People Go Cuckoo Over Coconut Water

hashtag

Photo from www.seriouseats.com

🥥 Having worked in this category with at ZICO while at Coke’s VEB, I always pay attention to coconut water in the Grocery and Convenience channels.

And the growth remains impressive, driven by consumer demand for natural, functional hydration.

At the brand level, Vita Coco continues to be the main character, with Net Sales up 37% in Q3 2025 vs. PY. Vita Coco enjoys about 44% market share, making it the undisputed leader in both dollar and unit sales. ZICO, C20 and Harmless Harvest are able to grab some category share, but no one is in reach of VC.


That said, opportunity in the premium natural segment is there for the taking and I’m bullish on the potential of next-gen entrants.

One standout is Once Upon A Coconut, which over the past 12+ months has really expanded its retail footprint, winning distribution in Sprouts, Whole Foods, CVS and just announced 2,600 Albertson’s locations coming in spring 2026.

This distribution momentum shows the brand may become a disruptor in the Better for You hydration shelf set, at a minimum, if not the coconut water category itself, which is ripe for REAL innovation, not just flavor iterations.

There's a handful of smaller, innovation-driven brands like Taste Nirvana, which is gaining visibility in niche formats, plant-based outlets and Natural chains like Sprouts, Whole Foods and Erewhon, while Amy & Brian is focused mostly on DTC.

Something unique about Taste Nirvana is they offer coconut water in 4 different packages… Tetra, PET, aluminum and glass.

It does seems costly to have your product available in so many different formats though, especially at low volumes. They’ll definitely need to narrow it down if they want to scale.

As for the functional hydration sub-set, this is one space where clean-label, social mission and distribution discipline (Walmart sounds great but may not be for you) will separate the ranks.

My expectation is that coconut water will continue its steady growth, led by Vita Coco, but impacted more by nimble purpose-driven brands. There's plenty of bandwidth in this category for new brands to crack open their own coconut.

Follow me @Gregg Shore and @The Drink Pro on LinkedIn