It’s well-known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but with increasingly hectic schedules — not to mention the hard-to-resist snooze button — time-crunched consumers often find themselves skipping the meal.
When it comes to category management, retail experts often agree that beverage manufacturers are on the leading edge of understanding assortment and placement of their products within retail outlets. Paul Weitzel, managing partner at Willard Bishop, Barrington, Ill., attributes part of the segment’s success to the direct store distribution (DSD) system used by many manufacturers.
Technology advancements have given us 3-D TVs, virtual tradeshows and smartphones with electronic personal assistants, but it’s a shame that this magazine does not have an interactive smell component this month.
Operating under the motto “Off-centered beers for off-centered people,” it should come as no surprise that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del., is not bashful about creativity. Dogfish Head’s lineup includes 34 beers with ingredients and brewing processes inspired by a range of ancient recipes, music, collaborations and Founder and President Sam Calagione’s own ideas.
With a lineup of six SKUs that are sweetened with a tablespoon of honey in each bottle, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Honeydrop Beverages has a synergistic tie to the creatures that provide its natural sweetener.
Still cautious from the economic downturn, consumers created an uneven environment for beer once again in 2011. The year’s performance reflected a category of contradictions with trends torn between the ongoing price consciousness of some shoppers and the insatiable taste for variety — even if it carries a higher price — from other demographics.
When Dogfish Head Craft Brewery opened its brewpub in 1995 in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Founder and President Sam Calagione brewed on a homemade machine dubbed “Sir Hops Alot.” To keep up with the restaurant’s demand, Calagione used “Sir Hops Alot” to brew two to three times a day, five to six days a week.
Gordon Wade, chief executive officer of the Category Management Association (CMA), Wimberley, Texas, mentioned during an interview for this month’s Channel Strategies article an interesting observation about the industry’s explosive growth.
In packaging, conformity is not necessarily a negative value. Unlike individuals who dare to be different, when it comes to labels, conformity is an advantage for the shrink and stretch materials that can contour to the innovative sizes and shapes of beverage packaging. And the results are the same as a person with pink hair or a trend-setting style: the ability to stand out from their peers.
Similar to the drops, twists and turns of popular amusement park rides, product fads can leave beverage-makers gasping for breath — and redirecting budgets. Take for example, pomegranate, formerly the most super of the superfruits, which has plausibly suffered the most due to consumers’ frequently fickle preferences.
