Loverboy Appoints First SVP of Sales and SVP of Commercial Strategy
Hard tea and canned cocktail maker Loverboy has made two additions to its leadership team: Todd Anderson as SVP of commercial strategy and Derek Hahm as SVP of sales.
Loverboy founder and CEO Kyle Cooke announced the additions – both newly created positions for the company – during Beer Business Daily’s Craft Beer Summit last week.
Anderson has more than two decades of experience in “flavor-driven beverages,” including more than 16 years at Mark Anthony Brands, scaling brands such as White Claw, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Cayman Jack ready-to-drink cocktails, according to a press release. In 2020, he joined Lone River Beverage Company as chief commercial officer, staying through the company’s sale to Diageo.
Anderson has “extensive experience working with Molson Coors’ distribution network” and will “oversee Loverboy’s commercial marketing and go-to-market strategy across wholesale and retail,” according to the release.
Hahm has more than two decades of experience in craft beer, including more than a decade at Craft Brew Alliance, where he held titles including chief of staff, VP of sales and brewpubs and chief commercial officer. In April, Hahm joined The E-Premise Group, a digital shelf merchandising company, as CCO.
As SVP of sales, Hahm will oversee Loverboy’s national sales team and “key distributor and retailer relationships,” helping the company grow its “shelf and floor space across its national retail footprint, according to the release.”
Hahm is still doing advisory work for the E-Premise Group, and is exploring ways to use the company at Loverboy as well, he told Brewbound.
“E-commerce is the future and this brand [Loverboy], ironically, fits exactly what we were working on,” Hahm said. “It’s the digital component, the social media consumer, it’s tremendous.”
Hahm spoke about the importance of the e-premise at Brewbound Live in December, along with panelists Sara Welch Goucher, Molson Coors’ director of e-commerce; Steven Koenig, Sierra Nevada’s e-commerce national accounts manager; and Beny Ashburn, co-founder and CEO of Crowns and Hops. A full replay of the panel is available here.
Loverboy has had two years of rapid growth, expanding distribution of its hard teas from four states to 44, Cooke told Brewbound in November.
“To some extent, we bit off more than we can chew when you look at our expansion effort, and the fact that we didn’t go out and raise a shit ton of venture capital,” Cooke said. “[2023 is] really about growing into our shoes and executing on the foundation we’ve been building.”
While Loverboy was founded in 2018, Hahm sees 2023 as the company’s “sophomore year.”
“We went out, and we did what we had to do, and we have a good foundation,” Hahm said. “But now it’s time to really buckle down and we need to make sure that we’re doing the things to grow the brand.”
In the fall, Loverboy announced nationwide expansion through Total Wine and Kroger, adding about 25 states to its distribution map. The Total Wine deal was also the company’s first national retailer deal for the sales of its spritzes and ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs), previously only available direct-to-consumer through the Loverboy website.
Moving forward, Hahm said Loverboy needs to look at opportunities to grow its presence in other channels, including independent liquor, c-store and on-premise.
“The brand had so much national chain love,” Hahm said. “The buyers really loved the fourth category, they loved the brand, they loved what it stands for, they loved the connection to their consumer and our consumer. Now it’s a matter of getting the wholesalers to understand that.”
Loverboy was created with a heavy digital-presence from the beginning, emboldened by Cooke’s presence on the Bravo reality show Summer House, which prominently features cast members drinking Loverboy products. Loverboy creative and branding director Amanda Batula (also Cooke’s wife) and VP of sales Carl Radke are also on the show. Combined, the trio has nearly 1.43 million followers on Instagram, with an additional 171,000 followers on the Loverboy account.
“When we’re doing promos, or when we’re doing tastings or different things, we bring 1.5 million followers,” Hahm said. “With just that 1.5 million, the number of impressions we get is tremendous, and I don’t think anyone else has that, so it’s a unique opportunity. But the problem is our wholesalers are beer people, they don’t understand that.”
2023 is a “pivotal year” for Loverboy, with the company on the fence with “a lot of retailers and a lot of wholesalers,” Hahm said.
“My job is to push it over and make sure people understand that we are a viable brand,” he said. “My job is to make sure that I can get the wholesalers and retailers to believe that our brand is worth the time and support in order for the brand to grow.”
Reyes Hires Former Breakthru Beverage Exec to Head Spirits
The Reyes Beer Division has hired Kyle Dean as its first market president of spirits, CEO Tom Day announced to employees late last week.
Dean, who joins Reyes’ executive leadership team (ELT) with the role, will lead the distributor’s “overall spirits strategy” and “partner with key suppliers to build our spirits portfolio.”
“This new role will be a great addition to the ELT and our company as we prepare to formally launch our partnership with Sazerac in California, Hawaii and parts of Texas,” Day wrote. “My thanks to all of our team members who bring to life our performance promise and our ambition to be the elite beverage distributor in the U.S. on a daily basis. I could not be more confident about our trajectory and the amazing work we’re doing.”
Dean spent more than five years at Breakthru Beverage Group, the majority of which as VP of the sales, wine & spirits division, followed by a nine-month stint as executive VP, according to his LinkedIn profile. While at the beverage wholesaler, he “oversaw all functions of the business, including sales, operations, working directly with suppliers to deliver their volume and hitting financial targets,” according to Day. Prior to Breakthru, Dean spent two years at Diageo as sales director.
News of Dean’s hiring comes a few weeks after Sazarac announced it would be moving its portfolio of brands from Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) to several beer wholesalers, effective February 1. The move includes a transition to Reyes in California, Hawaii and some counties in Texas.
Sazarac has also filed a lawsuit against RNDC, alleging $38.6 million in unpaid invoices.
Seismic Brewing Co-founder Laid Off
Seismic Brewing co-founder Patrick “Pat” Delves has been laid off from the Santa Rosa, California-based brewery, he announced on LinkedIn last week.
“Seven years after co-founding and building Seismic Brewing Company, I have been laid off, and it is time to seek new horizons in my career,” Delves wrote. “I am incredibly grateful to the team and for the experiences I had there – starting a company from scratch was easily one of the coolest and most rewarding things I have accomplished to date, and I am immensely proud of that.”
Delves founded Seismic with friends Andy Hooper and Christopher Jackson. Jackson – also the proprietor of his family’s generational wine business, Jackson Family Wines – and his wife Ariel Jackson own Sonoma Craft, the parent company of Seismic and Golden State Cider, acquired in 2022.
During his seven years with Seismic, Delves held a handful of titles, including director of sustainability and logistics, and marketing director. In July, he became brand education manager for Sonoma Craft, overseeing “internal and external brand education, training and sustainability initiatives,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Prior to Seismic, Delves worked as an account executive for San Jose-based Regal Wine Company and a cellar operator at Cloverdale-based Bear Republic Brewing Company.
Moving forward, Delves said he is “looking for new challenges within the craft beverage and CPG industries, as well as opportunities outside of those walls.”
In December, Seismic announced it would merge into Golden State Cider’s Sebastopol taproom in January and close the brewery’s taproom on December 31.