In the midst of Dry January, leading non-alc retailer Boisson has announced it is expanding its national wholesale business.
Since launching in NYC in 2021, Boisson has been an influential voice within a new generation of businesses growing the burgeoning no-and-low alcohol segment. After expanding to eight storefronts and growing its e-commerce program, the company will now leverage new partnerships with KeHe and craft wine and spirits distributor LibDib to cement a national footprint in wholesale distribution.
The announcement today follows Boisson’s $5M bridge funding round landed in September from Convivialité Ventures, the VC arm of Pernod Ricard, and Connect Ventures. That funding coincided with the appointment of a new CEO, Sheetal Aiyer, to further the company’s long-term ambitions of becoming a three-pronged business: retailer, e-commerce site and wholesale distributor. But it looks like distribution will be the company’s next big frontier, with plans to grow its wholesale business by 70% in 2025.
The new push will be helmed by recent hire, Jill Sites, vice president of wholesale, whose resume includes national sales director for Betty Buzz as well as stints at Breakthru Beverage and Redwood Brands. Boisson aims to build on its consumer insights to offer retailers and on-premise more insight into the emerging category.
“Existing spirits and beer distributor networks are phenomenal – I worked for one of the best for almost a decade – but most are just starting to figure out NA, while Boisson brings years of 100% dedication to the category,” said Sites. “We know that we are small, but we are mighty and we see this as the perfect moment to give NA a seat at the big table of industry wholesale distribution.”
The national account strategy with KeHe and LibDib involves “curation and consolidation,” said Sites, acting as the single point of contact with distributors and taking care of paperwork, discounts, pitching to customers and attending shows, in addition to handling shipping and purchase orders.
In September, Nick Bodkins, founder and president of Boisson, described the company’s next stage of growth as furthering its “verticalized approach to the market” and leveraging Boisson’s flexibility outside of the three-tier system to continue to sell direct to consumers, into bars and restaurants, and specialty grocery.
Boisson has no plans to move away from its retail platforms, which Sites said is the company’s most important channel. But taking a shot at a larger share of the food and beverage market will include expanding to more national retailers, grocery, bottle shops, and entertainment venues. In order to be successful in a low margin, high volume channel like wholesale, the company needs to drive it, said Sites.
“We are never going to beat big BevAlc at what they do, they’re great at it,” said Sites. “But we are looking to work at specialty grocery, natural grocery and fill in holes where we can.”
At independent liquor and some big liquor chains, Boisson is aiming to curate non-alc sets and increase education about non-alc. The company has a more curated and specific wholesale portfolio than the selection in Boisson stores. As certain products grow within the category, they may move to the three-tier system with a larger wholesaler, said Sites, and Boisson will rotate new products in.
Distribution will focus on key growth markets, including New York, California and soon to be Miami, where Boisson has physical retail locations.
Expanding further into retail with specific non-alc sets and finding inroads into the bar have been priorities for non-alc brands as they look for growth. Non-alc beverage sales were about $510 million in the 52-week period ending July 29, up 31.2% versus a year ago, marking the category’s largest year of absolute dollar growth in five years, according to NIQ data.
Note: A previous version of this story stated that Boisson plans to shift its current model to make wholesale 70% of its business by 2025. That aim has since been retracted by Boisson and the story has been updated.