CLEAN Cause Expands Distribution Across Its Home State
Sparkling Yerba Mate beverage brand CLEAN Cause has partnered with Silver Eagle Distribution to extend its reach throughout the Houston and San Antonio Texas region. Previously, the Austin-based brand primarily focused on expanding distribution efforts among West Coast retailers.
“What was so important about this deal was it was such a validation behind what we are trying to build. Silver Eagle is a big distributor and sparkling yerba mate is an ingredient that is still somewhat obscure and is just starting to gain momentum,” said CLEAN Cause founder and CEO Wes Hurt. “They saw the potential of the brand through the data and trends and were also able to identify the social impact of our brand – which will probably be driving consumer behavior for the rest of time.”
Hurt said he understands that Texas isn’t necessarily the first market an organic yerba mate beverage brand would target and is grateful that these distributors believe enough in what he has built to also recognize the mission behind the product. Fifty percent of all profits for CLEAN Cause go toward sober living funds and scholarships to help provide substance abuse treatment. So far the brand has donated over $1 million and more than 2,000 scholarships, according to Hurt.
When CLEAN Cause was established, Hurt began by building the brand’s own distribution center in Austin due to what he said was out of necessity. The company now ships product to over 10,000 stores through the network they built that stretches from Mexico to Canada, from their in-house center. By distributing in house the company is able to directly provide more job opportunities for individuals recovering from addiction.
“When you launch a brand and you are newly sober and you are claiming to give 50% of profits away and you are selling more expensive bottled water – nobody is really interested, understandably,” said Hurt. “We just said screw it. We put cases in the back of my energy-inefficient truck and started selling water door-to-door to retailers.”
Within the next six months CLEAN Cause plans to go through a “significant” Series B funding round to continue to scale their business. Hurt said he hopes to keep expanding with new distribution partnerships nationwide: “more distribution means more awareness and impact.”
REZ Hydration Expands to Publix Stores and Enters Powered Hydration Category
Seeking to reposition within the industry and mitigate the pandemic’s impact on its business, hydration drink brand REZ has introduced a new label to highlight the beverage’s immune boosting functionality. This branding shift unsuspectingly led to a distribution agreement with 500 Publix stores, said REZ CEO Larry Edigner.
Edinger had been working with a UNFI representative for years to get his product on Publix shelves, he said, when he received a large order through KeHE to distribute to the southeastern grocery store chain. He said once Publix saw the immune-support aspect of the brand they were eager to get it in stores.
“We always knew we had a lot of immune supporting ingredients, but immune support wasn’t something you wanted to put on a label prior to the pandemic. You would have sounded so supplemental by doing that,” said Edinger.
According to Edinger the brand’s “great taste with benefits” model is what makes the product stand out, especially in the convenience store channel nationwide.
“The reason we did so well in the Midwest was because their customer base was looking for healthier options, but they didn’t have one to offer,” said Edinger. “All their doors were committed to the Cokes, the Pepsis, the Red Bulls but people were looking for something fresh, new and exciting.”
REZ relaunched in 2018 as a hydration drink. The product had originally debuted as Sol-Core, a single SKU sports drink sold in high school vending machines. The drive to be a diabetic-friendly beverage was inspired by the daughter of Edinger’s business partner who has Type-1 diabetes.
REZ is available in over 2,000 stores nationwide and on Amazon. With the uptick in at-home shopping this past year, REZ has begun developing a powder stick line that will launch in the coming months. The powder sticks were developed to increase the brand’s c-store and D2C distribution presence and will be available in a variety of iced tea and lemonade based-flavors.
Fit Soda to be Carried in Over 100 Stores in Southwestern U.S.
Fit Soda will now be carried in over 100 Speedway stores across the Southwest. The national convenience store chain will carry all four flavors of the zero calorie carbonated soft drink from parent company Kios Beverage.
“Continued interest in our beverage products from well-known convenience, sports nutrition and grocery chains is great assurance that we are gaining traction in the functional beverages category,” said Kios Beverage Corps CEO, Chris Miller in a press release. “Industry trends are clearly shifting towards ‘seltzer’ type drinks with low/no sugar or calories, and the performance of Fit Soda to date seems to reflect positive reception of the product.”
The company is currently testing FitSoda’s performance in the Southwest and may pursue a regional expansion to Speedway stores in California, Ohio, New York and Indiana.
100 Coconuts Partners With Publix
Coconut water brand 100 Coconuts is set to expand to over 1,200 Publix locations throughout seven states this summer, the company announced this week. In addition, the product will enter 340 HEB locations in Texas, 50 Sprouts Farmers Market locations in California and chainwide at Erewhon Markets in the Los Angeles area.
“Our brand is focused on keeping everything we do authentic, from our coconut water in the package to our marketing and media partnerships,” said founder Gregory Lowe in a press release. “Our new retail partnerships with Erewhon, Publix, HEB and Sprouts allow us to bring the authentic taste and experience of real coconut water to new consumers in a number of influential markets.”
The company’s portfolio includes three RTD products: pure coconut water, plus coconut water with either tequila or CBD (20mg). The company launched on Amazon in February 2021 and is also available in stores at regional grocery store chains nationwide.
Dashfire RTD Cocktails and Hard Coffees
Dashfire has partnered with David Herman & Son Western Canadian Wine to bring its ready-to-drink hard coffees and cocktails to Alberta, Canada and British Columbia. The brand’s RTD portfolio consists of six cocktail offerings which come in 100ml cans (38% ABV) and three hard coffee varieties packaged in 200ml cans (14% ABV).
“We’re excited to be expanding Dashfire further north, and being based in Minnesota, that’s really saying something,” said co-owner Lee Egbert in a press release. “We’ve been working to have Dashfire available in Canada for quite a while now, and we are happy to have found a good partner in David Herman & Son.”
Sproud Now Available in Whole Foods Markets
Sproud, the Sweden-based plant-based milk brand, is now available in the shelf-stable non-dairy milk section at 65 Whole Foods locations across southern California. The split pea-based milk is also available at select Sprouts and Meijer locations in 33.8 oz. Tetra Pak cartons for $32.
Launched in Sweden in 2018, Sproud expanded throughout Europe and Canada and into the United States just last year. The brand is headquartered in Sweden with products for North American distribution produced by a Canada-based co-packer.
¡CACTUS! Organic Cactus Water Arrives at Raley’s
Organic cactus water brand ¡CACTUS! will now be available at the Raley’s supermarket chain across northern California and Nevada. Available in 12 oz. aluminum cans, ¡CACTUS! comes in papaya, lime and watermelon flavors and will be on the shelf at over 80 Raley locations.
“I am delighted that ¡CACTUS! is going to be on Raley’s shelves,” said Sarita Lopez, the brand’s founder. “I live and work in northern California and it’s gratifying that Raley’s is supporting a local company. I’m certain their customers and my neighbors will embrace our product once they discover the refreshing taste and amazing properties of our organic water.”
De La Calle Goes East
Tepache maker De La Calle will be carried in all 12 Foxtrot locations across Chicago, Dallas and Washington D.C. Foxtrot stores offer in-store pickup or delivery of the Mexican-inspired fermented beverage. Currently the product is carried in retailers across California and Hawaii as well as Mid-Atlantic Whole Foods stores.
Rise Gets Publix Premiere
Nitro-brewed RTD coffee brand Rise will now be on the shelf at all southeastern Publix stores. The canned coffee line is shelf stable for up to six months and contains 10 calories in each 7 oz. cans and retail for $29.99 per 12-pack. Rise is also available at select Walmart, Whole Foods, and Kroger locations in addition to Amazon.