• 🐶 Jones Soda Gets Spiked
• 🎸 Halfday’s Killer New President

After emerging as one of the fastest growing coffee brands in the category a little over two years ago, Black Rifle Coffee Company kept momentum going throughout 2023 with strong double-digit net revenue growth, according to its latest earnings report.

☕ Net revenue for the full year 2023 was up 31% to $395.6 million, while Q4 net revenue rose 27.8% to $119.7 million for the quarter.

📈 The path towards profitability improved in Q4, as net losses fell to $14 million, compared to a net loss of $20 million in 2022.

🛒 Wholesale growth has been critical for the brand’s performance, up 79% year-over-year in Q4, with expansion in Food, Drug and Mass credited as the primary driver. Whereas DTC has become a smaller piece of the business, with revenue falling by 14.4% in Q4 to $39.1 million.

👊 The brand “has reached an inflection point,” said CFO Steve Kadenacy in a statement. He attributed much of the continued growth to “a renewed focus on efficiency and effectiveness.” Brand awareness was estimated to grow around 400 basis points in Q4 to 29%.

Brown-Forman sales declined -1% to $1.1 billion in the third quarter of FY 2024, with new sales driven by recently acquired Gin Mare and Diplomatico brands and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple. 

🤔 In a year that CEO Lawson Whiting said came with “significant uncertainty and complexity” sales of the company’s flagship brand, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey continued to fall and slipped 6%. But its apple flavored counterpoint, which experienced delays launching during the pandemic, was a bright spot, up 44%.

🍹 The portfolio including newly added brands Gin Mare and Diplomatico Rum got a 79% jump in sales. The higher gross margins of those brands offset lower margins of RTD products as the company expands its RTD business, said Leanne Cunningham, EVP and chief financial officer, during the earnings report Q&A session. 

🍸 On that front, Cunningham added that while gross margins for RTDs are lower than the company average, Jack & Coke should be higher than the rest of the RTD portfolio because advertising support is jointly funded between Brown-Forman and the Coca-Cola company. As Jack & Coke celebrates its one year-anniversary since its launch in the U.S., sales increased 1%, offset by lower volumes as the previous Jack Daniel's & Coca-Cola RTD transfers out of the market. 

😐 Like other major companies, Brown-Forman has cut its forecast, predicting flat sales in the full-year.

Jones Soda Co is the latest soda company to crossover into the ready-to-drink game with a new spiked edition announced this week. 

🥤 The Seattle-based craft soda company, which also expanded into foodservice and deeper into cannabis this year, is now leveraging its unconventional soda brand into RTDs with the help of another Washington-based beverage company.

🌧️ Rainmaker, producer of Locust Cider, will partner with Jones on national distribution for the new product, named Spiked Jones Hard Craft Soda (we’re guessing the redundant spiked and hard is in effort to eliminate confusion with the non-alc version?) 

🤔 The move comes as big soda continues to enter into the RTD category, aiming to bring in consumers with familiar brand names. That trend has made many in the industry nervous for a number of reasons, particularly concern over soda giants using their existing retailer relationships – and inherent slotting fees – to get better shelf space for bev-alc products. As a result, category leader Hard MTN Dew recently announced the transition to Boston Beer Company’s beer distributor, marking the end of distribution by PepsiCo’s Blue Cloud Distribution.

Read the full story on BevNET.

Prebiotic iced tea maker Halfday has named former Liquid Death Chief Sales Officer Sean Lynch as president to help lead the brand as it mounts a national expansion with Whole Foods Market.

☠️ Lynch officially joined the startup tea brand last month, coming to the business from Liquid Death where had held the CSO role since 2020. He brings over a decade of experience in the beverage business, including sales roles at Red Bull, Bai and Califia Farms.

🫖 Lynch played a key role in growing Liquid Death’s national sales. Notably, his move to Halfday comes less than a year after the canned water maker expanded into tea with its own canned line.

🦾 Founded in 2018 as a “tea tonic,” Halfday is focused on national expansion this year and is now rolling out to all Whole Foods stores across the country. The retailer also touted the brand in its Top Trends of 2024, citing as part of a wave of “Better Boost” products filling the space for healthier energy.