• 🍊 Suja Seeks a Slice of Soda Set
• 🥃 New American Whiskey Fund
• 🤝 L.A. Libations-Advantage Solutions' Consultancy
• ❣️ HOP WTR Head Gives Back by Slashing Salary
• ♥️ To Live Her Dream, She First Needed To Create ‘Absolute Trust’ In Her Brand

With its business growing amid a rising U.S. energy drink category, Monster Beverage Corporation expressed confidence in its widening product portfolio and its alcoholic drinks arm, Monster Brewing Company, during its annual investor meeting presentation on Tuesday. 

During the live presentation, co-CEOs Rodney Sacks and Hilton Schlosberg highlighted 3.2% retail sales growth for its U.S. business against 6% growth for the total energy category in the 13-week period ending January 4. 

• However, after two straight quarters of falling sales in its nascent beverage-alcohol division, Monster said it will prioritize streamlining Monster Brewing Company this year under recently-appointed division president Ray LaRue. 
• This includes consolidating production facilities, which Sacks said will result in two main manufacturing plants and a third used for niche or smaller brands.

#ICYMI: In November, Monster announced it had “restructured” Monster Brewing Company’s senior management following the appointment of LaRue. The company also shuttered the Deep Ellum and Oskar Blues production facilities production breweries in Texas and transitioned the Cigar City brewery in Tampa to an R&D facility. 

“We expect to take a further impairment in this division, but we are confident that we’ll be able to use this platform. It’s premature for us to discuss ideas on the alcoholic and non-alcoholic sides, but we do have new ideas planned to help us become a staple in the business,” Sacks told investors during yesterday’s presentation. 

Focusing on the “power of the portfolio,” Monster will also seek to grow its core lines while attracting new consumers to the category in 2025 with a roster of influencer and sports partnerships. Two key renewals have already taken place: a five-year deal with UFC featuring custom signage and a deal with X Games. 

How does Monster ensure consumer impressions from these deals produce results in retail? According to CMO Dan McHugh, creating digital content with athletes and ambassadors is key. For example, the company has featured YouTuber Kai Senat on “major content” that has reportedly delivered “unbelievable numbers across the board for the Bang Energy brand.”  

Monster closed out the presentation by vaguely discussing the succession plan for Sacks, which would eventually see Schlosberg take over the CEO role entirely. A timeline has not been announced. 

“What I can say is that probably around mid-year, you’ll see some change. This is a company and brand I’ve grown up with, so I think I can still contribute and play an important role, but perhaps in a slightly different position or not as hands-on or full-time,” said Sacks. 

Go Deeper: Monster’s Increased Expenses Lead to Mixed Q3

Slice is back on shelves once again, this time as a better-for-you functional soda courtesy of Suja Life, which acquired the classic CSD brand last year.

🛒 Now in Costco, Target, H-E-B and Albertson’s, this is Slice’s third relaunch (it was originally an 80s PepsiCo innovation) in seven years. 

• Could Slice finally stick? Notably, it’s the brand’s first attempt at a revival via an established beverage manufacturer with a pre-existing distribution network it can readily plug into.

🧃 Slice is spearheading Suja’s sparkling drinks division as the company looks to broaden its business beyond the core Suja juices and Vive Organic wellness shots making up its current portfolio.

🤔 But is it differentiated enough? With Poppi and Olipop leading the revolution in healthy soda, the functional CSD space has become a bit saturated. 

• However, Suja Life head of sparkling Marisa Hirtzel said the company isn’t interested in playing “me too” and believes its nostalgic brand identity and original formulation help differentiate it from the competition.

Insiders can read the full story today on BevNET.

With American single malt whiskey now an official category, one group of investors is aiming to get in on the ground floor. 

💰 ASM Capital Group is launching a barrel investing model designed to meet the needs of American brands seeking aged whiskey products. The new fund raised nearly $10 million at the close of 2024 and has a goal of $250 million by 2026 to continue purchasing barrels. 

🤝 The fund was founded by Rob Robillard, who sold his flavored whiskey, Cabin Fever Maple Whiskey, to Diageo in 2012 (the spirits giant then returned the brand to him four years later after not meeting sales expectations). 

➕ It's a vote of confidence for the newly-established category. The U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in December announced a final long-awaited ruling defining American single malt whiskey, the first new American spirit category in 50 years. 

Go Deeper: Within ‘Intimidating’ Category, American Single Malt Whiskey Brands Seek Education & Evolution

Relentless Advantage launched this week as a new partnership between St. Louis-based CPG sales and marketing agency Advantage Solutions and SoCal beverage incubator L.A. Libations.

🛒 The partnership will blend the expertise of the two businesses to bring retail support services to emerging brands.

🤔 The joint venture will service both food and beverage brands and already includes Abbot’s, Nixie, PLEZi, and Poppi, among others.

💭 Relentless Advantage will offer support services to bring distribution placement and successful sell-through with major retailers, the announcement said.

Jordan Bass, co-founder and CEO of non-alc sparkling beer alternative HOP WTR, is looking to give back to the brand’s home city of Los Angeles as it recovers from this month’s devastating wildfires – and he’s slashing his salary to just $1 to do it.

• Bass announced on Instagram that in order to benefit local recovery projects – namely disaster relief or All Hands and Hearts – he is taking a personal salary cut so the company can donate more to the nonprofit.

🔊 “I have evacuated, as has most of our team. We are all safe, but some of our team, their families, friends, loved ones and our communities have been seriously impacted,” Bass wrote on LinkedIn this week. “This is the least I can do, and HOPWTR will continue to do more.”

When Amanda Thomson launched Noughty Wines, a pioneering brand of dealcoholized wines, in 2019, she was, in essence, flying blind. In this episode, Amanda talks about how she charted an unknown path for a nascent category, why gaining the “absolute trust” of consumers is key to Noughty’s future and why she advises founders to consider what they want to achieve with their brands.

Listen to the episode now.