• 💸 InvestBev Lands $50 Million Loan
• 📄 Kroger/Albertsons Release Divestiture List
• 🦸 Chobani’s Super New Milk
• 💎 Gallo Expands Luxury Portfolio
• 🥑 PepsiCo’s Latest Accelerator Class
• 👀 ZingZang Unveils Fresh Look

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Glass bottles of Joe Tea are a familiar sight in delis or seaside sandwich shops in the Northeast, but after 28 years in business, the brand has decided it’s time to bring metal into the mix.

At the Fancy Food Show last month, Joe Tea showed off its new 12 oz. cans in three varieties: Peach, Half & Half and Sweet Tea. The brand’s first cans debuted in March, and the next run will include an not-yet-announced fourth flavor. Currently, they are being tested in “a few hundred” locations so the brand can “get a front row seat” to their performance, co-founder and president Steven Prato said.

“While ‘launch’ would be a common way to imagine how one approaches something like this project – we really don't think of it that way,” Prato said. “In the world of crawl, walk and run; we are professional crawlers.”

The New Jersey-based company is no stranger to packaging adaptation when the situation (and growth strategy) calls for it. Like many, the company had problems sourcing glass bottles during the pandemic and briefly pivoted into 18 oz. plastic containers. The more cost-effective cans allow Joe Tea to get a foot in the door at on-premise venues where glass is often prohibited like sports arenas or live music events, while also opening the door for ecommerce.

Joe Tea is not the only iced tea maker complementing its glass bottles with cans. Just Ice Tea unveiled aluminum at Expo East last year, bringing with it a more “accessible package,” according to CEO Seth Goldman. Seven Teas has also taken a page from the AriZona Iced Tea playbook with more moderately priced cans.  

Glass will remain part of Joe Tea’s identity, but the move into cans is about diversification into a format that is easier to ship and provides a better ROI once scaled, yet Prato framed the decision in simpler terms:

“We just employ the ‘make, sell for a profit, repeat program’ to all of our projects,” he said. “It's a third-grade math equation.”

As a family-run company without pressure from investors, this “crawl”-first approach to innovation serves Joe Tea’s needs of having broad-based revenue streams that can evolve over a longer period, Prato said.

“We like to be in a position where if we fail, we stumble from a low curb. But if we succeed, it's to the stars.”

Go Deeper: Just Ice Tea Looks to Cans for New Channel Opportunities.

Spirits-focused private equity group InvestBev has secured a $50 million delayed draw term loan to support its debt capital program. 

🥃 The loan comes from Victory Park Capital and will support the company’s efforts to provide debt capital to whiskey brands, distilleries and asset managers backed by whiskey barrel collateral. 

🤝 InvestBev recently unified its affiliated entities – InvestBev, Sprout Beverage, Algoma Capital and BevStrat – into a single company. That includes $200 million in assets under management and a separate $100 million in private credit through InvestBev Private Credit. 

🆕 The company also launched new programs for early-stage founders and credit-seeking distillers last year.

Kroger and Albertsons have released the full list of planned divestments to C&S Wholesalers – including 579 stores, six distribution centers and one production plant. The move comes after the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) claimed in a lawsuit that the plan included a “hodgepodge” of unconnected stores.

🛒 The majority of the stores are in the West including Washington State (124), Arizona (101), California (63) and Oregon (62) with a scattering of locations throughout the rest of the country.

🤨 It remains to be seen if releasing the details of the planned divestiture will stave off the various lawsuits the grocery mega-merger is facing, but it appears to give credence to the two grocery stores’ claims that the stores being divested are not random.

🏪 The majority of the stores are Albertsons’ chains, like Safeway and Vons, as well as Kroger banners Mariano’s in Illinois and QFC in the Pacific Northwest.

📞 The two grocery chains started notifying staff at the affected locations, according to a Bloomberg News story.

Go Deeper: 166 Stores and Support Assets Added To Updated Divestiture Plan With C&S.

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Chobani is officially in the dairy milk game – but only for a cause. The brand is launching its first dairy milk offering this week, Chobani Super Milk, which will be offered exclusively to charitable organizations to support those in need.

🥛 Super Milk is a lowfat (1%) milk touting high protein, Vitamins A and D, and 7 grams of prebiotic fiber. It is shelf-stable and packed in 32 oz. Tetra Pak cartons.

🏥 The milk is being made in partnership with the American Red Cross, with the product designated to be donated to people impacted by natural disasters and to local food banks and pantry partners to aid low-income persons.

✌️ "We are spreading Super Milk across the country through amazing partnerships with the American Red Cross and local foodbanks and pantries in southern Idaho and central New York,” said Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya. “We are so proud to work with these inspiring organizations who are focused on delivering food to more people. We could not make this impact without the power of these partnerships, and it is an honor to work together."

Spirit of Gallo is back in the premium rum game and has made its first investment in mezcal. 

🥃 The spirits, wine and now beer conglomerate has made a strategic investment in Mezcal Derrumbes and Ron del Barrilito, and will begin importing both brands. 

🔦 Higher-end segments have been a bright spot for rum in recent years, and it makes sense for Gallo to scoop up the historic Puerto Rican rum after Dipolmatico left its portfolio during the Brown-Forman acquisition in 2022. 

🌵 Building on its agave portfolio and partnership with Derrumbes co-founder Sergio Mendoza (who is also behind Gallo’s Don Fulano Tequila), Derrumbes stands out in the market for featuring mezcals from all over Mexico.

Read the full story on BevNET for more details.

Eight early-stage startups have been selected for PepsiCo’s Greenhouse Accelerator Program, marking the company’s ninth overall cycle and the second year its “Juntos Crecemos” – or, Together We Grow – edition has returned with a focus on brands “inspired by Hispanic flavors and culture.”

😋 The eight finalists in the incubator include NA cocktail brand JAS, plant-based pasta maker JaziLupini, Mexican-inspired prebiotic soda Mayawell, snack brands Nemi and PAKTLI, prickly pear water Pricklee, ready-to-toast foods brand TOAST-IT and artisanal sauce and salsa manufacturer ¡Ya Oaxaca!

🧮 The mentorship program runs for five months, and each participant will receive a $20,000 grant to help grow their business. One participant will receive an additional $100,000 at the end of the session.

🌶️ Last year spicy fruit snacks brand Chuza won the additional sum during the inaugural Junto Crecemos accelerator. 

ZingZang, which touts itself as America’s number-one-selling bloody mary brand, has rebranded its entire product portfolio for the first time since its launch in 1997. 

🥤 The refreshed labels – which feature cocktail images and highlight the product ingredients – cover the brand’s entire “AmaZING” portfolio, including its Margarita Mix (Classic, Mango and Strawberry varieties), Sweet & Sour Mix and ready-to-drink Bloody Mary and Margarita cocktails. 

💭 “As our product line expanded beyond our original Bloody Mary Mix, it became clear that a brand makeover was needed to highlight our premium ingredients and the bold flavors of our diverse offerings to a broader, cocktail-loving audience,” said VP of Marketing E.G. Fishburne in a statement.