Looking to tap burgeoning single-serve opportunity, Ardagh Metal Packaging North America said it's launching its first US-made bev can in 19.2-oz (568-ml) size that straddles traditional 16-oz and 24-oz sizes. Aimed at categories like canned water, ciders, beer and hard seltzer, new pack will be produced at AMP's new plant in Huron, Ohio, with availability anticipated by end of first qtr . . . Fast-expanding Westrock Coffee, which is constructing a massive RTD plant in Conway, Ark, said it will develop a 530K-sq-ft distribution center nearby to service growing demand for co's RTDs and extracts. The DC, with 72 docks, will stand on 30-acre site 30 miles outside Little Rock. Completion is anticipated by year-end.

Tractor Beverage, which has been riding KDP partnership to broader availability of its organic fountain offerings, has tapped as its first coo the 14-year 7-Eleven vet Asif Khalid, who demonstrated his sympathetic ear by more recently founding foodservice bev play oriented to sustainability. At 7-E, Khalid served in roles like dir of store innovation, sr category mgr of non-alc bevs, sr product development mgr of private brands and regional market ops mgr. The co he subsequently founded and ran, Good Gracious Beverages, offers "sustainable craft drinks designed to increase margins via product and equipment innovations that reduce footprints and overhead," a stance that makes him "the ideal choice to boost Tractor's efforts to disrupt the foodservice beverage industry," per announcement. Thru a rep, Asif said he's in process of finding a buyer for Good Gracious as he makes Tractor his sole focus.

PepsiCo's latest Sprite fighter, the lemon-lime Starry brand, will leverage the NBA presence of its sister brand Mtn Dew by signing on as official soft drink of NBA, WNBA and NBA G League in N Amer. Announcement seems to be a buzzer-beater, as it emerges just ahead of key tentpole activation in coupla weeks: NBA All-Star 3-Point Contest on Feb 18 in Salt Lake City, for which Starry has negotiated role as title partner. During 3-Point event broadcast on TNT, partners will intro concept called the Starry Range in which NBA sharpshooters will shoot 2 custom Wilson Starry basketballs from 29' 9" out - 6 ft behind deepest part of current 3-point line.

Dash Water, the British marketer of fruit & veggie-infused sparkling spring water packed in 330-ml slim cans, has raised £8.7 mil (US$8 mil) in Series A round led by Beringea, per multiple investment trackers. Valuation isn't known but CB Insights notes that it came to $40.56 mil a year ago. Also listed as investors, per CB Insights, were angel investor David Miller, who serves as chmn, and Irish rugby star Johnny Sexton. Cofounder Alex Wright told FoodBev.com that funds will be used to enter new European markets and expand in Australia, tho US doesn't seem to be in the cards yet. Dash is riding the upcycling wave, using what it terms "wonky" produce as core inputs for its zero-sugar bevs that contain no sweeteners, natural or otherwise. Co is certified as a B Corp.

You can still join Beer Marketer's INSIGHTS for our annual year-in-review webinar: 2022 The Year in Beer. This fast-paced 90-min presentation + Q&A at 1pm Eastern today will offer data you can depend on and analysis you won't see anywhere else. Sign up now for $225 per participant to join the call or watch the presentation on demand: a recording of the presentation and a copy of the deck will be available to each registrant. Multiple registrants from one organization can save big. Sig

"I've seen a lot more Beer/Wine/RTD/Spirits displays up already than I can remember in a long time," said Bump Williams in BWC's Monthly Update. "And it gives me hope that maybe this year will be the year we see a turnaround in volume trends," he added. Bump is seeing "a lot of Constellation Family displays, Athletic's NA portfolio, Miller Lite, Coors Light/Banquet…High Noon, Busch Light, Bud Light/Ultra." Plus "a boatload of" White Claw, Twisted Tea, Sam Adams, New Belgium and "local variety packs." Then Bump went on to detail what he's not seeing so much. "What I do NOT see too much of on the floor is wine, miscellaneous craft brands (Long Tail), the long tail of spirits-based RTDs and the long list of 'new' brands last year that are still on the shelves, but not doing a whole lot of volume." Bump also says that he's already seeing retailers promoting more "to motivate consumers to pick up more than a 12-pack and a few single serve packages." Price-to-consumer is "nearly 10% higher this year than YAGO, but the promoted prices are almost in line with where we were last year around this time of year."

White Claw Surf topped the charts among all-new brands in 2022 at $74 mil in sales and Bud Light Next was #2 at $72 mil in sales (and 2.3 mil cases). Voodoo Ranger Juice Force #3 and almost as big at $67.7 mil in sales. Simply Spiked grabbed $62 mil in sales in half the yr. Hard MTN Dew #5 new brand at $40 mil, even tho it was only sold in part of US. But gotta note, BWC's list of top new brands only includes brands that didn't sell any volume in the previous calendar year. Both Truly Margarita Mix Pk and Bud Light Hard Soda Seltzer variety pk were technically biggest new brands in 2022 with virtually all new sales, including Truly Marg 2X bigger than White Claw Surf.

Almost 3,000 out of 25,000 brands sold at retail were new in 2022, according to Bump Williams Consulting's analysis of NielsenIQ data. "That means that on average 1 out of every nine brands that the consumer saw on the shelf was something not seen in the retail landscape of 2021," said Bump. That avg "obviously swings wildly depending on the market, timing of launch or class of trade," he added. But 17% of all FMBs were new in 2022, 14% of all Hard Seltzers and 11% of craft brands. In past yrs, ~20% or more of all craft brands were new to scans. All new brands combined "accounted for <2% of Total $$ sales yet was also simultaneously responsible for over 80% of incremental $ gains," noted Bump.