In-store displays “are more effective at selling beer” compared to “shrinking” shelf space, Kaumil Gajrawala, analyst for financial services firm Jefferies, wrote in a late June analysis.
Between non-alcoholic spirits, beers, wines and mocktails, the options for consumers have boomed over the past few years, but the rise of this category has also presented a challenge for retail buyers – raising questions of where in the store these zero proof products belong. Now, as retailers expand their NA offerings, some stores such as Washington-based Town & Country Markets, are creating sets exclusively dedicated to the new wave of non-alcoholic adult beverages.
Adrienne Freeman, Walmart craft beer merchant, discusses bringing the Black is Beautiful collaboration beer project to the big box retailer’s shelves and efforts to support more diverse entrepreneurs on a special “Retail Pulse” edition of Brewbound Frontlines.
Mary Guiver, Whole Foods global senior category merchant for beer and spirits, and Jason Murphy, Buffalo Wild Wings beverage product and program innovation manager, joined together on stage for the first time at Brewbound Live in Santa Monica, California, earlier this month to discuss what they’re looking for from suppliers in 2022.
Retail sales of Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer continued to increase in Q3, to an estimated +51% year-over-year, according to a recent “Beverage Bytes” retailer survey by Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog.
Craft beer doesn’t need a complete reset in strategy, but rather a re-focus on what consumers care about to stay relevant, the panelists of Brewbound’s first in-person Brew Talks meet-up of 2021 said earlier this month.
Even as suppliers rush to produce hard seltzers, ready-to-drink canned cocktails and other so-called “fourth category” offerings, traditional beer remains a priority for Whole Foods Markets, according to Mary Guiver, the natural food chain’s global senior category merchant for beer and spirits.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced most Americans to stay home except for essential errands last spring, on-demand alcohol delivery e-commerce platform Drizly’s sales skyrocketed. “We saw years’ worth of growth — five years’ worth of growth — in just a three-month timeframe,” Drizly chief operating officer Cathy Lewenberg said.
On the heels of the NCAA tournament’s opening week, Buffalo Wild Wings beverage product and program innovation manager Jason Murphy joins a special 60-minute “Retail Pulse” edition of Brewbound Frontlines to discuss the chicken wing chain’s 2021 mandate program, the importance of local beer to the sports bar’s menus and the increasing presence of hard seltzers and beyond beer offerings in the company’s stores.
East Coast gas and convenience store chain Cumberland Farms’ attempt to change Massachusetts’ off-premise retail chain licensing processes is being met with opposition from the state’s alcoholic beverage package stores.
A growing number of consumers are turning to online ordering and delivery apps, executives from top on- and off-premise retailers shared during Beer Business Daily’s Beer Industry Summit earlier this week.
Flavored malt beverages have delivered more dollar sale growth in the off-premise retail channel than any other segment in the beer category in 2019, according to market research firm IRI. Innovation leaders from Molson Coors, Deschutes Brewery and beer-driven on-premise chain Taco Mac discussed the shifting beer category during the Brewbound Live business conference.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last week overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed retailers to offer discounts on alcoholic beverages purchased in bulk. The order comes two years after Maryland’s Total Wine & More (doing business as Massachusetts Fine Wines & Spirits LLC) successfully challenged the law.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease weighs in on the Boston Beer-Dogfish Head deal; Rob Tod wins a James Beard award; Bell’s and Loveland head to arbitration; the Texas Senate strips to-go-sales amendment from a bill; and more industry news.
A century after the ratification of Prohibition, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could have wide-ranging effects on the three-tier system. On Wednesday, the court heard arguments in Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association vs. Blair. At issue in the case is the constitutionality of the state of Tennessee’s two-year residency requirement for obtaining a liquor license. Additionally, the state requires a decade of residency for the renewal of liquor licenses, which expire after one year.
