BodyArmor, Vitamin Water Vet Andy Steele Takes Channel Growth Role at Olipop
Through past roles at Vitamin Water and BodyArmor, Andy Steele has made a career of building brands in small format channels like convenience and drug. Now, he’s working to do the same at functional soda brand Olipop.
The California-based startup announced this week that it has named Steele as its VP of Sales for c-store, drug and foodservice and on premise (FSOP). Steele comes to Olipop from sports drink brand BodyArmor, where he spent over four years as VP of small format channels, seeing the brand through its $5.6 billion acquisition by The Coca-Cola Company in 2021.
According to Steele, he had been longtime acquaintances with Olipop founders Ben Goodwin and David Lester and had worked with them on their previous beverage venture, probiotic soda brand Obi. Steele told BevNET that prior to joining the brand, he had been impressed by Olipop’s disruption of the carbonated soft drink space – which he felt had been “pretty stagnant” due to a lack of innovation prior to the recent emergence of the prebiotic and probiotic soda set.
“The team they’ve put together, from the management on down to everybody that I’ve interacted with in the last week-and-a-half that I’ve been with the company, I’ve just been nothing but impressed with the way they operate,” Steele said. “The numbers that I’ve seen are just incredible. It seems like it’s the right product at the right time, and you’ve got the right team in place. So, I was kind of humbled to be asked to join it and it was a no brainer for me to say ‘Absolutely, count me in.’”
Retail dollar sales of Olipop products categorized under tonic waters and club soda were up 338.4% to over $55.9 million in the 52-weeks ending February 26, according to market data firm Circana. That growth follows a $30 million Series B funding round in February 2022; at the time the company projected it would achieve a $100 million run rate by the end of last year.
Since its founding in 2018, Olipop has built a retail footprint of over 10,000 doors, including chains like Kroger, Target, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Safeway, and Wegmans. However, Steele said the brand’s presence in small format channels like convenience, drug and foodservice has been limited to date and he now intends to oversee a nationwide expansion into those accounts.
Shortly before Steele began work with Olipop last week, Goodwin announced this month that the brand had gone chainwide in all 998 Sweetgreen locations in the U.S. According to Steele, Olipop is also available in about 300 Kum & Go locations and in drug it is available in select CVS stores. While he intends to begin bringing on new accounts immediately, the bigger expansion initiative will come in 2024.
“I’ve been in this role before with Vitamin Water and BodyArmor, where it’s like nobody knew those brands in these channels. And then all of a sudden, fast forward a year or two later, and people think it’s been there for a long time,” he said.
Much of Olipop’s retail distribution is direct, and while the company does utilize some DSD Steele said the brand will continue to emphasize a direct model due to its cold chain requirements.
“We’re going everywhere,” he said. “We already are everywhere in large format, so we’re going to take that into small format. And I don’t think it’s limited just for the U.S., I think there might be some other plans to go outside the U.S. at a pretty quick pace.”
Black Rifle Names Former Mars Exec as CMO
Black Rifle Coffee Company announced last week it has named former Mars executive Chris Mondzelewski as its new chief marketing officer, effective May 1.
Mondzelewski will serve as the first CMO for the Utah-based coffee manufacturer and comes to the brand after nearly 12 years at CPG giant Mars, where he most recently served as chief growth officer for the company’s global petcare business. Prior to Mars, Mondzelewski spent 11 years with Kraft Foods where he held a variety of marketing roles.
In line with Black Rifle’s veteran-focused mission, Mondzelewski served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1995 to 2000 and, according to a press release, he was deployed in the Middle East during the Gulf War.
“I am excited to have Chris join our team. He brings great value to the company as a marketing leader with a demonstrated track record and a strong personal connection to the military and first-responder community,” said Black Rifle founder and co-CEO Evan Hafer in a press release.
In the release, Hafer noted that Mondzelewski joins the company shortly after a push into the food, drug and mass retail channels with its RTD iced coffee line.
The announcement comes on the heels of chief retail officer Heath Nielsen’s exit from the company. Nielsen joined Black Rifle last year, having previously spent over 10 years as SVP – US Divisions Branded Solutions at Starbucks. Black Rifle co-CEO Tom Davin will assume Nielsen’s responsibilities.
“As we shared on our last earning’s call, our outposts saw notable growth year-over-year,” Davin said in the release. “I look forward to collaborating with Chris as we continue to optimize existing outposts and look to continue to build upon our 26 company-owned and franchise locations.”
Black Rifle announced net revenue growth of 29.3% to $301.3 million in 2022 in an earnings report last month, with the brand’s retail business now covering over 20,000 doors nationwide. In Q4 2022, wholesale revenue was up 140.1% to $41.2 million, with “strong retail velocities” fueling the growth. Despite the performance, the company said it had been “overly ambitious” in its full year 2023 guidance and lowered its revenue expectations for the year to $400-$440 million, or 33%-46% growth.