• 🚚 Tito’s Drops RNDC For Reyes
• 🚛 Non-Alc Alternatives Expand
• ☕“For Here?” Starbucks Gives Reasons to Say “Yes”
• 📚 What We’re Reading

The Calexo team are professional pivotors. In their five years on the market, the four person co-founding team has moved their product strategy from a sparkling cannabis beverage sold in licensed dispensaries, to a dual-pronged approach with hemp-derived THC drinks marketed alongside uninfused “Classic” versions.

Just when it settled on a product strategy, the California-based brand was kicked out of its home market when Governor Gavin Newsom dropped the hammer on hemp THC brands altogether in September 2024. So, explained co-founder Ian Colon, Calexo pivoted once again, this time turning its attention to large markets like Texas and Tennessee. 

• The brand is now available in over 17 states via its distribution partner Emergent Beverages, primarily concentrated in the Southeast. 
• Its online sales have also gone from virtually “non-existent” to over $10,000 a month, Colon claims.

• The reorder windows from these “mom and pop shops” are getting shorter and shorter, Colon emphasized, which he believes is an anecdotal sign something is working. 

“People's drinking preferences are changing, and I think that 2025 will be, instead of feeling like there's a crisis, a huge opportunity,” Colon said. “Traditional beer and liquor distributors are going to see their revenue mix changing and it is imperative for them to stay on top of what it is that their audience wants – younger and older.” 

With its next run, Calexo will also debut a new can design that aims to better show consumers what is inside with larger descriptors and fruit imagery: “We're going to have a splash image that shows a pineapple and a mango, and it will get a little bit more clear about what it is that we're talking about.”

The brand also introduced a variety pack in late Q3, which quickly became its best seller. Colon speculates that while the 6-count variety pack is larger, it feels like a lower commitment than purchasing its 4-count single SKU packs.

As for the year ahead, the Calexo team is working to ramp up the footprint of its uninfused “Classics” line within grocery retail. Colon said the past year was all about building up a base for its hemp beverages, which account for 95% of the business’ sales. But as planned after its second pivot, those uninfused brews are intended to be an essential pathway to locking in retail shelf space, if and when a federally legal THC market becomes a reality.  

Catch Up Quick: California Approves Hemp THC Ban

There’s a lot of vodka moving from one distributor to another this spring. 

🍸 The top spirits brand, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, plans to leave Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) for Reyes Beverage Group in California, the company announced Friday.

👋 The switch is effective April 1, which coincides with RNDC’s plan to lay off at least 60 of its staff in the golden state by early March. 

🤔 Tito’s is the second major spirits company to leave RNDC recently, following Sazerac’s shift to a combination of beer and spirits distributors, including Reyes in California. Meanwhile Reyes has been beefing up its ready-to-drink portfolio and gobbling up smaller distributors out west. 

Read the full story on BevNET for all of the details behind the move.

👍 Hydration and energy brand Positive Beverage is moving deeper in SoCal with the addition of more than 280 Albertsons and Vons stores to its network.

🍸 Adult non-alc beverage brand Kin Euphorics has partnered with Hilton to offer its functional drinks at The Hamilton in Alpharetta, Ga. Atlanta-based hotel operators Peachtree Group are now exploring how to bring Kin Euphorics to the bars of its more than 100 hotels in the future.

🛍️ Hemp-derived THC brand BRĒZ is now available on Doordash, which is bringing its Lemon-Elderflower delta-9 THC drink to the grocery and food delivery platform’s customers.

🐊 Fellow THC beverage Wynk is also growing its distribution footprint in the Florida market with North Florida Sales, Daytona Beverage, Wayne Densch, Carroll Distributing, City Beverage and Tri Eagle Sales, with an eye on reaching retailers like Total Wine & More throughout the state.

Stay tuned for more distribution news later on BevNET

Like your grandmother after Christmas, Starbucks is pulling out all the stops to get you to stick around just a little bit longer. Starting today, the coffee giant is updating its “for here” experience in a bid to revive its identity as a community coffee house and not just a pick-up station for drinks ordered through an app.

• The new standards means all “for here” orders will be served in ceramic coffee cups (or a vessel provided by the guest); those will get free refills, too. 
• There’s also the return of the self-service condiment station and the implementation of a new Coffeehouse Code of Conduct.
• The updates come at a critical time for Starbucks under CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in September 2023. In a bid to reverse sluggish earnings, Niccol announced corporate layoffs in January. 
• Just over a week later, media outlets reported Niccol was awarded around $96 million in his first four months on the job, making him one of the best-compensated executives in the country. 

At a time when rapid-service outlets like China’s Luckin Coffee and Dutch Bros. are on the rise, Starbucks’ changes recall a time when the chain did almost as brisk business slanging holiday music on CD (that’s compact disc, look it up) as they did lattes. “Our green aprons are on, our playlists are ready, and our mugs are waiting to be filled,” promised a release. 

When we’re not writing about the food and beverage business, we’re keeping close tabs on the news. Here’s a taste of what we’ve been reading.

🧺 Reuters highlights how Donald Trump’s USDA pick Brooke Rollins said she would consider direct payments to farmers to make up for losses from proposed tariffs. A similar approach was used during Trump’s first term after he imposed tariffs on Chinese soybean sales.

👩🏼‍🤝‍👨🏾 Costco will not kowtow to the anti-diversity movement, The AP reported last week as the company overwhelmingly voted to stand by its DEI initiatives, a move the board of directors said is “rooted in respect and inclusion.” 

🏘️ Modern Retail dished on Walmart’s new program that allows suppliers to sign up and test new products by sending them directly to consumers at home.