Recess Drinks has closed a $30 million series B round led by CAVU and other repeat investors, according to CEO and founder Ben Witte.
Kyle Thomas, who joined C4 in 2021 and has led the growth of its sales team in beverage as Chief Commercial Officer, will be joining Witte as Recess co-CEO and President.
Witte cited Thomas’ leadership and development of platform brands, a long-time argument the founder has made around Recess, as one of the main reasons for the hire. Thomas has helped build both Nutrabolt – which went from a fitness supplement company to a leader in the energy drink space with C4 – and sparkling beverage maker Topo Chico at Coca-Cola Co. into brands with successful extensions into a variety of formats and categories.
Similarly, Recess has expanded in both the mocktail space and “mood” functionality, as well as its earlier hemp-based, CBD and adaptogen drinks. It’s now in about 15,000 stores, according to the company, with 95 % of sales in its mocktail and mood varieties, according to Witte.
“I’ve been looking at Recess as a platform for about 7 years,” Witte said. Early trouble that the brand faced when it went to market as a CBD brand – the overall category faced massive setbacks in the face of regulatory inconsistencies – “turned out to be the best possible thing that could have happened to us” as it led to development of the Mood and mocktail varieties, he said.
Now, Thomas will be in position to lead a brand with recent Mocktails approvals in Albertson’s and Target as a national brand, as well as some Trader Joe’s stores. Mood has also received strong consideration in many of those accounts.
“Recess is at the forefront of what I believe will become one of the next major beverage spaces — functional relaxation beverages and alcohol alternatives” Thomas said. “I am incredibly excited to partner with Ben to help fulfill the incredible potential that the Recess brand and business has.”
Witte stressed that the next six months will let the brand build “infrastructure” in sales and marketing to grow much more quickly; current velocities have been supported in retail with very little marketing or trade spend – just 9% to date, he said.
“I’ve always taken a long term view here,” he added. “This is working, it’s a big idea, there’s a lot more places we can extend into from a channel view.”
To bolster the team, several other new sales hires have come on board, including DSD specialist Ryan McAulay as SVP of field sales and distribution, a role similar to the one he held at Liquid Death.
The investment is CAVU’s first beverage placement since Poppi, Witte noted. Other existing investors taking part in the round include Midnight Ventures, Rocana, Torch Capital and Doehler Ventures, as well as Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, KAS Venture Partners and Vanquish.
The CAVU team lauded Witte for building a “counterweight” to “the $25 billion-plus energy drink market in the U.S. built on stimulation.”
“Recess isn’t about powering through the day — it’s about being more mindful within it,” said Jared Jacobs, a partner at CAVU. “We’re thrilled to partner with Ben and the team to help scale Recess from category pioneer to the definitive household name in modern relaxation.”