De La Calle President Moves On
De La Calle president Danielle Calabrese has left the RTD tepache brand’s parent company Here Studio to become the new CEO at Los Angeles-based bakery chain Sweet Lady Jane.
In her nearly three years at the branding agency, Calabrese helped Here Studio build its owned portfolio of RTD beverages, most notably Mexican tepache De La Calle and prebiotic soda Vina. Along with her role as president of De La Calle, Calabrese also said she had been part of “leading the charge” on Cocteles, a new branded line from De La Calle expected to launch in the next few months.
Speaking to BevNET today, Calabrese said she is excited to “bring a legacy brand back to life” in her new role at the 35-year-old bake shop chain. The opportunity also gives her a chance to reconnect with her roots in the service industry while still being able to help a well-known brand revamp its strategy in “special occasions.”
“I am bringing my startup mentality because we’re gonna have to act like a startup,” she told BevNET Monday. “But I’ve been given the opportunity to reimagine things and breathe some life into a brand that’s been around for such a long time.”
Calabrese said it was bittersweet saying goodbye to Here’s founder and CEO Alex Matthews, who she has been working with for about 11 years.
“Alex is my family,” she said. “It was definitely insanely difficult to make this decision, but we’ll stay in touch and continue to help each other and you know, who knows what the future holds.”
MāKā Adds Sales SVP
What initially started as an investment opportunity between wheatgrass beverage company MāKā and CPG sales executive Jeff Maher has developed into Maher’s new role as SVP of Sales for the RTD brand.
Maher told BevNET that he was initially skeptical about a wheatgrass beverage but was “blown away” with the taste and now he has “a ton of faith in what it stands for and what [founder] Brian [Hill] has done.”
MāKā is a superfood beverage made with wheatgrass that comes in four flavors: Hibiscus-Passionfruit, Lemon, Mango and Coconut-Pineapple. The RTDs are sold online and in natural food stores in Southern California like Erewhon and Jimbo’s.
Founder Brian Hill said in a press release that Maher’s “history of excellence in product sales and growth throughout his career” put him in a strong position to move the company forward.
Currently, Maher is using MāKā’s core of independent natural grocers in the Southern California region to take a “strong and heavy” focus on building the brand’s national presence in the natural channel. He said the company is aiming for big players like Sprouts and Whole Foods. It recently announced a national distribution through KeHE and regionally through UNFI.
Maher has almost two decades of experience working in beverage sales, including stints building East Coast distribution networks for Vitamin Water and Hint. He went on to lead sales teams at Q Drinks and GT’s Kombucha.
Before signing on to MāKā, Maher was director of sales at plant-based meat company Alpha Foods. In his nearly three years there, he helped create and execute the company’s go-to-market strategy that led to “significant YOY growth” for the brand in the frozen plant-based category, according to the MāKā press release.
Veteran CPG Executive Dave Peacock Leading Food Broker Advantage Solutions
Former Schnuck’s Market CEO and Anheuser-Busch executive Dave Peacock is bringing over three decades of experience in food and beverage to lead Advantage Solutions.
Last Wednesday, the CPG veteran announced in a letter to the company that he was “thrilled” to be joining the team.
He went on to say in the post that he “learned firsthand during the pandemic just how unimportant I was as president of a grocery chain, but how critical our baggers, checkers, stockers and clerks were to our customers. It was this experience that codified my belief that a good leader supports the team that actually makes things happen for clients and customers.”
Peacock spent 20 years rising through the ranks of Anheuser-Busch’s executive team eventually holding the role of president for nearly three years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He served as president and CEO of Schnuck’s Markets and CEO of Continental Grain Company. He is also a member of the board of directors of Stifel Financial Corp, and a past member of the board of directors of Wayne-Sanderson Farms and Post Holdings Partnership Corporation.
Also:
- Former UGLY Drinks co-founder and CEO Hugh Thomas is back in the CPG business with a new venture, direct-to-consumer specialty grade coffee brand Top of the Mornin’. The London-based entrepreneur left D2C-driven flavored sparkling water brand UGLY amid the brand’s quiet collapse in late 2021, citing burnout. His updated Twitter bio labels him as Top of the Mornin’s CEO; the company, founded and owned by Irish YouTube star Seán William McLoughlin (aka Jacksepticeye), launched in 2020.