KiiTO Launches Nationwide with Specialty Retailers; TeaRIOT Goes Nationwide with Whole Foods; Rise Goes Nationwide in Walmart; CHERRiSH Adds Jewel-Osco; One Village Coffee Partners with BKON
More than a year after five women announced they were suing Monster Energy, alleging a rampant culture of sexual harassment and retaliation within the company, another executive named in one of the complaints has parted ways with the company.
Last Wednesday, Vita Coco began the day by launching its new Impossible to Hate campaign -- a marketing drive to promote its pressed coconut water line. By 3 p.m. their social media coordinator was standing in the bathroom holding a jug of urine and asking for an address where she could mail it.
North Carolina-based kombucha maker Tribucha has closed a $1.5 million Series A funding round, the company told BevNET this week. The raise comes as the five-year-old brand, which markets its product in 12 oz cans, plans to expand distribution by more than 600 accounts this year.
The acquisition will help Caliva to broaden its vertically-integrated cannabis business -- which produces flower, vape, and oil products -- into beverage through its access to Zola’s research and development team and established retail distribution network.
The results found that sales of sugary beverages dropped 51% in the first year after the city’s soda tax took effect in 2017. The tax also led to an increase in beverage prices and a sharp decline in volume sales, dropping from 2.475 billion ounces in 2016 to 1.214 billion ounces in 2017, according to the report.
Snowing in Space Enters Whole Foods Mid-Atlantic; Nitro Beverage Co. Signs with Rainforest Distributing; Petal Plots Nationwide Expansion Plan; Vita Coco Adds Life Time Locations; BUBBL’R Grows Midwest Distribution
The company generated $8.4 million in net sales during the first quarter, up 2% from 2018. Sales of the core Reed’s Ginger Beer line were up 15% while craft soda Virgil’s grew 46%. Gross profit increased 9% to $2.5 million and gross margin increased 185 basis points to 30%.
After spending much of last year restructuring and rebranding its beverage product portfolio -- alongside a December merger with CPG wellness company Morinda -- New Age Beverages Corporation reported triple-digit growth in the first quarter of this year, according to an earnings report released Friday.
Seeking to help kombucha brands deliver a consistently non-alcoholic product, Bare Bucha and Stout Tanks have partnered to create new technology they say will not only cut fermentation time in half, but also keep alcohol levels below the 0.5% ABV legal threshold without pasteurization, dilution, or microfiltration.
Monster Beverage Corp. beat analysts’ expectations during the first quarter of 2019, reporting strong sales growth despite facing increased competition in the energy category. Net sales for the company in the first quarter were $946 million, up 11.2% from $850.9 million in 2018, according to financial results released yesterday.
Som Sleep adds nearly 2,000 Walmart stores; Riff Cold Brewed partners with UNFI to grow in San Francisco; Mother Kombucha adds Florida area Whole Foods; Phivida launches ecommerce for Oki line; CHERRiSH expands distribution into Texas and New Mexico
This year’s late Easter holiday contributed to a 6.7% jump in snack and non-alcoholic beverage sales for the four-week period ending April 20, according to a Wells Fargo Securities analysis of Nielsen’s all channel sales data report.
As consumers increasingly seek out cleaner labels and functional beverages, PepsiCo-owned Propel Water is hoping to bring them under its wing, undertaking a “brand transformation” beginning this week with the launch of Vitamin Boost, a new functional water line made without artificial sweeteners.
