Bottlers Fight Back Against Single-Serve CSD Declines
May 6, 2020
Carbonated soft drink bottlers are facing lower margins due to a shift away from immediate consumption channels and packages such as 20-oz PET bottles to future consumption channels and packages such as 12-packs of 12-oz cans. The margin squeeze is a key reason for furloughs and job cuts at...
Analysts at Goldman Sachs, led by Bonnie Herzog, surveyed retail and wholesale contacts representing 33,000 US convenience & gas store locations, which represents about a fifth of that retail channel. Here are some of their findings:
A recent report by Credit Suisse Analyst Lauren Silberman and her team outlined trends in the US restaurant sector, which is an important sales channel for fountain and packaged beverages. Here are some of the points from the April 13 report that BD found most important for the beverage industry:
The COVID-19 disruption extended through last week’s important Easter holiday sales period. Large family gatherings and community egg hunts were shut down across the country. The holiday also came on the heels of a month of extreme grocery stock-up in April. BD took a look at...
A sports drink brand backed by cannabis producer Canopy Growth and with potential access to the beer distribution network of Constellation Brands is preparing to launch its first ready-to-drink product next month. Toronto-based BioSteel Sports Nutrition, known for its powdered pink beverage, wants to...
New York is one of the hardest hit COVID-19 regions in the world. It’s also the home to Big Geyser, one of the largest and most important independent beverage distributors (and incubators) in the US. The company serves almost 13 million consumers in New York City’s five boroughs and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. BD spoke this week to Big Geyser COO Jerry Reda to find out how the company is responding to the crisis. He estimated that only about...
Same-store gasoline sales in the US fell during the week ending March 14, according to data released late last week by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). Initial data for the week ending March 21 indicates the decline could be...
Since early March, BD has tracked the COVID-19 crisis through the eyes of beverage executives in the Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and independent bottling systems. By last week, a period of frenzied demand had given way to a more normalized sales pattern, bottlers and distributors said. Some are now bracing for... Story includes direct comments from beverage bottlers and distributors.
As consumers reacted in March to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Beverage Digest provided live updates on the impact to the US non-alcoholic beverage industry. Here is that coverage in its entirety.