• ​​🙏🏼 Distro Notes: Holy! Water Is Flowing
• ⭐ Reviews? We Got 'Em
• 🤾 Sling Ventures Opens for Business
• ⚖️ A Coke Class Action and 5-Hour Decisions
• 🤑 Kickstarter's Delayed Payment Option
• 💪 Now Streaming On CPG Week...

Will Alani Nu cannibalize some of the same consumer audience that helped fuel the rise of parent company Celsius? Unlikely, countered Celsius management during a webinar and Q&A session on Wednesday afternoon. 

That’s just one of the many topics of speculation since the deal was announced late last year (and closed on April 1). How Celsius and its shiny new $1.8 billion purchase will play together, along with many other issues, were unpacked on the call with Celsius CEO John Fieldly and CFO Jarrod Langhans…

Two Tracks: Fieldly and Langhans underscored Alani’s differentiated identity as an approachable, female-centric lifestyle brand (relative to the Celsius brand’s “Live Fit” positioning) that will help pull in younger audiences

• Over 90% of Alani’s 1.4 million social media followers are female, while just under half of its customers are aged 25-34. 
• Both brands will maintain separate marketing teams in order to maintain their unique respective voices, said Fieldly.

‘We See Opportunities’: In securing Alani Nu, Celsius didn’t just get a big name in energy (representing 83% of Alani sales in 2024) but also a brand with stakes in protein shakes (6% of sales), pre-workout powders (4% of sales), snacks like bars and gummies (4%) and stick packs (3%). Protein in particular is “a growing category that we’ve been reviewing for some time,” said Langhans. 

Transition Years: Alani’s full integration into Celsius will take place over the next 24 months, executives said. 

• That includes a 12-month transition services agreement with former owner Congo Brands to provide support, and the company is projecting around $50 million in cost synergies to be achieved over the next two years. 
• Alani is on the hook for around $10 million in termination fees to some of its distributors from prior to its sale.

Insiders can read the full story to hear what Fieldly had to say about distribution plans.

Maple sap is emerging as a clean-label base that delivers hydration, gut health benefits, and subtle sweetness, without added sugar or stevia. This free resource features insights from Recoup, Wild Orchard, and Forest Farmers on how sap is simplifying formulation and boosting functional performance. Learn more

 ​🎤 Ever go to a big stadium concert… on ketones? Non-alc social tonic Holy! Water is bringing its special blend of ketones, nootropics and functional mushrooms to Live Nation Entertainment venues this summer, starting at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey.

 ​👋🏼 After meeting with Kroger buyers through the grocery chain’s First Pitch meetings at Expo West just days after launching in March, Huxley founder Simon Solis-Cohen says the brand has entered 121 Mariano’s and Roundy’s locations across Illinois and Wisconsin

Read the full story for distro updates from Bizzy, Leisure Hydration and more.

Financial operator platform Confido released a new AI Contract Reading feature today, designed to help CPG businesses plan promotions, resolve deductions and improve workflow in connection to trade contracts. 

Read the full release on BevNET’s Newswire.  

Share your news with our audience of CPG professionals here.

This week at BevNET we rounded up energy beverage Bad Mermaid as well as non-alcoholic drinks from Little Saints and a new bitter soda, known as Crodino, from spirits specialists Campari.

Then, we chronicled our thoughts with each swig, highlighting aspects of the brand, liquid and product positioning that stood out and things the company could consider for next time. 

🆓 Check out this week’s review roundup on BevNET.

To submit your beverage product to BevNET for review, click here. And to browse past reviews, check the archive here.

Former Palm Tree Crew Holdings investor Brandon Alster launched a new early-stage investment firm known as Sling Ventures this week, focused on “investing in the Davids of the world battling their Goliaths,” so he claimed on LinkedIn.

• Sling will partner with brands “at inception stage through Series A” and is focused on branded consumer, commerce enablement and consumer technology businesses.
• The firm began cutting checks last year and has made “several investments” to date, Alster said.
• The firm's portfolio has not been made public yet.
• Alster added that Sling intends to be a minority partner in its investments, but aims to “open doors and ultimately drive value to our portfolio companies.”

🍊 Is it fair to promote Sprite and Fanta as drinks made with “100% natural flavors” when they’re also full of synthetic sweeteners and additives? A proposed class action claims it is not. The case, filed in a California federal court this week, alleges that the “natural flavors” call out on pack misleads consumers by creating an impression that they don’t contain any artificial ingredients.

⚡ A lawsuit against 5-Hour Energy failed to prove the shot maker created a monopoly on the category, but a court ruled that the plaintiff (a family-owned wholesaler) did prove unfair competition, via a price-discrimination suit, since the energy company offered “disproportionate promotions” to Costco. 

Go Deeper: Inside 5-Hour Energy’s Growing Pains

Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has unveiled its latest feature: Pledge Over Time, which will let backers and supporters of campaigns split their pledges into three interest-free payments. 

📱 Backers will only be able to use Pledge Over Time if the project creator has enabled the feature. Additionally, a pledge must meet the feature’s minimum amount of $125. 

💭 “I’m excited to help remove barriers for consumers on the platform and simultaneously allow creators to receive more support for the new ideas and products they’re bringing into the world,” said Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter, in a LinkedIn post. 

This CPG Week podcast team tells a tale of two Davids — discussing big funding and acquisition moves by Peter Rahal’s new protein bar startup, plus retired Hall of Famer David “Big Papi” Ortiz’s new spirits venture.

🤔 Industry reactions are mixed on the Make America Healthy Again Commission’s recent report targeting ultraprocessed foods as a key contributor to children’s chronic health issues..

🥒 Cleveland Kitchen has raised $2.9 million in new funding. Hear how the fermented foods manufacturer plans to build on continued momentum in the year ahead.

Click here to listen to this week’s episode. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Like what you are listening to? Please don’t hesitate to rate our show and leave a review on your podcast platform of choice.