People would practically sell their children into bondage, and willingly relinquish an organ or two, in order to work at the global powerhouse Coca-Cola Company. But while a herd of aspiring employees stampede towards Coke's headquarters, Hussein Warmack was the lone soul stepping in the opposite direction, with vivid visions of his own soft drink empire dancing in front of his eyes.

 

 

His dreams have culminated in the ultra-chic, consumer-friendly soft drink, Nu South Lemonade and Southern Sippers. While friends and colleagues looked at Warmack as if he were growing antlers out of his skull for leaving a middle-management Coke position, Warmack actually did something that many want to do, but few actually dare: pursue the American Dream with relentless fervor and fearlessness. Shortly after his resignation, Warmack founded United Beverage Group, the parent company of Nu South, then injected hipness into his Nu South drinks. Hussein's drinks are distributed in five states, and the flavors are chosen according to the states — peach lemonade for Georgia, mango for Florida, and the idea soon took off. Southern Sippers Lemonades caters more toward the middle-of-the-road beverage consumer. His vision is starting to pay considerable dividends. 

 

"We had a test market at the 7-11 over the summer, and the test mark went phenomenal. We outsold the leading lemonade brands within 7-11 channels, beating them by about 2-1,” he says of the Nu South Lemonade brands that nearly bankrupted him before they experienced meteoric success. Now his brands show up on shelves such as Atlanta-based Wayfield Food store. "And now 7-11 is looking to pick us up for a number of other regions.