• 🏠 Talkhouse Encore: Making A Play for RTDs
• 🧃 Beverages To Climb Again This Prime Day?
• ❄️ Barfresh Freshens Up Manufacturing Sites
• 🇬🇧 Carlsberg Nabs Britvic in $4.2B Deal
• ⛔ CT Restricts THC Beverage Sales

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“You win with 7-Eleven. Period.” 

There’s no equivocation in the words of Nutrabolt Sales & Marketing EVP Louisa Lawless, and the makers of C4 have put some marketing spend behind that conviction (as seen above). 

Last month the brand introduced its summer-primed Orange Creamsicle flavor, a nationwide 7-Eleven exclusive and had Ludacris give away a “C4 Yellow” Acura Integra S. The company is “doubling-down” on its relationship with the c-store chain leader amidst growing competition and demand. 

The good news? The state of the channel is strong: Dollar sales of energy drinks in c-stores jumped 15% last year according to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), and the category is set to take on a key role as 7-Eleven targets a +4% increase ($113 million) in operating income growth this year from its over 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. 

Store exclusives like C4’s Orange Creamsicle are one way for the retailer to shore up its position in the energy space; it ran one earlier this year with ZOA’s Orange Mango. Reflecting consumers’ evolving interests, the chain has embraced a wider range of innovative categories and ingredients, particularly with regard to functional drinks: Think brands like My Crew Doses and dopamine-booster Illicit Elixirs.  

But the chain is also betting more on itself when it comes to food and beverage, announcing in June plans to expand its private brand offerings (+215 items this year) and to modernize its food and beverage platforms with more options like specialty hot beverages. That comes as quick service outlets Dutch Bros., Dunkin’ and Starbucks each integrate carbonated energy drinks into their respective menus, making c-store more insecure than ever about their prized grab-and-go occasion. 

C4’s plan to break out of the pack is to lean on what’s been working so far – deploying high-awareness, high-nostalgia licenses. Seventy percent of Creamsicle buyers are also energy drink consumers, said Lawless, and she expects them to help C4 “win” at 7-Eleven, too. 

Go Deeper: KDP Ignites C4.

There were many ways entertainment venues tried to keep the lights on during the pandemic – for one Hamptons bar, creating a ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail seemed like it could be a solution. But legally, it was more complicated than that. 

⛔ ABC laws aim to prohibit manufacturers and wholesalers from having undue influence over retailers, which means they don’t allow an entity in one tier to have an interest in another entity in a different tier. 

📃 So, New York-based Stephen Talkhouse (referred to as the Talkhouse), a neighborhood music bar that has featured artists like Paul McCartney as well as local talent, lobbied to change that for themselves.

🍸 RTD brand Talkhouse Encore is now expanding beyond the radius of its namesake, leveraging the nostalgia and family business-vibes of the music venue into a canned cocktail. 

💬 We chatted with the founder about how she legally separates the venue and RTD business while fostering the bar’s legacy with a future-oriented brand. 

BevNET Insiders can read the full story.

Amazon’s bi-annual Prime Day sales event, happening July 16th and 17th, is expected to bring a boost to CPG brands selling on the platform – particularly beverages. 

☕ Consumable categories are rising in the Amazon Prime Day ranks, according to a new report from Numerator. While only one category made the top seven in 2019, three – pet supplies, beverages, and vitamins & supplements – took the lead in 2023’s sales event. 

🏅 During the July 2023 event Liquid IV came in at the fourth most purchased item and Numerator believes even more consumable products are likely to appear on the top items list in 2024. 

🤔 How is your business strategizing Prime Day success? Tell us all about it: adeluca@bevnet.com

Frozen drink manufacturer Barfresh Food Group – which sells to schools, c-stores, foodservice and other wholesale channels – has opened up two new co-manufacturing sites; one is located on the East Coast and the other in the Midwest.

🧃 Barfresh’s products include juice concentrates, “easy pour” bulk smoothies and the Twist & Go brand.

🪢 The new manufacturing capacities include lines for single-serve pouches and gallon containers, with an additional 25 million annual bottling units available for the Twist & Go line. Barfresh said it can now “more than double” its annual unit production.

🎒 What they said: “The appeal of our better-for-you product portfolio, combined with our acquisition pipeline of new customers that also has numerous bids underway to onboard additional schools as Barfresh customers for the 2024-2025 school year. This accelerated pace of new customer acquisitions strategically positions us for record revenue performance and expanded profit margins in fiscal year 2024 and beyond.” - Barfresh CEO Riccardo Delle Coste.

In overseas beverage news, Danish brewing giant Carlsberg will purchase British soft drinks manufacturer Britvic for over $4.23 billion (3.3 billion pounds), Reuters reported today.

👑 The deal will instantly make Carlsberg a force to be reckoned with in the English market, as CEO Jacob Aarup-Anderson told investors this morning that "[w]ith this transaction we are creating a U.K. powerhouse.”

⭐ Britvic is a U.K. PepsiCo bottler and counts Pepsi Max, Gatorade, MTN Dew and Rockstar Energy among its portfolio. Carlsberg will take over the PepsiCo bottling agreement as part of the acquisition and is an existing bottler in “several markets,” Reuters noted.

The state of Connecticut has passed a new law that will relegate THC-infused beverage sales to state-licensed liquor stores and cannabis retailers. The move is part of H.B 5150 which was signed into law in May. 

🪴 This means that all types of hemp-based beverages including delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, THCA, hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and others can only be sold at marijuana or liquor retailers.

🏪 Previously, hemp beverages were permitted to be sold at gas stations and convenience stores.