• 🧃 Suja Shakes Up Marketing Strategy
• 🏭 Lactalis' New ‘Culinary & Sensory Institute’
• 🍋 Owl’s Brew, Chelsea Handler's Vodka Lemonade
• ⚡ Gregorys Coffee Gets ENER-Gized
• 🥯 How This CEO Is Restoring An Iconic NYC Brand To Its Former Glory

Though uncertainty is still swirling around TikTok’s future, its ecommerce platform continues to provide brands with opportunities to sell and directly connect with consumers.

“Early on…we started building a community. The overall margin is very healthy. It's absolutely sustainable,” said Lost & Found Energy co-founder and COO Cooper Clegg.

That healthy margin has been supported by the brand’s exclusive flavor launch strategy. 

• Lost & Found sold over 10,000 cases of 12 packs in the first six hours of its most recent drop on the platform.
• In April 2024, it launched Strawberry Pop and sold out of its 3,200 cases in two hours. 
• Later in July, it debuted Island Punch and Mango Pineapple, selling 5,000 cases in a single day. 
• In 2024, the energy brand sold over 125,000 cases within 9 months on TikTok Shop, cementing the channel as Lost & Found’s primary sales platform.

“There's not a platform that we believe is even close in terms of how user-friendly it is,” Clegg said. “It's a combination of the simplicity and ease of checkout for the customers, the feedback that we get and how quickly you know whether or not you have a hero or zero.”

Lost & Found has used geographic data paired with direct consumer comments to build out a targeted retail approach. It has also leveraged shopper engagement on TikTok Shop to build relationships with distributors and then drive consumers to retail stores in specific markets, bringing tangible brick-and-mortar sales results.

That’s not to say there haven’t been challenges. Like any ecommerce business, resellers and counterfeit products need to be monitored. Some CPG brands have reported revenue losses due to unreceived deliveries; due to the fulfillment process, brands are held accountable for replacing those lost orders. But Lost & Found said they have been very satisfied with TikTok’s fulfillment and logistics program.

“That said, if brands are fulfilling orders themselves then it is no different than any other e-commerce site,” Clegg said. “Brands will need to make a customer service decision case-by-case which requires a little bit more legwork with the carriers.”

When asked how a possible TikTok shut down or algorithm change could affect Lost & Found, Clegg said, “we would be ignorant to not make sure that we have other avenues if we need to pivot.”

The brand is readying to launch an independent website that can serve as its hub for DTC fulfillment alongside other ecommerce channels like Amazon and TikTok Shop.

Go Deeper: Inside TikTok Shop at BevNET Live

Just under a year after joining the cold-pressed juice company as CEO, Maria Stipp is leading a strategic reorganization of Suja Life’s marketing department that has resulted in the exit of multiple longtime team members.

↗️ Suja is now looking to outsource its field marketing and creative efforts, retaining BarkleyOKRP as its creative agency of record and partnering with Newbridge Marketing Group to head field operations.

👋 Several Suja Life marketing team members announced their departures from the business on LinkedIn this week, ranging from directors to brand ambassadors. 

• Among those are director of brand projects Casey Woodruff, director of influencer and affiliate marketing Deidre Mares and Kat Bethmann, who led creative and design for both the Suja and Vive Organic brands.

🔊 “By building internal capabilities and leveraging external partnerships, the company aims to unlock new opportunities, expand household penetration, and drive market share across its portfolio,” Stipp told us in an email.

Read the full story at BevNET.

Lactalis USA opened its Culinary & Sensory Institute this week in Buffalo, N.Y.

🧑‍🍳 The facility contains commercial and residential kitchen spaces where Lactalis chefs will create new recipes and concepts to further foster dairy product innovation, according to the announcement. 

🤝 The news comes as Lactalis is set to acquire General Mills’ U.S. yogurt business later this year. 

🗣️ What they said: “[The facility] aligns with our vision to drive relevant dairy innovation to stay ahead of consumer trends and produce the highest quality products for our customers and consumers.” - Jean-Luc Bruandet, president and CEO of Lactalis American Group

Canned cocktail maker Owl’s Brew has joined forces with comedian Chelsea Handler to launch Vodka Lemonade. Available in three flavors – Classic, Pink and Mint – the non-carbonated beverage is canned at 5% ABV and will hit store shelves on Feb. 1. 

📚 The launch of Chelsea Handler’s Vodka Lemonade coincides with the release of the comedian’s new book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having,” which details a story from her youth about her first lemonade stand. 

👀 Owl’s Brew is also the official sponsor of Handler’s upcoming book tour, set to kick off on Feb. 24 in Northvale, N.J.

From Panera to Dunkin’, energy drinks have been gaining ground on foodservice menus. Now specialty coffee roaster Gregorys Coffee is getting in on the game with ENER-G, a clean energy drink available at its more than 50 locations nationwide.

🫐 The drinks come in Blue Steel (blue spirulina, lime, mint, blueberries) and Island Bolt (passionfruit, guava, orange), containing between 10 to 15 calories per serving with 160 mg of caffeine and no artificial colors or flavors.

📈 The launch comes as the CPG space sees high-growth among canned energy drinks, with brands like Celsius and Alani Nu expanding the consumer base to women and Gen Z. 

☑️ The embrace of the category by a specialty coffee company like Gregorys seems like yet another affirmation that consumers these days want their caffeine supercharged.

H&H Bagels is a New York City institution. Its CEO Jay Rushin wants to make it an American staple. In this episode, Jay talks about how he helped H&H regain its relevance after the company fell on hard times, how he navigated some of the most challenging aspects of its turnaround and how H&H is attempting to align its storied history with modern culture and trends. 

Listen to the episode now.