Planting Hope Co, based in Chicago and Vancouver, said it scored record US $3.7 mil in Q3 sales as its Hope & Sesame sesame-milk cracked 683 Kroger stores under various banners and 331 Sprouts stores. Both chains took 3 sku's. Barista extension of the sesame-milk has entered Baldor and other foodservice distributors and cracked such café chains as Metropolis Coffee in Chicago. Co only listed publicly a year ago, scoring just $600K in sales in year-earlier period. Net loss came in at $4.9 mil as co builds out org to support brands like Hope & Sesame plantmilk, Mozaics veggie chips and Veggicopia snacks that target flexitarian female shoppers. We'd profiled their restaging efforts from encounter this past summer at Plant Based World Expo (BBI, Sep 9).

AriZona Beverages seems to be on a roll: a scarce 4 weeks since launch, its hydration collab with Marvel dubbed Super LXR has blasted past 200K cases and should do 300K by year-end, even as Long Island-based co finally brings its fast-growing AriZona Hard Tea from Canada down into US market. Sales chief Lou Fabiano, who outlined progress, said the new burst of growth has co scrambling to add more production capacity as it prepares to ride hot hand into 2023.

• "We Don't Serve Teens" Campaign Returns A coalition of spirits, wine and retailer orgs alongside other alc bev cos and non-profits announced return of "We Don't Serve Teens" public messaging campaign this wk. Launched in 2006 with support from the FTC, campaign seeks further reductions in underage consumption. Led by the Distilled Spirits Council, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America and American Beverage Licensees, supporters include 5 wine & spirits distribs, 3 individual industry members, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Texas, retailer orgs in 18 states, 9 control state agencies and 10 other community groups including both MADD and SADD.
• FTC Investigating "Anti-Competitive Conduct" In 9 mos since publication of Competition Report, FTC has "started investigations in our space," atty Alva Mather said during McDermott Will & Emery webinar this wk. The agency is "looking at specifically the distributor tier" for "anticompetitive behavior," she continued. "This is going to be a very active time over the next several years," Alva predicted.
• Pronghorn Invests in 3 Black-Owned Spirits Bizzes On its path to invest in 57 Black-owned businesses in next 10 yrs, Pronghorn announced capital infusions into 3 spirits cos this wk: Tequila with Friends, Den of Thieves and Ego Tequila. Recall, Pronghorn opened as a standalone company to invest in, incubate and recruit Black entrepreneurs, executives and workers in the US drinks biz, itself supported by anchor investor Diageo. Earlier this yr, Pronghorn made its 1st investment in Ten To One, the rum brand co-owned by musician Ciara.

While 1 in 5 consumers overall "plan to watch the Soccer World Cup in bars and restaurants, said Nielsen CGA, "this jumps to over a third of 21-34 year olds…. Drinks-led visits are the main focus" with "beer being the most popular." What's more "sports bars are the clear favorite," while "visiting with friends is the most popular company during their trips." Almost 9 in 10 On-Premise visitors for World Cup "plan to continue watching…even if USA got knocked out. This is primarily due to them enjoying the sport." More broadly, 2 in 5 US consumers "plan to visit the On-Premise to celebrate over Thanksgiving week."

Or at least so sez investment firm Jefferies following its Miami Consumer Conference where ABI, Diageo and Pernod all presented. "'Growth' and 'Beer' are not considered synonymous with one another amongst the analyst community largely given category headwinds in the US," firm wrote. There are those pesky US category headwinds again.

Add another to the raft of challengers to Boston Beer's surging Twisted Tea, this one with huge share in non-alc tea: AriZona. After successful test in Canada, AriZona Beverages is bringing AriZona Hard Premium Spiked Beverage to the States as malt-based 5% ABV play in big 22-oz cans augmented by multipacks of 12-oz slim cans. Its alc partner? None so far, with Long Island-based company producing it at its massive plant in NJ and moving it out to 4 initial markets via its captive DSD network. New line trickled out into NYC a coupla weeks ago, is hitting Florida now and will enter Chicago and Dallas shortly, said sales chief Lou Fabiano.

This week in 1989, AB execs were pushing back on notion that something was wrong with Budweiser, the King of Beers. Analysts had raised issue and Ad Age ran front page headline: "Budweiser's Sales Slipping," citing scanner trends. "The product is hardly in trouble," exec veep Mike Roarty told INSIGHTS. "Budweiser remains the envy of the industry because of its broad-based appeal and ability to remain contemporary with the new generation of drinkers…It's hardly sick…The deep discounting by major competitors contributed to the slowing of the entire premium segment," added Mike. Bud was nearly 2/3 of AB biz and ~26 share of US mkt, having grown an avg of 3.4% over previous 5 yrs. Just the year before, AB stopped talking about individual brands, switching focus to brand "families" instead. Bud ended up declining 1.2% in '89 and has not had an up year again in US since.