Kohana Coffee Promotes Tara O’Brien to President of Sales and Customer Service
The Kohana Coffee Company, known for its shelf-stable cold brew coffee collection, announced today Tara O’Brien has been promoted from vice president of sales, US grocery channel to President of sales and customer service, effective immediately. In her new role, O’Brien will oversee sales and customer service operations across North America for the brand’s portfolio of shelf-stable cold brew coffee concentrates and ready to drink beverages. She will focus on developing an insights-driven sales strategy centered on improving sales execution and enhancing category management leadership to help transform Kohana Coffee into an agile, competitive company.
With a focused and simplified go-to-market executional strategy, O’Brien’s process will support the company’s “Rethink Your Drink” consumer campaign that emphasizes the clean energy beverage as an alternative to sugary sports drinks. “Kohana is full of energy, not calories,” said O’Brien. “We know consumers understand the importance of a health-supportive diet, especially during Covid, when people are looking to invest in their health. This ‘better for you’ health trend is heightening customer demand for our products and I’m committed to developing a strategic category management platform that will deliver our healthy energy cold brew product portfolio to more consumers nationwide.”
Kohana’s proprietary formulation and patented shelf stable process has contributed to a surge in popularity among social distanced consumers eager for access to premium cold brew coffee drinks. An innovator in the cold brew coffee category since its founding in 2007, Kohana uses an all-natural, no-heat method to extend shelf life and maintain a just-brewed fresh taste for a full year. Created with 100 percent Arabica beans and carefully craft roasted to bring out rich flavors with a sweet, smooth finish, Kohana Cold Brew Concentrate can be enjoyed hot or over ice and is great for smoothies, shakes, sauces and even cocktails. The current Kohana Cold Brew lineup features four flavors of hand-crafted, slow roasted Cold Brew Concentrate including House Blend, Toasted Coconut, French Vanilla and French Roast.
Kohana Cold Brew is also available in single serve slim cans. Choose from three flavors under 90 calories each, including Volcanic Black, Tahitian Vanilla and Salted Caramel.
Leveraging her CPG experience, O’Brien will help position Kohana Coffee to win in the marketplace and deliver innovative, quality products to its customers. “During her tenure at Kohana Coffee, Tara has refined our category positioning and established our leadership in the cold brew category,” said Victoria Lynden, Kohana Founder and CEO. “Her expertise in constructing high performance sales teams will strengthen Kohana Coffee for the future, as it refocuses on our Better For You platform and consumer insights-driven innovation.”
O’Brien brings extensive sales, business development and strategic plan development experience across the food and beverage industry. At Kohana, O’Brien has been responsible for leading the sales, customer development, category management and customer strategic planning initiatives for the business’ grocery and food service channels. Prior to joining Kohana, O’Brien served in multiple roles with PepsiCo, including most recently serving as Senior Sales Supervisor for the company’s Frito-Lay DSD business, where she was responsible for managing a team of 140 and delivered more than $80 million in annual sales.