Ready to Run: Craft Mixer Brands Race Toward Mainstream By Ray Latif For Alex Abbott Boyd, Walmart was the inevitable next step. The founder and CEO of premium mixer brand Cocktail Crate, Boyd is cognizant of the retailer’s clout in the mixer space; according to industry estimates, Walmart accounts for over 30 percent of category sales. Although his brand, which markets innovative flavors like Sriracha Margarita and Maple Whiskey Sour, performs well at specialty and natural retailers, Boyd believes that the biggest opportunity for growth will be in conventional and mass chains. Still, to get into the chains, you’ve got to think like the chains. And that can mean a different approach. “When we went to Walmart, it was the easiest meeting I ever had in my life,” Boyd said. “[The buyer] said ‘I’ve already tried your product – I love it. The only problem is that I can’t sell it for $9.99.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got this new line for you at 48 BEVNET MAGAZINE – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
$5.99.’ And she said, ‘Deal’s done.’” So for Walmart at least, gone was the spicy Sriracha, and in came the ginger. Cocktail Crate’s new “classic” line of whiskey cocktail mixers will debut at 620 Walmart locations this March. The products, which come in three varieties – Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour and Ginger Mule – will be priced at $5.99 per 375 mL flask bottle, approximately $3-4 less expensive than the brand’s original products. Along with a palatable price point, the products are designed for a one-to-one blending ratio, a key for consumers seeking a simple blending process between spirit and mixer. That ease of preparation is critical to reaching everyday consumers, said Mark Mahoney, the co-founder and CEO of Powell & Mahoney, another mixer brand. “Five years ago, the average high-use complex cocktail had four to five ingredients,” said Mahoney. “You become a chemist at home to do that. In our re-
search and the data that we were combing through showed that there are a bunch of people, especially millennials, that want to drink dark spirits. They want an Old Fashioned. They want to understand what the classic cocktails are, but they don’t want to spend a lot of time having to become an expert bartender to do that.” Last year Powell & Mahoney introduced a brand refresh that amplifies messaging about the mixers’ ease of use and positions them as “a one-and-done solution.” The refresh came on the heels of a national distribution deal with Walmart, which picked up two Powell & Mahoney SKUs for 1,800 of its stores. The relationship will undergo a reset in March: Walmart will carry four to six Powell & Mahoney products in 600-1,000 of its locations, where brand performance has excelled. Despite a decreased store count, Mahoney anticipates a 2-2.5 percent increase in sales.