Q Mixers Names Bob Arnold as CEO
After more than 15 years in business, founder Jordan Silbert is stepping down as CEO of premium cocktail mixer brand Q Mixers, handing the reins to industry veteran Bob Arnold.
Speaking with BevNET today, Silbert and Q Mixers president Ben Karlin said they had been seeking out a permanent CEO for the past year to oversee the brand as the premium cocktail mixer segment has begun to overtake mainstream competition in retail dollar sales.
According to IRI, in the 52-weeks ending June 12 liquid cocktail mixers fell 5.4% in retail dollar sales and tonic water and club soda was up by 1%. However, Q’s cocktail mixers were up 31.1% in that period and its tonic waters grew 4.2%. Meanwhile, fellow premium brand Fever-Tree saw its tonic sales rise 16.3% in that period, while leading brands like Schweppes (-15%) and Canada Dry (-9.9%) faced steep declines.
“At the end of 2021, for the first time in MULO In the mixer category, Q Mixers and Fever-Tree [combined] were bigger than Schweppes and Canada Dry, which is an extraordinary change not only from when Jordan and I first started this business, but from even three years ago,” Karlin said. “It’s a massive shift in the landscape and I think a lot of people are not yet aware of this.”
Karlin estimated that Q and Fever-Tree together have about 90% dollar share of the premium mixer segment and around 7%-8% unit ounce share of the total mixer category. Citing data projecting premium spirits will have a unit share of 30% by 2025, he added that the gap between premium spirit growth and premium mixer growth will “need to close” – necessitating 4x growth for Q over the next three years.
“It’s not about creating a different path, it’s also sometimes about just keeping the foot on the gas,” Arnold said.
Arnold brings nearly two decades of beverage industry experience to the company, including sales positions at Mondelēz International, Bacardi and Coca-Cola Refreshments. He also served as president and general manager for North America at INVO Coconut Water from 2017 to 2018.
Arnold said he believes that Q hasn’t “even scratched the surface” of its growth potential and intends to bring planning disciplines and routines he employed while working with strategics to help accelerate the business and grow consumer awareness of premium mixers.
Prior to his joining, Q underwent a SKU rationalization, largely focused around pack size – including a shift of the brand’s 500 ml bottle line to 750 ml offerings. However, innovation remains a core focus for the brand.
“I think we’re fully prepared and everything’s on the table,” Arnold said. “We’re going to continue to expand and be exciting with innovation, when all of the big companies right now are actually having to rationalize fast just to service. This group has done an extraordinary job of being able to not only service the core, but continue to innovate, which I think is an outlier in the last several years of COVID, and I think that should be completely recognized.”
Though his new role is still undefined, Silbert intends to stay involved with day-to-day business at Q.
“I am going to be 1,000% committed,” Silbert said. “And a large part is that Bob and I are going to work and figure out the best places for me to help the business and where I can use my entrepreneurial skills, as well as everything I’ve learned, to really be able to drive the business forward as much as possible. So it’s going to be evolving over the next three to six months, but I know there’s plenty to do and plenty of opportunities there.”
RISE Hires Rich Matusow as Chief Sales Officer
Nitro cold brew coffee producer RISE Brewing Co. has named industry vet Richard Matusow as its chief sales officer.
Matusow began his food and beverage industry career in 2002 at acai drink maker Sambazon, where he spent 12 years and ultimately became VP of sales and business development before joining plant-based energy drink brand Runa as its president from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, Matusow moved to Portland, Oregon and founded acai-centric restaurant Carioca Bowls, which he ran for five years.
In 2021, Matusow returned full time to CPG as chief sales officer at Take Two Foods, a recently discontinued barley milk brand that had been backed by Anheuser-Busch InBev. It was this move to a plant-based dairy alternative producer, he said, that made him interested in working with RISE, which has focused in recent years on oat milk based innovations such as coffee and tea lattes.
“There’s a lot of parallel from working in that space to what Rise is doing,” Matusow said. “I’ve never worked in coffee, but RTD beverage is something that I’m very familiar with…. With RISE we have so much opportunity and one of the things I really enjoyed doing is finding that balance between opportunity and strategy and putting a plan together that we can execute against and grow the brand with really good brand equity that kind of rolls through the different channels.”
As he settles into the role, Matusow said he intends to “go wide and deep” with RISE’s core RTD nitro cold brew line, which he said has the proof of concept needed to expand the brand’s retail presence across channels. He noted that expanding the company’s DSD network and increasing velocities will be key focuses moving ahead. New flavor innovations are also in the pipeline, he said, which will launch online and ideally play a role in expanding RISE’s convenience channel business.
Meanwhile, Matusow hopes to dial in on the brand’s strategy around its multiserve cold brew and oat milk lines and “strategically pick where we’re going to roll out with those” and “build out the brand billboard in different retailers having success with the core line.”
“There’s really just a whole bunch of fundamental things to do for building the brand and building the presence,” he said.
While the RTD coffee category continues to grow, the space has begun to see some shakeout as smaller brands have shut down and fewer startups enter. With RISE’s foothold on shelf already established, Matusow wants the brand to serve as a leader for nitro-infused cold brew. He noted that nitro products from category leaders like Starbucks and Dunkin’ have helped to validate the format, but RISE’s position as a startup will allow it to innovate quickly to fuel growth.
“It’s always exciting to be on the cutting edge and to be on the side of innovation,” he said. “With RISE, we’re nimble and flexible so we’re able to innovate. And we’re able to sort of lead that small segment as a smaller brand that doesn’t have a bunch of legacy stuff to work with. So we’re just really excited to bring out new flavors, new innovation, and to drive forward with Nitro.”
Sam Wilson Heads to Congo Brands
Energy drink sales vet Sam Wilson is once again joining a fast-rising energy brand, this time as Senior VP of Sales and Distribution for Congo Brands, the makers of Alani Nu and 3D Energy Drinks, as well as hydration brand Prime. Wilson announced the new position on LinkedIn last week.
Wilson comes to the Kentucky-based company from Sway Energy Corp., where he spent nearly two years, most recently as Chief Commercial officer. Prior to that he held the VP of Sales and Distribution title at yerba mate brand CLEAN Cause and Bang Energy, and previously spent 11 years at Red Bull ultimately serving as Senior Director of Sales & Distribution – National for Red Bull Distribution Company.
Positioned as a better-for-you, fitness energy brand, Alani Nu grew 381.9% to over $242 million in retail dollar sales in the 52-weeks ending June 12, according to IRI, placing it directly behind NOS (down -8.9% to $414 million) within the category, but ahead of brands like Cellucor, MTN Dew and Full Throttle.