As consumers continue to seek better-for-you options in the hydration and sports drink space, Arizona-based Recover 180° is aiming to amplify its nationwide presence as it expands into new regional markets across the country.
Founded in 2018 by real estate developer Mike Meldman, Recover 180° makes a line of functional hydration drinks intended to meet multiple need states including post-workout, travel, and hangovers.
Recover 180° is available in Acai Berry, Blood Orange and Citrus flavors and retails for $32.95 per 12-pack of 16 oz. bottles. The brand claims to have three times the electrolytes and half the calories of leading sports drinks and also includes vitamins and plant-based ingredients including milk thistle, ginseng, ashwagandha and aloe vera. The drink is sweetened with organic cane sugar and stevia.
The brand is one of several new hydration beverages to launch over the past few years positioning themselves as a healthier alternative to mainstream sports drinks. Companies such as HALO Sport, SOS Hydration, Roar and Hydrant have all introduced better-for-you products aimed at consumers looking for additional functional benefits and reduced sugar.
In 1994, Meldman founded Discovery Land Company, which today owns two dozen golf clubs and family vacation resorts with locations across North America and Portugal. He first stepped into the beverage space, however, in 2013 when he became a partner in Casamigos, the tequila brand founded by actor George Clooney and entrepreneur Rande Gerber which was sold to Diageo for $1 billion in 2017.
According to Meldman, the idea for a functional hydration drink was developed by him and his son after experiencing altitude headaches while staying at his Rocky Mountains home in Montana, he said. Recover 180° later launched at Discovery Land’s resorts, he said, which acted as “guinea pig” markets for the brand before rolling out into the broader market. In addition to Discovery’s club members and guests, the company has also provided drinks to contractors and construction workers at the properties.
While his experience with Casamigos introduced Meldman to the CPG industry, making the jump to non-alc has had its challenges, he said. At Casamigos the brand worked solely with distributor Southern Glazer, a “one-stop shop” that covers 44 states, he noted. With Recover 180°, the distribution has been more splintered and focused on key regions including Arizona, Southern California, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Looking forward, Meldman said the company aims to target the Las Vegas market as well as expand its presence in California.
“We’re doing it very organically where we’re going into certain areas where we have influence through our projects [with Discovery Land],” Meldman said. “We’re kind of piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle of the country and pulling it together into a full national footprint.”
The brand is available in about 1,000 Target stores across the Southeast where it has distribution with several DSD houses, as well as Albertsons/Safeway, Bristol Farms, Pavilions and Vons stores in the West.
Recover 180° has also brought in several athletes as partners in the brand, including Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich and boxer Deontay Wilder. Meldman said the athletes act as influencers for the brand, particularly in local markets. Yelich, he noted, is working to help the brand break out into Wisconsin and the Midwest region while Wilder, who is from Alabama, is focused on the South.
“They’re good guys and good people, so they are good representatives of the brand,” Meldman said. “And they are helping us attack certain areas and regions that will then help with our national footprint.”