• 💰 Blue Stripes Raises $20M
• 🌵 Amass Brands Acquires Calirosa
• 💧 Sol-Ti Gets Into Hydration Sticks
• 🔒 Walgreens To Shutter 1,200 Stores

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Kids beverage and snack maker good2grow is turning 26 this year (old enough to be kicked off its parents health insurance) and it’s experienced quite the growth spurt over the past five years.

According to CEO Gunnar Olson, since 2019, good2grow has expanded its household reach by over 50% to roughly 28 million homes in the U.S. and now ranks among the top juice brands – not just kid’s drinks – in retail. In that time, the company changed ownership with an acquisition by PE firm Wind Point Partners in 2021 and added several new innovations including milks, crackers and its 10 oz. bigger bottle line, further extending its placements across the store.

Good2grow is best known for its distinctive, IP-driven bottle tops featuring characters from all reaches of child-friendly pop culture – Mickey Mouse, Batman, the Minions and Paw Patrol all exist side-by-side in its portfolio – and that feature has led the bulk of its sales to come from impulse purchases in stores.

“I don't want to say that all we require is traffic, but that is kind of all we require,” Olson told BevNET. “Because we aren't necessarily a juice trip or a beverage trip – we're a treat.”

But kids grow up fast, so how does the brand keep it fresh and grow with them?

1. The convenience channel makes up roughly 40% of good2grow’s business, Olson estimated, but large channels – conventional grocery, mass and dollar stores – still provide a large runway for the brand to expand in. 
2. IP partnerships are always a moving target, but ensuring it has deals with “the very best of the very best” matters when carrying the media property’s A-list halo on to good2grow, and the brand looks at it like a “stock portfolio.” Olson says that preschool cartoon hit Bluey is hot right now, but perennials like Marvel superheroes are staying strong as well.
3. Product innovation matters too: Last year the company added its Snackers line of single-serve cracker packs, its first extension into food. Olson says around 40% of Snackers consumers had never tried the brand’s drinks before. Other recent additions like milk and the larger bigger bottles have also fueled rising sales.

Blue Stripes, a purveyor of cacao fruit-based food and beverage products, announced today it has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round intended to help the brand advance its whole cacao process technologies, develop new products and expand distribution. 

👀 The round was led by Zintinus, a Berlin-based food tech venture capital fund, and also included financing from The Hershey Company, Whole Foods Market, DMG Ventures, Hamilton Lane and Praesidium. 

⏪ Launched in 2019 by Oded Brenner – who also created global chocolate retail and restaurant chain Max Brenner – Blue Stripes produces a portfolio of Cacao Water, Whole Cacao Chocolate Bars, Whole Cacao Granola, Whole Cacao Trail Mix, Chocolate Covered Cacao Beans and Dried Cacao Fruit.

💭 “I’m on a mission to change what happens behind the scenes of the cacao industry – reducing the negative cacao industry impact on the environment, improving the economic value cacao farmers receive for their work and sharing the incredible functional benefits that the cacao superfruit has with the world,” said Brenner in a press release. 

Stay tuned for the full story on BevNET.

Amass Brands Group, which houses a botanical spirit lineup of the same name, Gem & Bolt Mezcal, and low-ABV Body Vodka, announced the completion of a majority acquisition today of Calirosa Tequila. 

🩷 Singer Adam Levine’s Calirosa Tequila, a premium tequila brand known for its pink-hued (no, not maroon) tequila, will join the Amass portfolio and align with the group’s strategy to expand its presence in key segments of the spirits market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

⏩ Calirosa Tequila, which was launched by Levine and wife Behati Prinsloo in 2021, will continue to operate with its existing team. The acquisition will provide Calirosa Tequila with access to Amass Brands Group's global distribution network, marketing resources, and industry expertise, positioning the brand for accelerated growth, according to the release.

⭐ The acquisition marks the group’s second celeb-backed partnership along with Katy Perry’s De Soi. Calirosa is among the many star-powered tequilas, which these days aren’t necessarily fairing better than their civilian counterparts.

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Superfood hydration beverage maker Sol-Ti has made its first expansion into stickpacks with today’s launch of SuperStix. The new hydration powders used freeze-dried coconut water and ocean minerals with functional ingredients that aid in digestion, skin health and immunity.

🍋 The brand’s four-flavors pair lemon with Strawberry, Blueberry, Dragon Fruit and Chlorophyll and are sold in seven-count packs on Amazon and in Whole Foods Markets nationwide for SRP $2.29 each.

😎 Founded by Ryne O’Donnell in 2014, Sol-Ti makes UV light-filtered, living SuperAde beverages in 14.9 oz. glass bottles, 2.1 oz. wellness SuperShots and cleanses.

📈 The brand added ex-Pressed CEO Pawan Kalra last year in an effort to grow the juice maker’s retail footprint and “professionalize” the business.

Walgreens announced this week it will close 1,200 stores over the next three years, with 500 closures coming within the current fiscal year, as it seeks to turnaround the struggling business. The drug store chain currently operates 8,500 stores nationwide.

📉 The news follows a reported quarterly loss of approximately $3 billion. The plan includes pre-approved 300 store closures; only U.S. stores will be affected by the closures.

💊 Walgreens isn’t alone in its struggles: competitor Rite Aid declared bankruptcy in October 2023 and re-emerged as a private company in September. Additionally, CVS is on the tail end of a three year plan to close 900 stores, according to the Associated Press.