Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Call me a traitor to my class, or
an honest man. Unlike most people in the beverage industry, I’m
in favor of taxes or even a ban on supersweet drinks. But the
proposed regulation in New York isn’t the answer.
I fully agree with Mayor Michael Bloomberg (also the
founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company
of Bloomberg News) that most drinks are too sweet and that we
should do something about this. Indeed, I have. Fourteen years
ago, I started Honest Tea Inc. with one of my students. The idea
was to make tea that tastes like tea, not liquid candy. This
year, the company will sell 100 million bottles of tea, ades and
kids’ pouches, all with fewer than 100 calories a package.
