Poppi Takes Notes from Liquid Death
And why the Beyond Meat stock popped
Hey hey, a bit late today so let’s get right to it. We’ve got a new celeb-backed restaurant in Miami, some excited news from BFY sodas, Beyond Meat’s stock pop today and the new Erewhon smoothie.
🍴Nick Jonas is Opening a Mexican Restaurant in Miami
Nick Jonas and fashion designer John Varvatos are opening Villa One Tequila Gardens at the Miami Worldcenter in 2025. The Mexican restaurant will offer more than 150 types of tequila and mezcal and feature a rooftop overlooking Downtown Miami. The city is also home to restaurants backed by Pharrell, Pitbull, and Bad Bunny.
🏟️Olipop Partnered with FC Cincinnati
TQL Stadium will be the first pro sports venue to carry and sell better-for-you (BFY) soda Olipop. Hope it’s not the only team we see the brand partnering with. Olipop is really broadening their marketing campaigns with sports teams and now concerts. They are listed as a sponsor for country artist Kane Brown’s upcoming tour alongside Crown Royal. If Olipop figured out how to make their Vintage Cola into a syrup for a soda fountain, those two brands could serve some nice Whisky Colas at those shows. Then again, that might only work in the coastal cities. Not sure fans in North Dakota would be too keen.
🧍Poppi Took Notes From Liquid Death
The BFY soda brand officially unveiled their new 16 oz tallboys which will be available in 7-Eleven. Liquid Death was the first to normalize packaging water in a tall boy can which was typically a packaging style reserved for beer and energy drinks with edgy branding. The trend is spreading to health-conscious companies with branding that is far from edgy. In other news, some speculate that Keurig Dr Pepper could also be interested in acquiring Poppi (in addition to Coca-Cola) since their carbonated soft drink volume was off 4.3% for the four weeks ending on February 10th.
🥛Oatly Goes Organic
Poppi isn’t the only brand innovating. Oatly recently launched an organic version of its popular Barista Oat Drink. They don’t list the ingredients on the site, but I’m curious if this means no gums or oils. Eliminating gums and oils in alt milk is one of the few habits that stuck with me after doing Whole30.
📈Beyond Meat Stock Popped This Morning
Beyond Meat was the second most shorted stock this week according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The brand’s shares soared 60% to a six-month high on Wednesday as a result of the fourth-quarter report delivered Tuesday after market close. The brand promised price hikes and steep cost cuts to improve its margins which triggered a squeeze on its highly shorted shares. About 37.6% of the company's free float (shares worth $172.6 million) were shorted as of Monday, according to data and analytics firm Ortex. Bearish investors have lost $93 million on paper since Tuesday's close. Woof.
🍦Bullish on Cookies and Cream, Bearish on Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Between 2018 and 2022, sales of Cookies & Cream flavored ice cream have jumped 73% while sales of Chocolate Chip flavored ice cream dropped 22%. Please go read this wonderful reporting of ice cream flavor trends by the NYT.
🥣Susan Alexandra Teamed Up With Pebbles Cereal
The New York-based fashion designer Susan Alexandra partnered with Pebbles Cereal for their launch of their new berry flavor. The brand known for their beaded bags (with quite a cult following) has released a breakfast vignette bag as well as two bag charms. Fun.
🐟Fishwife Has a Cookbook on the Way
The tinned fish brand Fishwife announced earlier this week that they will be publishing a cookbook. More importantly, they announced a recent collab with Keystone Light on a tackle box with space to hold a few cold ones as well as limited edition tinned fish. None of us were expecting a zeitgeisty brand like Fish Wife to team up with the proudly cheap beer brand Keystone Light, but we’ll take it.
🍪Olivia Rodrigo Already Had Her Erewhon Smoothie
The Erewhon smoothie collab is a bit played out at this point. Olivia’s already been there, done that. As she goes on her first arena tour, aka Guts World Tour, she’s partnering with Crumbl on a signature cookie only offered at stores near concert venue.
P.S. Leaving the Blazer game last night, they were giving out cans of Coca-Cola Spiced. But on our way out of the garage, I noticed a truck unloading all the branded launch materials like signs and cylinder coolers. Looks like either a truck was late or someone dropped the ball. But cans were in hands so I guess who cares.
P.S.S Did y’all see that Reese’s Mini Eggs are coming? But who wore it better?
Enjoy what’s left of the day!