Beer industry veteran Simon Thorpe has emerged as part of the team behind SUNiCE, a pouch-packaged alcoholic beverage brand for a generation of legal-drinking-age consumers who grew up on Capri Sun pouches, Kool Aid Jammers and Hi-C juice boxes.
Thorpe, the former CEO of Pabst Brewing and Duvel Moortgat, who has kept a relatively low profile since departing Lion Little World Beverages in August 2020 after helping orchestrate the acquisition of New Belgium, is listed as a co-founder of the brand, which was created by Wyatt Carder and Erik Weller.
Carder and Weller are no strangers to the ready-to-drink space, after co-founding canned wine brand Pampelonne in 2013.
SUNiCE (5% ABV, 110 calories, 7g of sugar) is a sugar-based, spiked fruit cocktail that is sold exclusively in 10 oz. resealable pouches, allowing consumers to add ice and easily take on the go. The concept of SUNiCE was born from the to-go cocktail culture that emerged during the pandemic, and particularly the sales of pouches of alcohol in New York City, Carder explained.
“It became plain to see that the format was what was driving interest,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily the drink itself, or even that people were in the market for a drink so much as they were in the market for a pouch. That was eye opening.”
Carder said the pouches seemed to create an “emotional” and nostalgic connection with Generation Z and Millennial consumers. And they were fun. Carder, Weller and Thorpe are looking to tap into that market with SUNiCE being built as an Instagrammable brand that can resonate with Generation Z and Millennial consumers.
Thorpe, who also serves on the company’s board, as well as that of Massachusetts craft brewery Lord Hobo, told Brewbound that SUNiCE was created for those younger legal drinking age consumers, especially Gen Z, who aren’t married to cans or bottles. The branding, with its bright colors, evokes the 1990s — think Saved by the Bell with a little bit of Capri Sun.
“The reason that this is original, unique, distinctive, it’s not a fad, is because it’s rooted in a really profound understanding of consumer insights — about how we think, feel, behave — and it’s not beholden to a lot conventions and things that we take for granted,” Thorpe said.
To reach those demographics, the SUNiCE team is working on geo-targeted digital and influencer campaigns created by digital agency Manhattan Made Marketing (MMM), the former Jerry Media creative team associated with the popular Instagram meme account Fuck Jerry.
SUNiCE launched in independent grocery stores around Labor Day in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut through the Sheehan Family Companies’ distribution network. Within the next couple of weeks, it will launch in Georgia through the Anheuser-Busch wholesaler network, and in Florida through a mix of A-B and other distributors.
The company also plans to roll out in Nevada and Arizona this year, with a second phase of distribution slated for California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The brand launched with four flavors: Passion Tiki Eclipse, Triple Tropic Twist (guava, berry, lime), Mango Lychee Punch, and Watermelon Margarita Smash that are sold in individual 6-packs or variety 12-packs.
Thorpe told Brewbound that SUNiCE is a brand being built for chain grocery, mass retailers and convenience stores. The pouches retail at a two-for-$5 price point in C-stores and $13.99 for 6-packs in grocery stores.
SUNiCE has quickly lined up major retailers, including 4,000 Walmart stores, as well as authorizations in Total Wine, Circle K, Wegmans, 7-Eleven and Southeastern Grocers, among others. More will come online in the spring, including Wawa, Target, and Costco, to name a few.
“Even working for some very big companies, I haven’t seen that level of chain acceptance for a brand new product, not a line extension or something, but a brand new product, in 10 years,” Thorpe said.
The initial wave of product has already sold through and been reordered, Carder said.
“We can’t ask for much better than that,” he said. “After 14 months or 12 months or whatever it’s been developing something, to put it out in the market and watch it turn over within a weekend, and get a reorder, that’s the kind of stuff that’s like, ‘OK, this is big. We got something here.’”
As for the on-premise, the team believes SUNiCE will work best in experiential spaces, such as stadiums, arenas, concert venues and festivals.
Benchmarking against other FMB or pouch brands that have recently launched, Carder said he believes SUNiCE has the potential to achieve six-figure total volume by the end of 2022. This year is about proving the concept, launching markets, testing velocity, and gauging reactions from retailers and wholesalers, and ensuring that consumers are engaging with the product.
“If we can put up some good numbers from a velocity standpoint, that’s something that we can incubate and scale,” Carder said.
With SUNiCE, Thorpe said Carder and Weller have found the sweet spot of sessionability and flavor. And with the packaging, Thorpe sees this as an “innovation inflection” point, not unlike when Oskar Blues launched craft beer in cans. While he knows some may view SUNiCE as a fad or seasonal, he sees something deeper that Carder and Weller have tapped into with Gen Z and Millennial consumers.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in some things that were transformative, that were really innovative, and at least from my point of view, I would hope that this is another one of them,” Thorpe said, recalling his time with InBev, when Stella Artois tapped into the 1980s culture, or the acquisitions he helped architect, from New Belgium with Lion, to Firestone Walker with Duvel Moortgat.
“That pouch format has been around for decades, through the non-alc space,” Carder added. “And now you start to see it also propagate through the food space, whether that’s yogurt or other food products as well. So the trends seem to be pointing in the direction that the format isn’t being constrained, it’s growing and beyond beverage as well. So that was an important insight for us that this format is growing through F&B at large.”
As a sugar-based product, SUNiCE receives all the advantages of going through the beer channel, including broader distribution and lower tax rates. The company launched with a $2 million seed round of funding.
Most of SUNiCE’s production has been outsourced to contract producers, starting in Florida. The company worked with Flavorman in Kentucky to create the liquid.
SUNiCE’s in-house team beyond Carder, Weller and Thorpe is lean but experienced. They include Chris Campbell (ex-Craft Brew Alliance, Molson Coors) leading finance; Marc Howarth (ex-Crook & Marker and Red Bull) heading sales for chains and retail; and Austin Sawyer (ex-Lakeshore Beverage) leading wholesale sales.