Beer Marketer's Insights
Independent again after tortuous 7 years under Campbell Soup ownership, Bolthouse Farms is turning back the clock on biz execution - and hitting fast-forward on innovation. It's brought back much of pre-CPB team and launched 25 products in the 6 months it's been back, many of those items just getting ready to ship now, including aggressively priced functional shot line called Bolts. Some hard decisions also are being made, including discontinuance of cold-pressed juice line called 1915 whose branding harkened back to co's founding over a century ago, a victim of innovation deficit within a category that itself hasn't met expectations. Co is rebuilding field sales and merchandising teams to restore street-level execution that once was envy of segment. Restored team is hoping to ride wave of interest in plant-based foods and bevs under rubric of "plants powering people" that flows naturally out of co's history as major Calif grower that segued to finished products, as later innovators from POM Wonderful to Califia Farms have similarly done. For now, tho, taking things a step at a time, co isn't ready to undertake umbrella branding campaign, instead focusing on supporting individual lines via in-market activities and digital media, marketing vp AJ Bernstein said during discussion of new sku's yesterday in NY.
In item on Afri-Cola yesterday, we goofed on identifying principal of Real Soda, writing name of incubation specialist Danny Rubenstein when we really meant Danny Ginsburg.
One of earlier investments by Anheuser-Busch InBev's Zx unit, Owl's Brew, used presence at recent Fancy Food Show in SF to highlight lineup that dials up NY co's strong tea identity, on both alcoholic and non-alc fronts. What was original core line, tea-based cocktail mixers offered in 16-oz multiserve bottles, in past year undertook branding revamp that highlighted that they're "crafted with botanicals and tea" (organic tea at that) and highlighting that they work well for mocktails, not just alcoholic cocktails, in synch with sobriety trend that's been building momentum among younger consumers over past coupla years. Among new retail banners they've entered have been Publix and Harris Teeter in Southeast.
CSD sales slowed to a 0.3% gain (vs +1.1% for 12 wks) but avg prices edged higher to healthy 3.1% increase for 4 wks thru Jan 25 in Nielsen all-channel data, reported by Morgan Stanley's Dara Mohsenian. Note: for this data set we focus on sales rather than volume as "Nielsen made significant adjustments to EQ volumes," impacting food/household product categories, but "sales growth numbers are not impacted," as Dara noted to recipients. Diet CSD brands were up 2.9% while sales for full-calorie brands dropped 0.7%. Sales of Coca-Cola CSDs were up 3.2%, driven by solid avg price gain of 3.6% for 4 wks. KO diet brands trends edged higher to 4.2% sales gain and full-calorie brands gained 2.8% last 4 wks. PepsiCo CSD sales were down 3.1% (vs -1.7% for 12 wks) with an avg price increase of 2.1% for 4 wks. Keurig Dr Pepper sales fell from a 1.5% gain for 12 wks to a 0.2% decline with avg price gain of 3.1% last 4 wks. Decline for private-label brands more than doubled to -4.9% for 4 wks with avg price increase of 1.4%.
Alkaline88 marketer Alkaline Water Co reported 10% sales gain in its fiscal Q3 to record $8.5 mil in revenue, but backed off on its full-year revenue guidance because of placement lag at new authorizations, sending shares down in early trading today. Just a timing issue, emphasized ceo Ricky Wright, "no accounts were actually lost." Co that trades as WTER now is guiding its full-year revenues for fiscal 2020 to $39-41 mil range, including $750K to $1 mil of its new flavor extensions, down from $65 mil when it anticipated that its brisk growth would be augmented by $15 mil or so in sales from rival Aquahydrate, via merger that's now been called off. Still, "we're making great progress toward our stated goal of growing a national footprint," scoring retail growth in excess of 20% in slow seasonal quarter and starting fiscal Q4 up 30%, said ceo Ricky Wright. Meanwhile, it's setting stage for future growth by launching first flavor-infused extensions last Jun, recently intro'ing aluminum bottles as sustainability play and hanging out its shingle in CBD space with launch of topical beauty products via independently operating entity called A88 Infused Products Inc. They should be available online on Feb 20 and selling out of bricks & mortar stores within 90 days, Wright indicated. CBD bevs devised with supplier Centurion are ready to roll as soon as the regulatory coast is clear, as will be shots, tinctures, powders and other edible formats, he assured investors on call yesterday afternoon. So despite disappointments, qtr ended with "the most momentum we've ever had, more cash in the bank, more initiatives, more projects, more tailwinds," he declared.
Detroit-based Huron Capital said its Ronnoco coffee-&-tea platform has acquired Trident Beverage, which offers juice and frozen-bev dispensing equipment to foodservice customers. Deal marks 9th acquisition since Huron invested in co 8 years ago and further broadens its range of items. Houston-based Trident numbers Juice Alive and JavAlive among its portfolio brands. They augment Ronnoco brands like Ronnoco, Seattle Roast, Wild Horse Creek and Coffee House . . . Germany's Afri-Cola, which had been marketed in US by bev vet Steve Davis fresh off role building Australia's Bundaberg soda brand, has been flipped to Real Soda, the brand and distribution biz operated out of LA by Danny Rubenstein, Steve told us while working BOS rooibos booth at recent Fancy Food Show . . . California Milk Advisory Board, pushing its Real California Milk campaign, is opening "the world's first dairy dispensary" on Feb 22 on boutique-laden Abbott-Kinney Blvd in Venice, Calif, which already boasts a MedMen outlet. The popup stunt touts California-based dairy ("CBD," get it?) to "highlight the natural, mood-enhancing properties of California dairy foods as represented by varieties of cheese, micro-dosed butters, flavor-infused yogurts and rolled ice cream - all the TLC with zero THC or cannabis."
Baristas are storming the gate. Airport store operator OTG and Starbucks announced today that they'll be collaborating on "new experiential concepts and innovative technology" that expand hospitality reach throughout the terminals at airports like JFK, La Guardia and George Bush Intercontinental. "Locations will be thoughtfully placed and move throughout the airport depending on time of day, providing travelers a Starbucks experience at their gate upon departure or arrival," said announcement, which didn't offer any details on terms, timetable or implications for outside brands beyond platitudes about "frictionless" service and a "re-imagined Starbucks customer experience."
Fresh off strong showing on Shark Tank last month, nutritional smoothie marketer Genius Juice has been augmenting leadership team and has embarked on crowdfunding raise via Wefunder as it aims to build toward national retail presence and projected $5 mil in sales this year. Co has undertaken convertible note of up to $6 mil via platform, breaking $300K mark in past week, following Jan 19 Shark Tank appearance that led to $120K in online sales within a day. On show, Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran offered to invest $500K, but on Wefunder co said it opted not to do deal, preferring to take its chances via platform. Contacted today, founder Alex Bayer deferred any discussion of developments there until Expo West in a few weeks. A year ago he told us co was ready to seek bridge round of $1.2 mil, but apparently that didn't happen (BBI, Jan 15 2019).
"Bloodbath." That's word experts at MJBizDaily use to describe cannabiz prospects this yr in Golden State: "The California cannabis bloodbath of 2020 has begun"; "this year is all about survival"; "businesses are on the verge of collapse." That last one is from exec director of Calif Cannabis Industry Assn! As often noted in past year in BBI and its sibling letter Insights Express, from which this report is borrowed, high prices, red tape, a lag in licensing, lots of local community resistance and other factors really slowed cannabiz development in Calif and kept the black market thriving there. And "even more market contraction is likely," sez MJBiz Daily. Just a coupla details. One big Canadian co operating in state just announced closure of its distrib biz there to focus on cultivation. CEO of large medical cannabis firm MedMen stepped down "amid a financial hurricane that's left the company offering stock options as partial payment for delinquent bills." Thanks to its sleek retail buildouts, MedMen was drawing admiring comparisions to Apple not so long ago, recall.
With Adrenaline Shoc vaulting into spot among top 3 fitness energy brands in its original markets, Keurig Dr Pepper has now completed rollout of performance-energy partner brand thru all its bottler territory and most of its independent distribution partners. In Pac NW, where KDP partner Columbia Distributing is longtime Red Bull house, A Shoc had to find other partners, mainly indie Pepsi bottlers, and through workarounds like that A Shoc now is ready in all but a few slivers of territory to support rollouts commencing at retail partners like Kroger, reported prexy Scot De Lorme. "Bit of a patchwork," he said, in contrast to prior launches from entrepreneur Lance Collins like Core Water where pretty much entire system was able to embrace new brand.