It’s doubtful that as the Notre Dame football team of 1975 hoisted Daniel “Rudy” Reuttiger on their shoulders, the oil refinery worker turned Fighting Irish icon imagined that he would one day motivate people of all ages around the world. It’s even more doubtful he envisioned he would be the spokesperson for a line of beverages to address rising obesity and diabetes issues.But that’s just what he did. The Rudy Line of Beverages consists of five sports drinks low in sugar and elevated nutritional value compared to other sports drinks on the market.
Rudy Partners Ltd. today announced it signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Beverage Network, a subsidiary of Global Beverage Solutions Inc. (OTCBB: GBVS). Global Beverage shares climbed steadily this morning after the announcement, up 5 cents, nearly 63 percent, to 13 cents Thursday afternoon.
Global Beverage recently sold Rudy Revolution and Rudy! Rudy! Flying Colors to Rudy Partners, granting Global Beverage the rights to distribute Rudy Revolution to the Baltimore, Md. and Washington D.C. markets.
“We are excited to be launching Rudy Revolution in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. market this summer. Given our history and ongoing relationship with Rudy Brands Inc. we will go the extra mile to grow distribution and sales for the Rudy Revolution brand,” said Jerry Pearring, CEO of Global Beverage, in a press release.
Drew Carver, president and co-founder of Rudy Beverage said the company’s strategy is to focus on the metropolitan markets in Buffalo, N.Y., Boston, Ma. and Washington D.C.
“Coming on the heels of successful launches in Boston and Buffalo, we look forward to an equally successful launch in Baltimore-Washington, DC. Beverage Network of Maryland is a very capable distributor with a reputation for growing brands to their full potential and we are certain that Rudy will realize its full potential in this market,” Carver added.
It’s a step toward a huge market, actually. The sports drink industry is worth about $6.8 billion, according to Smallcapresearch. Ruettiger and Carver started Rudy Beverage Inc. to create a line of healthy children-centric beverages and “to fundamentally change the face of the beverage industry,” the company states on its Web site. The company is now a subsidiary of Global Beverage.