Setting its sights on becoming one of the top kombucha brands in the U.S., Better Booch is targeting new growth channels including food service and ecommerce as it continues its nationwide expansion.
Founded in 2012 by Los Angeles-based musicians Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie, Better Booch raised $2.5 million last year in a round led by Crush Ventures, the venture capital arm of artist management firm Crush Music. While the brand entered 2020 with a plan to grow sales and brand awareness through partnerships with musicians and live venues — Ashleigh Lockerbie, the company’s CMO, said there were “nine or 10” contracts with major concert halls ready to go — the COVID-19 pandemic led the company to greatly adjust its strategy.
Today, Lockerbie said, Better Booch has placed an increased focus on health-based fast casual restaurant chains, with the brand entering By Chloe and Veggie Grill stores this fall. Better Booch is working closely with the restaurants’ marketing teams, she said, creating a dynamic where the kombucha brand can “piggyback” on existing campaigns, such as providing drinks to online influencers.
“Veggie Grill picking us to go on their shelf as they’re only kombucha is a testament to their confidence in the brand,” Lockerbie said. “I love that people can discover it that way, instead of by looking in a major grocery chain at a wall of kombucha. It’s a nice way to serve up the brand.”
Better Booch’s sales push is being led by former Verve Coffee Roasters head of sales Jordan Shulman, who joined the company as VP of sales in February. Though he said coming on board the brand during COVID-19 led to frequent improvisation, Shulman now has a “small but mighty” team working with him to drive growth.
Among that team are two other Verve veterans: director of business development Matt Clevenger — previously national sales manager at the coffee roaster, who Shulman credited as “the brains” behind Better Booch’s on-premise expansion — and district sales manager Christina Penaloza, who worked with Shulman at both Vita Coco and Verve. The team also includes Sarah Bascon as national sales operations manager. Bascon previously held sales management positions at Tiny Giants and Juice Served Here.
Speaking to BevNET, Shulman said Better Booch also utilizes third party merchandiser Dirty Hands to handle in-store displays and placement. As well, the company is finalizing several new hires expected to come on board in January.
Shulman said that the brand is hoping to attract consumers who are not only new to the kombucha category, but who may have had poor flavor experiences with other brands with harsher taste profiles. He added that Better Booch, which is packaged in cans and features accessible flavors such as Cherry Retreat and Citrus Sunrise, is aiming to appeal to soda drinkers and “bridge the gap” between traditional kombuchas and rising prebiotic pop brands such as Olipop and Poppi.
Better Booch is currently on track to grow 120% year-over-year in 2020, Shulman said, and the can line is up over 350%. The brand is currently available in over 3,000 accounts nationwide, including multiple regions of Whole Foods, and is in the process of building out a DSD network. In Texas, Better Booch is in Central Market where it sells over 36 cases per month per store. He added that the company is in closing talks for a nationwide distribution agreement with a major retailer expected to be announced by the end of the year.
Continuing its on-premise expansion, Better Booch also added Merit Coffee cafes in Texas. The brand is also in Nuggets and New Leaf stores, among other natural channel chains. As well, the product is distributed with UNFI and KeHE and Texas-based Dynamo Specialty Distributing.
This summer, Better Booch partnered with Iris Nova to sell the product as its exclusive kombucha through its SMS text message-based ecommerce system in New York, Chicago and Boston. Iris Nova also distributes the brand to up and down the street accounts as well.
“We’re really just starting to go deeper with all these regions that we’ve started to get distribution in,” Shulman said.
Though plans to ingrain the brand into the live music industry didn’t pan out this year, Lockerbie said Better Booch plans to be “back with a vengeance” next year. Tapping into its relationship with Crush Music, she said the brand hopes to add not just venues but also cruise ships and sponsored events. The company is also in discussions with several artists for potential partnerships.
Better Booch also this fall launched its first seasonal flavor, Ginger Spice, which is available in Erewhon, Lassens, Whole Foods and Verve Coffee Roasters cafes. Lockerbie said the SKU has a cider-esque flavor profile and is the first of a rotating series of seasonal varieties. For the first two weeks of sales, 10% of all proceeds from the flavor will be donated to California wildfire relief programs. The spring seasonal is expected to launch by April. The brand will also launch in the coming months 4-packs of its 12 oz. cans for grocery accounts.
“We’re not just resting on our laurels, we know we have to continue to offer different things,” Shulman said. “We foresee Better Booch being a top five, if not top three, kombucha player nationally within the next year and a half or so. With the things that we’re putting in place, you’ll see why we’re gonna be able to do that.”