Just Ice, Just Right: Goldman Fit Our Fireside Chat to a Tea

Seth Goldman (left), co-founder and CEO of Just Ice Tea, illuminated his journey as a serial entrepreneur during his Fireside Chat with Naturally Chicago Managing Director Jim Slama at the Pitch Event and Forum on June 2. Photo by Bob Benenson

It is unusual enough for an entrepreneur to have one huge brand success. But Seth Goldman — who participated in a Fireside Chat with Naturally Chicago’s Jim Slama at our Pitch Event and Forum — not only has done it twice, but has accomplished the feat in the same product category.

With Just Ice Tea, Goldman has picked up where he left off with Honest Tea.

He founded that company in 1998, when he was just in his early 30s, to provide less sugary, more sustainably produced bottled ice teas than those then on the market. Honest Tea was such a hit that it caught the attention of the Coca Cola Co., which first purchased a large minority share in the company, then bought it completely in 2011.

Goldman shifted into the plant-based food sector, serving as executive chairman of Beyond Meat, then in 2020 starting Eat the Change and PLNT Burger to explore new ways to market meat alternatives.

A bottle of Just Ice Tea sat between Seth Goldman and Jim Slama during the Fireside Chat. Photo by Bob Benenson

His opportunity to reclaim his stake in the iced tea category came from out of the blue. Coca Cola decided in 2022 that it owned too many ice tea brands, and Honest Tea was among those that were terminated. Goldman and his business partners moved swiftly to launch Just Ice Tea and, like Honest Tea, it has become a force in the product category.

In introducing him at the Naturally Chicago event, Slama described Goldman’s original vision for Honest Tea that is now being applied to Just Ice Tea: “We need a lot more organic food out there, and we need a lot more fair trade food out there, and we really need it in the beverage space, because there's almost none.”

Goldman first acknowledged the many brand founders participating in the event, which includes the organization’s annual Pitch Slam.

“I got to chat with the folks just before they started pitching. Obviously, not everybody wins, but the chance to just live out of your passion, really to go for it as they are, is just always inspiring. And I love watching them. I love seeing these ideas come to life,” Goldman said.

Photo by Bob Benenson

He noted that it was almost exactly three years earlier that he received news that Coca Cola was canceling Honest Tea. “It was it was heartbreaking, it was sad,” he said. “But it was for a week and then after that, we realized this is there's something important that we need to protect.”

Slama asked Goldman how he balances staying true to his values while navigating the compromises that sometimes have to be made in order to grow to scale. Goldman replied that he thinks of himself as “an activist inside an entrepreneur's body.” He said, companies that have a purpose are the only kind he wants to get involved with.

Goldman said he has no malice toward Coca Cola, but that mega corporations “lack a lens about impact the same way we see it.” He said a big company’s approach is to make a lot of money and then give money to worthy causes. “I want every product I sell to have an impact,” Goldman said. “I want everything I do to have that purpose embedded in what I do. And I think that's probably where the gap is.”

When Slama asked what brands need to break through, Goldman’s advice was to be real:

“We're never going to advertise ourselves to compete with the big ones. We can come up with some free social media and obviously when it breaks through, it's really powerful. But authenticity is our superpower, and it comes from a belief system. It comes from true stories of origin.”

As the conversation concluded, Goldman shared his advice that true success comes from sticking to principles. “Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is straight line,” he said. “But betting on more transparency in food, more authenticity in food, or health embedded in food, it's both the right financial benefit and also what our world needs. We need to move our food system towards all those values.”

Photo by Bob Benenson

Naturally Chicago thanks Seth Goldman for sharing his experience, his wisdom, and his living example that values-based entrepreneurship can succeed.