New Wave Soda Goes Nationwide with Kroger
Better-for-you CSD brand New Wave Soda is going national.
The brand is currently available in about 2,000 stores nationwide and expects to be in roughly 8,000 doors by the end of the year, founder and CEO Nat Noone said. The company has most recently expanded its presence in Kroger stores in Arizona and the Pacific Northwest, Northwest and Southeast markets. The Kroger partnership covers 747 stores, including 78 Fry;s locations, 116 Fred Meyer accounts and 57 GFC’s. As well, New Wave is branching out into the Midwest by partnering with Meadowlark Distributing in Missouri. New retailers in the Midwest including Heinen’s, Woodman’s, Jewel, Meijer, SpartanNash, Buehler’s and Busch’s.
“We got into Publix at the end of the year, which is huge. And then to get Kroger on top of it, it brings us into that national footprint,” Noone said. “We had a lot of regional partnerships that were doing really well, but now to have one that crosses the full country is huge for us.”
In 2019, New Wave — often referred to as simply Wave Soda — received investment from Anheuser Busch InBev’s investment arm ZX Ventures. According to Noone, the relationship has given the brand access to the AB DSD network and will service much of the Kroger expansion through them, including Arizona-based The Hensley Group. The company anticipates it will add at least 10 new AB distributors throughout the rest of 2021.
Founded in 2017, New Wave Soda makes a line of low-calorie, fruit-flavored sodas containing 15-25 calories per can. The line is available in Apple, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cucumber, Grapefruit, Mango and Tangerine varieties and Noone said the brand is looking to add additional flavors in the near future.
Last year, New Wave — like the vast bulk of CPG brands during the pandemic — quickly increased its focus on ecommerce. According to Noone, the brand had an almost nonexistent online business at the start of 2020, but after launching a direct-to-consumer store and focusing on its Amazon store ecommerce now accounts for roughly a third of the brand’s overall revenue.
Now, as the country nears a full reopening, Noone said the brand is using what it learned from selling online in its brick-and-mortar retail strategy.
“Probably our biggest takeaway is that we can target digital ads to zip codes or cities to reinforce our launches within conventional retail, which I wouldn’t have done or known to do pre-COVID, because we were so locked into the old school ways of doing things with coupons and field support and print ads,” Noone said. “So to be able to go full circle and take the digital back into brick-and-mortar has been awesome.”
The digital success has also helped the company to secure new accounts, he added, noting that in addition to filling a white space in the CSD category as a soda with no added sugars or sweeteners the brand can also showcase its online sales and digital campaigns during pitch meetings.
To support the brand’s growth, New Wave has added five new full time employees and will now work to expand its field sales and marketing team throughout the country.
“It is a turning point year,” Noone said. “The early days of being a local San Diego brand, that kind of grind with me driving the truck where we’re getting a store here, a store there felt great. It’s now the game’s up. Now we’ve got a division of Kroger, now we’ve got a division of Publix, Stop and Shop just expanded our distribution — those are the wins that we’re starting to stack now. So it is definitely exciting to watch it happen.”
Lemon Perfect Builds Out DSD
Cold-pressed lemon water brand Lemon Perfect is doubling down on DSD as it seeks to grow its retail footprint to 15,000 doors nationwide by the end of the year.
The California-based brand, founded in 2017 by CEO Yanni Hufnagel, announced this week that it has added several new distributors — including Columbia Distributing in the Pacific Northwest, Polar Beverages in the Northeast, and Honickman Group in the mid-Atlantic — since April. Lemon Perfect is currently available in about 10,000 stores and has also received new authorizations in Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, 7-Eleven and Sprouts.
Speaking to BevNET, Hufnagel said the company expects to report four-digit growth in 2021 and now aims to convert its entire distribution model to DSD by the end of next year.
In March, Lemon Perfect brought on beverage industry veteran Brian Arkus as SVP of field sales and distribution to oversee the brand’s DSD expansion. Arkus came to the company from CELSIUS, where he served as VP of field sales and distribution, and has previously held positions at High Brew Coffee, Vita Coco and Red Bull.
“No one in beverage has found real liquidity any other way than direct store delivery, and we’re not going to try to rewrite the rules,” Hufnagel said. “So we brought in the guy to help us go do that.”
Last month, Lemon Perfect hired another CELSIUS alum, Randy Smith, as its SVP of retail sales and added former Amazon human resources manager Chastity Harper as director of people and culture.
Hufnagel said Lemon Perfect has tightened its retail strategy to focus on disrupting the enhanced water category, a set he called “sleepy” with overreliance on decade-old brands like Vitaminwater, Bai and Hint. Hufnagel believes his brand can disrupt the space through its emphasis on using real fruit with no added sugars.
“The brand is resonating across multiple geographies and multiple channels of trade,” he said. “And when you have a brand that can appeal to anyone, anywhere, anytime — irrespective of where you shop, where you live, what you look like, how much money you make — it sets us up for a really, really cool story going forward.”
Purpose Tea Launches Kroger
Purple tea maker Purpose Tea announced this week it has added 1,500 Kroger locations nationwide, beginning next week. Six of the brand’s SKUs will be available in the retailer, including Purple Reign, Mint To Be, Watermelon Mint, Blood Orange, Coconut Lime and Simply Purple. Each 16 oz. bottle will retail for $2.79.
“We are ecstatic about launching in Kroger and with this new partnership it brings us closer to fulfilling our vision of building a healthier and more just world,” said founder Chi Nguyen in a press release. “Kroger services one in two American households so we can reach more consumers with this latest innovation of purple tea and a beverage choice they can truly feel good about.”
A portion of each purchase of Purpose Tea goes towards the Seed a Future Initiative, a nonprofit that supports women tea pickers in Kenya by providing education and scholarships for children.
More Distribution News from Around the Industry:
- C4 Energy is now available in an additional 1,800 Kroger stores nationwide, including its top selling Frozen Bombsicle and Strawberry Watermelon flavors.
- ShineWater is now available in all 253 Meijer grocery stores nationwide. The expansion brings the brand’s footprint to over 5,000 retail outlets.
- Wet Hydration is hitting the Las Vegas Strip. The brand is now available in MGM Resorts International and the Drais Beach Club and Night Club.
- Alkaline water maker Perfect Hydration has secured a number of new distribution partners, including Canteen, Ajax Turner Company, Lipman Brothers LLC and Skyland Distributing Company. The brand has expanded its presence at Stop & Shop, Jewel, Albertsons Southwest, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Southeastern Grocers, Metropolitan Market, Twice Daily, Clipp, MAPCO, Stop-A-Minit, Citi Stop and more.
- Splash Beverage Group, Inc., a portfolio company whose brands including TapouT isotonic sports drink, Copa di Vino wine and Pulpoloco sangria, has signed a distribution agreement with Utah-based Golden Beverage Company.
- Non-alcoholic spirits maker Spiritless announced that its Kentucky 74 bourbon alternative is now available in 212 Total Wine stores in 26 states.