The food and beverage industry continues to step up and lend support to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this roundup, we highlight brands’ efforts to give back, including a Giving Back Giveaway featuring ten food and beverage brands and donations being made to support marginalized communities in New York City.
Genius Juice Partners With 9 Brands for Instagram Giveaway
Alex Bayer, founder and CEO of coconut smoothie brand Genius Juice, is teaming up with nine other food and beverage brands for its “Giving Back Giveaway” next month, supplying two winners with a cash prize and a care package with products from each of the brands. Health-Ade Kombucha, Nutpods, Dream Pops, Pop & Bottle, RIND Snacks, KOR Shots, Arte Wellness, Barnana and OHi Food Co will be joining Genius Juice for the giveaway.
Bayer said the idea came to him when he reached out to KOR Shots founder and CEO Jordan Retamar, who he had previously teamed up with for similar initiatives.
“We thought this would be a great time to do a giveaway, but also we wanted to give back,” Bayer said. “We really want to up the ante and give enough away to really make an impact on a couple lucky individuals.”
On May 6, each participating brand will post the same giveaway picture on their respective Instagram pages, and will then leave the contest open for a week. They’ll then pick 10 to 15 people after reviewing their Instagram profiles and interviewing them on how they’ve been affected by the pandemic. The two selected winners will receive a check for $1,000 (each brand donated $100) and a mix of food and beverage products from the brands, along with hand sanitizer from Arte Wellness.
The giveaway, which would normally take months to put together, Bayer said, was organized in just five days.
“I personally want to thank all the brands for coming on board,” said Bayer. “The fact that they moved things around to make this happen within a month is nothing short of amazing. It shows how much they want to give back and be part of the cause.”
Bayer said 20 to 30 different brands reached out to participate in the giveaway, and he’s aiming to coordinate a second giveaway campaign for late May or early June. Brands interested in taking part can contact Genius Juice at hello@geniusjuice.com.
Minna Donates $75,000 to Local Nonprofits
When sparkling tea brand Minna created a mutual fund with investors last year to kickstart its philanthropic efforts, the money was intended to be donated to nonprofits over the course of several years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated those plans.
Over the past month, Minna has donated $75,000 to nonprofits in the New York City area. Since Minna’s launch, founder and CEO Ryan Fortwendel has committed to donating 1% of sales to nonprofit organizations focused on supporting marginalized communities, but knew in the brand’s first few years this wouldn’t be a significant amount of money.
“This fund was created for the industry to show our consumers that we are really a company that’s trying to do more,” said Fortwendel. “In this moment with COVID, there’s so many things to focus on, so many things to give back to.”
Minna donated $25,000 to Help Refugees/Choose Love, an organization reuniting refugee children with their families. The brand also gave $10,000 each to The Ali Forney Center, supporting displaced LGBTQ youth; City Harvest, feeding over 1 million New Yorkers; City Meals on Wheels, providing meals and companionship to the elderly; and the OR Foundation, which is working to end slavery in the fashion industry. No Kid Hungry also received $5,000 to assist its campaign to end child hunger in the U.S.
“Right now what I look for and will continue to look for as we go into next month is what are the communities that are really struggling and is there a way to support them in this moment?” said Fortwendel. “I’m keeping my eyes open for those opportunities.”
On Monday, the brand is also donating 24 pallets of product to the frontline workers at New York City hospitals as part of the Founders Give initiative.
“We have a good amount of inventory that we were planning to move, and of course sales and revenues have dropped right now,” he said. “This is going to be a loss for the company, but how do we make sure this is going to be used in the best way?”
Despite these sales setbacks, Minna has some distribution gains to look forward to: next month, the brand will roll out in 95 Wegmans stores.
“We’re going to enter a new normal but I think there’s some light that’s coming at the end of this tunnel,” Fortwendel said. “I think we’re starting to come out on the other side of it where we can start looking for some of those growth opportunities again that we were so excited about.”
Hornitos Launches Resource Kit for Spanish-speakers
Hornitos Tequila has partnered with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to launch a new campaign aimed at providing the Spanish-speaking community with emergency resources and critical health information during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Titled #AyudaEnEspanol, the campaign offers an online resource kit with information and assistance on applying for government benefits and health guidance updates from the CDC, as well as additional content regarding issues like food insecurity and job training.
“When our partners at LULAC shared the challenges facing the Spanish-speaking community during this crisis, our first question was ‘How can we help?’” said Beth Krigel, Senior Marketing Director of Tequila at Beam Suntory, in a release. “As a brand that immigrated from Mexico and is rooted in Hispanic heritage, Hornitos Tequila is proud to facilitate this effort and use #AyudaEnEspañol to get critical information and resources out to Spanish speakers who need it.“
LULAC and Hornitos Tequila is hoping to build awareness for the campaign on social media, where celebrities such as Danny Trejo and Eva Longoria have lent their support using the hashtag #AyudaEnEspanol.
RISE Donates Nearly 50,000 Cans to Healthcare Workers
Looking to directly support healthcare workers during the outbreak, cold brew coffee maker RISE Brewing Co. announced this month it would donate one can for every can sold online to hospitals around the country, with a focus on New York, California and the Pacific Northwest.
Speaking by phone earlier this week, RISE co-founder and CEO Grant Gyesky estimated that the company had already donated roughly 50,000 cans and would continue for the foreseeable future. Gyesky noted that since announcing the one-for-one initiative, RISE has received an influx of consumer feedback thanking them for the effort.
“This program started organically,” Gyesky said. “We have friends that are nurses and it just felt right. We’ll do it for as long as we can.”
Other Good News From Around the Industry:
- Flow Alkaline Spring Water is donating $1 million worth of water to frontline healthcare workers across North America.
- Reyka Vodka has launched a “Beard of the Week” social media campaign, asking fans to grow out their beards and post images with #ReykaBeard for a chance to win cash prizes. For every submission, the brand will donate $5 to William Grant & Sons’ Stand Fast Campaign, a relief effort supporting the on-trade community.
- In partnership with its distributor Beauchamp, RECOVER 180 is donating product to hospitals, fire stations, police stations and other first responders across the country.
- Nestle Pure Life donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry and this week launched a PSA to raise awareness for No Kid Hungry’s Free Meal Finder, a new online resource to help families find free meals in their area.
- Halo has donated thousands of bottles of its product to 10 hospitals across the country, and has rolled out a “Buy One, Give One,” campaign to donate a case for every case purchased online. It is also temporarily doubling its affiliate program to help trainers earn extra income by paying them for sharing HALO with their communities.
- C4 maker Nutrabolt launched Spot Your Trainer, a program to support trainers affected by gym shutdowns. The company is also donating 75,000 cans to over 40 hospitals in Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, and Austin.
- Hydrant donated 6,000 packs to doctors, nurses and hospital administrators at Mount Sinai Health System and Saddleback Medical Center in Orange County, California. Hydrant is also offering free product to all customers that are part of the healthcare workforce, which can be claimed via DM via the brand’s Instagram.
- The Miami Distilling Company, maker of Toast Vodka, announced this week it would start producing and shipping hand sanitizer locally and nationally.
- Kentucky’s Rabbithole Whiskey launched its #2DreamInside Campaign, contributing $50,000 to Tales of the Cocktail Foundation to benefit bartenders affected by COVID-19. The company has also committed to donating $2 for every social media post that shares the #2DreamInside hashtag, up to an additional $150,000 to support the bar industry.
- Boston-based enhanced water brand Wake Up Water donated 600 cases of its product to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
- Bimble donated 100 free cases of its hemp extract-infused sparkling beverages to frontline healthcare workers.