Beer Marketer's Insights
Count Parch among more buzzworthy alc-alternatives of the year, riding momentum of winning spot at BevNet Showdown this past spring (BBI, Jun 16). By now it's entered 14 Whole Foods stores (it could be a lot more except for buying quirk discussed in a moment), 1,000 retail doors all told. The surprising uptake has left co scrambling to fill out-of-stocks for past 5 weeks, said cofounder Ila Byrne, and co is prepping fundraise for next month, seeking $1.5-2 mil to fund the burst of growth.
Several have tried to offer sparkling coconut water drink but none have ignited. Now refrigerated leader Harmless Harvest is preparing to take a crack at tempting-seeming segment with entry being plotted for early 2024. Organic-certified entry will take same liquid as core still sku, pump it with carbonation and package it in soda-style 16-oz rPET bottle anticipated to be priced at $5.49, booth staffers said at Expo East in Philadelphia today. It's latest effort to offer another approachable element to category after indies like Coco Libre (once a part of New Age Beverage) and Vita Coco itself tried without sustained success.
Don't miss this year's Beer Insights Seminar, Nov 12-13 in midtown New York City! Most recent additions to the program: Jenny Dowdy, prexy of Coca-Cola's alc bev subsidiary Red Tree Beverages, Irwin Simon and Ty Gilmore from Tilray with expanded presence in US beer, & Michelle St Jacques, Molson Coors cco of Americas. Speaker lineup also includes Constellation Brands ceo Bill Newlands, Athletic Brewing founder/ceo Bill Shufelt, Beatbox ceo/co-founder Justin Fenchel, NBWA chief economist Lester Jones, a panel of Wall St analysts, plus BMI prexy Benj Steinman's up-to-the-minute industry overview. Seats are limited, so reserve your spot today.
Back In Black at MC/DC; "Game-Changing Momentum" Behind MC Core; Reshaping & Ramping Up the Rest
Molson Coors is lookin' to make the most of oppys at hand as it plans for 2024 and beyond, co emphasized to its distrib network at recent natl sales conference in Orlando. Given the numbers, there's more energy and momentum behind core beer brands than ever before. And this was the most upbeat meeting since Miller & Coors combined. You could feel that energy in the brand room as distribs and MC employees naturally gravitated toward Coors & Miller booths this yr. That's where the growth is amid Bud Light fallout. Coors Light and Miller Lite volume up double-digits in US, Coors Banquet is growin' over 30% lately.
The increasingly glaring disconnect between ABI's global growth and its US softness stood in especially stark contrast in 2 separate meetings on same day, Sep 19. Anheuser-Busch InBev held a very well-received Capital Markets Day with investors in Mexico City. That meeting detailed its global strength and success, with a focus on Mexico mkt where sales are up double digits. Yet on same day, AB held a brief pre-recorded virtual EAM meeting with its distributors that distribs found neither fresh nor inspiring as sales continue down double digits here in US. The meeting also lacked what many distribs currently say they need most: more financial assistance.
AB Distribs Profit Hit; Valuation Down By Billions, Transfer of Wealth at the Local Level
Virtually all AB wholesalers are suffering major blows to profits and value in their AB biz since Apr 1. Tho losses only for 6 mos so far, this is already catastrophic for some, and a sea change for many, radically altering the health of their biz and outlook for the future. Emotional consequences can be just as devastating as generational wealth is rapidly disappearing in some cases. Distribs most affected have more debt (typically from an acquisition) or a greater % of their biz in AB volume. What's happening ain't good for anyone in AB network, but it's better or worse depending what % of portfolio is non-AB, i.e. how much of these losses they can offset with other brands. Huge impacts are happening on two levels, notes consultant Mike Mazzoni: loss of operating income and loss of enterprise value.
Tilray CEO Irwin Simon and US Beer Prexy Ty Gilmore Join Program for Beer INSIGHTS Seminar
Speaker lineup for upcoming Beer INSIGHTS Seminar in NYC is almost complete. Just added: ceo of Tilray, Irwin Simon, and co's US beer division prexy, Ty Gilmore. They join a stellar set of top execs and thought leaders gearing up to offer keen insights at this year's conference, coming right up Nov 12-13. You won't want to miss this top-notch oppy to connect and learn.
"In the spirit of simplicity and scalability, we have decided to focus on Corona Cero as our #1 global nonalcohol beer proposition," ABI's West Europe prexy Brian Perkins highlighted during co's capital markets day this wk. Of course, Anheuser Busch is barred from selling that product in US, where Constellation owns Corona brand rights and launched separate NA version in Mar. But Corona Cero "is a rocket ship," already the "fastest growing NA beer in Europe" and the "number 1 preferred NA beer in the UK in its first year of launch," according to Brian. It's in 14 European mkts to date and presents "new frontiers of growth and brand building in expansion markets," launching in Saudi Arabia among other traditionally alc-averse countries.
After early wave of crossover brands sold mostly in grocery channel, new wave of entrants is making much bigger splash in c-stores. Latest example: AriZona Beverages is now a top-25 beer supplier in convenience, per yr-to-date Circana scans thru Sep 10, riding rollout of AriZona Hard to all incremental $11.6 mil sales and 283K cases in that channel. Sazerac is also #15 beer supplier in YTD c-store scans with Monster #17. For Sazerac, 90% of co's tracked "beer" sales are in convenience, at $81.8 mil of $88.7 mil in Circana MULC. Monster sells majority (60%) in c-stores as well, making up $37.9 mil of $63 mil in MULC scans. Collectively, Sazerac, Monster and AriZona picked up 0.4 share in c-stores YTD, tho still just 0.72 share in channel.
Busy year for NJ's #1 craft brewer, Cape May, and busy month for changes in NJ craft distribution. Cape May just sold distribution rights to its brands in home state NJ, where it previously self-distributed under Cape May Beverage, it announced to employees this morn. Biz reportedly totals 350-400K cases. Volume will be split between 4 NJ Molson Coors/Constellation distribs: Kramer, Shore Point, Peerless and Kohler. (This article appeared in sibling pub Craft Brew News this morning.)