Ball to Open US Can Plan in Nevada
Ball Corp., the leading U.S. manufacturer of metal packaging for beverages, will build a $290 million aluminum beverage packaging plant in North Las Vegas, Nevada, with plans to begin production in late 2022, the company announced Thursday.
The company said the plant will “supply a range of innovative can sizes to a variety of beverage customers.” The facility is expected to create around 180 manufacturing jobs once operational.
“Our new North Las Vegas plant is Ball’s latest investment to serve accelerating demand for our portfolio of infinitely recyclable aluminum containers,” Kathleen Pitre, president, Ball beverage packaging North & Central America, said in a press release. “The new plant is supported by numerous long-duration contracts for committed volume with our strategic global partners and regional customers and will enable us to serve customer and consumer needs for more sustainable aluminum beverage packaging while furthering our Drive for 10 vision.”
Ball said North Las Vegas was selected for the new plant “due to its proximity to customer can-filling investments, increasing regional demand, the infrastructure in place, the regional labor base and the cooperation of state and local officials.”
The news of the Nevada Ball facility follows an announcement earlier this month from Salt Lake City-based co-packer Vobev that it will open a facility dedicated to production of the popular slim (sleek) cans in Q4 2021.
CGA: On-Premise Velocity Following 2019 Seasonal Trends
On-premise sales velocity appears to be following 2019 seasonal trends, according to market research firm CGA.
On-premise outlets traded +39% higher in the week of September 12 through 18, compared to the same week in 2020, and +13% compared to the same week in 2019. On average, national sales velocity on-premise has stayed above 2019 levels since early June, 2020.
Despite heavy flooding from extreme weather this month, New York was the best performing state observed by CGA last week, with velocity +64% year-over-year (YOY) for the week ending September 18. However, the state was among the only two observed by CGA to perform below 2019 levels, with sales velocity down -1% last week compared to the same week in 2019.
Illinois also tracked below 2019 levels, down -8% for the week ending September 18, compared to the same week in 2019. Sales velocity is increasing however, on average, up +5% last week from the week before, and +48% YOY compared to the same week in 2020.
On a same week comparison, Texas performed the best compared to 2019, up +27% last week compared to the same week in 2019. The Lone Star State has leveled out its growth for the time being, with +1% and -1% growth over the last two weeks, due in-part to variable performances in the state’s key cities: Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Florida’s sales velocity decreased -3% last week compared to the prior week, but continued to stay above 2020 and 2019 levels, due in-part to high performances in key cities during the week ending September 11, including Orlando (+12%), Tampa (+9%), and Miami (+6%). The Sunshine State performed +33% last week, compared to the same week in 2020, and +18% compared to the same week in 2019.
California’s growth has remained relatively flat, declining -2% last week versus the prior week. The Golden State was +52% over the same week in 2020 (when the state still had tight COVID-19 regulations), and +17% last week over the same week in 2019.
Gopuff: Hard Seltzer Order Volume +35%; RTDs +328%
E-commerce convenience retailer Gopuff hasn’t experienced the slowdown of hard seltzer sales seen elsewhere in the off-premise channel, the company reported.
Year-to-date through August, hard seltzer order volume has increased 35% on the Gopuff platform.
Sales of ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages have increased 12% week-over-week for the past two years, Gopuff added. Between January and August 2021, the order volume of RTDs increased 328% on Gopuff.
At off-premise multi-outlet food and convenience stores tracked by market research firm IRI, dollar sales of hard seltzers have increased +22.1% year-to-date through September 5, but have decelerated to +1.4% for the last four weeks, and +7.5% for the last 12 weeks.
BI: US Brewers Shipped 14.5 Million Barrels in August 2021
U.S. brewers shipped an estimated 14.5 million barrels of beer in August 2021, a -3.3% decline compared to August 2020, according to the Beer Institute (BI), citing unofficial estimates of domestic tax paid shipments from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
August 2021 marked the second consecutive month of decline in the important summer selling season. August’s decline of 495,000 barrels was a little more than half the size of July 2021’s 985,000-barrel decline (-6.4%) compared to July 2020.
Prior to July, shipments had increased every month of 2021: January (+5.3%), February (+3.3%), March (+0.9%), April (+8%), May (+7.8%) and June (+0.1%).
Year-to-date through August, U.S. brewers have shipped nearly 114.5 million barrels of beer, a +16.% increase (or 1,846,713 barrels) year-over-year.
The September 2021 domestic tax paid estimate is slated to release on October 28.
NYC Passes Six New Bills Protecting App-Based Delivery Workers
New York City passed six new bills aimed at improving working conditions for gig workers of delivery companies, such as Grubhub, DoorDash, and UberEats.
NYC is the first city to successfully pass protections specifically for app-based delivery workers. The bills outline several requirements, including the following, according to CBS News:
- Services must pay delivery workers at least once a week — without an extra fee charge — and provide payment options for workers without bank accounts.
- Workers must be able to set a maximum distance they would like to travel for deliveries, and can deny trips that require them to travel over bridges or in tunnels.
- Services must display to consumers what percentage of their bill goes to a delivery worker’s tip, and whether that tip is available to workers immediately, or paid in cash.
- Workers must be given free insulated delivery bags after they have made a minimum of six deliveries.
- Restaurants must allow delivery workers to use its restrooms while waiting for orders.
NYC’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is also developing working condition guidelines and minimum payment requirements, according to CBS.
“It should not have taken a pandemic or a set of flash floods to see the basic humanity of the folks that have been delivering food to us long before this pandemic,” Councilman Brad Lander said Thursday when NYC’s 51-member council voted for the new bills. “They are workers out there working every day simply trying, like others, to put food on the table and pay their rent.”
“These bills are common-sense steps to support the delivery workers who work hard every day for New York’s restaurants and residents,” Grubhub spokesperson Grant Klinzman told CNBC. “Ensuring they receive a living wage and have access to restrooms isn’t just a good idea – it’s the right thing to do.”
Delivery workers in NYC work an average of six days a week for 10 or more hours a day, and earn an average of $7.94 an hour, excluding tips, according to a survey of 500 app-based delivery works conducted by Cornell University and the Brooklyn nonprofit the Worker’s Justice Project, from December 2020 through April 2021. Tips make-up an average of 44% of a delivery workers’ earnings, according to the same survey.