Poppilu Goes Nationwide
Kids lemonade maker Poppilu’s distribution is popping off as the brand grows its footprint to roughly 2,500 stores nationwide.
According to founder and CEO Melanie Kahn, Poppilu has expanded this year into Target, Stop & Shop, Mariano’s, Lowes, Market District/Giant Eagle, Tom Thumbs, Randalls, Fresh Thyme and several divisions of Albertsons. The expansion follows the brand’s launch into Walmart last year.
“We’re having our best year ever, thrilled to say,” Kahn said. “We’re in almost 2,500 points of distribution, so I’m happy — it’s a good number for a company our size.”
Founded in 2017, Poppilu originally launched with a line of antioxidant lemonades. While the core drinks are on a “temporary hiatus” as Kahn restructures the line, the brand is now focused primarily on its kids products, which includes Original Lemon, Blueberry and Peach flavors. Each 6 oz. pouch contains 30 calories and 100% daily value of Vitamin C.
Kahn said the retail expansion gives Poppilu a nationwide presence, including in about 1,000 Target locations. The rest of the brand’s retail footprint is primarily along the East Coast and in Texas, she added. Poppilu is supporting the expansion through in-store and social media marketing campaigns.
“With budgets our size you have to be really efficient and spend when you’re going to see the absolute highest return,” she said. “I’d love to do more, especially given my background in big CPG where we used to have big budgets. But now when it’s hard earned capital you have to be really strategic about how it’s spent and make sure every dollar has a return on it, and that it’s not just about awareness driving but, more importantly in our phase, about trial.”
Poppilu is primarily distributed through UNFI and KeHE, Kahn said. The company is operating on a “lean, very small crew,” but aims to expand its sales and marketing team in the near future.
She noted that launching in Walmart last year amid the pandemic was a challenge, particularly as the kids drinks space was one area of the food and beverage industry that did not see significant sales spikes as consumers moved to at-home use occasions. But as schools reopen this fall and summer programs resume, Kahn said she anticipates sales will increase dramatically and that the retail expansions positions Poppilu to benefit.
“Right now we’re targeting mainstream grocery and really trying to get into that kids juice set for the mainstream consumers,” she said. “A lot of startups food and beverage brands will go natural first or they’ll go ecommerce, and for us we’re really just focused on mainstream grocery and mass to start.”
Rowdy Mermaid Expands Adaptonic Line
Launched into Rocky Mountain Whole Foods stores in March, Rowdy Mermaid announced that it has expanded its mushroom-based Adaptonic line into four additional Whole Foods divisions.
The products are now available in Whole Foods stores in California, Idaho, Nevada, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, in addition to Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Utah where it was already sold.
In an email to BevNET, CEO Jamba Dunn said the brand has doubled its store count over the past year, and its flagship kombucha products are now available in Stop & Shop, Fresh Thyme, Healthy Edge, Sweetgreen, Protein Bar and Kowalskis stores.
“We attribute this immense growth to continued demand for our kombucha combined with consumer and retailer interest in our newest innovation, Adaptonic,” Dunn said in an email. “This new sparkling tonic uniquely addresses contemporary consumer health needs by harnessing the immunity-optimizing power of reishi mushrooms without the mushroom taste. Through art & science, we created a highly pleasurable taste experience not seen from other functional mushroom drinks on the market today.”
With in-store sampling returning to retail, the company has also commenced a “sampling blitz” in the Los Angeles area, the company announced. From June 30 to July 4, the brand expects to give away more than 12,000 samples of its kombucha “blanketing the LA-area.”
More Distribution News from Around the Industry:
- Plant protein beverage brand Rejuvenate, produced by Element Nutritional Sciences, is now available at 8,468 Walgreens stores nationwide. The expansion brings the product’s footprint to over 15,500 points of distribution in the U.S. and 750 locations in Canada.
- Vitamin-enhanced kids drink KidsLuv announced this week that it has added 900 Target stores and H-E-B locations across the U.S.
- HOIST, the Cincinnati-based maker of electrolyte hydration drinks, is now available in 1,100 Food Lion locations and 150 Publix stores in the Southeast. Food Lion will carry all five HOIST flavors.
- Icelandic Glacial has partnered with hotel chain Hyatt to offer its premium bottled water in-room and at hotel retail shops in 40 Hyatt locations in the U.S.
- The Alkaline Water Company’s Alkaline88 brand is now available in Giant Food stores in the Mid-Atlantic region. Its 1 gallon and 1.5 liter bottles will be sold in 164 stores in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C.