UFO Opens New Facility, Partners with Imperfect Foods
California-based hemp milk maker UFO (standing for Udder Free Only) announced this month that it has opened a new 7,000 sq ft. co-packing facility, owned by a local SoCal brewery, ahead of a distribution expansion this year.
According to co-founder Drew Schwartz, he and co-founder Daniel Art had been producing the brand’s products, which include unsweetened and vanilla hemp milks packaged in 32 oz. glass bottles, in a commercial kitchen in Redondo Beach. The new facility increases the company’s production capacity to “tens of thousands of units” per year.
Founded in 2019, UFO initially established a footprint in on-premise accounts in Southern California but saw its business decimated by the pandemic. The brand launched in Whole Foods stores in July. Now, the products have expanded to all SoCal Whole Foods accounts as well as Zero Grocery and Co-Opportunity Market stores.
The brand has also partnered with grocery delivery service Imperfect Foods, which will stock its Unsweetened variety. UFO will receive a slow rollout in the Los Angeles area before adding more locations along the West Coast in the near future.
“That’s been our M.O. since the beginning,” Schwartz said. “Start local, regional, really get a foothold here and then spread our way out.”
UFO has also signed with Maximum Marketing, which recently acquired natural products brokerage firm Sunshine Specialties, to service the brand in Southern California and Arizona. The company anticipates it will be in roughly 600 locations by the end of the year.
“This deal with Imperfect Foods is massive,” Schwartz said. “Our missions are so aligned; It’s really a great partnership not just because their customers and our customers are similar, and we think that their customers are going to really love this product. But also they’re out to do good for the planet. And that’s what we set out to do.”
Proposition Cocktail Co. Partners with Urban Outfitters
Hemp extract-infused mocktail maker Proposition Cocktail Co. announced this week that it has partnered with Urban Outfitters for online sales, increasing the California-based brand’s nationwide presence.
According to Proposition founder and CEO John Korkidis, the company sees a strong alignment with the lifestyle retailer’s target consumer demographic. He noted that Urban Outfitters is marketing the drink within the beauty set, positioning Proposition as a self-care product.
“Urban Outfitters has been doubling down on what they’ve been doing online throughout the pandemic and this is really continuing that momentum,” Korkidis said. “In terms of shopping behavior, our demographic shops there and they have a pretty strong kind of presence and recognition in the space.”
The partnership comes as Proposition recovers from a month of out-of-stock challenges which Korkidis said was brought on partly due to issues surrounding the pandemic. Despite the issues posed by the out-of-stock, Korkidis said he believed it was a sign of the brand’s demand from consumers and market potential.
“At the end of the day, I think that one of the things we didn’t expect was the demand that we had, so getting better forecasting has been helping with that,” he said. “We’re still scrappy and kind of taking a thoughtful kind of skate-round growth approach to what we’re doing in order to build slow, and I think the ability to communicate with our customers has been the thing that’s been the most impactful for us.”
Currently, Proposition is only available in 35 stores around California, including Erewhon stores, as well as independent stores across the country. According to Korkidis, the brand is now working with Pod Foods Co. to expand into the Midwest, including at Chicago-area Plum Market, Pop Up Grocer and Dom’s Kitchen & Market stores.
Proposition’s beverages contain 15 mg of hemp extract per serving, but Korkidis said the brand is now looking to add non-infused products that will allow it to expand into new retail locations.
Also this month, the company is launching an equity crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder. To date, Korkidis has bootstrapped the company and calls this new round a “mini friends and family” that will allow the brand’s loyal consumers to invest. The funding, he said, will primarily go towards production and inventory as well as operational costs.
“We were fortunate enough to get close to break-even this year,” he said. “We’re scrappy and pretty nimble and flexible and creative. And that’s allowed us to get to a place where, as we look forward to bringing on this capital as well as a little bit of a seed round from some friends and family, we can expand the team and get to a place where we can be break-even and have a line of sight of profitability with significant trailing revenue.”
Nixie Sparkling Water Expands in Target
Organic sparkling water brand Nixie announced this month that it will be available in 160 Target stores in California, Colorado and Minnesota. The retailer will carry the brand’s Watermelon Mint, Lime Ginger, Peach Black Tea and Grapefruit flavors starting this week. The drinks retail for $5.99 per 8-pack,
In addition to Target, the brand has also expanded distribution into Northern California Safeway stores, Andronico’s Community Markets, Giant Martin’s, Weis Markets and Lowe’s Foods.
“In our first year we focused distribution primarily within natural and specialty grocery retail partners, but are ready for the next step,” Nixie founder Nicole Bernard Dawes said in an email to BevNET. “I am grateful that so early in Nixie’s existence, Target, one of my all-time favorite places to shop, believed in us and gave us the opportunity to expand! Being available in Target allows us to reach an even broader audience that enjoys discovering delicious, premium options from fun, innovative brands. I also love and appreciate the genuine support that Target puts behind emerging, founder-forward and diverse brands that are making a difference in their categories. This is a feel-good partnership all around and a testament to Nixie’s early success and rapid growth.”
Other News From Around the Industry:
- KeHE Distributors announced it will hire over 200 new employees in its Chino and Stockton California Distribution Centers, citing “unprecedented and accelerated growth” as the company predicts it will double sales in the next five years.
- Acai products maker SAMBAZON announced that it has partnered with Acosta Foodservice to distribute its products across the country.
- Elegance Brands, a global beverage company whose products include SWAY Energy Drink, Gorilla Hemp, and RTD cocktail brand VOCO, announced that it has launched a direct-to-consumer platform on its website. The online channel is expected to fuel rapid revenue growth, according to the company.
- Tennessee-based craft kombucha brand Walker Brothers has partnered with North Carolina-based craft beverage distributor Artisan Beverage Group, a move that marks the brand’s first expansion outside of its home state.
- Premium spring water brand GIVN Water has entered Whole Foods Market stores in the Southern region, covering seven states including Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Northern Florida.
- CBD-infused sparkling water brand CarryOn will be launching at Sprouts Farmers Market stores across the state this month.