Juice-infused sparkling water maker Spindrift has reached an agreement for San Francisco-based private investment group Gryphon Investors to acquire a majority stake in the company.

• The announcement will also see the Massachusetts-based brand tap experienced CPG executive Dave Burwick as its new CEO. 
• Current CEO Bill Creelman will retain a “significant equity stake” while shifting into a new role as chairman of the board.
• Spindrift dollar sales totaled over $275 million while volume increased 22% during the 52-week period that ended December 28, 2024, according to Goldman Sachs analysis of NielsenIQ data. 
• A Wall Street Journal story in December indicated that a deal with Gryphon Investors could be valued north of $650 million.

Check out the full story on BevNET.

Brown-Forman is laying off 12% of the company’s 5,400-person global workforce and closing its Louisville-based cooperage. The company will also be restructuring its executive leadership team, according to a statement.

🪵 By shuttering its barrel-making operation in late April, approximately 210 hourly and salaried employees will be impacted (those individuals are part of the 648). Brown-Forman was the only major spirits company still producing its own barrels, but will source barrels from an external supplier moving forward. 

💸 The sale of the cooperage will generate more than $30 million in proceeds in addition to the approximately $70 to $80 million in annualized cost savings generated from the restructuring.

📉 The layoffs come following four straight quarters of sales declines, and as other major bev-alc companies also slash their workforce.

One of PJ Monte’s early sales pitches startled a woman so much that she clutched her purse. A few weeks later, PJ’s tomato sauce was on the shelves of her husband’s influential grocery store. It’s one of dozens of stories that PJ, a streetwise, fedora-wearing entrepreneur, has about the development of his acclaimed sauce and pasta brand Monte’s Fine Foods. 

Listen to the episode now.

• Distribution news from around the industry
• How beyond-beer brands are strategizing deeper into total beverage
• The latest data tracking the growth of online grocery

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