• 🆕 New Products: This Week’s Hot New Sips
• 🍸 Spirits: Slight Slip for BevAlc
• 🌊 Stur-ing Up Business
• 🎙️ Now Streaming: CPG Week
  

Let’s be honest: the concept of providing “hydration” has been around since the beverage business began – but you might be forgiven for thinking it was just invented yesterday, considering the influx of next-gen electrolyte drinks from the likes of GHOST, A-GAME, Recover 180 and last year’s Brand of the Year, PRIME. 

It’s against that backdrop that yesterday’s news about ROAR Organic’s new $10 million capital infusion – courtesy of existing investor Factory LLC – should be examined, as investors are still seeing opportunity for better-for-you alternatives to break Gatorade’s (and, to a lesser extent, BodyArmor’s) grip on the evolving sports drinkspace. 

According to the company, the funding reflects “a massive vote of confidence in the brand and its future” from Factory, a CPG investment and brand building firm which first took an equity stake in ROAR in 2020. ROAR CEO Bill Lange told BevNET in February 2023 that the brand grew gross revenue by 116% in 2022 and was, at the time, anticipating about 80% growth for 2023.

“From the moment we first encountered ROAR, we knew there was something special here,” Factory partner Keith Caldwell said in a press release. “Our continued investment reflects our unwavering belief in the team, their vision, and their ability to disrupt the beverage industry.”

The investment arrives after ROAR raised a total of $16 million last year, including a $6 million infusion in December that was characterized as an “add-on” to investments made in February and April by “existing investors.”

It comes at an opportune time in the brand’s growth trajectory: According to Circana, sales of ROAR beverages categorized as “Flavored Convenience/Bottled Still Water” grew retail dollar sales by 93.8% to around $11.3 million in the U.S. MULO and c-store retail accounts in the 52-week period ending December 31. The brand is among the fastest growing in the category, which grew 1.7% overall in the same period, and outpaced other fast-rising mid-size brands such as Lemon Perfect (+70.4%) and Kraft’s Fruit2O (+40.8%).

However, that data only reflects a portion of ROAR’s business, and does not include ecommerce sales or the brand’s powdered hydration mix line.

Celebrating a decade in business this year, ROAR has gone through a number of branding and format iterations over the years, but may have finally found solid footing: Lange said in February that the current format – which has more firmly positioned the brand as an organic sports drink for adults – has begun to resonate more with consumers. Considering how rivals like PRIME (tweens) and GHOST (gamers) have had success targeting specific demos, staking a claim to older audiences may lead the way to white space. 

We’ll be probing for more details next week at Expo West: keep an eye out for our video interview with ROAR prez Bill Lange. 

Read the full story on BevNET

Expo West can be a marathon, so meet your new energy boost! GORGIE, a clean energy drink that's great for you and actually great tasting! 0g sugar, 5 cals, full of benefits like Biotin, B Vitamins, & L-Theanine - without nasties like erythritol or aspartame. Your day is about to get so much better! Learn more

Today is Friday and you all know what that means…it’s NPG time! We’ve rounded up the hottest new products for you and packaged them together in a gallery just for you. Here’s a brief overview: 

💧 Hydration brand Cure hopes to capture a younger audience with its newest product line, Cure Kids. Available in Fruit Punch, Mixed Berry, and Pink Lemonade flavors, the electrolyte drink mixes are crafted with coconut water, pink Himalayan salt and fruit juice powders.

🍊 In honor of Lilly Pulitzer’s 65th anniversary, the resort wear brand teams up with Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company to lend custom artwork to the latter’s 8 oz., 16 oz., and 32 oz. orange juice bottles. 

🥤 Wildwonder expands its line of functional beverages with the addition of its latest flavor, Raspberry Lychee. The new offering, which celebrates founder Rosa Li’s Chinese heritage, is made with raspberry puree, lychees and fresh-brewed honeysuckle flowers.

Check out the full NPG on BevNET.

Total BevAlc sales growth decelerated modestly in the two-week period ended February 24, with dollar sales down -0.4% compared to -0.1% in the four-weeks, according to an analysis of NielsenIQ data by Goldman Sachs Equity Research. The data offers a glimpse of fast moving categories and brands like:

🐎 Spirit-based RTDs, up +29.2% in the two-weeks versus +32.2% in the four-week period and +40.7% in the 52-week period

☀️ High Noon continues to outpace the category, with sales up 46.2% against a 42.6% volume jump and a +2.5% average pricing increase. Still vying for the second spot, Cutwater saw sales rise 24.6%, with volumes up 12.9% and pricing up 10.4%.

📉 In another hot category, FMB sales decelerated in the two-week period at 9.5%, compared to +10.3% in the four-weeks and +0.8% in the 52-weeks. In that category, hard Lemonade sales sharply declined, down -5.4% in the two-week period versus +2.8% in the 12-weeks.

Read the full story on BevNET.

#WaterTok took the drink mix category by surprise last year when social media influencers started sharing “recipes” for the perfect flavored water blend on TikTok, spiking sales for powder and liquid mix manufacturers. Dyla Brands, the makers of Stur, were caught in the wave and now the brand is crediting a $30 million increase in 2023 revenue to the boom.

🚰 Positioned as a premium liquid water enhancer, Dyla is looking to position itself as a “leading player” in the drink mix category, with expectations of doing over $100 million in revenue this year as it expands its retail presence, rolls out regular flavor and functional innovations, and ups its marketing spend.

📺 Dyla founder and CEO Neel Premkumar said the company had always been conservative in marketing Stur, but that’s about to change. The company went heavy on influencer outreach after the #WaterTok trend emerged last winter and now has allotted a $10 million ad budget for TV commercials this spring.

☕ Stur was always Dyla’s core brand, and it also produces Venus Williams’ Happy Viking powdered beverage brand. However, it has now officially ended its experiment in RTD coffee energy shots with its FORTO brand, selling the business to an unidentified co-packer, Premkumar said. Looking ahead, Stur is the top priority.

Read the full story later today on BevNET.

On this week’s episode of CPG Week, Nosh managing editor Monica Watrous and senior reporters Brad Avery and Lukas Southard dig into recent food and beverage quarterly earnings reports. Lukas kicks the conversation with an explanation on how WK Kellogg Co.’s CEO placed the company, and its sister business Kellanova, in hot water when a “cereal for dinner” marketing push went awry.

👹 Brad discusses Celsius’ recent announcement (spoiler: it has surpassed $1 billion in sales) and how it is continues to keep Monster on its toes.

🌱 Monica goes over the lackluster numbers coming out of Beyond Meat and Oatly.

🛒 The team sifts through news that Whole Foods is making a push for small footprint stores.

Listen now on Nosh.com and subscribe to get a fresh episode every week.

Like what you are listening to? Please don’t hesitate to rate our show and leave a review on your podcast platform of choice.