• 🚨 Breaking: FTC Sues PepsiCo
• 🆕 This Week’s New Sips
• 💡 Adult Non-Alc Nears $1B

• ⛔ TikTok Ban Stands

• 🤔 Kroger/Albertsons Not Dead?
• 🗞️ What We’re Reading

Beantown Bats Around Price Engineering

The Boston City Council is set to debate a new sugary drinks tax after councilor Sharon Durkan called for a new $0.02 per ounce policy last week. Durkan noted at a Council meeting this week the tax could generate anywhere from $20 to $30 million for the city per year and prevent over 6,000 cases of obesity.

It feels a bit like a throwback to the days when Donald Trump was taking office as president… 

• In 2016 and 2017, a slate of cities adopted “soda taxes” on sugary beverages, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Oakland, Calif. and Boulder, Colo., to name a few. 
• While Boston missed the first wave, the proposed tax would seek to replicate the impact those laws have had in the years since their implementation.

A study published in JAMA Health Form last year found that taxes in the above cities (sans Chicago) led to a composite 33.1% increase in prices, of which 92% was passed on to consumers, while purchase volume dropped almost equally by 33%.

However, the tax doesn’t necessarily kill consumers’ sweet tooth: one 2022 study found that sweetened food purchases rose 4.3% in Philadelphia following the tax’s inception, offsetting 19% of the drop in sugar consumption from drinks in the city.

With the second Trump term about to begin, health and wellness has been a prominent theme of the incoming administration, with the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign spearheaded by Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While RFK’s stance on various diet and medical issues have been controversial (yeah, let’s just go with “controversial”), he’s also been pretty clear on his intent to push back against food ingredients he sees as harmful to Americans’ health. Still, raising taxes as a way of engineering behavior isn’t all that MAGA, right?

One area that’s gotten bipartisan go-ahead is to question food dyes, suggesting the FDA’s new ban on Red No. 3 isn’t going to get much pushback from the new admin, as well as concerns around ultra-processed foods. When it comes to drinks, Kennedy’s no fan of high-fructose corn syrup.

Whether Boston’s interest in a new sugar tax is a signal of a fresh wave of municipal health policy, or just a latecomer to a mid-2010s health trend, it will be something to watch in the early days of the second Trump term. That’s assuming it even goes anywhere beyond a scheduled debate.

BevNET Insiders can go deeper: Ultra-processed Foods Gain Guardrails

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing PepsiCo, accusing the conglomerate of illegal price discrimination in violation of the Robinson-Patman Act, alleging it gave favorable pricing to big box retailers while hiking the costs for competitors.

• The FTC said in a release this morning that PepsiCo offers “promotional payments and allowances” to “favored” big box stores, also providing advertising and promotional tools that it doesn’t make available to competitors.
• The lawsuit is seeking a permanent injunction against PepsiCo’s practices, which it alleges has created higher prices for consumers.
• “The FTC’s action will help ensure all grocers and other businesses—no matter the size—can get a fair shake and compete on the merits of their skill, efficiency, and talent,” said FTC chair Lina Khan in a statement.

Pull back: Federal agencies have been active in the lame duck, but Khan – who has been proactive in enforcing antitrust laws – is on her way out as chair in a matter of days. It will likely be up to Donald Trump’s choice to lead the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, to pursue this and other antitrust matters in the very near future. This is the second recent high-profile price-fixing suit filed by the FTC, which, in December, filed suit against alcohol wholesaler Southern Glazer’s.

Today is Friday, and you all know what that means…. It's new product gallery time! We’ve rounded up the hottest new products and packaged them into a neat array. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s inside:

💀 Amidst the explosion of the modern soda category, Liquid Death released a collection of three soda-inspired sparkling water flavors: Killer Cola, Doctor Death and Rootbeer Wrath. All three varieties are available at Target for $7.99 per 6-pack of 12 oz. cans. 

🐄 Organic farmer-owned cooperative Organic Valley is moo-ving into non-dairy creamers with the launch of four new products: Cinnamon Spice Oat Creamer, Caramel Oat Creamer, Vanilla Oat Creamer and Oatmeal Cookie Oat Creamer. 

🍓 La Colombe unveiled its newest canned draft latte flavor, Strawberry Mocha. The LTO, crafted with natural strawberry flavoring and real cocoa, contains 50% less sugar than the average RTD flavored coffee, according to the brand.

Check out all of this week’s new products in the full gallery on BevNET.

When it comes to hiring in the beverage industry, BevNET’s Job Board is the place to connect with top talent. With thousands of professionals browsing the board each month, your listing will be seen by the people who truly understand the space. Don’t miss out — post now and save $50 on each listing for a limited time!

Adult non-alc sales are closing in on the $1 billion mark, while spirits, beer and wine sales continued to slow in 2024. The fresh data comes from NIQ’s yearly recap and a presentation last week. Here are the highlights:

❌ Without ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, no category saw growth in dollars or volume, meaning that the popular category will continue to drive sales. 

🦵 Within RTDs: Non-alc, wine tetra (such as BeatBox) and spirit RTD cocktails are leading growth. Variety packs and hard tea are still picking up steam and gin-based cocktails (perhaps thanks to Long Drink and Gin & Juice) have legs as well.

📈 Otherwise, analysts say premiumization in spirits isn’t dead yet: super premium-plus made up over a third of straight spirit dollar sales most of the year. 

Get all the data and insights on BevNET.

This morning, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of a law banning TikTok or requiring its China-based parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations, rejecting an appeal that the ban violated First Amendment rights.

• TikTok, which has 170 million American users, could be removed from app stores Sunday, though President-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration takes place the following day, told CNN he will “be making the decision” on TikTok’s fate in the U.S.
• President Biden said in a memo on Thursday that he would not enforce the ban during his final day in office
• The law gives the president the option to delay the ban by 90 days if there was progress toward a sale before it took effect; however, such a sale does not appear imminent. 

In an interesting turn of events, Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser is pushing for a ruling on the state's challenge to the Kroger-Albertsons merger, arguing that the dispute over the termination of the deal by the companies themselves suggests it "may still be operative."

⛔ The Weiser filed a motion on Wednesday saying that the competing narratives over each companies’ termination rights might negate each other “leaving open the possibility that the parties could resolve their litigation by resurrecting the merger."

📜 He also contends that a ruling on the case by Denver District Judge Andrew Luxen would answer constitutional issues raised over the state’s antitrust laws and interstate commerce statutes.

🔊 "None of these issues are merely academic or esoteric legal questions. These are substantive issues that can be outcome-determinative in merger cases, and therefore can have a profound impact on the economy of our entire state," said Weiser.

🍊 As they say: All’s fair in love and tariffs (or something like that). The Associated Press recently reported that Canada is preparing a slate of retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, toilets and steel products if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on a campaign promise to tax all Canadian goods by 25%.

🍸 This Dry January, the New York Times covered category stakeholders that might be familiar to BevNET readers (shoutout to Aplós founder David Fudge and Sèchey’s Emily Heintz) about how the ANA category might see an extra boost in light of the recent Surgeon General’s warnings further linking alcohol consumption to cancer.

🍻 Need more reasons to grab a phony negroni or near beer this month? Cuddle up with your preferred ANA beverage of choice and read The Atlantic’s deep dive into how sober-curious has evolved into a “neo-temperance” movement. 

🫨 Celsius is not just for muscly Gen Zers doing Crossfit on SoCal beaches. The energy drink is fueling Capitol Hill, with politicians like Speaker Mike Johnson and political journalists chugging down the “Goop-ified version of Red Bull, with a ‘Make America Healthy Again’ vibe,” according to The Washington Post.