Since its founding in 2021, Drink Weird has prided itself on its unique, outsider brand identity. But can that approach now help the company solidify yerba mate’s place in convenience stores?
Exhibiting at the Acosta Group booth at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) show in Chicago last week, Drink Weird sampled its existing line of caffeinated canned teas and yerba mate drinks (160 mg per 16 oz. can) with the goal of building out its national footprint.
Speaking at the booth, co-founder and CEO Jason May said the company grew sales over 100% last year and is on pace for around 100% growth again this year, albeit not starting from “a gigantic base,” he said.
According to May, the brand has entered around 25 Anheuser-Busch InBev DSD houses to date, adding the San Diego region this month, and is preparing to enter many more in the near future.
Drink Weird partnered with the Acosta Group this year to represent the brand in grocery and convenience, with potential support for additional channels in the future, with May noting that their lead partner at Acosta specializes in taking brands from $5 million in revenue to $100 million.
The brand now has 17 sales team members, and with more sales and a strong presence in up and down the street accounts, the brand is getting more acceptance from chains such as Chevron, May said.
The future for Weird also includes embracing its identity as a caffeinated beverage producer, which means dropping the canned water and sparkling water offerings it introduced in 2023.
May says Weird Water was never intended to be a major piece of the business, but instead was created as a way for Weird to get a foot into the promotion and events sector with venues being a potential on-premise channel that the brand could establish itself in.
“It was gonna be like a Trojan horse of getting Weird into people’s hands,” he said.
But soon after the launch, retailers began inquiring about the water line and before long both consumers and retail buyers were viewing the entire Weird brand as a Liquid Death competitor than as the versatile, multi-category platform May intended. Some even took to calling the company “Weird Water” and didn’t even know there were teas or yerba mates on offer.
“We would get space in retail and water would get jammed in there,” he said. “Water was never intended to be profitable, so we clipped it in 2024 and it’s gone. We won’t go back to that.”
Now, as Drink Weird builds out its tea and yerba mate business in c-stores, May said the company has found that its been able to position itself successfully as an alternative to leading yerba brand Yerba Madre by appealing to younger and alternative consumers, while gaining placements in energy sets (as opposed to iced tea).
May said that the company is actively looking to work with DSD distributors that also carry Yerba Madre. The hope is for Weird not compete directly with that brand but to expand the category towards “19-year-old skateboard kids” rather than Yerba Madre’s older, holistic-minded audience.
He said he tells distributors to not take any facings in retail away from Yerba Madre, but to instead position Drink Weird next to or below them on shelf, pitching it as an opportunity for distributors to win the category in convenience with both brands.
“I’m trying to get the message to [Yerba Madre] that I won’t go after your space,” he said, acknowledging that he’s had no discussions with that company. “But we’re not going anywhere. I’m gonna grow this.”