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AriZona new-product engine keeps humming, with its latest brainstorms including an alliance with Mike's Hot Honey for spicy line of iced teas and juices that just broke as well as Rizzler Berry entry due next mo that riffs off 9-yr-old TikTok influencer. Per recent Wall St Jnl article, AriZona's distribs deserve some credit for turning what was intended as an April Fool's joke into an actual product they can sell after jocular post drew 10 mil views. Mike's Hot, first. The new teas, flagged by image of yellow honey dripping down from upper rim of can, are debuting in trio of most popular flavors from brand's core line: Spicy Green Tea, Spicy Watermelon and Spicy Mucho Mango. Packed in brand's trademark 22-oz tallboy cans, they're breaking both at retail and as DTC item. "Deliciously spicy," assures text layered over the image of dripping honey. Sweetened with combo of juice, HFCS and stevia, the entries are listed as containing 67 g of sugar per container for 280 calories. (What would those figures have been without the stevia?)As for Rizzler Berry, that's a vaguely berry-flavored carbonated juice cocktail that took its inspiration from the 9-yr-old, Christian Joseph Savasta, known as The Rizzler. AriZona posting with Savasta hyping the then-fictional Rizzberry drink the day before April Fool's, per WSJ, accumulated over 10 mil views and "prompted unsolicited inquiries from several distributors about the drink's availability." So deal was hatched to bring it to real life. By now, Savasta has signed more than half a dozen deals with likes of Nintendo and AT&T, and his dad claims the entering fourth grader is closing in on $1 mil in earnings from the stunts. To support the bev launch he's been shooting video with AriZona cofounder Don Vultaggio at co's plant in Keasbey, NJ, that it's been seeking to turn into tourist destination under ArizonaLand moniker.Huel Offers Canned Greens Entry UK-based meal replacement marketer Huel ("human fuel") has extended its popular Daily Greens Powder into RTD, offering lightly carbonated entry. New subline contains co's familiar bounty of 42 vitamins, minerals and superfoods, along with adaptogens and 4 g dietary fiber, but just 1 g sugar (25 calories), in inaugural flavor lineup of Apple, Cucumber & Mint, Peach & Hibiscus and Blueberry, Lemon & Thyme. Ingredient bill includes kale, spinach and broccoli, with stevia augmenting range of juice concentrates in offering some sweetness. Unusually for Huel, whose core RTDs are packed in straightwall plastic bottles, this line's going out in 12-oz sleek cans. Line just broke as DTC item but is heading to retailers Sprouts and Target this fall, as well as LifeTime Fitness and Amazon. Line is entering market at time that mainstay refrigerated greens entries under names like Naked and Evolution Fresh have been joined by new breed of shelf-stable entries, often in canned form, such as Be Amazing, which just entered Sprouts chain (BBI, Jul 21).Slacka Appetite-Slaking Bev Enters NY, Heads to SoCal, Texas Hunger-slaking bev called Slacka that debuted at Summer Fancy Food Show has launched at retail, starting in NYC at local chains like Fairway, Gourmet Garage, Westside Market and Brooklyn Fare. Florida-based company cofounded by Dry Farm Wines' David Allred said its 12-oz sleek cans also have been accepted into KeHe, including broadliner's New to KeHe program, and is heading to DCs in Southern Calif, NY/Maryland/DC and Dallas. As we reported from show a coupla months ago, the new bev employs ingredients like the amino acid 5-HTP to help users curb their cravings, at $3.99 SRP (BBI, Jun 30). Allred's Dry Farm Wines play in lower-cal, lower-alc segment, reaching similar consumer demo concerned with keeping the pounds off.

NEW PRODUCT ROUNDUP: AriZona Forays Mike's Hot & Rizzler Berry Entries; Huel Offers Canned Greens Line; Satiating Slacka Bev Now Live in NY

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