• 👀 Marketing: Steph Curry Invests in PLEZi
• 🍽️ A Bite With Summit Partners’ Morgan Zanotti
• 🇲🇽 Mexican Coke Under Fire
• 🍸 Spirits: Tribini Buzzes into Jersey
• 🛒 eGrocery Sales Jump 8% in June
• 🍫 Adapt & Evolve. How Guittard’s Sweet Strategy Continues To Pay Off.

Amidst a world in deepening crisis, a c-store cooler stocked with ice-cold beverages is nothing less than a holy oasis of peace amidst the storm. Sorry if that’s too poetic, but convenience store retailers are an upbeat bunch at the moment, per the latest Beverage Bytes survey of around 30,000 retail locations (~20% of the channel) by Goldman Sachs Equity Research, and we’ll gladly let some of that optimism rub off. Here’s what you need to know: 

😎 Sunny Skies Above. You’re only as good as you feel, they say; in that case, c-store retailers are doing well overall. Sentiment has warmed along with the weather, as 43% of survey respondents (vs. 30% in Q1) say their view of the total beverage category is positive. Beverage sales in the channel were stable sequentially in Q2 at +2.6% year-over-year. Though not hitting the highs of last summer (+5.9% year-over-year), respondents still expect solid +4.5% total beverage sales growth this summer, thanks in part to a better-than-expected Fourth of July holiday.

• But summer doesn’t last forever: Softening store traffic means retailers downgraded their annual beverage category growth projections to +2.6%, down from +4.6% in Q1 and further away from +6.2% growth in 2023.

⚡ Energy Gains. Energy is a critical c-store category year round, but it’s been particularly potent for the channel in recent months, per the survey. Despite some respondents citing a slowdown, the segment is driving non-alc beverage sales overall, and retailers expect more to come for the summer (+MSD%) and the full year (+6%). 

Stores were understandably enthusiastic during resets, adding space for Celsius (+9.2% on weighted avg store basis), C4 (+9.2%) and Monster (+1.7%) while cutting down on Red Bull (-2.2%). Monster’s acquisition of former blood rival Bang has provided a lift for the brand’s reputation as well, with 13% indicating Bang’s sales have improved since the transaction last year. That’s a lot better than zero percent in Q1.

Both retailers and consumers will be keeping an eye on price: Monster already confirmed its intention to raise prices around +5% on its core line (not Reign, Bang or Reign Storm) this November during an investor call last month, and retailers are expecting it will stick. Will Celsius follow suit? Just over half of respondents said no, a slight increase from Q1.  

🤑 Promos, Please? Brands like Monster may have earned the right to take fixed pricing in the eyes of retailers, but others have yet to be convinced. Around 80% of those surveyed in Q2 said manufacturers will need to kickstart promo activity to prevent volume slippage, a +5% jump from Q1.

Against the backdrop of tightening consumer spending at grocery, maintaining last year’s promotional levels won’t have the same effect, as one retailer noted. 

• Waning inflation may be swaying minds: survey respondents weren’t worried about a major pricing (>3%) increase, while fewer in Q2 (56%, compared to 64% in Q1) feel that further hikes are coming this year.

Dig Into More Data: Non-Alc Beverage Sales Decelerate in Late June

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🏀 Golden State Warriors star and CPG investor Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha, announced today they have joined PLEZi Nutrition, the kids drink brand co-founded by former First Lady Michelle Obama, as investors and brand partners. 

⛰️ Reimagining its 30-year-old “DO THE DEW” tagline, MTN DEW’s new campaign includes two ad spots featuring the brand’s new long-haired, fur coat-clad “Mountain Dude” who is always down for a good time. 

🏅 Coca-Cola's multi-channel campaign for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – “It’s Magic When the World Comes Together” – highlights the power of the hug, which the beverage giant calls the purest universal gesture of acceptance and inclusion.

Check out the full marketing roundup on BevNET.

Morgan Zanotti has traversed the near entirety of the CPG landscape – going from various marketing stints to co-founding Primal Kitchen and later heading up new ventures as an executive at Kraft Heinz after the conglomerate acquired her brand in 2018. 

Now as Summit Partners’ Executive-In-Residence, Zanotti is harnessing many of those experiences and bringing her expertise to a different side of the equation.

We recently caught up with Morgan to learn more about the new role, how she assesses “profitable, high-growth, founder-owned businesses” and glean business-building tips, tricks and exclusive insights that can stand the test of time.

Check out the full interview to learn how Zanotti is translating her experience from startup to investor and access insights from the lessons she intends to share along the way.

Mexican Coke has long enjoyed a cult following in the U.S., with American cola fans always on the lookout for the imported, glass bottle product made with real cane sugar. But south of the border, Mexican consumer advocacy group El Poder Del Consumidor has alleged that The Coca-Cola Company deliberately misled soda drinkers about the beverage’s negative health repercussions.

🔬 The group is asking a Georgia federal judge to force Coke to hand over internal documents which allegedly would show the company “financed dozens of research institutions that produce favorable studies downplaying the risks of excessive sugar intake,” according to Law360.

❤️‍🩹 Mexico has an extremely highest obesity rate, with nearly 4 in 10 people over 15 years of age meeting the threshold for obesity. According to Spanish newspaper El País, the country also has the highest rate of diabetes at 16.9% of the population.

⚠️ Mexico has been working to combat the health epidemic and in 2014 instituted a sales tax for high-sugar beverages; groups like El Poder are pushing for more health warnings for products like soda. 

🕵️ Beyond backing favorable research, El Poder’s complaint also alleges Coke placed legally required warning labels in “inconspicuous locations” on bottles so consumers were less likely to notice them.

Our latest distribution roundup finds Tribini amping up the buzz in Jersey and mid-proof Sommarøy Spirits making headway into the grocery channel, plus other news from tequila brands. 

⚡ The founder of espresso martini brand Tribini, says he’s winning retailers in New Jersey and Delaware by standing out as a dedicated-espresso martini RTD line versus a one-off, and by the flavor variations reaching different demographics. 

🛒 Meanwhile, Sommarøy Spirits is aiming for less of a literal buzz with its mid-proof spirit, which is now headed into grocery stores in its hometown. 

🍹 Lo Siento is still going after earning that foothold in Southern hotspots, a differentiated route from most westward-facing tequila brands. Meanwhile, Margs and Coconut Cartel moved into new states and Long Drink headed north. 

Read the full story for more distribution news.

June eGrocery sales rose 8%, totaling $7.7 billion versus the prior year period, according to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey. The overall monthly active user (MAU) base expanded nearly 4% compared to June 2023, driven almost entirely by lapsed user reactivations. 

📈Delivery and ship-to-home saw sales grow 18% and 10%, respectively. Meanwhile, pickup sales remained unchanged on a year-over-year basis even though the MAU base for the order receiving method expanded in the mid-single-digit range. 

📉Monthly repeat intent rates were down seven points to 56%. The report claims this is concerning because the drop was driven by the most frequent users of a given service. 

💭“Regional grocers need to stem the tide and regain market share by leveling the playing field against mass merchants. Integrating personalized and targeted promotions into their first-party platform experience will be key to engaging lapsed customers and improving repeat purchase rates,” said Mark Fairhurst, chief growth officer at Mercatus, in the report. 

Amy Guittard, the CMO and fifth-generation owner of Guittard Chocolate, speaks about the duality of her role as both a steward and agent of change, the challenge of competing with both small brands and large conglomerates and how she helped the company navigate a major threat to its core business.

Listen to the episode now.