• 📺 Expo West: Sanzo CEO Sandro Roco Talks Brand Evolution, New Investors
• 🥤 Barcode Gets Into Trendy Erewhon Smoothie Biz
• 🌵 Lobos’ New Trio

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GNGR Labs is going big, in more ways than one.

With a singular focus on its hero ingredient, the New York-based brand has established its potent 2 oz. ginger juice shots as a staple in city bodegas and independent markets over the past half-decade. Those conditions have provided an ideal setting for innovation (the brand is now up to six shot SKUs) and expansion (last year’s introduction of 12 oz. canned drinks). Now the brand is set to be supercharged by a low seven-figure investment round led by Gather Ventures and with participation by Bochi Investments, representing GNGR’s first outside money.

With the shots business humming along thanks to “very strong fundamentals,” the bootstrapped brand wasn’t prioritizing growth capital, said Namik Soltan, GNGR’s founder and CEO, on the phone this morning. But partnering with Gather, whose portfolio includes brands like Avec and Beam, will be close-knit, he added, thanks to weekly meetings for the next 18 months.

Bochi Investments’ participation is also “personal," with partner J.B. Handley (a cofounder at Swander Pace Capital) being a big believer in GNGR’s food-as-wellness proposition, Soltan said.

The capital gives GNGR some gas in the tank, though it is being judicious with the throttle. After selling over 2.5 million shots in New York, the brand is quietly taking a handful of its best-selling flavors to the West Coast (targeting the likes of Erehwon, Bristol Farms and Jimbo’s) via Los Angeles-based distributor H.C. Foods and merchandisers Golden Empire. That also means adding a California-based sales rep to the team. Shots will remain co-packed on the East Coast where they’re sold everywhere from neighborhood markets to chains like ShopRite, Rite Aid, Kings Food Market and Walgreens.

While the shots carry the business, GNGR continues to tweak its 12 oz. drinks, priced at $3.99. After a strong reception for its first flavor, Vitamin C, Soltan is finalizing the formulations for two new SKUs -- Lemonaid (teased at Expo East 2023) and Multiberry. The line is distributed in New York exclusively by Dora’s Naturals.

Expansion in product and personnel -- the company is searching for a VP of sales and a social media manager -- means more responsibility and moving parts for CEO and founder Namik Soltan as he looks to diversify GNGR’s retail presence (about 75% of its total business) into c-stores, food service and other channels.

That being said, has there been pushback or confusion over the company’s brand name? Not enough to shake its focus, per Soltan. 

“I think it's actually a good thing. We can focus on one thing and just become the best ginger based beverage, that's how I see it.”

While next-gen gut-friendly sodas may be all the rage these days, sparkling water still has plenty of buzz left in the tank, as seen at last week’s Natural Products Expo West show.

While big names like AHA and bubly have hit snags, Asian fruit-inspired brand Sanzo has gone from strength to strength, as a shift into 6-count and 12-count multipacks help land it in over 3,500 retailers including nationwide in Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Albertsons, and Target locations in California and the Northeast. The company has kept up that high pace in 2024 as it closes in on an $8 million funding round opened in January and highlighted by the participation of global celebrities Simu Liu and Steve Aoki. 

Speaking last week ahead of the show’s opening, Sanzo CEO and founder Sandro Roco spoke with BevNET managing editor Martin Caballero about a range of topics, including the genesis of Simu Liu and Steve Aok’s involvement, the evolution of his pitch decks to investors and retailers, how data is opening new distribution doors and the broader impact of a Asian-American CPG renaissance. 

Watch the full interview on BevNET.

Erewhon’s popular Tonic bar smoothies (and double-digit price tags) have gained notoriety due to high-profile personalities like Hailey Bieber, Kourtney Kardashian or biohacker Gary Brecka. Sports drink Barcode is getting into the game by partnering with fashion model Winnie Harlow on her exclusive Island Glow Smoothie.

🥭 Launching today at Erewhon stores, the 22 oz. smoothie retails for $22 and features Vita Coco Coconut Milk, Vital Proteins Vanilla Collagen Peptides, Barcode’s Lemon Lime flavor sports drink and a nutrient blend of sea moss, manuka honey, camu camu, pitaya and KOS spirulina.

🛒 Erewhon had previously invested in Barcode’s $2.2 million funding round in 2022 and carries all five flavors (Watermelon, Lemon Lime, Malibu Punch, Concord Grape and Black Cherry) for $3.49 per 16.9 oz. bottle.

🚛 The sports drink maker has been increasing its visibility on the back of its blockbuster partnership with NBA star Victor Wembanyama last year and building a strong distribution network in the basketball players’ home region of Texas as well as on the East Coast and in Southern California.

Agave spirits startup Lobos 1707 Tequila & Mezcal is welcoming three seasoned spirits industry pros to its executive team this week, naming Joanna Darst, Elaine King and Joel Selesnick to VP level positions.

👟 Darst joins the LeBron James-backed brand as VP of Consumer and Digital Marketing. She most recently held a global head of marketing position at sneaker brand Vans and has previously worked in beverage alcohol at Brown-Forman and Molson Coors.

👸🏻 King will serve as VP of Trade Promotions and Strategic Partnerships. She comes to the brand from Pernod Ricard where she spent over 11 years in a variety of roles, most recently as VP, Commercial Marketing Strategy & Deployment.

🏜️ Last but not least, Selesnick assumes the title of VP of Broad Market Sales. His experience in tequila includes time at Patrón and most recently as CCO of Celaya Tequila.