GT Dave, founder of GT's Living Foods, evaluates his role in the rise of the Kombucha industry and what that means for the future of the beverage. He long ago left Odwalla and has a new nut-milk startup, Califia Farms. As a result, Kevita doesn’t contain the same stringy threads of bacteria and yeast that GT’s does, and its teas are more mellow tasting, leaving Dave to snipe: “If you want [a drink that’s] clear and consistently sparkling with no vinegar flavor, that’s called carbonated flavored water. He printed a summary of her tale on his labels, but even with that tearjerker marketing, he still struggled: “I got a lot of noes. It sounded good, but both deals required him to give up control over his formula. The turning point came when word of mouth reached Whole Foods, which started carrying his tea in 1999. Kevita does something totally different. Unlike many of his rivals, he says, he makes his authentically, and it’ll stay like that: “From day one, I tried to emulate a homemade process.” Dave lets nature do much of the work, as he has since the beginning: fermenting a blend of black and green teas in small batches of 5-gallon jars for a month. . Kevita sales are up an estimated 100% since Pepsi bought it in 2016, and it beat Dave to Europe, a market he plans to reach later in 2019, a year behind. He pushes open the doors of his year-old factory, releasing a gust of cold air and the scent of vinegar. The first time Dave tried kombucha, at 13, he nearly spat it out. It requires careful logistics to keep the kombucha fresh as it winds through multiple facilities and warehouses in southern California before getting to stores. Dave has “the freedom to still be 100% himself,” Steltenpohl says. The living cultures of yeast and bacteria suspended in the drink—made when they feed off carbohydrates, usually from the fruit juices often added to flavor kombucha—were particularly unappetizing. I’m going to fight it, but I may find myself outnumbered.”, He extends his vision out decades. Dave’s absolute certainty that he knows best—and that GT’s Living Food should change little about its hit product—has played out in a number of other ways. I cover all things food and drink as a staff writer at Forbes, from billionaires and ag tech startups to CPG entrepreneurs and wine. And Dave removed Laraine’s cancer story from labels. “Kombucha is growing at 40% a year. Send tips to csorvino@forbes.com. I head up the 30 Under 30 Food and. The investment will bring the chain to Northern California for the first time. Soon Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and Tom Cruise were spotted sipping GT’s. The future for kombucha may not be as bright. “When 2010 hit, it occurred to me that the fact that I’ve remained independent was a blessing. At first, Whole Foods hesitated to return to kombucha. To understand how the industry got here, a critical lens should be given to the drink's history and its surprising pivots. How much money is GT Dave worth at the age of 42 and what’s his real net worth now? EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Michigan Economic Development Corporation BrandVoice, The Most Notable New Billionaires Of 2019, Including The Moguls Behind White Claw And Jimmy John’s, Organic Grocer Erewhon Eyes Expansion After Private Equity Deal, Never Mind Supermarkets, Zak Normandin Says The Future Of Beverage Is On Your Phone, Sam Adams' Jim Koch And Other Billionaires Talk About Why It Pays To Manufacture In America, Billionaire Robert F. Smith Pays Off College Loans For Morehouse Graduates And Other News To Start Your Day, The World's Largest Food And Restaurant Companies In 2019, Trump's Tax Returns, George Thomas Dave's Kombucha Empire, Binance And The $40 Million Bitcoin Heist: Your Daily Dozen Briefing, Tempest In A Tea Bottle: Billionaire GT Dave Brewed A Fortune (And Plenty Of Bitterness) From Kombucha, The Kombucha Billionaire Looking To Save The Industry From Itself, Interest Brewing In Kombucha As Healthy Beer, Soda Alternative, Kombucha 101: Demystifying The Past, Present And Future Of The Fermented Tea Drink, CircleUp25: The 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands of 2016. The other called out GT’s for “deceptive, misleading, unfair and unlawful labeling” for marketing its products as “wonder drinks that possess amazing health benefits.” A third filed in November combined both allegations, accusing GT’s of making unsubstantiated health claims such as “weight control,” “anti-aging” and “healthy skin.” He denied the allegations but settled all three for $40,000 combined and paid lawyers’ fees of $350,000. Price $5.7 million. . Cherry-berry. A less sure-minded person in Dave’s position might be waffling on his convictions right now, for his kingdom is increasingly under siege. He has never exhibited. “A lot of companies our size shy away from risk. (“Corporate extortion at its finest,” he sniffs.) Before Fame. Dave never went to college and left high school early with a GED, after falling in with a crowd of rich kids with a taste for drugs. GT Dave, whose real name is George Thomas Dave, was born in November 1977 to Laraine Pieri Dave and Michael Dave. Forbes spoke to half a dozen billionaires or their companies, all of who still think it pays to make their products in the U.S. “I’m not for sale,” he says. He’s a floor above the zooish fray, holding court in his private room, surrounded by a small group of his sales team and executives from retailers like H-E-B grocery and Sprouts Farmers Market. I think that’s what kills the entrepreneurial spirit.”. But I was persistent. “This category—that I feel that I was instrumental in allowing it to be what it is—is slowly being killed by all the noise and all the success,” Dave says. That creates humility.”. People come up to see him. There’s also CocoYo, a non-dairy coconut-based yogurt, and Alive, launched by GT’s in 2017 as a probiotic apple-cider vinegar drink but recently rebranded as tea filled with traditional Chinese herbs like reishi and chaga. His perspective changed the next year when his mother, Laraine, received a sudden cancer diagnosis. It is less fermented, lowering its alcohol content, and has become GT’s most popular item. The pair of suitors used every ploy possible to win him over. . The change is so pervasive, it can sometimes fly under the radar since it’s constantly happening right under our noses. “I can’t point to a single other beverage entrepreneur who has done that.”. It became a peasant’s drink in Russia and parts of eastern Europe, and in the 20th century, it became a supposed immune-booster for HIV patients during the AIDS epidemic. Around this time, he decided to entertain acquisition offers from “two big food companies”—he won’t say which ones, but Coke, Nestlé and Unilever are reasonable guesses—even though he had steadfastly rejected any overtures in the past. It uses lab-created probiotic strains, adds a tea flavoring and pumps it full of artificial carbonation. But we’re fine with that. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. “I’d say any beverage entrepreneur would love to be in that situation and take on the challenge of trying to figure it out.”. (“I refuse to let someone else who just joined the party change the narrative.”) But the competition below him is hungry to take a piece of his long-established position in the industry. He was the first to put kombucha on store shelves, in the late 1990s, and GT’s is still the biggest manufacturer, owning 40% of the U.S. market. The five-day trade show has occurred annually since 1981, and it attracts thousands of vendors, all jockeying for the attention of buyers from the nation’s biggest retailers at the glassy Anaheim Convention Center, across from Disneyland, stationed in their respective booths. His greater challenge: surviving the rush of competitors flooding a market he once had all to himself. Then it dawned on him to make kombucha instead. It allowed me to get out of it on my own terms,” Dave says. GT Dave was born George Thomas Dave as the youngest of three boys born to Michael and Laraine Dave. As of 2020, GT Dave’s net worth is $100,000 - $1M The topline of today’s news: Forbes opens its archives as President Donald Trump faces renewed scrutiny over his 1990s business troubles; George Thomas Dave built a fortune by teaching Americans to love kombucha; How hackers looted $40 million from cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Honest Tea threw up its hands completely and stopped making it. The doctors raised their eyebrows and, Dave says, deemed her condition “miraculous.”. Test results from the Department of Agriculture found alcohol levels in the teas close to 2.5%, higher than they should’ve been. The topline of today’s news: Billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off the college loans debts for an entire class at Morehouse College; Huawei faces being locked out by Google and American suppliers; Ferdinand Porsche's great grandson plans to reinvent the luxury sports car market.