Easy on the palate with sparkling formulations, packed in convenient cans and priced more approachably than kombucha, so-called gut pops have been making a claim to sourcing some of their consumers directly from CSDs. Now biz analyst at refrigerated Olipop brand is offering some evidence that they are at one key retail partner, Walmart. In recent post, former NielsenIQ and SPINS employee Laura Papili, who joined Olipop last Nov, offered Numerator data that suggested that in most recent 12 weeks, Olipop shoppers there had reduced their share of purchases of traditional soda by 5%. Doing the math, she estimated that this shift "has already removed over 27.5 mil grams of sugar from Walmart customers' diets." Olipop contains 2-5 g of sugar per 12-oz can vs 39 g in a can of Coca-Cola Original.

Toronto-based Organic Traditions has undertaken extensive expansion of the powdered Instant Mushroom Coffee it launched with a single sku 3 years ago. At recent Expo East in Philadelphia, the company unveiled a rebranding and expansion of line to 4 sku's now. Focus Fuel entry that inaugurated line, offering 75 mg boost of caffeine, now has been augmented with Mocha, Dirty Chai and Endurance Fuel versions. The entries all use substantial amounts of chaga, cordyceps, lion's mane, reishi and turkey tail mushrooms to tune of 1,000 mg total, along with ashwagandha, maca and ginger in various entries. The shrooms are sourced in China, but only those grown outdoors in proper substrates, as booth staffers emphasized. Thanks to sweetener blend of monk fruit and erythritol, calorie count comes in at range of 35-70 per serving. Endurance Fuel offers 135 mg caffeine lift. SRP is $19.99 per 10-serving pouch. Concept is similar to that popularized by Laird Superfood, except that Laird item is creamer added to coffee while this one includes organic coffee, too.

Austin-based Pod Foods, which has shaken up distribution biz with its data-driven B2B wholesale marketplace, has recruited trio of senior execs as it expands national presence. In as vp of biz development is Peter Gialantzis, a 6-year vet of broadliner KeHe, where he worked on fresh, exclusive-brands and ecomm businesses. Before that he was founding member of Boulder-based Lucky's Market, where he served as chief merchandising officer, and spent 12 years at Whole Foods, including stints on coffee and wine segments. Peter explained his move this way: "We've reached a post-Covid inflection point where the lines between traditional 'channels' and 'categories are permanently blurred, which is a good thing. When I looked into the future of who was best positioned to connect these new paths between producer to consumer, it looked a whole lot like what Pod Foods is building." Also aboard are Boxed vet Ankit Patel as coo and Google, Amazon and Walmart Labs machine-learning expert Timothy Wee as chief technical officer.

Riding pair of price hikes taken over past year, Atkins shakes and Quest bars marketer The Simply Good Foods Co enjoyed 5.5% net sales lift to $274.2 mil, despite 4% volume decline. That brought full-year sales up 16.2%, to $1.17 bil. Sales in core N Amer market grew 6.4% with the Atkins shakes up 5.5% at retail, driven by solid growth in food and club channels. But Int'l sales weakened by 16.6% due to exit from Europe, tho rest of overseas biz was flat. For Q4, operating income rose 6.6% to $43.53 mil. Among noteworthy developments flagged on investor call this morning, ceo Joe Scalzo said both brands garnered enhanced presence in Walmart resets for this fall, at time he believes retailers seeking traffic-driving products are moving to bigger brands and "away from shiny objects." On pricing front, co has taken pair of overlapping increases of 8%, one a year ago, and another this past Aug/Sep, and is carefully monitoring shopper response. The results reported today beat Street's expectations and shares were up nearly 10% in trading late this afternoon.

Tho lawsuit over Iowa-based Exile Brewing's Ruthie beer has been moving thru courts for 2+ yrs, that case is now headed to trial next fall, after a mediator failed to resolve the dispute. Recall, that beer is named after Des Moines bartender Ruthie Bisignano, who's been deceased for decades but was famed for balancing beers on her bosom. Her estate sued Exile Brewing for unpermitted use of Ruthie's persona (see June 10, 2020 issue), and in June, parties agreed to mediation by a former fed judge. But attys for both sides informed the ct that process "was unsuccessful in resolving any issue in the case," reports Des Moines Register. So case now headed toward trial next fal

Trio of Washington state brewers and an Oregon consumer responded to OR's motion to dismiss their federal lawsuit with a new complaint early this mo. Proposed amended complaint adds 6 other commissioners of state liquor & cannabis commission (OLCC) as defendants, joining chair of commission, state atty genl and governor. Recall, in motion to dismiss filed last mo, state attys essentially argued that plaintiffs sued the wrong folks, that gov and AG were immune from suit and chair of commission can't act alone (see Sep 30 issue). Top state officials rightfully named, plaintiffs pushed back early this mo. And proposed amended complaint, if accepted, fixes the other problems, they say, arguing suit should continue. While advocates seek to expand the number of states allowing direct shipment by out-of-state brewers (and distillers), much of the action continues to be legislative. But this suit, if successful, raises potential for others, taking different route to similar outcome.

After AB & Sheehan distrib Beechwood Sales snagged sponsorship of Milwaukee Bucks' Fiserv Forum over the summer (see 7/29 issue of INSIGHTS Express), the arena unveiled new beer selection offering plenty of craft options to go along with AB mainstays. It'll be the only NBA stadium to serve New Glarus' Spotted Cow, notes Milwaukee Biz Jnl, also featuring local craft brewers such as Third Space, 3 Sheeps and Central Waters. Among "capital intensive renovations" were 3 anchor bars within main concourse, plus several new bars including the "ULTRA Club located in the Upper Concourse, the Still by Cutwater, Kona Bar and 12 Point Taproom." Expect an "expanded presence of craft beers from Beechwood," Third Space co-founder Andy Gehl told On Milwaukee separately, adding that "we're really excited for the opportunity to get our brand in front of tens of thousands of fans every game with our brand spread throughout the arena."

When Paul Verdu resigned as veep of Molson Coors' Tenth & Blake unit to take prexy position at Wisconsin Brewing Co (WBC), he hinted there'd be some "brand strategy work" ahead. Now he's making good on that promise, with all WBC beers set to be rebranded next yr under the Lake Louie label, the fellow WI-based brewer that co acquired back in 2019. Moving WBC beers under Lake Louie brand umbrella "eliminates working with more than one distributor in each sales region," while putting all products in a single portfolio "could help better position WBC brands that struggled to gain traction in the crowded craft beer market," Paul told the paper. Strategy shift also includes new design to be rolled out for Lake Louie. But move primarily aims to "help WBC better focus on its growing contract business," as well as planned expansion in coming yrs that "could double annual production to 100,0000 barrels in 2023 and even more beyond," Wisc St Jnl reports.

Boston Beer improved in Q3 overall, including Sam Adams shipments growth for the qtr and depletions off just low-singles, co shared in quarterly earnings call. Yet tuff Dogfish Head shipments and depletions declines continued, leading Boston to take a $27.1 mil non-cash impairment charge on the Dogfish Head brand. After analysis conducted as of Sep 1, the charge "primarily based on the latest forecasts of brand performance…below our projections made on the acquisition date," co stated. Join the club. At this point, very few larger craft brewer acquisitions have made for a solid return on investment, and acquiring cos more often hadda write down big chunks of value.