• 🆕 This Week’s Hot New Beverages
• 👋 Diageo NA President and COO Moves On
• 📊 Circana: RTDs in Seventh Inning
• ⚽ LaCroix Partners With Inter Miami CF
• ⏪ BevNET Live Replay
• 🚚 Distribution News From Around The Industry

Consumers want more from energy drinks—hydration, focus, mood enhancement and muscle support. Manufacturers are responding with functional ingredients like ashwagandha, BCAAs, and natural caffeine to meet the growing demand for healthier options. Learn more

Plant-based protein drink brand Koia has been keeping busy. It has rolled out a new shelf-stable nutrition shake line and is preparing for several more innovations this year. Beyond the business, co-founder and CEO Chris Hunter has also found time to publish his first book – a memoir covering his life story from the founding of iconic and infamous alcoholic energy drink Four Loko, up through his current career focus on health and wellness.

Titled Blackout Punch: An Entrepreneur’s Journey from Chaos to Clarity, the book dives into Hunter’s personal life – including a childhood in Youngstown, Ohio – a place he describes largely with references to classic mafia movies. He goes on to share the founding story behind Four Loko parent company Phusion Projects and the missteps that led to the dissolution of his partnership with his co-founders, the woes of an FDA crackdown, and his aggressive and instinct-driven approach to marketing and brand building.

We caught up with Hunter to learn more about the book, which is now available on Amazon. Here’s a small sample from the discussion.

One of the things you talked about early in your life and your career was carrying a ‘You're either with me or against me attitude,’ and how you don't really feel like it served you that well in the end. How would you say your temperament to leadership and business is today compared to that earlier approach?

Early on in life I was trying to win everything at all costs. This is a bit of an extreme example, but the way I think about it is when you're trying to eat, that's all you can think about, right? Typical survival skills hierarchy. While I wasn't ever at risk of not eating, you get the point. 

I think as I've grown over time, I've realized that there's a lot more benefit in win-win relationships, whether that's with your team, or whether that's, in this case, with retailers and with your consumers. And it's also more fun doing things that way.

So many people in business have this kind of cutthroat ‘stab or be stabbed mentality.’ How do you put that kinder and more open listening approach into action?

One of the things I always emphasize to myself, and then to my team, is that unless we listen and ask questions we don't really know what the problem is. I've found now that I'm no less aggressive in life or in business, I just approach it a little bit differently. So, I have learned to listen and really understand what problems there are. 

BevNET Insiders can access the full interview and hear directly from Hunter.

From popsicle-flavored sparkling water to zero-proof canned cocktails, the latest edition of BevNET’s weekly New Products Gallery features innovations spanning all sides of the beverage industry. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s inside: 

🍒 Bubly pays homage to a classic summertime treat with its newest flavor, Melted Ice Pop. The new offering features tasting notes of cherry, lime and raspberry and is available exclusively at Target for $4.39 per 8-pack of 12 oz. cans.

☕ Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Explorer – a New Beverage Showdown finalist – unveils its latest product line of ready-to-drink cold brew beverages in The Classic (180 mg caffeine), The Seeker (65 mg of caffeine) and The Daydreamer (99.9% caffeine-free) varieties.

🍸 Pari is hoping to capture a share of the zero-proof ready-to-drink cocktail market with the launch of its inaugural product, The Mule. The new beverage is made with ginseng, ginger and citrus extracts and naturally sweetened with premium agave syrup.

Check out the full gallery on BevNET.

BevNET and Nosh are partnering with Mable to waive the one-time $500 set-up fee for new users. The annual service costs $450 per year, so you're saving 50% your first year. For those unfamiliar, Mable is a platform that facilitates selling across distributor marketplaces and currently partners with US Foods and McLane, with KeHE being onboarded this summer. Mable is ideal for brands that are dropship-ready and seeking growth in the food and beverage sectors across food service and retail channels.  

You have until Thursday, June 27 to enter. On Friday, June 28 will randomly choose 10 winners from those that completed all 4 steps below.

Steps to Enter Giveaway:

1. Join BevNET & Nosh slack community
2. Head to the #01_announcements channel
3. Fill out your slack profile
4. Answer Melissa’s question “Who is your entrepreneurial role model, and what aspects of their life, career, or philosophy do you admire?” in the thread

That’s it!

Diageo North America president and COO Claudia Schubert is leaving the spirits company after 22 years to "pursue the next chapter of her career.”

• Schubert will continue at Diageo until September 2024, before transitioning to corporate board service and advisory work. 
• She was instrumental in the acquisition and integration of brands such as Aviation, 21Seeds and Mr Black, as well as establishing Diageo’s first non-alcoholic business in North America with the integration of Seedlip.
• There is no news yet on her successor.

RTDs are in the seventh inning, said Scott Scanlon, executive vice president of Beverage Alcohol at Circana, during a webinar on Wednesday. Here are a few other highlights:

🛒 Despite alcohol showing some of the lowest inflationary numbers, nearly half of grocery shoppers surveyed by Circana in January are extremely concerned about the state of food inflation, especially lower-income households, Gen Z and millennials. That’s contributing to the trade-down in spirits, while beer is actually seeing an uptick in the luxury segment. 

📲 E-commerce represents a small percentage of bev-alc total sales, but the channel experienced its highest growth increase in 2023 (+8% to $977 million) since triple-digit pandemic highs. Total Wine and Target are the retail channels with the largest e-commerce bev-alc sales. 

📈 The RTD category as a whole was up $10.3 billion in sales in 2023 compared to $9.7 billion in 2022, and has now nearly tripled since 2018. Growth is expected to continue but may plateau beyond 2025. 

Read the full story on BevNET.

Soccer fans could soon catch Inter Miami CF players sipping a Pamplemousse seltzer as National Beverage Corp. announced that LaCroix has been named the team’s official sparkling water. 

🏆 Inter Miami CF is a top-ranked Major League Soccer team based in South Florida, where National Beverage is also headquartered. 

🥅 “Inter Miami CF has swiftly risen to national prominence, captivating fans with their dynamic play, world-renowned players and strong community presence. The partnership with LaCroix will enhance a healthy hydration fan experience, offering refreshing moments during matches and events, as well as affording special marketing and promotional activities with retailers across South Florida,” a National Beverage spokesman said in a press release.

During the opening session of BevNET Live Summer 2024 in New York City, industry stakeholders from multiple arenas sat down with editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman to share their insights into the current state of the beverage market and the dynamics affecting entrepreneurs.

“We’re hitting all of our goals,” stated Sahra Nguyen, CEO of Nguyen Coffee. “But on the back end, we’re thinking about how to be lean, thinking about how to be efficient, thinking about how we can reduce our COGs as quickly as possible – which requires getting distribution, which is very expensive, but you also have all of the retail marketing and trade spend to support so it’s a bit of a chaotic puzzle.”

BevNET Insiders can access the full video to hear Nguyen alongside panelists from Whole Foods, FABID and Dana Distributing discuss how to navigate the challenge of scaling a beverage business in the current climate.

The summer is heating up, but there’s plenty of new refreshments hitting shelves this month. Here’s the latest distribution news from around the industry.

🌼 221 B.C. Kombucha is rolling out in all Harris Teeter locations, beginning this week, with a lineup of flavors including Berry Hibiscus, Rosé Lemonade, Mango Dandelion, Passion Fruit Red Clover, and Lavender Moringa.

☕ Clevr Blends’ line of SuperLatte drink mixes are now available in over 130 Whole Foods stores on the West Coast, including Matcha, Chai, Coffee and Golden varieties sold for $17.99 in 8-serving bags. The launch also coincides with a packaging refresh for the brand.

🌈 Have you ever wanted to drink Skittles? The thought never really crossed our minds either, but the chance has finally arrived as Emerging Brands Management Group announced on LinkedIn this week that a line of Skittles Drinks is launching into select Kroger locations across the country. The line features Original, Wild Berry, Tropical and Sour flavors.

🏀 Hydration beverage player Barcode is adding Wegmans stores, the brand announced on Instagram.

Nicole Dawes, the founder of Late July Organic Snacks and Nixie Beverage Co., explains why “doing what we say we're going to do” is the key to strong relationships with retail buyers, the challenge of deciding when to accept opportunities even if you’re not ready for them and the importance of working hand-in-hand with outsourced field support.

Listen to the full episode now.