Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) has acquired drink mix manufacturer Dyla Brands, which produces Stur and a growing portfolio of co-branded liquid and powder mixes, the company announced during its earnings call this morning.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
KDP was previously a minority stakeholder in Dyla and held a seat on the company’s board of directors. Beginning around 2020, the company began licensing a number of its brand portfolio to Dyla to create drink mixes, including products like Hawaiian Punch, Crush Orange Soda, 7-Up, A&W Root Beer, Snapple and C4 Energy.
The acquisition provides KDP with 100% ownership of the business.
The deal, however, does not include the Happy Viking protein powder brand developed in partnership with Venus Williams, which will be spun out and continue as an independent business.
Speaking to BevNET, Dyla founder and CEO Neel Premkumar said that the company will continue to operate independently for the foreseeable future with all staff expected to remain in their current roles, but KDP’s ownership will provide an even bigger opportunity to expand the business in retail.
“We’ve just kind of consistently been growing every year, and it got to a meaningful size for them,” Premkumar said. “The category itself is on fire – the drink mix category is now about $4 billion and we do over 1.5 billion servings a year.”
According to Circana, U.S. retail dollar sales of Stur brand drink mixes were up 4.3% to about $16.6 million in MULO and c-store for the 52-week period ending April 20, 2025. However, that’s only a fraction of Dyla’s total business, which also includes online sales with a constant stream of LTO launches, and a growing slate of licensed products with non-KDP aligned brands as well.
Premkumar said that in recent months, Dyla has been producing mixes for brands like Sparkling Ice, Dole and Ocean Spray.
Dyla also recently took over production of Liquid Death’s powdered Death Dust line. Initially launched last year, Death Dust suffered initially from a poor manufacturing run with less-than-desired quality. Now, Dyla has created a “restaged version” rolling out this month, Premkumar said. The updated line includes 1,000 mg of electrolytes, reduced sugar, “boosted flavor” and a reduced price point.
Under KDP’s ownership, Premkumar said the conglomerate is now looking at how it can work to scale Dyla’s distribution, particularly with its ability to secure more off-shelf placements, noting that “there are some channels and even the existing retail relationships that we already have, strong ones, where they’ve got levels above, deeper connections.”
As well, Dyla will be “looking at more and more of their trademarks,” he said.