• 🚚 Bored Cow Hits Target; Open Water Fills Dome
• 🐂 Zevia Brings Red Bull Vet to Board
• 🥂  Sèchey Soaks Up Financing
• 🤝 Additive Free Alliance Regroups
• 🎣 Simple Is So Powerful. Complicated, On The Other Hand…

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The adult non-alc industry was rocked in April when pioneering retailer Boisson shut its nine physical stores and filed for bankruptcy. Now, many non-alc (NA) brands are still asking questions about the closure, while others are finding opportunity in a growing landscape.

Rewind: Boisson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Central California; that means the company is allowed to reorganize debt and develop a plan to pay back creditors without ceasing operations.

At BevNET Live in June, founder Nicholas Bodkins, who doubles as chief brands operator, shared updates on the company’s future as the business shifts to an exclusively e-commerce and wholesale import and distribution operation. He also announced the rebound via LinkedIn with the help of a new financial partner. The company has also appointed new execs: Arie Gurevitch, former director of e-commerce for Southern Wine and Glazer’s national accounts, as CEO and Clyde “Tripp” Rea, as COO.

Meanwhile, some of the suppliers for whom Boisson served as a foundational partner and are grappling with the roiling impact of its closure. The company’s immediate next steps are figuring out how to re-embrace those partners while building back trust and lost revenue. The bankruptcy filing lists Boisson’s 20 largest unsecured claims, and the company’s largest creditors, including several NA brands such as French Bloom, The Pathfinder, Almave, Three Spirit Drinks, as well as NA retailer The Zero Proof.

But other suppliers are still waiting for word on the status of their product and payment, with amounts ranging in tens of thousands of dollars.

“I unfortunately have not heard anything from Boisson but they are still selling product of ours that they have yet to pay for on their website,” said Lily Geiger, founder of NA aperitivo Figlia.

BevNET Insiders can read the full story to hear directly from the NA industry, how they imagine the future for this once-integral retail partner and learn more about Boisson’s plans for repayment.

Zevia announced today it has appointed former Waterdrop general manager Alexandre Ruberti to its board of directors.

• Ruberti brings 16 years of experience to the sugar free soda brand’s board, including a tenure as Chief Commercial Officer at Red Bull North America – where Zevia CEO Amy Taylor previously spent decades as president and CMO – and as president at Red Bull Distribution Company. 
• Zevia has seen sales improve in recent weeks after a sustained period of retail dollar sales declines. In the two-week period ending July 27, NielsenIQ reported sales of its CSD products up 3.4% to around $141.4 million, however growth remained down 3.1% for the 52-week period.

🗣️ What they said: “Alexandre is a pace-setting leader with a proven ability to develop and execute strategies that deliver sustainable top- and bottom-line growth specifically within beverage.” - Amy Taylor, CEO

🐄 ​​Bored Cow’s mission to popularize its “animal-free dairy milk” is taking it right to one of the country’s most popular retailers. It doesn’t get more conventional than Target, where you can now find the brand’s Chocolate and Strawberry (both 11 oz cartons) flavors in 4-packs as well as its Original in 32 oz cartons. Better still: expect a seasonal flavor to join the mix soon.

💧 As LA’s “second” NBA team, the Clippers are often obliged to be innovative, which feels like the case with last week’s news that the club’s brand new home, Intuit Dome, has chosen sustainable packaged water brand Open Water as its Official Water partner. The multi-year pact is part of the arena’s commitment to reducing the impact of food and beverage services via preventing packaging waste and diverting 90% of material away from landfills.

🥛 While pecan milk represents a relatively small piece of the plant-based dairy market, startup brand Pecana Nut Milk’s exclusive dedication to the category has begun to pay off. The company, which markets Unsweetened, Unsweetened Vanilla and Praline varieties in 32 oz. cartons, has announced retail expansion across California, Texas and New Mexico, including at H-E-B, Erewhon and Gelson’s Market.

Adult non-alc beverage brand and online retailer Sèchey announced it has received a strategic investment from PE firm InvestBev. Details about the deal, including the total sum, were not disclosed.

💫 Sèchey has seen its profile leap high over the past year as it partnered with Target to curate the mass retailer’s NA set across the country. 

📈 The funding arrives as Sèchey is also growing its own brand name within NA beverages and the company said it intends to work with InvestBev to grow its distribution, expand product line and increase marketing.

Earlier this year, after Mexican authorities raided a property belonging to the Tequila Matchmaker’s Additive-Free Alliance initiative, the future of finding certified additive-free tequila was a question mark. But last week, the initiative was reborn. 

🥃 The Additive Free Alliance (AFA) has relaunched as an independent, nonprofit entity based in Kentucky, and has filed for nonprofit 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. The new org has also expanded to include additive-free certifications for other agave-based spirits like raicilla and mezcal, and agave-adjacent products like agave spirits. 

✅ The AFA currently has over 100 brands, about 400 products, over 125 retail partners, and 42 distilleries in its roster. Weber Ranch 1902 Vodka, an agave-based vodka from Patrón Tequila founder and former Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits (SGWS) leadership, was the first product to receive the new certification.

💸 In this new iteration, instead of distillery visits, each participant in the Alliance will cover their own lab-related expenses, and following their first anniversary in the program, they’ll pay a fee to AFA to assist with random lab testing and operational costs.

A promising brand shut its doors this week, and its founder claimed that a confluence of factors led to its demise. Taste Radio’s hosts, however, wonder if the company’s problems stemmed from a single simple issue. They also riff on the ubiquity of “brat summer,” toss Twinkies and pop bottles of the NA variety.

Listen to the episode now.