After a successful launch with Sprouts last year, L.A. Libations is continuing to leverage its industry connections to bring more retailers into its expanding “innovation center” program fueled by the company’s SoCal Incubation Program (SIP).
Since December 2020, L.A. Libations has been piloting products from its partner brands — including names like SZENT, Shaka Tea and Arya — at specially designated shelf-stable 4×4 “innovation centers” placed in 50 Sprouts stores throughout the Golden State, spanning from NorCal to Los Angeles and San Diego. Refreshed several times per year, each carries eight different brands at a time which, if certain sales targets are met, can earn that brand a path to going national with the natural grocery chain (as happened in the case of Shaka Tea).
This fall, shoppers in California can find more of the innovation centers — this time in the form of refrigerated standalone coolers — as L.A. Libations begins to roll out the program at additional, select locations of influential chains like Whole Foods, Bristol Farms, Lazy Acres, Lassons, Erehwon and Jimbo’s, among others. Getting products in those stores is a result of the “long-standing relationships that L.A. Libations has been forming and developing” with retailers and broadliners KeHE and UNFI, according to VP of business development Jacob Timony, and represents one of the primary benefits of working with the beverage consulting firm — a guaranteed placement within the store and path towards securing authorization outside of normal product review cycles.
But independents are also set to get in on the action through a partnership that sees L.A. Libations aligning with Molson Coors DSD affiliate Beauchamp Distributing Company. The beer conglomerate– which controls 49% of L.A. Libations — vetted prospective stores to determine the best fit and selected 11 stores to begin a 120-day program trial with the coolers. From there, if successful, brands can open a conversations about a potentially broader agreement with the distributor or work to transition outside of the cooler with a particular store, but Timony noted that many of the agreements with independent accounts are informal, meaning store managers have the leeway to determine when and if brands can make the leap. The cohort of brands set to enter independent coolers this quarter includes turmeric-powered soda Turveda, botanical-infused sparkling water line Aura Bora and relaxation drink Leilo, caffeinated “performance water” Talking Rain Elevated, and apple sugar-sweetened Swing Tea.
“The cooler program is just the next step towards enhancing our team’s capabilities and providing immediate value to the new start-up beverage brands within our Incubation Portfolio,” Timony said.
SIP’s current roster includes 18 non-alcoholic brands, which Timony attributed to the promise of guaranteed placement; for retailers, having a turnkey system for introducing new products means “it’s just about management, not selling,” he said. L.A. Libations handles the physical setup work and promotion of the coolers while its merchandising arm, Relentless Trade Solutions, visits locations weekly to assess merchandising options and coordinate with individual managers. Stores were selected in part due to foot traffic and disposable income levels, ideally meaning some consumers will be somewhat familiar with the nascent functional beverage categories, like relaxation.
“In an extremely competitive beverage landscape, new brands need concentrated distribution amongst strategic retail outlets in order to build brand awareness and gain traction in Southern California,” said Ashley Sheeran, SIP program manager. “The innovation cooler program gives emerging brands a showcase style placement in high traffic impulse zones of the most influential retailers, drawing the attention of shoppers looking to discover and try new items.”