Beer Marketer's Insights
Expected positions and postures dominated last week's annual stakeholder meeting for the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD). Government officials reviewed familiar data and offered the usual commitments to collaboration, while the public comment period featured starkly opposing views from industry leaders and members of the advocate community. But the meeting also hinted at some of the ways that government efforts around alcohol — and especially work by ICCPUD — are closely tied to those advocates, including vocal critics of the industry.
Alcohol may still be the most commonly-used substance by American high school students, but self-reported past 30-day consumption declined again in 2023, the latest results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey show. Conducted by the CDC every 2 years, YRBS tracks a variety of adolescent behaviors from substance use and sexual behavior to mental health and violence. For both substance use and sexual risk behaviors, "10-year trends are continuing to improve," authors summarized. That includes a 37% drop in any reported drinking in the past month, from 35% in 2013 to 22% in 2023. But "almost all other indicators of health and well-being in this report worsened," according to the CDC. Ref 1
Cannabis Player Tilray Tilts Further to Alcohol Side with Pickup of 4 Molson Coors Craft Castaways
There was a time Tilray corporate name was synonymous with cannabis. Yet even as it preps hemp-based Delta-9 line for launch soon, co continues to add to its assets on alcohol side. Almost exactly one year since announcing its acquisition of a slew of (mostly struggling) Anheuser-Busch craft brands, Tilray Brands is buying another bunch of castaways, this time from Molson Coors. Deal for Hop Valley, Terrapin, Revolver and Atwater craft brands will add another ~2.5 mil cases to Tilray's mix, CEO Irwin Simon and prexy Ty Gilmore shared this morn with our sibling newsletter Insights Express, claiming it'll bump Tilray above the 1-mil-bbl mark to around 15 mil cases/yr. That'd put it pretty much neck-and-neck with Sierra Nevada. Co will also pick up 4 more brewing facilities in Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Mich, along with 7 additional taprooms. So Tilray will operate a total of 10 production facilities and 20 taprooms across a whopping 16 brand families: SweetWater, Montauk, Green Flash, Alpine, 10 Barrel, Breckenridge, Shock Top, Widmer, Redhook, Blue Point, Square Mile Cider, Hiball Energy, Hop Valley, Terrapin, Revolver, Atwater.
Quest for novelty is sending bevcos chasing tie-ins with Oreo Cookies, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and some dude named Hershkowitz. Details:
When Jason Vieth took reins of struggling Laird Superfood, turnaround was far from a sure bet. In worsening retail and finance climate, the Sisters, Ore-based co was enduring a meltdown of its self-manufacturing structure, even as ecomm sector where it had gotten started was proving less hospitable to early-stage bevcos. Or way more expensive, anyway.
In many ways, Lifeway Foods is performing in exemplary way for bevco: scoring big sales gains on strength of its core kefir brand, not ancillary entries or private-label, and on volume more than pricing. But nearly 50% spike in share price today likely can be attributed in part to another factor beyond solid Q2 released this morning by CEO Julie Smolyansky: move by her mother and brother to launch a boardroom coup that will remove her and rest of co's leadership.
For all its rhetoric about third places, Starbucks essentially is a fast casual restaurant chain - tho not fast enough to suit all its customers these days. So it wasn't a stretch that in surprise change at the top the SBUX board reached out to Chipotle CEO to succeed the ex-consultant and PepsiCo exec who'd fumbled the role in his 16 mos in hot seat. Brian Niccol, who's presided over 800% share gain in his 6 years at Chipotle, as SBUX heralded to its beleaguered investors, will succeed Laxman Narasimhan on Sep 9, news that prompted relief rally that restored as much as $30 bil to SBUX market capitalization in trading today. Starbucks announcement didn't offer any reason that Laxman is "stepping down" and simply thanked him for having "improved the Starbucks partner experience, drove significant innovation in our supply chain, and enhanced our store operations." But handpicked successor to Howard Schultz had quickly lost confidence of the board, of activist investors Elliott Management and of Schultz himself as he responded to co's array of problems with corporate platitudes about his action plan and bogo offers. SBUX exec chair Mellody Hobson told Wall St Jnl this morning that co had been discussing leadership change for 2 mos and only brought Schultz into the loop about a week ago, when he met with Niccol and approved. Statement from Schultz declared, "His retail excellence and track record in delivering extraordinary shareholder value recognizes the critical human element it takes to lead a culture and values driven enterprise. I believe he is the leader Starbucks needs at a pivotal moment in its history. He has my respect and full support." Hobson insisted to WSJ that the activist investors who've lately taken stakes in co weren't involved in deliberations to recruit Niccol, but they seemed happy enough with outcome. Elliott released statement that "we view today's announcement as a transformational step forward for the company." Starbucks CFO Rachel Ruggeri, a 23-yr vet, will take CEO reins until Niccol commences role. Narasimhan departs his board seat too. Hobson said she's sure "he will do great things in the future." Just not on Utah Ave South in Seattle.
Almost exactly one year since announcing its acquisition of a slew of (mostly struggling) AB craft brands, Tilray is buying another bunch of craft brands that have seen better days, this time from Molson Coors! The deal will add another ~2.5 mil cases to Tilray's mix, CEO Irwin Simon and prexy Ty Gilmore shared this morn, claiming it'll bump Tilray above the 1 mil-bbl mark to around 15 mil cases/yr. That'd put it pretty much neck-and-neck with Sierra Nevada. Co will also pick up 4 more brewing facilities in OR, GA, TX, and MI, along with 7 additional taprooms. So Tilray will operate a total of 10 production facilities and 20 taprooms across a whopping 16 brand families: SweetWater, Montauk, Green Flash, Alpine, 10 Barrel, Breckenridge, Shock Top, Widmer, Redhook, Blue Point, Square Mile Cider, HiBall Energy, Hop Valley, Terrapin, Revolver, Atwater.
Don't miss this definitive guide to the growing world of ready-to-drink alc bevs. For the first time ever, Beer Marketer's INSIGHTS is compiling key stats across beer, wine and spirits RTDs in one comprehensive digital report. Dive deep into this rapidly developing subsegment with data that details: all-channel volume estimates for RTD alc bevs in the USfrom 2019-2023; top RTD suppliers, brands and segments in 2023, plus latest developments in the 1st half; a historical look at FMB/Seltzer/Cider shipments vs Total Beer since 1999; crossover brands and RTD partnerships since the early 2000s; a map and analysis of legal/legislative playing field at state levels; review of the latest developments in delta 9/THC bevs; and more! A digital version of the completed report will be sent once available September 10.
Sam Adams brand family down 8% yr-to-date in NIQ data thru Aug 3, while total Boston Beer down 5%. But in last 4 weeks that's somewhat reversed, Sam Adams down 5%, slightly better than total Boston Beer, -6%. Boston Beer is still having supply chain issues, as it mentioned on conference call.