Beer Marketer's Insights
Dunkin' continues to lead - or maybe it's follow - its consumers into new coffee territory, joining extreme caffeine movement this week with Extra Charged Coffee, inaugurating first of what's to be Limited Batch Series of special blends and retiring its 6-year-old Dark Roast in favor of even more intense Dunkin' Midnight.
A metaphor I've encountered frequently in reading assessments of the thankfully concluding 2020 is "dumpster fire." Yes, it was a grim year, given a pandemic worsened by our government's incoherent response, a fractious presidential election that highlighted how polarized Americans have become and the equally polarizing protests for racial justice in the streets of our cities and suburbs. But it brought out acts of heroism and generosity - it's certainly hard to look at too-often-invisible healthcare workers the same way now - and a great degree of resilience among the quieter Americans not seen on TV parading guns around state capitol grounds or ransacking Best Buy stores.
Steve Collette, who parlayed 31 years of experience in pickle biz into key role building out Pickle Juice brand starting in 2007, is retiring. Collette entered pickle biz fresh out of college in 1976 and, with his wife, acquired Goldin Pickle Co foodservice player in 1996, ultimately selling out in 2007. It was at that point he joined Pickle Co, where he led design and construction of 66K-sq-ft plant in Mesquite, Tex, that doubled capacity but already has been outgrown by fast-expanding brand. "My journey in the pickle industry has been quite a ride, and the 2 partners that succeed me are supremely qualified to carry this business forward," said Collette, referring to owner Brandon Brooks and global sales & marketing vp Filip Keuppens. "This year, Pickle Juice outgrew the current facility we built just 3 years ago, a testament to our potential for expansion throughout the US and in new countries. The future of this company is very bright." He'll remain in Dallas area in his retirement.
What does anti-obesity policy look like in top-down gov't? After concluding that exercise alone is insufficient to combat rising levels of obesity, Chinese gov't has inaugurated initiative called Healthy China 2030 that would punish social media influencers who make money by posting videos of themselves eating too much food online with fines of up to $15,300, and require restaurants to offer a variety of portion sizes, per draft law submitted for review last week that was disclosed by China News Service and reported by NY Times. Moves come as obesity has displaced malnourishment as a health scourge in China, compounded by greater vulnerability overweight people have to coronavirus. And sugar-sweetened bevs are squarely in sights of policymakers seeking solution. "The frequent consumption of sugary beverages by children and adolescents has presented itself as a prominent problem," declared Li Bin, deputy dir of National Health Commission, in news conference last week. By now, 19% of kids age 6-17 are deemed to be overweight or obese. Under Healthy China 2030 program, officials will encourage food makers to produce snacks and bevs that are low in fat and sugar, per Zhao Wenhua, chief nutritionist at China's Center for Disease Control.
Right at end of yr, Molson Coors Bev Co sent a boatload of communications to distribs re its emerging non-alc biz. Those include a new distribution agreement redlined to show the changes, a letter from vp for distrib network development Jeff Agasse explaining changes, revised distributor standards for NAs and a sample product data sheet. Then too, Natl Beer Wholesalers' Assn ceo Craig Purser sent a communique to all Molson Coors distribs about changes and extensive discussions NBWA had with Molson Coors that led to improvements in contract. Among them: "An express acknowledgement that distributors have an ownership interest in the distribution rights to the products, and those rights can be sold or assigned, subject to Molson Coors' consent, which cannot be unreasonably withheld," per Craig. Here are some key changes and issues.
US govt's much-anticipated update to Dietary Guidelines for Americans released today stuck with status quo on sugar, urging consumers to limit their added-sugar intake to less than 10% of their total calories per day rather than incorporating their scientific advisory committee's rec that figure be cut to 6%. Among other highlights, they offered strong endorsement of dairy as key component of nutrient-dense diet but retained emphasis on reduced-fat options rather than embracing recent research heralding beneficial role dairy fats can play. Guidelines jointly assembled every half decade by USDA and Dept of Health & Human Services were released on webcast this morning and were notable for how often every speaker used the word "science," given outgoing administration's often-expressed hostility to scientists and the evidence they produce. In most respects they followed advisory committee's findings and contained few surprises in urging Americans to tilt their diets to nutrient-rich meals under the rubric "Make every bite count," while keeping wary eye on consumption of sodium, sugar, saturated fat and alcohol. They're available at DietaryGuidelines.gov.
If a key brand priority is to always be stirring the pot, Bang Energy pulled it off in spades this past weekend by deploying a money cannon at event of conservative student org Turning Point USA in Fla that Washington Post decried as superspreader event. "Nothing says worshipping Jesus and the need to live out the Word at the same conference you drag out a money cannon with Bang girls," fumed conservative activist Curtis Houck of Sat event at Palm Beach County convention center. It followed gala on Fri night at Trump club Mar a Lago, both events deemed to be in blatant violation of pandemic-precautionary regs, as Post scolded in lengthy piece here. At the event, as videos show, Bang creator Jack Owoc and flock of Spandex-attired female brand ambassadors blasted cash into cheering crowd of college and HS students, to wildly varying reactions cited by WaPo. "Yes, that's a money gun cause we (heart) capitalism!" per self-styled TPUSA ambassador Emily Sturge on Instagram. She was countered by Houck, who fumed on Twitter: "THIS is what we're supposed to believe is the future of the conservative movement and Republican Party? . . . Don't talk about Jesus and faith and family then pull this c---." So Bang successfully wedged its way into yet another news cycle, following MO of US president whom Owoc much admires.
PepsiCo's experimentation with its core CSD continues - this time with a tweak of its archrival - with plans to offer a Pepsi "Cocoa" Cola that adds hot chocolate and marshmallow cues. (Their quote marks in brand name - did the co's lawyers make them do that?) Tweet last week from Pepsi test kitchen promised that 2,021 retweets would be enough to induce it to run the extension - a hurdle that seems to have been easily crossed the same day. It's due in winter and comes on heels of a Thanksgiving-oriented giveaway of 2,000 2-liter bottles of a Pepsi Apple Pie flavor. (Never too late to reprise a good idea, as reader reminded us with a wink in reminiscing about Thanksgiving-themed Snapple Pie flavor that then-indie brand forayed 18 years ago.) Pepsi Apple Pie was flagged on social media as offering "hints of warm cinnamon, buttery crust and fresh apple" . . . Bananamilk marketer Mooala has launched keto-friendly Keto Mylk employing coconut milk base and boasting just 1 g of net carbs, no sugar and 5 MCTs per serving. New line unusually is being offered in both refrigerated and shelf-stable versions, in Cinnamon Roll, Chocolatey Chip, Vanilla Crème and Original flavors. Dallas-based co is offering new line in shelf-stable 33.8-oz cartons and refrigerated 48-oz bottles chainwide at Sprouts, with retailers like Wegmans, Whole Foods and Safeway/Albertsons coming aboard early next year . . . As dairy alternatives continue to invade even the eggnog aisle for the holidays, German-owned Aldi chain is bringing back a RTD altnog under its Friendly Farms banner in 32-oz carton. Consumers surveyed by Delish website characterized the Almond Nog as closely mimicking taste of authentic egg-based nogs but having thinner consistency, a positive to some.
Another Italian-sourced plantmilk brand is crashing onto US shores. NJ-based Panos Farms has brought out a Better Than Milk line of organic plantmilks in initial range of 5 initial flavors: Unsweetened Almond Drink, Almond Drink, Unsweetened Oat Drink, Unsweetened Rice + Calcium Drink and Rice Hazelnut Drink. Better Than Milk's Italian connection is the use of spring water sourced high in Lessini Mountains in Northern Italy; we recently profiled another new entry, Koita, that employs Vesuvian-grown almonds, oats and soybeans in its plantmilks (BBI, Sep 22). Priced at $3.99 per 1-liter carton, Better Than Milk is breaking at retailers like Jewel-Osco, Erewhon Market, Woodman's Fresh Market, Buehler's Fresh Foods and Pete's Fresh Market as well as on Amazon. The cartons are claimed to be FSC-certified and to employ sugarcane-based plastic caps. Parent co Panos has taken its name from Greek word for torch, but also styles name as acronym for "premium, authentic, natural, organic and specialty" foods including Andrew & Everett rBGH-BST hormone-free cheeses, KA-ME Asian food items, Sesmark crackers and MI-DEL cookies, the latter being used as merchandising partner of Better Than Milk . . . South Mill Champs, mushroom grower that's been edging into bevs (BBI, Jun 28 2019), has released line of powdered functional coffees dubbed Shrooms Mushroom Coffee Blend. The instant drink mixes are being offered in 10-unit boxes in 3 initial flavors: Be Well Reishi + Coffee, Energize Cordyceps + Coffee and Focus Lion's Mane + Coffee. They use organic Arabica coffee, 20-40 mg of beta glucan for immunity boost and 125 mg of reishi, 185 mg of cordyceps and 217 mg of lion's mane, respectively. They're part of a rush of functionally fortified coffees hitting the market this year, both in RTD and powdered varieties.
New trend of IPOs by early-stage cos and use of SPAC vehicles (special-purpose acquisition co's) as backdoor into public status may have engendered some debate on Wall Street as to whether they're overstimulating already-frothy capital markets, but panel at Nosh Live virtual event generally lauded trend as offering helpful counterbalance to strategics and private-equity players that early-stage brands have heavily relied upon. Topic was part of lively discussion hosted by Nosh editor Carol Ortenberg that included the increasingly familiar exhortation for young brands to have at least a path to profitability in mind and an interesting digression into whether, and how, young food cos should herald new capital rounds.