• Starco Brands to Acquire Co-Man
• Lifeway Family Feud Pushes for Shareholder Support
• Provi and RNDC Make Up
• Mid-Summer Spirits Marketing Moves

• Taste Radio: A Tip From A Top Brand? Focus On Quality & Convenience.

Discover how top F&B founders scale without breaking. Learn how brands like Bero and Lemon Perfect built investor-ready systems that drive growth, not chaos. Download this free Luxent x NetSuite ebook. Learn more

Can super-premium refrigerated wellness smoothies thrive in the land of the $1.50 hot dog and Coke? 

It’s not as crazy as it seems, and, judging by boutique juicery Pressed’s latest ready-to-drink retail launch, it’s an ambition the company thinks is well worth chasing. 

• Through September, Costco will offer Pressed Functional Wellness Smoothies in 8-packs of 10 oz. bottles. 
• The launch marks another notch in its distribution belt with a mass retail chain after landing its Express Cleanse box set at over 200 SuperTarget stores in February. 

Adding over 550 Costco stores to its overall retail footprint (5,000-plus doors) is no small gain, but there’s still work to do to flip Pressed’s portfolio from its 80-20 split that favors its brick-and-mortar cafes, as CEO Justin Nedelman told us is his aim. 

• The company is doing that through limited, bespoke retail collaborations: At Target, the Express Cleanse proved Pressed’s brand was resonating with consumers used to spending considerably less than $20 on four 15.2 oz. bottles of fresh juice. 
• At Costco, the smaller bottle format and larger pack size shows Pressed can compete on value as well; the box goes for $16.89, or around $2 per unit. 

Whether you’re talking about hot dogs or wellness smoothies, maybe the equation is not so technical, Nedelman mused: “If it’s working in Costco and it’s working in our stores, clearly America wants it.”

For more distribution news, including gains for Vietnamese robusta coffee specialists Nguyen Coffee Supply, Perfect Hydration and Don’t Quit Protein Soda, read the full recap here.

Starco Brands has signed a letter of intent to acquire its contract manufacturers, The Starco Group (TSG), aiming to create a vertically integrated CPG platform. 

• The proposed transaction is expected to give the combined entity greater scale in revenue and margin expansion.
• Starco Brands will be renamed “STARCO” and create two main operating subsidiaries, Starco Brands and Starco Manufacturing. Each will operate as a separate business under the public STARCO umbrella. 
• The company’s portfolio includes Winona Pure popcorn seasoning spray, Whipshots vodka-infused whipped cream and Soylent plant-based meal replacement shakes.

💬 “We are thrilled to reach this milestone, which enables true vertical integration for many of our brands, unlocks significant synergies, and is expected to expand the STARCO revenue base,” said Ross Sklar, CEO of Starco Brands, in a statement.

Insiders can access the full story for a complete look at the strategy shift. 

Lifeway Foods shareholders Edward and Ludmilla Smolyansky are making a last minute push to rally shareholders for a consent solicitation as part of their attempt to oust the board of directors at the kefir products manufacturer. The deadline is August 1.

• If you haven’t been following the story before now, well, it’s a long one. In short, Edward and Ludmilla are the brother and mother of Lifeway CEO and board chair Julie Smolyansky and are in the midst of a yearslong campaign to push their kin out of the company.

In a press release this week, they reiterated their stance that the company has “been both flagrant and unrelenting in its effort to disenfranchise shareholders,” pointing to the refusal to sell the business to Danone as the most recent example.

Reminder: Despite the protests, Lifeway has been on a yearslong run of positive quarterly growth under Julie Smolyansky’s leadership.

Go Deeper: Lifeway Keeps the Focus on Growth Despite Lingering Family Feud

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Ecommerce alcohol platform Provi and Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) have settled their yearslong legal battle, entering a nationwide services agreement to allow RNDC’s customers to place orders via Provi.

• The feud stems back to 2019 when the two companies sued one another alleging the other was harming their business. 
• Provi also reached a provisional settlement in April on a suit with similar circumstances against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, which was filed back in March 2022.
• Provi provides retailers and restaurants with a portfolio of around 1,400 distributors across 49 states and its userbase touts over 200,000 beverage alcohol buyers.

Insiders can get the full story on BevNET.

With the heat comes the next wave of spirit campaigns: this month BuzzBallz introduced its biggest format yet, Patrón goes hard on additive-free, and Martini taps Jonathan Bailey.

🔵 BuzzBallz is diving into summer with its biggest format yet: a fully inflatable, above-ground pool shaped like its spherical containers and in the fan-favorite Berry Cherry Limeade color, all for $20, matching the price of a BuzzBallz Biggie. 

🥃 In round two of its additive-free campaign, Patrón is firing back at regulatory pressure with a cheeky new effort, “Censored Truth.” 

• The campaign is Patrón’s response to controversy over the use of “additive-free” and features redacted visuals and bleeped-out language that emphasize its purity of ingredients, as its competitors face controversy about the purity of their tequilas. 

🇮🇹 Meanwhile MARTINI Bianco’s “Off Script” campaign stars actor Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton, this summer’s Jurassic World: Rebirth), who swapped screen time for spritz time in southern Italy to promote spontaneity and playful living.

Read more about the latest campaigns on BevNET.

Neal Cohen and Yoni Reisman, co-founders of trailblazing ready-to-drink cocktail brand Tip Top Cocktails, share how an idea sparked on the music festival circuit evolved into a highly awarded brand with national reach. Their journey is a case study in bootstrapping, brand discipline, and building loyalty through an unwavering commitment to quality and customer experience.

Tune into the episode here. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.