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In unusual deal, Pittsburgh DSD house Full Circle has acquired locally based Sword Performance industrial hydration brand, putting it in ranks of other regional distributors like SKI, Big Geyser and Seaview that have taken positions as brand owners too. Sword is among flock of players offering IV-level hydration, albeit having incubated brand in industrial rather than athletic or military settings, using the cred it's won there in its efforts to target athletic occasions. It's believed to do $4-5 mil in annual sales split among freezer pop, powder and RTD formats. In interview this morning, Full Circle owners Brian Dworkin and Mark Slepak said oppty came about thru Dworkin's role as investor and board member at Sword, where he detected signs of investor fatigue and felt leadership team not steeped in bevs/CPG might do more to advance the biz. "We'd always talked about building our own brand, so we decided, Let's go for it," he recalled. With truck fleet, bottling plant and sales force at their disposal, they won't need to seek new investment for now, even as Full Circle can take its time testing broader availability before moving to recruit other DSD partners, perhaps from Northeast Independent Distributors' Assn alliance of which it's a member. Slepak said move helps assuage frustration indie distribs endure as brands they incubate exit to other systems. He envisions eventually making the RTDs the sales leader for brand, which offers Shield name for pre-workout occasions and Sword name for the workouts themselves. Sword CEO Robyn Zlotkin will continue to run the day-to-day there.Slepak is of view that broad array of athletes endorsing various isotonic brands have only become more background "noise" to jaundiced consumers by now. That's been borne out by recent discontinuation of well-financed Mas+ by Messi sports drink (story below) as well as experiences of other sports drink brands like Bio-Steel and Pittsburgh's own Ready, for whom investor/endorsers like Giannis Antetokounmpo have only been able to move the needle so much. Among others in hydration space, Hoist has sought to ride its military cred as another non-sports avenue to broad acceptance. So Mark believes Sword can build upon its role hydrating workers "in the harshest of environments - I think that's a great story." Added Brian: "Guys in metals smelters, where Sword is part of the OSHA plan." On those grounds, Pittsburgh offers great location to base and test out concept. Indeed, US Steel is one of brand's biggest customers. On marketing side, new owners intend to dial up the industrial heritage of brand as underleveraged credibility builder in athletic space while continuing to reach industrial workers, landscapers and other blue-collar targets for whom hydration is more than a casual indulgence.Dworkin also operates Castle Co-Packing outside of Pittsburgh, putting him also in ranks of copackers who've launched their own brands. Those would include King Juice in Milwaukee, which successfully incubated Calypso lemonade brand before selling to private equity firm, and the late Chuck Norris' CForce Bottling in Texas, which has pushed an alkaline water under that brand name.As noted, there have been relatively few DSD distributors to offer their own brands, maybe surprisingly considering how closely they have their fingers on pulse of what retailers and shoppers are seeking. In NY, beer house SKI has successfully incubated Ralph & Charlie's juice brand while principals of Big Geyser have done well with Hal's line of bevs and snacks. Across Hudson River in NJ, Seaview's Bill Butrymowicz seems to be having fun building out a juice brand called Loom that's adding some excitement to stagnant shelf-stable juice section that's left retailers eager to support fresh new entrants.

Pittsburgh's Full Circle Distributor Acquires Locally Based Sword Performance Hydration Brand; Will Build on Brand's Industrial Cred to Recruit Athletic Users

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