Kroger Co officially announced that rumored buyout of rival Albertsons is happening. Deal for $24.6 bil ($34.10 per share) is "one of biggest deals in the history of the grocery industry," noted Wall Street Journal, but "could face a long road ahead, as antitrust enforcers have challenged some mergers under the Biden administration." Kroger has more than 2,700 stores, including Fred Meyer and Ralph's chains, while Albertsons has ~2,300 locations including Safeway and Vons chains. The newly combined co would have ~13 share of food retail sales in US, trailing Walmart at 22 share, per JP Morgan.

Beer $$ grew consistently and volume improved thruout Q3 in off-premise scans. Total beer $$ up 2%, volume -3% for latest 12 wks thru Oct 2 in IRI multi-outlet + convenience data. So beer $$ down just 0.3% and volume -5% YTD. While $$ lookin' better, that's still a 4.5-mil-bbl drop thru 9 mos in tracked off-prem channels that account for over half of total US beer industry volume.

Montreal-based Davids Tea reported progress on 2 key fronts, its renewed focus on retail in Canada after broad retreat a coupla years ago as well as its push into CPG sector. On retail front, it said its plans have been accelerated "by an increased footprint within its store-in-store concept," building on initiative that started at Rexall chain and since added London Drugs and Neighbourly, while showcasing expanded assortment of teas. As for CPG push, co is bullish on intro of new "fully compostable" individually wrapped tea sachet bag format. Items started working way throughout wholesale channel in Canada last month. New pkging "not only demonstrate we continue to make the necessary investments in product development to grow the market for specialty teas and elevate our brand, but that we are dedicated to leading the tea industry by example when it comes to sustainability," said Sarah Segal ceo and chief brand officer. As BBI reported last month (

In once embracing, now brutal public markets for emerging food/bev companies, Laird Superfood has bowed to the inevitable, saying it will end its commitment to self-manufacturing its wide-ranging array of product platforms in interest of greater efficiency. Sisters, Ore-based co founded by big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton and his volleyball-ace wife Gabrielle Reece said it's entered copacker deal to outsource production of its powdered creamers and hydration items, at cost of shuttering its integrated plant in Sisters by year-end. "This strategic pivot to an outsourced manufacturing model will significantly improve our financial profile by reducing fixed overhead and simplifying our business, enabling us to focus on maximizing our commercial growth potential," said prexy/ceo Jason Vieth, food vet who replaced Hamilton's friend and biz partner Paul Hodge in ceo role as pressure intensified on LSF, which trades on NY Stock Exchange. "Increasing gross margin is a strategic imperative for Laird Superfood and this is an important step towards our committed long-term target of 35%. While we've made considerable progress on commercial and operational initiatives over the past several quarters, ongoing challenges in the macro environment make the shift to third-party manufacturing an essential move in order to be more responsive to our customer demand while fully aligning our cost structure with the current state of the business." The move will cost the jobs of 46 employees, per gov't filings reported by Portland Biz Jnl. Layoffs will begin Dec 12 and wrap up in Jan, with full closure anticipated by Dec 31. The co had been scrambling to find way to make model work but sales decline in Q2 exacerbated task (BBI, Aug 11). Its gross margin contracted to 18.2% from 23.8%.

Bang Energy marketer VPX Sports, which now is navigating bankruptcy process in wake of adverse lawsuits and unwinding of Pepsi alliance, has brought in longtime PepsiCo and Coke-system exec as coo. Appointment of Kathy Cole, who reports directly to founder/ceo Jack Owoc, appears to have taken some employees by surprise, but she'll offer a new face not involved in trial testimony and potentially will serve as assurance to outside investors who might be considering throwing a lifeline to suddenly struggling company. Co will be assembling its first board of directors, too, we hear, presumably to facilatate outside fund-raising process. Cole spent 14 years at megabottler Coca-Cola Enterprises before heading to PepsiCo/Frito-Lay for 14 years, then landed at Harvest Sherwood Food Distributors in Jan 2020. "With nearly three decades of high-level food and beverage experience and a proven track record in operational leadership, Kathy Cole is uniquely qualified to build upon Bang Energy's success and seamlessly integrate supply chain, distribution, operations, sales, and finance," per statement from Jack. "We are confident that Kathy's skills and longtime industry relationships will fuel Bang Energy's strategic growth as we transition to a 100% vertically operated decentralized distribution model." For her part, Kathy said she was enticed by opportunity to play a part in "a true David vs Goliath story." All other execs will now report to her. As for the recently filed bankruptcy protection, parties were anticipated to be in court this afternoon vetting claim, presumably including Goliaths like Monster Beverage and PepsiCo.

Kroger could announce deal to acquire rival grocer Albertsons this week, Wall Street sources have told CNBC and other outlets today. Shares of Albertsons, which controls Safeway banners, jumped and were briefly halted this morning after news that the companies are deep in talks. All-cash deal could be announced by tomorrow, sources told CNN. It's not clear at this stage whether transaction might raise hackles of Justice Dept that's made antitrust a key concern with moves to throttle deals in other categories.

"The 3-tier system is being threatened," August Busch III warned by "disruption of transshipment," this week in 1981. "Transshipment is fast becoming the number one issue" that is "pitting wholesaler against brewer." "For those people in this biz who doubt that brewers want to stop transshipping, this statement should end all doubt," wrote INSIGHTS. "While we realize the transshipment problem is essentially a problem generated by wholesalers and threatening the well-being of wholesalers, it can have a devastating effect on the brewer," added August.

Looking at alcohol "purely through the medicalized lens" generally shows a pretty negative picture, one offered by public health advocates and endorsed by WHO, which put the alc bev biz in a "kind of defensive crouch" for years. But that ignores far too much, explained Dr Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way into Civilization, during discussion at Beer Institute meeting in Chicago yesterday. If there's truly "no safe level" of alcohol consumption and it's only harmful, on a large, long-term evolutionary level, Drunk asks "why do we continue to want to consume this very dangerous substance?" The answers may help explain why drinking plays such an important cultural role in so many societies, but "we've been very inarticulate about" those reasons, something his book, in part, aims to correct, Slingerland said.