• 🚪 Jones Soda CEO Exits
• 🏀 Poppi Scores with LA Lakers
• ⛔ PepsiCo to Close Bottling Plant
• 🧒🏼 Silk Debuts Kids Oatmilk Product
• ☕ New CEO’s “Back To Starbucks” Campaign

Call it one of those “good” problems: NYC-based cold-chain DSD house Dora’s Naturals is operating at about 130% capacity from its current warehouse, said head of business development Tanya Weber on a call last week.

That means the distributor’s focus on premium, better-for-you drinks and snacks is working, she noted – and also that it’s going to need some more space.

Those pressures are now the imperative for growth: Dora’s recently purchased two additional facilities that will more than double its current capacity (from 75,000 sq. ft. to around 170,000 sq. ft.) when it completes its move within the coming year. The new warehouses are located just down the street from the existing one, and next door to the high-pressure pasteurization (HPP) facility.

“It gives us this little compound, you could say, for a distribution network – plenty of parking, plenty of spots for trucks and lots of room for expansion,” Weber said.

The move also reflects the level of regional competition: Rainforest, another DSD specializing in refrigeration, has picked up ground further outside NYC, while the likes of Big Geyser and Gold Coast offer muscular operations built for street battles. 

But Dora’s reputation has been built on performance under pressure; while Weber was at her prior gig running grocery for Whole Foods in the Northeast, she said, the distributor “saved me” several times over thanks to its ability to adapt to problems – be it a storm, power outage or other hurdle to surmount. Now just over a year into her role at Dora’s, Weber is tasked with growing its roster of partners and pursuing opportunities in emerging spaces like functional snacks and adult non-alcoholic beverages. 

Yet Dora’s has perhaps been most influential in bringing innovative brands outside of natural retailers and integrating those products into the city’s vast array of independents. On the lookout for new business, Weber said she’s excited about “on fire” categories like shots (brands including Suja/Vive, Morning Labs and Brooklyn-born favorite GNGR) along with “interesting” ones like functional drinks. Even within a once-powerful refrigerated category like kombucha Weber sees some silver lining in brands moving from glass to cans.

“I think anything that's refrigerated is a really difficult category,” she said. “Distribution is very difficult in this area, and so the opportunity for growth, us wanting to expand our portfolio, is a natural thing in our industry to be able to do. We probably say no more than we say yes, because we want to make sure that we're rounding out our portfolio in the best way possible.”

Catch up on Dora’s Naturals’ trajectory on BevNET.

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Jones Soda president and CEO David Knight has left the company as of Oct. 25, with chairman Paul Norman now stepping into the roles on an interim basis.

• Knight joined Jones in June 2023, succeeding Mark Murray in the chief executive role. He previously worked at CBD company CFH Ltd. and was the co-founder and former CEO of SX Latin Liquors.
• Norman has been a director on Jones’ board since 2019 and has served as chairman since 2022. He previously worked for the Kellogg Company, including as president of Kellogg’s North America business from 2015 until 2018.
• Norman said that alongside the board and management team, he will work to bring on a new, permanent CEO to execute on “the many exciting initiatives we currently have underway." 

💬 "As we continue to launch new and exciting brands, I intend to ensure that Jones Soda will remain committed to focusing on value-creation strategies and operating efficiently,” said Norman in a statement. 

Go Deeper: Read up on Knight's arrival at the soda company

Prebiotic soda producer Poppi announced a partnership today with the Los Angeles Lakers, marking the brand’s first professional sports collaboration.

👀 As The Official Soda of The LA Lakers Poppi will support brand activations on and off the court, including virtual signage during select broadcasts, integration into theme nights at Lakers’ home games and co-branded social features. 

💭 "Los Angeles and Lakers basketball offers the perfect backdrop for Poppi’s beloved soda. Innovating and delivering outstanding experiences is what we do at the Los Angeles Lakers. We always find new ways to authentically connect with fans and couldn't be more excited to bring Poppi to Lakers nation,” said Tim Harris, LA Lakers COO and president of business operations, in a press release.

🥤 Poppi isn’t the only prebiotic soda maker betting on sports partnerships for growth. Beginning with its sponsorship of the National Women Soccer League’s (NWSL) Kansas City Current, Olipop has signed 27 partnerships with pro sports teams in the last 12 months, an 8% increase since 2023.

PepsiCo is set to close its bottling plant in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood due to the location’s “physical limitations,” reported the AP. According to the Teamsters union, the closure will impact 150 workers.

❌ PepsiCo said the “difficult” decision to close was made because of challenges presented by the 60-year-old building. The company will pay its workers for the next 60 days even though they won’t be required to work. 

👀 Teamsters Local 727, which represents the plant’s workers, said it was informed of PepsiCo’s decision on Monday in an email sent by the company’s attorneys. The union claims PepsiCo violated federal law, which requires employers to give 60 days’ notice of pending facility closures or mass layoffs at locations with 50+ employees. 

💭 “To lay off over a hundred Teamsters workers with no notice to them or the union, in violation of both our collective bargaining agreement and the law, is about as low as you can get,” said John Coli Jr., secretary-treasurer of Local 727, in a statement to the AP. 

Can parents convince their kids to love plant-based milk? Danone is betting on it with the launch of Silk Kids, a new oatmilk line targeted to children five and up.

🏥 Silk Kids is made with 8 grams of plant protein per serving and contains DHA omega-3 and choline. It also touts 50% less sugar than dairy milk as another selling point. The drinks come in 59 oz. multiserve cartons.

🗓️ The product is rolling out to select stores now with a broader nationwide rollout slated for Q1 2025.

🥛 Silk is not the first brand to pitch dairy alternatives to kids and parents. Startup brand Kiddiwinks makes a prebiotic plant-based milk for children, alongside others like Ripple and Kiki Milk. Others have introduced kid-positioned products in the past, such as OWYN, but those have since been discontinued.

Starbucks new CEO Brian Niccol released a video message that aims to bring customers “back” to the coffee retailer after it reported a 7% in-store sales decline and a consolidated net revenue drop of 3% in Q4 in a preliminary FY2024 report. Niccol’s plan emphasized a focus on the coffee itself and providing a better customer experience by returning to its “community coffeehouse” roots.

🤔 Niccol said that the company will “simplify its overly complex menu and fix its pricing architecture” in order to lure consumers back in.

↪️ The company is initially focusing its turnaround efforts in the U.S. as well as China and its other international markets.

🎓 The new CEO also hinted at a plan to bring career development to employees by offering “free four-year college” which could be incorporated into Starbucks College Achievement Plan that debuted in 2014.