Talking Rain Beverage Co., which grew from a small Preston-based bottler to a significant force in the industry with its zero-calorie, carbonated Sparkling Ice line, announced Friday the apparently sudden departure of its president and CEO, Kevin Klock.
Talking Rain Beverage Co., which grew from a small Preston-based bottler to a significant force in the industry with its zero-calorie, carbonated Sparkling Ice line, announced Friday the apparently sudden departure of its president and CEO, Kevin Klock.
The company gave no explanation and said CFO Marcus Smith “has assumed the responsibilities with full shareholder support” and will “ensure a seamless transition.”
The statement added that “current plans, partners, and forward momentum will remain as Talking Rain continues to position the company for a successful future as part of the ever-changing beverage landscape.”
As of Friday afternoon, Klock’s LinkedIn page still described him as Talking Rain CEO, a position he’d held for nearly seven years. He spent the previous four years as its vice president of operations.
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At Talking Rain, a woman who answered the phone said all questions would have to be addressed by email to the company’s PR firm. The agency did not respond immediately to questions.
Last month the company said it would spend $37 million on a marketing campaign, anchored by television advertising, that was developed by the Seattle agency Wexley School for Girls.
Klock said in a February news release that “With over 6,000% sales growth since 2010, expansion into international markets, the addition of new line extensions, exciting brand partnerships and more, the time was right to roll out a campaign of this magnitude and attitude.”
A feature on that campaign in BevNet, an industry publication, described Sparkling Ice as “the definitive breakout brand in recent years,” adding that it has “become the top-selling sparkling water brand in the U.S. Its flagship line pulled in more than $371 million in multi-outlet sales over a 52-week period ending on November 27, according to Chicago-based market research firm IRI.”
In a 2014 Seattle Times interview, Klock described how the company’s owners — Lawrence Hebner, Donald Kline and Donald Jasper — gave him the $273,000 he asked for to start marketing Sparkling ICE beyond the Northwest. From 2010 to 2013, Sparkling ICE started spreading across the country and went from $10 million in sales to more than $300 million, he said.
The Talking Rain statement Friday said Smith joined Talking Rain as CFO in 2014, and has been responsible for finance, accounting, information technology, supply chain and strategic planning. His previous posts included CFO at publicly traded medical device company SonoSite.
In late 2015 there were reports that Japanese beverage giant Asahi Group Holdings was considering a purchase of Talking Rain.