Jones Soda improved its performance in Q2 results

The head of Jones Soda's has blamed the soft drinks maker's past financial struggles on a “way corporate” mentality.

In an exclusive interview with just-drinks, Jennifer Cue said the Seattle-based company suffered under a succession of CEOs who wasted “huge amounts of money” on marketing. Cue returned to Jones Soda in 2011 and as CEO has overseen the company's return from multi-million-dollar losses to near break-even in last week's Q2 results.

“Maybe (there was) a lack of business acumen,” Cue said this week. “These were all marketing executives that came into the company that knew how to spend money in corporate marketing dollars.”

Executives were writing cheques for up to half-a-million dollars on joint-promotions for basketball and US football, Cue said. “Now that's our total corporate marketing spend."

Cue, who held CFO and COO posts with the company before leaving in 2005, said she is happy with the progress Jones Soda has made under her recent stewardship.

“It's been pretty satisfying to see everything come together as I had wanted to see when I came on board 12 months ago,” she said. “We've now stabilised the business and now we can start to build the brand again. There's just so much potential.”

To read the full just-drinks interview with Cue, click here.