• 🏀 Why Boston Brands Love D-White
• 🥛 Suntado Bets on Shelf-Stable Dairy
• 😵‍💫 Tamping Down On Hard Beverage Confusion

• 💲 WSJ: The Family Behind BlueTriton

• 🏠 How A ‘Casa’ Built On Taste, Not Trends, Is The Crown Jewel Of A $400M Empire

After crunching the numbers from a January 2024 survey, the National Coffee Association recently published its biannual National Coffee Data Trends report finding that 67% of American adults drank coffee in the past day – more than any other beverage including water. But it’s not how much is being drunk, but how young the drinkers are, that’s really moving the needle.

According to the report, younger consumers – particularly in the 25- to- 29-year-old range, which account for two-thirds of category sales – are driving growth within specialty coffee. 

But unlike their Friends-y demographic, they’re leaving Central Perk-type spots for the streets, with RTD cold brew, nitro and frozen coffee drinks (think: cold things, on-the-go) beginning to take center stage. 

How does this younger cohort caffeinate? Cold varieties continue to be a driving force both during and outside of the summer season, the NCA report stated. A separate study from 2023 showed that cold coffee consumption was up 8% since 2022.

That’s not to say that coffee drinkers aren’t still grabbing the hot stuff, it is just that when they do, many are now leaning into espresso drinks like lattes, cappuccinos and macchiatos; the report notes that 26% of specialty coffee consumption came from espresso-based beverages (EBB).

Seen through a different prism, African-American (-5%) and Hispanic-Americans (-4%) are drinking less non-espresso-based beverages (NEBB) like cold brew and nitro. Despite these dips, both demographics have contributed to an upward trajectory in both EBB and NEBB categories year-over-year since 2020.

Cold brew remains the “cool” thing to do among the vast majority of specialty coffee drinkers – upwards of 75%, to be exact – with frozen blended and nitro coffee following behind as the most popular non-espresso-based beverages.

This shouldn’t be too much of a shock to BevNET aficionados –  we’ve been tracking a number of new entrants in the category and they’ve proven that RTD coffee is no longer relegated to Frappachinos. 

Walmart is adding more cans to its assortment leaning into a partnership with Snapchill to bring more artisanal roasters to the cold coffee category. Asian-inspired brands, like Nguyen Coffee Supply, have found distribution in both natural retailers like Sprouts as well as mass channel stores like Target. Fellow Vietnamese coffee brand Sang has also popped up in Target in addition to creeping into conventional retailers.

Another notable category trend has come by way of celebrities – from sports stars to influencers and actors – these individuals have all taken the similar approach to what has played out in spirits and launched their own cans of cold java.

What does this mean for the category and are there enough beans to go around? Go deeper and decide for yourself: Why are celebrities flocking to coffee?

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The Boston Celtics are the 2024 NBA Champions, and it seems safe to say Tom First must be feeling pretty good. Earlier this year, First’s brand Culture Pop brought on the Celtics’ breakout star guard Derrick White as a spokesman for its probiotic soda line, and he’s not the only local Boston beverage maker to net the Buffalo’s endorsement.

☘️ Although he isn’t as big of a name nationwide as Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Boston Globe reported last week that White had become a “go-to spokesman for Boston-area brands,” including Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer and Boston Metro-based Culture Pop.

🏙️ While Tatum may have a signature Ruffles flavor and an obligatory star-athlete/Gatorade partnership, White’s popularity in New England has made him a powerful ambassador for emerging brands in the region.

🥊 “We’re a bit of an underdog in the biggest category that exists, in soda,” First told the Globe. “We think, in terms of health and quality, we kind of outpunch our weight, which is the exact same thing that Derrick does.”

🆓 Reminder: BevNET is based in Newton, Mass., so if Derrick White wants to swing by the office, he is more than welcome to come raid the sample fridge.

Dairy co-packer Suntado is ramping up its shelf-stable production capacity with the opening of a new facility in Burley, Idaho that can process up to 1 million pounds of local milk per day, mainly in Tetra Pak cartons. 

3️⃣ The new 190,000 sq. ft. facility is the first part of a three-phase project initially focused on shelf-stable and ESL milk, cream and other dairy-based beverages, with the ability to triple capacity (and move into other beverages) in the future; it houses five Tetra Pak lines across various carton sizes. 

🐄 The plant is vertically integrated and sources from 6,000 organic and 30,000 conventional dairy cows that are located within 20 miles of the processing facility.

🧊 “With a longer shelf life and no need to refrigerate until opened, shelf-stable dairy products support the transformation of food systems by increasing access to safe food and reducing food waste,” said Seth Teply, president and CEO of Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada.

The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the Distilled Spirits Counsel (DISCUS), Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America and the Food Industry Association (FMI) are joining together issue a commitment to responsibly market and merchandise crossover alcohol products – i.e. increasingly popular alcoholic versions of traditionally non-alc beverage brands.

☀️ Even as consumers are reducing their alcohol consumption overall, hard versions of classic NA beverages have become more prominent in recent years – from Topo Chico and MTN Dew to AriZona Hard Juice Cocktails. The trend is widespread across categories, including drinks traditionally marketed towards children that are now targeting nostalgic adults, like SunnyD.

🌓 The new multi-group commitment calls for all advertisements to be clearly directed to drink-age adults and for brands to utilize packaging that is “clearly and easily distinguishable from their non-alcohol beverage counterparts.”

🥂 Included in the announcement are guidelines for wholesalers and retailers “to ensure appropriate placement” in stores, as well as employee training to help avoid any consumer confusion.

They might have just engineered a massive reverse merger to take BlueTriton Brands public, but the Metropolous family yesterday also made headlines for its real estate holdings. 

🏘️ While yesterday’s merger release dominated headlines, the Wall Street Journal also profiled One Rock Capital Partners executive Daren Metropoulos in its luxury homes section, detailing the 40-year-old co-owner of BlueTriton’s hobby: collecting unique houses and mansions and his most recent acquisition, a $148 million oceanfront property in Palm Beach, Fla.

🧀 One Rock’s business interests extend well beyond BlueTriton. According to LinkedIn, the investor is also an owner of Chuck E. Cheese, Morton Salt, Briggs & Stratton, Luminar Technologies, Hostess Brands and Sonder Inc.

Jean-Charles Boisset, the proprietor of globally renowned wine company Boisset Collection and co-founder of luxury tequila brand Casa Obsidiana, explains why taste, not trends, is at the heart of new business ventures and product development, and what drives consumer communication and marketing.

Listen to the episode now.