Last Call: Drizly Establishes ‘New Brand Direction;’ TTB to Step Up Permit Enforcement in ’23; RNDC Acquires Rest of Young’s Market

Drizly Announces Changes Direction to Bev-Alc Delivery ‘Now or Later’

Alcohol e-commerce platform Drizly announced a “new brand direction” this week, featuring a “redesigned product experience” and expanded shipping capabilities, as it celebrates a decade in business.

The changes are part of a new “elevated purpose” for the Boston-based, Uber-owned company focused on helping “people savor life’s moments,” according to a press release. While the company has previously focused on being a “on-demand-only player” with delivery “in under 60 minutes,” its mission has been expanded to help customers “find the best drink for the moment, whether they need it now or later.”

The product experience redesign includes new guided gift giving pages, which platform users can explore based on “interests and tastes” and occasion, with personalized e-card available. Drizly has also expanded its Corporate Concierge and White Glove services – its events and bartending programs – into 10 markets.

Additionally, Drizly launched new shipping capabilities which allow consumers to shop from retailers across 27 states rather than just local providers, allowing app and web users to have “an even deeper selection and broadening the ability to send the gift of Drizly to friends and family, near and far,” according to the release.

The new brand direction will be supported by a new brand campaign with 30- and 15-second national cable and streaming ad spots rolling out in the next few weeks. The company will also debut a “new look” with a new “logo, color palettes, typography, iconography and photography,” created in partnership with Red Antler, a Brooklyn-based branding agency.

The rebrand follows last month’s introduction of Drizly ads, which the company described as “a full suite of advertising tools that will allow alcohol brands of all sizes to reach consumers at every stage of their buying journey, from awareness all the way to purchase, both on and off Drizly’s platform.”

The move also comes as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed an order against Drizly and its CEO, alleging the company “failed to use appropriate information security practices to protect consumers’ personal information,” resulting in a data breach that affected 2.5 million consumers.

Drizly: Beer Loses 2% Share of Sales on Platform During Halloween Weekend

Spirits dominated sales on Drizly over Halloween weekend, making up nearly half (48%) of sales on the alcohol e-commerce platform from October 28-31.

The category gained +2% share of dollar sales versus Halloween weekend 2021 (October 29-31). Wine claimed the second largest share (35%), gaining one percentage point year-over-year (YoY), while beer decreased share -2% YoY to 15%.

Of the 10 top-selling brands on the platform during the holiday, only two were beer brands, although neither were traditional beer: No. 4 White Claw Hard Seltzer (Mark Anthony Brands) and No. 5 High Noon Sun Sips (E. & J. Gallo). White Claw dropped from the No. 3 spot in 2021, while Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch InBev) dropped off the top 10 list. High Noon moved up one spot from No. 6 in 2021.

Bud Light remained the top-selling beer brand on the platform (excluding hard seltzer), followed by No. 2 Corona (Constellation Brands), No. 3 Coors and No. 4 Miller Brewing Co. (Molson Coors Beverage Co.) and No. 5 Michelob (A-B). Stella Artois dropped from No. 7 in 2021 to No. 9, while Boston Beer Company’s Angry Orchard and Samuel Adams fell off the top 10 list. Voodoo Ranger entered the list at No. 8, scaling from No. 12 in 2021.

Non-alcoholic (NA) beer (+38%), hard lemonade (+29%), hard tea (+18%) and American-style lager (+18%) recorded the largest share gains of beer category sales versus Halloween 2021. Light lager also recorded a slight boost of +8% YoY. IPAs recorded a -13% decrease in share of beer sales, while hard seltzer’s share declined -15%.

Ready-to-drink cocktails (RTDs) recorded a +25% increase in share YoY, the majority of which was stripped from hard seltzers (-23% YoY). High Noon was the top-selling RTD brand during the period, followed by No. 2 Cutwater Spirits (A-B), No. 3 On the Rocks bottled cocktails (Beam Suntory) and No. 4 Jose Cuervo. A-B’s Nütrl Vodka Seltzer entered the top 10 at No. 5, growing from No. 34 in 2021. Fishers Island Lemonade also entered the list, scaling from No. 12 in 2021 to No. 10.

BA Awards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Mini-Grants

The Brewers Association (BA) has named four recipients for this quarter’s round of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) mini grants.

They include:

• Entrepreneurship and Equity in Brewing (EEB), a 10-week brewing and business program that educates Black, Indigenous and people of color on the beer industry and opportunities to participate in it. It was started by Roger Appolon Jr., founder of Orange, New Jersey-based Four City Brewing, and Joe Mettle, who is the career and technical education program manager at a New Jersey charter school.
• The Chicago Brewseum’s annual Beer Culture Summit, which kicks off later this month and includes seminars that feature diverse communities’ experiences in and contributions to beer.
• Fermenta, a Michigan-based professional development and networking group for women in the beer industry, which used the mini grant to support its annual meeting in September and purchase a membership to WeVow, the third-party, human resources platform that seeks to eradicate sexual harassment in the work place.
• FemAle Brew Fest, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based beer festival that celebrates women in beer, as well as provides educational opportunities.

“The organization has been established with the purpose of creating a more equitable landscape for individuals passionate about becoming entrepreneurs in industries that may not typically lend the opportunity,” Mettle said of EEB. “As the craft brewing industry continues to expand in popularity and increase revenue, it leaves the door open for more diversity and inclusion in ownership.”

This year marks a second grant for the Chicago Brewseum, the BA noted in a press release.

“It’s exciting to see former grant award winners submit new proposals,” BA equity and inclusion partner Dr. J Jackson-Beckham said in the release. “We get to see how these initiatives are growing, evolving, and having a greater impact. If we can play even a small role in that process, the Mini-Grants program is accomplishing what it set out to do.”

DEI mini grants should not be used for “direct fund scholarships, grants or other direct giving,” the BA noted in its program guidelines.

“It is intended to fund the development and administration of programs that directly provide education and training,” it continued.

RNDC Completes Acquisition of Young’s Market Company

Multistate wine and spirits wholesaler Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) has completed its acquisition of Young’s Market Company, making RNDC the sole owner of Young’s.

The recently acquired 50% share of Young’s Market is concentrated in the western half of the country, with operations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, as well as a portion of a joint venture in Idaho.

“Since joining RNDC, Young’s Market Company has made a significant impact on our business, and this acquisition will open the door to further investment in our Western region operations,” RNDC president and CEO Nick Mehall said in a press release.

The deal closed on November 1. The companies first linked up in a joint venture in 2019.

Rockwell Brewing Sued by US Department of Labor

St. Louis, Missouri-based Rockwell Brewing has been sued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for unpaid minimum wage, overtime and tips to nearly 50 employees, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The lawsuit was filed on October 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Among its claims is that Rockwell allowed a salaried employee, its former director of hospitality, to share in bartenders’ tip pool.

The DOL investigated Rockwell’s employment practices from February 2020 until February 2022, KSDK reported. The federal agency is asking the court to require the craft brewery to pay back wages to employees.

TTB to Take ‘Enforcement-Focused Approach’ with Permits in 2023

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) will be “stepping up on enforcement” in the permitting process in 2023, which could lead to business shutdowns and “substantial costs” to breweries, JD Supra reported.

Starting as early as before the end of this year, if an ownership change – change of control, more than 10% of ownership or change of proprietorship – is submitted more than 30 days after the change occurs, the TTB will terminate that business’s existing permits and have them reapply, according to the report. For breweries, that would result in all production shutting down until new permits and approved and issued.

The consequence for breweries who miss filing deadlines could result in “substantial costs due to an interruption in [their] business. If companies do not halt production, they could be “charged with illegal distilling, which is a felony and also could delay the issuance of your ‘new’ TTB permits,” JD Supra reported.

“Starting very soon,” the TTB will also “refuse to process” permit amendments and applications if a company’s TTB taxes and reports are not up to date, according to the report. Licensees will allegedly have 15 days to fix the issue before an application or amendment is “abandoned,” requiring companies to reapply.