Dan Maley

OK...I don't think any real CPG company would enter a new product category with 4 different brands. But Tilray is not a real CPG company, which is why they are entering the hemp-derived Delta-9 THC beverage category, with 4 different brands. "420 Fizz is a sleek and modern brand built off Tilray’s iconic 420 beverage platform. Enhanced with 5mg HDD9 per can, 420 Fizz is an exciting new seltzer with a refreshing taste. Herb & Bloom, a super-premium mocktail, offers a unique way to experience timeless classics with its harmonious blend of refreshing fruit notes infused with 5mg HDD9 per can. Each drink is crafted for a smooth and balanced experience, resulting in a delicious taste. Welcome to a world blooming with possibilities. Fizzy Jane's is a light and delicious seltzer with 5mg HDD9 per can and three classic flavors Blackberry, Blood Orange and Vanilla. A nostalgic brand created for the curious consumer. Happy Flower is inspired by classic cocktails, with a citrusy Margarita, a juicy Strawberry Daiquiri, and a bubbly and fruity Peach Bellini. Each Happy Flower cocktail contains 5mg HDD9 THC per 12oz. can and provides a new way for consumers to relax and unwind in a format that’s familiar, convenient, and delicious. Tilray will launch Happy Flower in partnership with Emergent Beverage in the Texas and Louisiana markets." That's 4 different brands to properly position and gain listings and generate consumer awareness and trial and refine...it's just too much at once. I spent 25 years in CPG, and ran a number of beverage-related brands like Maxwell House Coffee and Del Monte Fruit Drinks and Bacardi and Grey Goose Spirits and bev-alc RTD's and I cannot recall ever trying to launch 4 brands at the same time, especially into a still nascent and changing product category. It just seems business irresponsible - it might make for good investor fodder, but it's not smart marketing strategy.

16

12 Comments

UNFI just reported a surprisingly good Q3. Everyone in our industry should be celebrating. Their earnings call outlined how their larger Natural/Organic/Specialty accounts (WFM/TFM/GFH) are performing well. It’s a good thing, that these accounts are continuing to perform well and showing consumer resilience against persistently high pricing. This opens more innovation into more doors, and allows for the transfer of market share from Big CPG to emerging brands. It’s also a good thing their simplified fee structure (SSA) is paying off and producing more sustainable EBITDA rates for them because the stability of their supply chain network is important for retailers. There’s a nascent cottage industry built around helping small brands navigate UNFI’s “deduction” process. It’s important to understand that this 7% “Inside Income” forms the basis of their core profitability model. Nobody is going to “outsmart” or “outhustle” that 7% model long-term. Every brand signs the Policies and Procedures document and the details are all in the minutiae there. It’s important to understand that UNFI does not make its profits selling product…they earn more than 100% of their EBITDA by BUYING product. Their fees aren’t “predatory” they are just optimized for mature, larger brands who make up more than 80% of their sales. If you want a simplified no deduction model, and you don’t want to have to patchwork together 5-10 smaller distributors to reach national scale, you should work with us instead. We only make money when we sell product and we only work with emerging, growth brands. ALL of our fees are posted on our website, and we explain them to every brand that onboards with us in a 30 minute call. We can onboard you by the end of the day today if you want. Otherwise, UNFI is a very competent incumbent, and they are here to stay. Pod Foods #innovation #unfi #grocery

156

25 Comments

Interesting take on the battle for consumers during months like Sober October and Dry January from Stephanie Cain 👇 Her commentary below with link in comments 🍻🥂🍹 The wine industry has launched an assault on #SoberOctober and non-alcoholic beverages as if the sole existence of the booze-less category is to put a hit against wine. With its new campaign, Come Over October, wine folks are declaring you should grab a glass instead of going sober, because wine brings people together. Instead, #wine should really be looking at their core messaging because that's why wine is declining. At the #ComeOverOctober kick-off party, I had a conversation with a salesperson of a wine distributor. He attempted to be ok with the evolution of wine by explaining that ready-to-drink, single-serve wine brand, BeatBox, marketed to the 21 to 25-year-old set, was crushing the market. He was all for it. While the brand has wacky flavors like blueberry lemonade wine, he felt that every wine consumer “starts somewhere.” It was promising to him because he said they would “continue their wine journey” and start “drinking real wine.” So many problems here but here is the big one: They don’t often continue the wine journey. News flash, wine people! Consumers don’t have time. We don’t desire it. We want to build connections, not spend the evening only discussing what we want to drink. We have jobs and travel and bills to pay and kids and dogs and aging parents and hell, we just want to buy a house. We have no job security. We have been hit with recession after recession. Right now, inflation is making our groceries cost some 40% more. You really think we are jumping at the time-consuming task of learning about wine? Get real. We’ll grab a #Martini. And start ranting. Which is exactly what I'm doing in today's The Mad Ones 👇 Link in comments. #health #wellness #marketing #alcohol #alcoholfree

49

11 Comments

Looking for the BEST kosher beef frank for the upcoming summer season? Check out this review from Food & Wine and learn why one will always 'reign supreme'. If you don't have our Hebrew National beef franks on your menu, reach out and we'll get you connected with our chefs to help develop the right offering for your operation. Let the summer grilling season begin! #conagrafoodservice, #foodandwine, #hebrewnational, #reignsupreme #summergrillingseason

18

A powerful independent known for a balance of brands and private label. It will be interesting to see the government view on this acquisition as food inflation has been under significant scrutiny lately. While the focus is more on retail food cost, this will certainly get attention. #foodservice #independents #southeast.

6

1 Comment

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲-𝗔𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗡𝗔𝗖𝗦: 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 1200 "𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵𝘀" 𝗡𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀- nothing stood out in either food or bev space. 𝗠𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼- a lot of me too products- energy drinks, water, meat sticks, jerky and chips 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀- large CPG companies (you know who they are) did NOT hand out full size samples. These massive companies would spend over $250K on a "booth" but cut up their samples to bite size. Shame....Shame....Shame.... Reason? budget and cutting back. REALLY????? 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀/𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀- I won't mention who was there but a handful of known personalities. Does it move the needle? The booths get attention which I guess is the goal!? Show is too long: Day 1 and 2: 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM and Day 3: 9:30 AM-1:30 PM. IMHO cut the show hours down to a 4 hour window for two days. Day 3 was a waste of time. NO-ONE was there. I get the reasons but this method is not working and not right for all the vendors. New Exhibitor Section- As always the best section. We at Palermo's Pizza had a booth with a lot of samples handed out and attention. Screamin Sicilian got major kudos for a well known and great product from many buyers. 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳: How does a booth get attention and interest? Great product? Hand out something special and unique? These are the questions I often ponder and do not have a solid answer. Now what? Leads captured and then what? This is the crucial step to gaining distribution in the c-store channels.

27

8 Comments

A simple quote from Mike Tyson and one of my favorites of all time: "Everybody has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth." It rings true in the day to day battles of business, especially in CPG. Here are some examples many CPG founders go through or ones I've personally battled: 🥴 You launch a product, did all the research for R&D, focus group testing, and reviewed the packaging thousands of times before launching, but still something went wrong either with shelf life, negative consumer/retailer feedback, or weak sales on shelf 💰 You had cash flow projections in place and expected that with X amount raised, it would last you for Y Months, but ran short of runway and were scrambling to raise more cash to keep the company going in difficult times 🤝 Formed partnerships, only disappointed to find out the partner backed out, or it wasn't the partnership you envisioned and now you are doing damage control and it's causing emotional pain to be with this person 🚛 Brought on a distributor thinking they would push the brand and it would be an estimated cost, but they didn't do their job, and the costs ended up sky-rocketing from chargebacks, thus losing money on every unit 😲You release a great product, and then a competitor comes up with a version of yours that is a lower price point and they have all the marketing dollars in the world to out-compete you. I can go on and on, but in this business, like any business, you have intentions when you go into it, and many times, it doesn't turn out the way you envisioned. What's your story of getting punched in the mouth?

21

5 Comments

The moderation trend is continuing to accelerate! The NA segment of on-premise beer sales in the U.S. jumped 33.7% over the last 52 weeks with broad-based gains in all 50 states! 💪 📈 🍻 At Partake Brewing we are seeing on-premise operators move from offering 1 NA beer option to now several with macros and craft represented in addition to house mocktails. 🍺 🍷 🍹 This is an exciting time for the non-drinker and moderator alike! Gone are the days of water, juice, milk, and soda as the non-alcoholic options. 🤩 https://lnkd.in/gibbdbPB

68

8 Comments

CELSIUS Holdings, Inc. reported earnings for Q3 with a drop of 30% in revenue an a 9% decrease in margins with a profit of $0.0/sh. This comes after they announced the purchase of a 170,000 sq ft coman earlier this month. There’s been ongoing issues with distribution and the relationship with PepsiCo that have impacted sales. It should be noted Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. owns a % of Celsius. I recently mentioned the decrease in revenue is partly due to consumer behavior change from c-store to bulk. The company confirmed that today noting that bulk stores like Sam’s saw an increase of 15% in revenue as consumers are being more frugal and buying in bulk vs c-store. How will Dr Pepper fix the relationship with Pepsi? https://lnkd.in/gbmNWChg

21

1 Comment

"Thanks Kaleigh Theriault, great play by play on the first half, let’s take a look at what’s going to be needed to win the year." 🏈 Halftime Report: Preparing for the second half in the Beverage Alcohol Industry! 🏆 As we take a breather at the halfway point of 2024, it's clear that the beverage alcohol industry has seen some major plays and strategic moves. Let's huddle up and look at the game plan for the rest of the year: 🍺 Beer: The price increases in 2023 are putting pressure on consumers, with long-term inflation effects and multiple drivers pointing to lower volumetrics. To stay in the game, deeper price subsidization for core Beer categories is essential. However, Imports show potential for a positive finish. Maintaining consumer loyalty will be our MVP move here. 🍷 Wine: The $15-$25 range continues to be the sweet spot, driving consumer interest. But to achieve positive trends by year-end, we need to capitalize on Q4 gifting. A big comparable period is coming up, so some price adjustments might be necessary, especially for infrequent Wine shoppers. 🥃 Spirits: We're seeing a continued shakeout as consumers transition from traditional products to RTDs. Flavor and turn-key cocktails are the winning plays, making Q4 critical for gifting and entertaining. Price discounting is already in motion to boost revenue. 🍹 RTD (Ready-to-Drink): RTDs remain a game-changer this year. With their share of total Alcohol growing, we expect more stability in growth rates as the shift from Seltzers slows. Building consumer brand loyalty for Spirits RTDs is crucial, and we need to watch out for potential flavor fatigue in the second half. Let's get ready to tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities ahead! Here's to a successful second half of 2024! 🥂 "Why did the football team go to the bank at halftime? To get their quarterback!" 🏆 #BeverageIndustry #AlcoholTrends #Beer #Wine #Spirits #RTD #MarketInsights #SecondHalf #HalftimeReport Note: This report looks at the 26 week ending period thru July 6th, 2024

70

2 Comments

Rubix Foods has its finger on the pulse of the hottest flavor trends and brings those trends to life for roughly 70% of the top QSR and FSR restaurant brands in the nation. On the newest episode of Forktales, we’re joined by Shannon O'Shields, VP of marketing for Rubix Foods, for a sneak peek at how the company helps restaurants stay one bite ahead of the competition. FULL EPISODE: www.forktales.co #marketing #marketingpodcast #branding #brandingpodcast #restaurantmarketing #restaurantbranding #restaurantstrategy #restaurantgrowth #advertising #marketingpodcast #forktales #forktalespodcast #vigor #FlavorTrends #RubixFoods

9

2 Comments

Top 5 tips on building and maintaining strong relationships with retailers to secure shelf space and drive sales: 1. Meeting initial item set-up timelines with incredible accuracy 2. Updating the Retailer on any changes in the supply channel 3. Once establishing the cost of the shelf space, promote and invest to drive sales. Makes no sense to say “ I don’t have enough left to fund the requested programs.” 4. Be smart and be able to frequently review ROI on any tool or program that is used to be sure you are spending marketing dollars efficiently. 5. Continuous Evaluation, Continuous Improvement: The journey doesn't end with a deal. #cpg #retail #shelfspace

2

Amazing to hear Gavin Hattersley, CEO of Molson Coors Beverage Company, share insights at The Beverage Forum! Molson Coors' strategic shift towards "beyond beer" brands like Simply Spiked, ZOA Energy, and more has been a game-changer, driving growth in both top and bottom lines for the first time since 2005 (talk about impressive!). As Gavin rightly puts it, "Summer is when we'll win or lose as an industry." The success during May through Labor Day will determine the trajectory of the entire category. Molson Coors' approach to innovation has evolved significantly in recent years. They've transitioned from a strategy of throwing a plethora of products at retailers and distributors to a more deliberate approach. This shift has led to a more focused and effective product lineup, enhancing their overall strategy and market performance. One of their big bets for this year is Happy Thursday, a no carbonation beverage similar to Vitamin Water with alcohol. This innovative product was inspired by insights into trending beverages from TikTok. It's no secret that macroeconomic conditions have posed challenges, leading to a somewhat subdued outlook. Interestingly, despite ongoing innovation in cannabis beverages, the impact on Molson Coors remains minimal. Additionally, Molson Coors' response to the growth of brands like Athletic Brewing Co. includes innovations such as Birra Peroni 0.0 and Blue Moon Non-Alcoholic. Excited to see how the industry evolves, and looking forward to more discussions and insights from leaders like Gavin Hattersley at The Beverage Forum! #BeverageIndustry #Beer #Innovation #TheBeverageForum #IndustryInsights #CPG #Retail #NonAlch #CSD #Alcohol Danny Stepper LA Libations Wild Bill’s Craft Beverage Co.

12

The US Beer industry landscape is changing fast. AB InBev's North America Normalized EBIT declined by over $1.3 B from 2022 to 2023. The volume market share decline (relative to Molson Coors Beverage Company and Constellation Brands) contributed to that EBIT decline by an amount of $400 Million. It has not helped that overall volumes between these three major players has declined by over 4%. It's a general sign of the headwinds facing the beer category as shopper and consumer preferences shift. For #ABInBev, that overall market decline cost them another $200M. A just less than 4% increase in Net Pricing contributed a +ve $560Million to the Normalized EBIT change, but was insufficient to mitigate the increased inflationary unit costs associated with Cost of Sales and the de-leveraging of other SG&A operating expenses. It will be interesting to track how these components of EBIT will change for 2024, given growth constraints associated with market share gains and price increase ceilings. Looks like some drastic OPEX cuts might be the only short-term remedy for now as AB InBev looks to rebuild brand equity and volume share. Send me a DM or write "send" in the comments section and I will forward you the document that also contains the related MVA operating breakdown for #MolsonCoors and #ConstellationBrands. It's interesting to see how and to what extent Molson Coors and Constellation Brands benefited from AB InBev's headwinds. You will also see why Constellation Brands might be the longer term winner here. #Beerindustry #beercategory #beerdistribution #Heineken #BeverageAlcohol #Asahi #Carlsberg #BostonBeer #beer #beverages #BudLight #MillerLite #CoorsLight #Corona #ModeloEspecial

12

3 Comments

🚨 National Beer Wholesalers Association 87th Annual Meeting is just around the corner, and Bud Dunn will be hosting a seminar you won’t want to miss: Incentives vs Entitlements: How to Get More Effort from Your Team 📅 Monday, September 30, 2024 🕗 8:00 – 9:15 a.m. If you’ve ever struggled to keep your team consistently motivated, this session is for you. We’ll be diving into the psychology behind motivation and discussing how to use strategic incentives to build a high-performance culture. Here’s what you’ll take away: ✔️ Proven strategies to inspire dedication and hard work ✔️ How to balance incentives with expectations ✔️ Practical tools to align your team’s effort with your company’s goals Whether you’re leading a small team or managing a large operation, this talk is designed to help you get the best out of your people—no more guesswork, just actionable steps that drive real results. 🗓️ Add this to your NBWA agenda and be sure to stop by Booth 713 to learn how VXP Tech can help you leverage AI to improve your sales and profitability. 💪 #NBWA2024 #Leadership #TeamPerformance #Incentives #BeerIndustry #HighPerformanceCulture #VXPTech

4