Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kick-off of summer blockbuster movie season, but what’s unfolding in a Florida courtroom may have more fights and explosions to rival the latest Fast & Furious flick. 

This time, it’s prolific social media pot-stirrer and former Bang CEO Jack Owoc taking the role of brawny brawler, albeit from behind a keyboard. Having sufficiently roiled his ex-company’s attorneys through his various postings to Bang’s official Instagram account disparaging the plaintiffs — and having watched previous warnings go unheeded — lawyers for Vital Pharmaceuticals urged U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter D. Russin to block Owoc from using accounts tied to the company, claiming his actions put a potential sale at risk. 

The issue has been coming to a head ever since Owoc and his wife Megan, also Bang’s senior marketing VP prior to her termination by the Vital board in March, refused to hand over access to his accounts on the grounds that they were personal to both individuals. However, attorneys later conceded that someone else at the brand had created the CEO social media accounts and that the Owocs were not the only ones creating and posting content. Russin subsequently issued a temporary order blocking Owoc from making any changes to the Bang CEO Instagram, TikTok and Twitter accounts for 45 days while the issue of ownership is being mediated. 

For those that have been following, this is just the latest crack in the slow-motion car crash that Bang’s acrimonious bankruptcy proceedings have become. The soap opera sideshow was also playing online this week in Owoc’s eye-opening video sit-down with beverage consultant Joshua Schall "for entertainment purposes only," where he alternately voiced defiance and deference (“I like the battle,” he said while acknowledging Monster “won the game, so to speak.”). And for those who are pleading for this saga to be over, there’s hope too: with all bids submitted, the energy drink company is due to go to auction on June 2. 

Go Deeper: Court Orders Bang to Cease All Sales of 'Super Creatine' Cans

The Vita Coco Company’s largest shareholder, investment firm Verlinvest, is cutting its stake in the coconut water maker. The international firm announced plans Monday for an underwritten offering of 4.5 million shares of common stock, later upping its offering to 5 million shares at $23 each on Wednesday. Underwriters were granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares at the public offering price, subtracting underwriting discounts and commissions. 

• No rationale for the sale was provided in the announcements. According to MarketWatch, Verlinvests holds an estimated 37% stake in Vita Coco.
• Vita Coco’s stock fell 11% in pre-market trading on Monday, but as of the opening of the market this morning it had recovered, up around 20% over the past five days.
• No shares are being offered by the company, meaning all proceeds from the sale will go directly to Verlinvest.
• Verlinvest first invested in Vita Coco in 2007, when the New York-based brand was around three-years old. The company filed for an IPO in fall 2021.
• Vita Coco reported net sales up 13% to $428 million last year, with its core coconut water business up 18%. However, gross profit fell 24% to $103 million from $113 million 2021. Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA was $20 million, compared to $37 million the year before.

Along with brands like Odyssey Elixirs, G.O.A.T. Fuel is aiming to bring the benefits of functional mushrooms into the RTD energy drink space. The brand, backed by three-time Super Bowl champion Jerry Rice, announced this week it has closed a $5 million seed funding round co-led by venture firms Stage 1 Fund and Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners. Read the story.

Retailers, investors, distributors, and industry partners will be at the event on June 14 + 15 searching for innovative products. Introduce them to your brand and receive valuable feedback on taste, branding, marketing strategy, potential for retail placement and more. Learn more.

Legislative gridlock over RTD access could be breaking in the Golden State, where yesterday the Senate passed SB 277, which if signed into law will allow spirits-based RTDs to be sold in grocery and convenience stores. The bill now heads to the Assembly. The proposed changes echo other bills across the country supported by the spirits industry to reduce tax rates for spirit-based products and widen access to retail channels— some of which have become law. The efforts, primarily led by DISCUS, have been hot topics among beer advocacy groups, who argue that the laws would provide bigger payout for out-of-state liquor producers rather than local beer and wine producers. Last year all eyes were on California, known as a trendsetter state in the liquor industry, for its other spirits-related bill allowing direct-to-consumer shipping. Read the full story. 

How does an emerging brand break into the crowded functional energy category? Target a niche, under-represented consumer base like tired healthcare workers, who are known to resort to high-sugar sodas and energy drinks to stay alert on the job. New entrant BrainPOP thinks it’s found a market for its clean energy drink with functional benefits among physicians and surgeons as it builds its distribution in the metropolitan New York area. Coming in four tropical flavors, the brand also hopes to tap into New York’s nightlife scene as a better-for-you cocktail mixer alternative or non-alcoholic option in clubs and bars. Here’s how. 

The celebrity-backed spirit train is not slowing down. Silver Screen Bottling Company, a licensing, bottling, and distribution company for entertainment names, has acquired Coastal Pure Beverages in North Charleston, South Carolina. Silver Screen is responsible for whiskey brands from NFL star Terry Bradshaw, country musician Alan Jackson, as well as limited-release spirits and beers celebrating Star Trek, The Walking Dead and the NFL's Carolina Panthers. Silver Screen's acquisition of Coastal facility will help the bottler grow from “its product base origins as an ideas and licensing entity to a national, fully-functional, multi-vertical spirits brand,” according to the company. Other celebrity spirit innovation houses have sprung up in recent years, and in this week’s launches include sharpshooter Stephen Curry’s new bourbon.

How's your funny bone feeling, doc? Wood Milk, a satirical anti-plant-based milk campaign featuring actress Aubrey Plaza, came under fire today when the Physicians Committee, a nonprofit public health advocacy organization, filed a complaint with the USDA Office of Inspector General claiming that the now-viral ad violates laws preventing “federal agricultural promotions from depicting products in a negative light” and alleges the commercial's creators – aka the dairy-diehards behind Got Milk? – used unfair tactics to deceive consumers about the value of “a competing product.” Considering the FDA's laissez-faire approach to milk definitions, this "wood" controversy may have roots of clay. 

An acupuncturist turned RTD cocktail CEO has proved her naysayers wrong. Plant Botanical, a vodka cocktail infused with botanicals like dandelion, goji berries and ginseng, emerged out of Simone Moran’s 20-year Eastern medicine practice. But when she launched, her early advisors told her that the better-for-you cocktail with hangover-fighting botanicals wouldn’t stand a chance getting into national retailers. Now the canned cocktail has found traction at Albertsons, Walmart, Whole Foods and as of April, JetBlue Airlines. It joins other independent RTDs differentiating by their sustainable ingredients, and finding a niche in the airways. Ferron Salniker chatted with Moran about how the CEO built momentum, starting with a cold call to Target. Read the full story.