingredients, and solving one of the industry's biggest challenges: stable creatine in ready-to-drink formats.
Industry leaders from PLT Health Solutions, Glanbia Nutritionals, NNB Nutrition, NutriScience Innovations, and Lacore Nutraceuticals discuss the collaborative innovation behind CREATEA Mighty Mango at SupplySide Global 2025 on Episode #189 of the PricePlow Podcast.
Ben moderates this powerhouse panel featuring Steve Fink (PLT Health Solutions), Brent Petersen (Glanbia Nutritionals), Shawn Wells (NNB Nutrition), Katie McCammack (Lacore Nutraceuticals), and Michael Lelah (NutriScience Innovations). Together, these industry leaders discuss the technical breakthroughs, formulation challenges, and collaborative spirit that made CREATEA possible. From CreaBev's revolutionary creatine stability to Zynamite S's beverage-ready cognitive enhancement, SweetVantage's natural sweetener breakthrough, and InnovaBean's sustainable natural caffeine, this panel reveals how setting competition aside creates products that elevate the entire industry.
This isn't just another concept beverage that will never see shelves. CREATEA represents a commercially viable formula that brands could take to market today, proving that cutting-edge innovation and real-world business considerations can coexist. Subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast to hear how industry collaboration is shaping the future of functional beverages:
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https://blog.priceplow.com/podcast/createa-supplyside-global-2025-189
Video: CREATEA Mighty Mango Panel Discussion at SupplySide Global 2025
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:42 — 34.2MB)
Detailed Show Notes: The Future of Formulating Beverages
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0:00 - Welcome and Panel Introductions
Fran Schoenwetter, Content Marketing Director for SupplySide, welcomes attendees to this special panel discussion titled "The Future of Formulating Beverages: Spilling the Tea." She introduces the session as collaboration between SupplySide and PLT Health Solutions, focusing on one of the hottest topics in the supplement industry: beverage innovation. The panel brings together some of the leading innovators behind CREATEA Mighty Mango, the concept beverage proving what's possible when industry leaders set competition aside.
Fran introduces the impressive lineup of industry experts who made CREATEA possible. The panel includes Steve Fink, Vice President of Marketing at PLT Health Solutions, who brings expertise in cognitive ingredients and botanical innovation. Brent Petersen, Vice President of R&D at Glanbia Nutritionals, leads the team behind CreaBev's revolutionary creatine stability breakthrough. Shawn Wells, Chief Science Officer at NNB Nutrition, contributed SweetVantage's natural sweetener technology after years of intensive research and development.
Katie McCammack, R&D Manager at Lacore Nutraceuticals, handled the critical manufacturing and filling operations that brought the concept to reality. Finally, Michael Lelah, Chief Science Officer at NutriScience Innovations, provided InnovaBean's sustainably sourced natural caffeine. Each panelist brings deep expertise in their specialized area, creating a dream team of beverage formulation talent that demonstrates how modern ingredient innovation requires collaboration across multiple disciplines and companies.
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2:15 - Collaborative Innovation and Zynamite S
Ben takes over as moderator, immediately establishing the collaborative spirit behind the project. He explains how last year's viral XPO NRG energy drink gave away 50,000 free cans at SupplySide West 2024, creating massive buzz throughout the show. While XPO NRG showcased what's scientifically possible with cutting-edge ingredients regardless of cost, the biggest criticism was that it would never be commercially viable for retail shelves.
CREATEA represents the evolution of that concept. This year's formula focuses on commercial viability, natural flavoring, and tackling creatine degradation in RTD formats. Ben emphasizes that CREATEA delivers a clean label while breaking creatine out of its traditional sports nutrition box to highlight cognitive and brain health benefits. The formula is so commercially sound that anyone with sufficient funding could take it directly to market.
Ben notes that Katie works with Lacore Nutraceuticals, which has an impressive facility in Texas that the PricePlow team loves visiting. He encourages panel members to add to each other's responses throughout the discussion to create a dynamic, collaborative conversation.
Ben opens the technical discussion by addressing Steve about Zynamite S, PLT Health's beverage-stable mango leaf extract that delivers cognitive benefits in just 30 minutes without stimulants. In an industry obsessed with caffeine and other stimulants, educating consumers and brands about non-stimulant cognitive ingredients presents unique challenges. Ben questions why PLT chose to pair Zynamite with creatine, since many would consider them completely different categories.
Steve explains that PLT Health Solutions and their partner Nektium have invested years of clinical work studying non-stimulant mental energy. The research demonstrates that Zynamite provides experiential impact through reduced mental fatigue, improved information processing, and enhanced focus. The ingredient works within 30 minutes, creating a noticeable effect that drives consumer satisfaction and repeat purchases.
Pairing Zynamite with creatine represents strategic innovation. While creatine has established itself as a trending ingredient with growing awareness of cognitive benefits, Zynamite delivers the immediate experiential impact that consumers can feel right away. This combination provides benefits in both brain and body while showcasing how experiential ingredients can elevate trending compounds to create next-level formulations.
The beverage-stable Zynamite S version required significant innovation. PLT worked extensively to make the botanical extract truly beverage-soluble, taste-neutral, and stable through processing and shelf life (see the PLT Health Solutions Beverage Stable Platform). The ability to deliver this incredible range of cognitive benefits in a convenient on-the-go beverage format represents years of research and development finally coming to fruition in commercial applications.
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8:15 - CreaBev: Solving Creatine's Beverage Stability Challenge
Ben turns to Brent to discuss CreaBev (from Glanbia Nutritionals' Strength Platform), which maintains creatine potency for several months in beverages. This represents a revolutionary breakthrough for RTD formats, as creatine stability has long been an elusive goal. The idea of finding creatine in convenience store refrigerators seemed impossible until CreaBev solved the degradation problem. Ben asks what brands need to know when working with CreaBev and what makes this ingredient potentially boost absorption beyond standard creatine monohydrate.
Brent explains that when discussing CreaBev with potential customers, Glanbia emphasizes that they've tested the ingredient through all different pH ranges. They've successfully launched products in mid-pH, neutral pH, and high-acid beverages, demonstrating that CreaBev works across virtually any beverage application. However, performance and shelf life do vary depending on the specific environment and what other ingredients are paired with the creatine, so some developmental work is required for each formulation.
Regarding absorption, Brent reveals that Glanbia Nutritionals has two studies on CreaBev. One specifically examined creatine absorption and found a much larger spike in blood creatine levels compared to standard creatine monohydrate. The area under the curve was also higher, though it didn't quite reach statistical significance. The data strongly suggests enhanced absorption with CreaBev.
Brent hypothesizes why this enhanced absorption occurs by drawing parallels to curcumin research. When you make compounds more soluble, absorption studies tend to show improved bioavailability. CreaBev dramatically increases creatine's solubility compared to standard creatine monohydrate, which sinks like sand in beverages. This solubilization likely explains the higher absorption rates observed in their research.
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13:30 - Market Trends and Consumer Preferences
Ben follows up on market positioning, asking how consumer awareness of ingredients affects NNB's strategy. He notes the aggressive "Sugar is Dead" slogan to promote SweetVantage and questions what trends Shawn sees in flavoring and sweetener preferences. Shawn references Scott from SPINS presenting data showing that natural, non-caloric sweeteners rank high in consumer priorities.
However, there's a disconnect between stated preferences and actual purchasing behavior. When consumers reach the point of sale, price becomes an issue and flavor becomes an issue. Even though people claim to want natural sweeteners, the products historically haven't tasted good enough to overcome the price differential compared to artificially sweetened alternatives. This cognitive dissonance leads many consumers to choose the sucralose version simply because it tastes better.
Shawn believes the industry has finally reached a turning point where the technology truly delivers. Natural sweeteners can now genuinely replace sugar, sucralose, and ace-K without consumers missing the old formulations. Additionally, the price of these advanced stevia extracts has dropped dramatically. While Reb A has been price-feasible for years, Reb M and Reb D were prohibitively expensive. Now all of these steviol glycosides are economically viable for widespread use in commercial products.
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23:00 - The Beverage Stability Imperative
Ben acknowledges Katie's comment about being cautious with botanical ingredients in beverages and opens the floor to all ingredient providers. He notes that beverage-stable ingredients have become an industry trend that PricePlow has almost been forced to cover extensively. While he loves discussing these innovations, it seems every ingredient supplier now offers beverage-stable versions of their products. Zynamite S was one of the first platforms to achieve true beverage stability, so Ben asks Steve about the development work required.
Steve credits PLT's research partner Nektium, which has an entire technology platform called SmartTech designed specifically for taking botanicals into beverage applications. Botanicals are notoriously insoluble, often taste unpleasant, and sometimes require doses too large for practical beverage inclusion. Extensive work went into enhancing potential bioavailability, altering taste profiles to make ingredients palatable and soluble, and ensuring small inclusion rates could still pack a powerful experiential punch.
The goal was creating ingredients that formulate easily, go into solution, stay in solution, and deliver experiences consumers can feel immediately. This drives repeat purchases as consumers want to continue using products that provide noticeable benefits. Steve also highlights how Zynamite's non-stimulant energy format allows formulators to reduce caffeine loads. Many performance beverages contain 300, 400, or even 500 milligrams of caffeine to deliver impact. By combining Zynamite's delivery with more moderate caffeine levels, formulators create retail-ready products that consumers can feel without the negative drawbacks of extremely high caffeine doses.
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25:15 - Comprehensive Beverage Stability Testing
Brent adds his perspective from the ingredient development side, emphasizing that stability is the number one requirement for beverage ingredients. What goes into the beverage must stay in the beverage throughout the product's shelf life. He's seen many ingredients that claim beverage stability, but when you actually test the beverage over time, the ingredient isn't there.
Developing beverage-stable ingredients requires extensive groundwork. First, you need fundamental base science to understand the ingredient. Then you must figure out how to actually test for the ingredient's presence, which sometimes requires developing proprietary analytical methods. These tests must be validated to ensure accuracy. Once testing capabilities exist, you put ingredients into various applications and conduct shelf life testing.
While accelerated shelf life testing provides quick insights, real-time testing under actual storage conditions is essential. This process takes significant time and investment. When companies sell beverage-stable ingredients, they're making a promise that when consumers open that beverage months after production, what the label says is actually there. Some suppliers sell ingredients claiming beverage stability without any shelf life data to back up those claims. Brent strongly encourages brands to verify that ingredient suppliers have comprehensive stability data before committing to formulations.
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30:00 - The Power and Sustainability of Collaboration
Ben poses his final question to the entire panel. This project required competitors to set aside competition and collaborate together. How does this differ from typical business interactions, and how can collaboration like this scale and remain sustainable beyond the SupplySide show in Las Vegas?
Katie speaks first, reflecting on her experience working at four different manufacturing facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She's seen how difficult it becomes to value collaboration when companies focus solely on winning business at any cost. The competitive mentality often manifests as "my company's better than yours because we run X amount of products" or "we work with X major brands." This negativity drove her away from some facilities.
When Katie moved to Lacore, she found a company that's genuinely startup-friendly and collaborative. Their director of supply chain describes Lacore as "Shark Tank for companies" where they can accommodate anyone from brands needing just 800 cans to those requiring comprehensive 3PL services with distribution to Mexico, Europe, and beyond. The collaborative effort with the CREATEA team felt incredibly refreshing.
Katie emphasizes that the industry needs to prioritize innovation and better products for consumers over pure profitability. While everyone wants to be profitable and run successful businesses, getting lost in the money-hungry aspect ultimately drives clients away because they sense when companies just want more and more without delivering real value. Working with the CREATEA team felt different because nobody made her feel like a bother despite near-daily texts and emails. The philosophy was simple: set aside profit motives, bring great minds together, and create something genuinely cool that people can actually buy and benefit from.
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32:45 - Collaboration as Industry Reality
Brent notes that collaboration has become the reality of modern business. Glanbia Nutritionals has invested heavily in applications labs not only in the United States but overseas, creating infrastructure for collaborative projects. It's extremely common for them to bring in other companies' ingredients alongside their own to develop complete beverages, bars, or whatever end application customers need.
This collaborative approach reflects practical business realities. Customers need complete solutions, not just individual ingredients. By working together with complementary ingredient suppliers, Glanbia and its partners can deliver finished formulations that work in real-world manufacturing and retail environments.
Michael adds a unique perspective on caffeine as perhaps the most collaborative ingredient in the industry. This surprises some people, but the logic is straightforward: the appropriate caffeine dose depends entirely on all other ingredients in the formula. Getting caffeine levels just right requires understanding and accounting for everything else in the product. Collaboration becomes essential to achieve the perfect balance that delivers the intended consumer experience.
Ben thanks everyone for their participation and contributions to making CREATEA successful. He expresses gratitude to the audience for attending and reminds them that Ingredient Idol will begin in approximately 10 minutes. The panel receives enthusiastic applause as the session concludes.
Where to Learn More About CREATEA and Featured Ingredients
- CREATEA Mighty Mango Article: Full formulation breakdown and background
- PLT Health Solutions: LinkedIn | News on PricePlow
- Glanbia Nutritionals: LinkedIn | News on PricePlow | CreaBev Article
- NNB Nutrition: LinkedIn | News on PricePlow
- NutriScience Innovations: LinkedIn | News on PricePlow
- Lacore Nutraceuticals: LinkedIn | News on PricePlow
Related PricePlow Podcast Episodes
- Episode #146: PLT Health Cognitive Ingredients with Steve Fink and Dr. Jeremy Appleton
- Episode #152: Shawn Wells and Dustin Elliott on NNB Nutrition Innovation
- Episode #174: Glanbia Nutritionals Strength Platform with Rachel Schreck and Brent Petersen
Conclusion: When Collaboration Occurs at the Top
This special SupplySide Global 2025 panel discussion demonstrates what's possible when industry leaders set competition aside and focus on advancing the entire category. CREATEA Mighty Mango represents more than just another concept beverage. It's a commercially viable formula showcasing breakthrough technologies in creatine stability, beverage-ready botanicals, natural sweeteners, and sustainable caffeine sources.
From CreaBev's revolutionary encapsulation solving decades of creatine degradation challenges to Zynamite S's experiential cognitive benefits, from SweetVantage's years of sweetener optimization to InnovaBean's sustainable natural caffeine, every ingredient tells a story of innovation and scientific rigor. Katie McCammack and Lacore Nutraceuticals proved that manufacturing excellence can scale from startups to major brands while maintaining quality and collaborative spirit.
The ready-to-consume revolution is here, driven by consumer demand for convenient, effective, clean-label products. As Shawn Wells noted, Gen Z and Gen Alpha don't want pills and powders. They want gummies, shots, drinks, and innovative delivery formats that fit modern lifestyles. Ingredient suppliers investing in solubility, stability, and tiny-dose efficacy will lead this transformation.
Perhaps most importantly, CREATEA proves that collaboration isn't just good marketing. It's good business. When companies bring complementary expertise to the table, share knowledge openly, and prioritize advancing the industry over short-term competitive advantages, everyone benefits. Brands get better products, consumers get more effective solutions, and the supplement industry elevates together.
Thank you to PLT Health Solutions and Glanbia Nutritionals for sponsoring the panel and supporting this collaborative effort. Thank you to Informa Markets for hosting SupplySide and providing the platform for industry innovation. And thank you to every company and individual who contributed to making CREATEA Mighty Mango a reality.
Subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast for more industry insights, ingredient innovations, and conversations with the leaders shaping the future of sports nutrition and functional beverages.
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