Our latest news roundup from Expo West 2024 highlights a portfolio shakeups from oat milk specialists Minor Figures, KOR and Explorer Cold Brew, along with a bold new take on Mexican aguas frescas.
☕ Minor Figures Finding Footing Within (& Beyond) Coffee
Minor Figures (#N218) relationship with coffee is still tight as ever, even if there’s been some changes.
At Expo West, the UK-based oat milk specialists were serving up hot lattes (courtesy of an assist from San Francisco Bay Area specialty roaster Sightglass Coffee) at their booth, a reflection of the brand’s current strategy to drive awareness and adoption mainly from behind the barista bar.
That means an end to its 8.5 oz. RTDs; the line, which was manufactured in Europe, was phased out towards the end of last year, as competitive pressures within the space – along with friction between overseas shipping and the brand’s B Corp credentials, for one – helped spark that decision. Now, Minor Figures’ slimmed-down lineup consists of three barista-version oat milks – original, organic and light, all of which are manufactured in the U.S. – that are mainly marketed towards foodservice and high end coffee purveyors like Sightglass, which ran a “Free Oat Coffee” promotion at its stores last week that reps said was a big draw.
But the brand is looking beyond coffee as well: next up is its 32 oz. Chai Concentrate, set to enter foodservice outlets this June but also potentially poised for retail launch. Brewed strong at 4-to-1, it’s a marked difference from dominant category players like Oregon Chai and Tazo, both of which are 1-to-1 concentrates carrying a lower price point. Minor Figures’ version will be priced potentially at around $15.99 in-store, so consumer and retailer education will be a priority if that route is taken.
🇲🇽 TUYYO Aims to Be the “Kool-Aid” for Agua Fresca
As more brands from Agua Bonita to Minute Maid introduce agua fresca RTDs to the U.S. market, California-based startup TUYYO (#N1271) has introduced a natural, powdered take on the traditional Latin American drink.
Speaking at the brand’s booth in the North Hall, founder and CEO Stefanie Garcia Turner said that as a first generation Mexican-American she grew up drinking both homemade agua fresca and less-than-natural drink mixes like Kool-Aid. TUYYO – the name is a portmanteau of the Spanish ‘tu y yo,’ meaning ‘you and me’ – is now aiming to marry the two and bring more better-for-you options to the Hispanic foods aisle through the use of non-GMO ingredients including sweetener from organic agave powder.
TUYYO was founded in 2020 but didn’t launch its first product line until 2022. Now in around 200 stores, including H-E-B accounts in Texas, Town & Country stores in the Pacific Northwest and California independents like Berkeley Bowl and Rainbow Foods, the brand has arrived at Expo West ready to build out its distribution.
TUYYO’s mixes come in Mango, Pineapple and Strawberry flavors and are currently only sold in 8.5 oz. multiserve tubs, containing around 12 servings each, at an SRP of $8.99, but Turner wants to introduce single-serve stick packs in the future. The brand also previewed an upcoming new flavor at its booth – Horchata.
For Turner, being an authentic Hispanic brand is also meaningful. She lamented the lack of natural and organic Mexican food options in most mainstream grocery stores, but said she believes a change is occurring with a rise of new startups making moves in the category, many of which have come together to form a CPG community where founders connect and offer help and advice to one another.
At the moment, TUYYO is being primarily marketed to younger Hispanic consumers who already know what agua frescas are – all product labels are bilingual in English and Spanish – but with brands like Minute Maid now embracing the classic beverage she sees broader opportunity for the brand and the category across the mainstream U.S. marketplace.
“Nowadays, people want better-for-you products, but also want to be representative of their culture, and I wanted to be authentic to me being a Latina,” she said. “So I think right now we are seeing a lot more Hispanic brands come out. There’s a lot here at the show – I love them all, I think it’s awesome and we actually help each other out a lot.”
🏃🏼♂️ KOR Shots Aims Higher
Billing itself as “the original organic wellness shots,” Malibu-based KOR Shots (#N622) has been as committed as any brand to building a category for premium refrigerated cold-pressed juice shots. So in deciding to take its latest innovation to a large format (a 16 oz bottle), it’s pretty clear that KOR is thinking bigger now.
That innovation comes in the guise of a move into one of the hottest functional categories in beverage – hydration – without losing sight of the brand’s super-premium approach. The new three-SKU Hydrate line – available in Orange Ginger, Citrus Refresh and Superfood Quench – still use 30% cold-pressed juice per bottle, but get an added boost of electrolytes (potassium, magnesium) and B vitamins. Each 16 oz bottle clocks in at 80 calories and 17 grams of sugar, none added.
The concept is simple, according to KOR founder and CEO Jordan Retamar: while sports drinks and electrolyte-powered recovery beverages are established categories, a premium tier within the space hasn’t really materialized yet. The line is set to debut at Sprouts this month, priced at $4.99 each.
That doesn’t mean a pivot away from shots, however: a new energy shot (90 mg caffeine) has just been added to the lineup.
✈️ Explorer Cold Brew Goes Into Retail, Unveils Travel Size
Explorer Cold Brew (#8711) thinks that consumers in a post-COVID world need more than RTDs to satisfy their on-the-go cold coffee needs. To meet that demand, the cold coffee concentrate maker was displaying its 2 oz. travel size as a lighter, travel-friendly format.
“It’s not really a replacement, it has a much different use case,” said founder and CEO Carson Crane. “You can’t travel with a dozen RTDs in your bag, but you can with ours.”
Explorer had launched the two-ounce bottles three years ago but they were discontinued. Now, the TSA-compliant bottles are seeing new life retailing online in 4-packs for $24.99 and gearing up for a retail launch. The brand has moved into more brick-and-mortar distribution in the last six months and Crane hopes the travel size concentrates will open the company to convenience stores and grocery checkout impulse purchases.
Digitally-native, Brooklyn-based Explorer relaunched the brand in April, refreshing its packaging after landing a $2.5 million seed round with investments from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s personal investment vehicle, Table Management, and NewBound Venture Capital. Using its new capital infusion, Explorer has focused on building a foothold in retail with specialty retailers like Foxtrot taking the brand on as well as conventional partners like Albertsons, Lucky’s, Tom Thumb and Save Mark.
The recent retail launch has had one interesting wrinkle: Its larger format 32-ounce decaf concentrate — which is its top seller online — has also led brick-and-mortar sales, Crane told BevNET at Expo West. “It speaks to the fact that there’s a caffeine conscious movement happening.”
Crane said when he first launched it was mostly pregnant women who were buying the decaf concentrate but more and more these days a wider swathe of consumers have expressed a desire to cut back on caffeine while still looking for a cold brew to satisfy them throughout the day.