Striking a familiar theme, the NBWA's Lester Jones and Fintech's Eric Kiser played up what they see as the strength of on premise earlier today, praising recent advertising efforts for Miller Lite, Dos Equis, Heineken, Modelo and Ultra pushing for in-person occasions. They see occasions as the oppy for the industry to rebound from a 2025 that "didn't go well," citing a 3% fall in total on and off premise $$ sales to retailers from $68.9 bil in 2024 to $66.8 bil in 2025. Over same period, they said, on-premise $$ sales increased ~$300 mil up 2.6%, while off premise fell ~$2.3 bil, down 3.9% on approximately 85% of the volume.

Peet's Coffee this month is closing dozens of locations, all but one in core Bay Area, in move that may or may not be related to pending acquisition of parent JDE Peet's by Keurig Dr Pepper. In statement to Nation's Restaurant News, Peet's rep didn't offer much color beyond general statement that closures "reflect a broader effort to align our business with long-term growth priorities and current market conditions." As NRN noted, chain currently had already downsized from nearly 400 locations in pre-pandemic year 2019 to 255 by end of 2024.

Another brand that's barely a year old is stepping onto big Target stage, this time the maple-water-based Recoup hydration brand that boasts distinction of being first bev to sport regenerative organic certified seal. After successful test led to rollout in Sprouts natural chain last year, brand now is heading into Target on Feb 15, co indicated. Recoup also is concluding capital round to fund inventory build and activation to insure launch is sustained. Recoup also can be found in Erewhon and Jimbo's chains in SoCal, Raley's in NorCal and Wegmans on East Coast. Sprouts lately has been running a bogo deal themed to January resolutions period.

European juice co Prodalim is dialing up its Solos de-alcoholization and aroma capture tech with opening of dedicated plant in Valencia, Spain, with another said to be in the works for Calif. Solos (styled as SOLOS) employs patented Aroma Recovery System that Rotterdam-based Prodalim says was a decade in development to retain characteristic sensory profiles of low- and no-alc beers, wines and spirits. Prodalim entered space with 2022 acquisition of Munich-based FlavoLogic, which had developed the tech. The new site will support pilot-scale trials and white-label development, co announced. Solos tech apparently notched its first US win via launch of St Buena Vida NA wine last spring (BBI, May 29). The site planned for Calif - details haven't been revealed yet - will capitalize on growing awareness of process among US vintners. Prodalim has been expanding on other fronts too, including via acquisition of French bev flavor house Rene Laurent from IFF in Dec.

Even as its rival German discounter Aldi's explodes across US landscape, Lidl US has struggled to garner traction about a decade after it first planted stake in country. Now its CEO, Joel Rampoldt, has exited role, as Grocery Dive reported today, replaced on interim basis by chief customer officer Marco Giudici, who'd earlier led Romanian biz. Rampoldt, who'd been in role since 2023, is serving as advisor, the co confirmed to Grocery Dive. Rampoldt's predecessor, Michal Lagunionek, had had similarly short run, with Rampoldt stepping into role after serving as advisor via his role as managing dir at turnaround experts Alix Partners . . . Nowadays THC brand certainly is manning up for upcoming battle over legality of intoxicating ingredient. It's recruit former alc regulator Christopher Forster-Smith as dir of regulatory affairs, joining team that already includes Michelle Bodian as genl counsel & head of regulatory affairs. Christopher had spent past 8 years at Treasury Dept's Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) . . . InterContinental Beverage Capital has recruited 40-yr bev vet Jeff Colbert as partner, augmenting its operational expertise. Jeff most recently has been cofounder of Green Growth Beverage, which offers route-to-market consulting for early-stage and growth brands. His resume includes stops at Coca-Cola Enterprises, Molson Coors and its predecessor breweries, Heineken, Bacardi, Mast-Jägermeister and craft distilleries . . . Ryan Walsh has been elevated to vp of natl accts at fast-expanding Ryl Tea. The Big Geyser and AriZona alum, who seems to have started his career as a student intern at Body Armor a decade ago, had signed on with Ryl as key acct mgr in fall 2022 and already gotten a bump to field sales dir.

Looking to ride Trump administration's demands for greater transparency in food supply, Sen Dick Durbin has reintroduced a bill that requires dietary supplement marketers to register their items with the FDA. The move has support of major supplement lobbyist, Council for Responsible Nutrition, whose prexy/CEO Steve Mister argued that "consumers deserve to know what products are on the market and what they contain — and FDA needs that same information to do its job effectively," per announcement from office of Durbin, Illinois Democrat who serves as Senate whip. Also listed as backing bill are Consumer Federation of America, US Pharmacopeia, US Public Interest Research and supp maker Ritual. But it got stiff reception from Natural Products Assn, whose prexy/CEO Dan Fabricant - who formerly ran dietary supplement unit at FDA - decried it as "anti-MAHA."

A new group headlined by Total Wine and with bipartisan support in Congress has been formed to lobby the federal government for a 2-yr extension of its proposed Nov deadline to severely curtail the legal allowance of hemp-derived THC in bevs and to promote an alcohol-like 3-tier system in cannabev space. The Beverage Alcohol Merchants Coalition (Bamco) is comprised of Total Wine, Gopuff's acquired Bevmo chain, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and "a broad group of compliant hemp product wholesalers" and "supports applying the same structure that governs beverage alcohol producers, distributors and merchants operating under state oversight and federal guardrails to ensure safe, transparent access" to cannabevs, group co said in press release.

AB is putting out several teasers for its 60-second Michelob Ultra ad for the Super Bowl. In first clip, the ad "combines two of the biggest cultural moments in sports - the Super Bowl and the Olympic Winter Games," noted co. Titled, The Jump, viewers watch a skier named Greg on the slopes while Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim and Stanley Cup champion T.J. Oshie "watch in awe" and comment, "there's only one man who could've taught him that," thus setting up another character reveal to come.