SBJ Capital, which focuses on founder- and family-owned consumer and services businesses, has made investment of undisclosed magnitude in Milwaukee-based Rishi Tea & Botanicals, which was founded 25 years ago by Josh Kaiser and lately has accelerating its RTD push. Investment bank TKO Miller advised Rishi on raise . . . After purchasing Indiana's Monarch Beverage 2 years ago, Reyes Group is undertaking big warehouse upgrade, promising investment of $73 mil to build 450K-sq-ft facility on east side of Indianapolis at former Ford Visteon site, per report in Indiana Business. The investment entails $53 mil on the building, $9 mil in land acquisition costs, $5.9 mil for machinery and $1.2 mil in infrastructure. New building will include amenities like on-site gym, bike parking and trail access, per Reyes' Midwest market prexy Ryan Anderson, for workforce that makes $35 per hr on avg. Monarch is anticipated to occupy new site in late 2024 . . . German value grocer Lidl, which has embarked on headlong US expansion as it chases inroads made by its rival Aldi, has laid of 200 of 1,000 staffers in its US operation, mainly at hq in Arlington, Va, Grocery Dive and other outlets reported, picking up German news accounts. It seems to represent rebalancing after new hiring outpaced store fleet expansion, with retail analyst Sebastian Rennack noting that Lidl's US layoffs are in line with what discounter has done in other countries, likely because cost pressures are squeezing its profitability.

Wildpack Beverage, the publicly traded copacker that's been targeting small and mid-size runs, has said it's gotten off to strong start to 2023, with Jan bringing in $5.27 mil in confirmed orders (including brokering biz). The month brought 49 new customer conversions, "demonstrating the company's continued ability to attract and retain new clients, at increasing size and at higher rates." But there have been some jarring notes, too. Co said it's been unable to reach agreement on terms of engagement with its auditor KPMG and is seeking another provider. It also said Kim Murray has resigned from board "effective immediately," with no reason given, tho she'll maintain role as vp of packaging services. She'd come aboard with acquisition of broker Land & Sea Packaging, which she's run with her family for 22 years and now comprises majority of Wildpack revenues. And Vancouver co trading under CANS symbol is trying to unload extensive range of can inventory and equipment. Email blast earlier this month titled "WE MADE TOO MUCH" is promising low pricing on range of 10 can styles and 8 can ends, while CANS also is auctioning off canning equipment at 3 of its locations, along with brite tanks and secondary packaging and labeling gear, perhaps surplus to upgrades at those plants. Some context should come on upcoming quarterly earnings call, tho date hasn't been announced yet and it's unclear what effect departure of KPMG may have on timing. Shares have sagged by about 90% since co went public in mid-2021 as markets soured on early-stage players who've got a long road to profitability.

Hard MTN Dew finished 2022 in 11 states, selling 1.46 mil cases in tracked Nielsen off-premise channels. That's about 2% of Boston Beer's total volume in scans. But Hard MTN Dew hopes to reach 25-30 states this year, including 4 new states in coming mos, largely dependent on ability of PepsiCo's Blue Cloud alc-distribution arm to establish new outposts, Boston Beer ceo (and former Pepsi exec) Dave Burwick shared on earnings call on Wed. evening. It's still sold primarily in 12-pks thru large-format stores, with some single-serve biz, and its sales per point of distribution is #1 in FMB ahead of even Boston Beer's fast-growing Twisted Tea, he underscored. So there "could be upside" but Boston is "not planning for any of it" in its guidance, in part because there's been "a lot of resistance" to Blue Cloud. Our sibling letter Insights Express also noted that sales in existing mkts are significantly below initial launch levels too.

Coca-Cola has teamed with the flamenco-trained hitmaker Rosalia for what it's touting as "boldest and edgiest" Coca‑Cola Creations flavor so far, called Move. We're not quite sure what that means, but KO and its partner are going to considerable lengths to get people to try it, tying it to her new single "inspired" by entry titled "LLYLM" and cladding it in "vibrant pink inspired by her playful and creative personality to minimalistic black representing her bold elegance" with Coca‑Cola Spencerian script morphing into sketches Rosalía drew while sampling the liquid during a creative workshop. As with other Creations, a scannable QR code will lead users to content-crammed Coca‑Cola Creations Hub. Entry launches this month in full- and zero-sugar versions in US, Canada and 20 other countries . . . Another niche brand in Coca-Cola portfolio has taken a firm step into the graveyard. KO is "axing its Lilt brand and will relaunch the beverage under its Fanta line as Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit," per FoodBev news and other outlets. While co is assuring fans of 48-year-old brand that nothing has changed flavor-wise, move to erase its brand identity has aroused predictable backlash. "There are ZERO unique or famous brand assets on the new Fanta flavor," lamented British creative exec Andrew Tindall. "This feels like killing a Cash Cow" . . . Athletic Brewing, the maker of non-alc beers, has relaunched its Soul Sour entry for 3d year in celebration of Black History Month, with all profits going to orgs like Lifting Lucy and Sacred Heart University Brewers Scholarship Fund. This year's fruited sour entry features label art from DC-based artist Sabrena Khadija, who's of Sierra Leone heritage, drawing on Black art from 1990s . . . Atlanta-based hydration brand BioLyte this week added a fifth flavor, Punch, to lineup of Citrus, Berry, Tropical and last year's addition, Melon. It describes flavor as fruity, nostalgic combo cherry, pineapple, orange and hint of lemon . . . Sparkling Ice's 16-oz canned +Caffeine subline has added Tropical Punch flavor melding "tangy citrus and sweet pineapple" . . . Super Coffee continues its indulgence push via Strawberry Glazed Donut, plant-based entry with 10 g of protein and 200 mg of caffeine . . . Continuing its efforts to romance the often-despised robusta coffee bean, Nguyen Coffee Supply has offered a bagged Limited Edition Vietnamese Anaerobic Robusta in which beans from central highlands of Vietnam are handpicked from trees grown in basaltic soil, fermented for 25 days and sun-dried for additional 8 days prior to roasting, enhancing sweetness and fruitiness.

Derailed by pandemic, Coca-Cola's acquired Costa Coffee retail chain is high on list of operations that need a-fixin'. Now that task is falling to a new leader, the former Groupe SEB evp Philippe Schaillee, starting on Apr 10. Tho he comes from cookware co, exec is steeped in coffee biz, having earlier worked on Sara Lee's coffee and tea brands and JDE's Professional Coffee operation. He succeeds ceo Jill McDonald. Announcement offered no reason for change nor indication of McDonald's next move, but KO ceo James Quincey had pointed to Costa as a unit that needs some remedial work on earnings call a coupla days ago (BBI, Feb 14). KO acquired UK-based coffee retailer for $4.9 bil in 2019, only to see pandemic force shutdown of its stores a year later and stunt its efforts to build out comprehensive CPG suite, including RTDs, in markets like US. Schaillee will report to Coke's Global Ventures prexy Evguenia "Jeny" Stoichkova.

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Craft beer shipments declined somewhere between low-to-mid single-digits in 2022, available data and current estimates suggest. Still waiting on final 2 mos of TTB reports and potential TTB revisions (as has been customary to large degrees the past coupla yrs). But combo of Beer Inst estimates, TTB and US dept of commerce data estimates, plus BMI estimates currently put total industry shipments down ~3.5% for the year. Tuff to say craft gained share in 2022.

Heineken global net revs jumped 21% to $30.7 bil and its operating income up 24% to $4.8 bil in 2022. These were "no drama llama" results, said Bernstein's Trevor Stirling, meaning "the set of results we hoped for." Following COVID dip, Heineken bounced back ahead of 2019 across most major metrics, including beer volume up 3%, revs up 18% and oper income up 11% compared to 2019. It's a strong #2 global brewer and it projects solid mid-to-high single digit oper profit growth again in 2023. As Heineken grows more globally, and its US biz declined most of last 10 yrs, its position in #1 global profit pool (US) becomes a smaller part of its overall results. And yet Heineken still making sizable new US bets in 2023, especially on Heineken Silver launch.