Halfday Iced Tea

Darius Subatis leads sourcing, manufacturing and supply chain strategy for Halfday’s prebiotic tea portfolio. Drawing on extensive experience in the food and beverage industry, he specializes in logistics, production planning and scalable manufacturing systems within the functional beverage sector.

From Kombucha to Functional Beverage Scale+

Consumer expectations around health-focused beverages have changed significantly over the last decade. Functional ingredients, digestive wellness and cleaner formulations have moved into the mainstream, reshaping how beverage brands approach sourcing, manufacturing and retail expansion. I have spent much of my career working through that transition as changing consumer preferences reshaped both product innovation and the operational systems behind it.

My career in supply chain began at Health-Ade Kombucha, where I joined as one of the company’s earliest employees while kombucha was still emerging into the broader beverage market. In the beginning, I worked across accounting, production, fermentation, quality and logistics before eventually specializing in supply chain operations.

Working inside a rapidly growing category gave me direct exposure to how quickly supply chain requirements evolve as consumer demand increases. During my time there, kombucha transformed from a niche product into a nationally recognized beverage segment. As retail distribution expanded, sourcing, inventory management and production planning became far more demanding. I also saw how quickly infrastructure limitations can surface when manufacturing networks are not prepared for accelerated growth.

Today, I work within another rapidly evolving segment at Halfday, where interest in fiber-forward beverages has accelerated as consumers become more aware of digestive health and functional nutrition. As more brands enter the category, ingredient sourcing and manufacturing capacity have become increasingly competitive across the industry.

Forecasting in a Competitive Ingredient Market

One of the biggest sourcing challenges today is ingredient concentration. More brands are competing for access to the same group of specialty materials, particularly fiber ingredients that are now in high demand.

Forecasting now requires a much longer planning horizon than it did several years ago. I can no longer rely on shorter purchasing cycles when ingredient demand fluctuates rapidly across global markets. I now spend far more time tracking agricultural conditions, freight movement and geopolitical developments that can affect supply availability.

Operational feasibility needs to be part of product development decisions long before retail distribution expands.

Even though we manufacture domestically, many specialty ingredients still come from international supplier networks. I also have to account for how transportation disruptions and regional instability can quickly affect sourcing timelines and inventory planning.

Supplier evaluation has therefore become much more strategic. Pricing and availability still matter, but I also have to consider whether suppliers can maintain consistency under changing market conditions and support future production requirements without compromising continuity.

Expanding Production without Losing Flexibility

Manufacturing strategy becomes increasingly important as beverage brands expand into larger retail channels. One of the biggest challenges I face is expanding production capacity without creating unnecessary infrastructure strain.

We work with co-manufacturing partners that allow us to expand production without taking on the infrastructure burden of fully integrated manufacturing facilities. The model creates flexibility, but it also requires selecting partners capable of supporting larger production volumes over time.

Smaller manufacturing partners can work well during earlier stages of development because they offer greater agility and lower minimums. As distribution broadens, however, those relationships often need to evolve toward manufacturers with larger-scale capabilities.

Those transitions require close coordination across inventory planning, supplier alignment and production scheduling. Production challenges emerge quickly when manufacturing capacity evolves more slowly than retail expansion.

Timing also matters. I have seen how companies that postpone supplier planning until after retail expansion begins encounter avoidable sourcing constraints that limit responsiveness during critical periods of growth.

Designing Products That Can Scale

One of the most common mistakes I see in emerging beverage brands is treating innovation separately from sourcing practicality. Teams often prioritize highly differentiated ingredients without fully considering whether those materials can support long-term production requirements.

Distinct formulations can help products stand out initially, but commercial viability determines whether those products remain consistently available once retail volume expands. Ingredients that cannot be sourced reliably across multiple suppliers or regions create unnecessary exposure to shortages, pricing volatility and production delays.

I approach product development with sourcing accessibility, manufacturing compatibility and long-term availability in mind. Those considerations need to be addressed long before products reach broader retail markets.

Overreliance on single-source ingredients creates unnecessary instability. Diversified sourcing structures provide greater flexibility during disruptions and reduce the likelihood of production interruptions when market conditions shift unexpectedly.

AI and the Next Phase of Supply Chain Planning

Artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how supply chain teams approach forecasting, inventory planning and material resource management. Many capabilities that once required expensive enterprise systems are now becoming available through smaller, more flexible platforms.

For emerging brands, AI-enabled planning tools are making forecasting and inventory management more accessible, reducing reliance on spreadsheet-based forecasting and planning processes.

These capabilities are becoming increasingly important as supply chains grow more complex and ingredient sourcing becomes more constrained. As market pressure intensifies, long-term success will depend on building sourcing and manufacturing systems that can support growth without compromising reliability or execution.