Trend Spotting: Anyone Can Play

Hobart C. Buppert III, known as "Hoby" to his friends, was club-hopping in Vienna four years ago when he was introduced to a popular nonalcoholic beverage that cost $10 a can. Dancers were swilling the sludgy brew like it was "some sort of powerful elixir," recalls Buppert. The drink was actually loaded with caffeine--from guarana beans.

When the young Cornell University hotel school grad got back to the States, he noticed other trends: the proliferation of coffee bars; the tendency for clubgoers to alternate booze and soft drinks to sustain all-night dancing; and the growing rage for natural ingredients and gimmicky foods such as no-fat ice cream. Also, Buppert noticed people complaining about fatigue and stress. Eventually, he connected the dots, and launched Hoborama Corp., based in Miami. His first product was "Bawls Guarana," a soda with three times the caffeine of Coca-Cola Classic. The soda popped--catching on in dance clubs in south Florida, southern California, and New York. Now, it's in grocery stores in those states and spreading to Europe too.