Stone Brewing and San Diego hard kombucha maker JuneShine are teaming up for the release of StoneShine, a 6% ABV hard kombucha that will be distributed in 25 states.
StoneShine mixes hops and stone fruits from Masumoto Family Farm with JuneShine’s hard kombucha formula, resulting in an “organic, gluten-free, probiotic, non-GMO” hard kombucha with antioxidants and vitamins, according to a press release.
Forrest Dein, who co-founded JuneShine in 2018 with Greg Serrao, told Brewbound that the collaboration made sense, as Stone is the company’s wholesaler partner in Southern California.
“They were by far our top choice just because of what they’ve built here and to pay homage to that side of it and to really tie craft hard kombucha to craft beer,” he said. “I felt like we could get our product in front of a lot of people that maybe aren’t early adopters of hard kombucha.”
With a consumer base that skews around 65% female, Dein said the collaboration is an opportunity to get the brand in front of more male drinkers.
StoneShine is expected to be on store shelves Tuesday, September 1, with a retail price of $5.99 per 16 oz. single-serve can. JuneShine is also selling 6- and 12-packs on its website to consumers in some West Coast states.
“All of our distributors across the country actually brought it in,” he said.
Dein said he expects the 300 barrels of StoneShine, which was produced at JuneShine’s Scripps Ranch production facility, to sell through by mid-October.
The collaboration with Stone is just another boundary pushing collaboration between JuneShine and other craft producers. Earlier this year, the company partnered with MatchaBar on a coconut ginger matcha hard kombucha. Dein said he wants to continue the trend of collaborating with unexpected partners.
“Maybe once a year, we partner with a big craft brewery, and we do some sort of hoppy hard booch that has a different spin on it,” he said. “I love working with different people, and I like that the Stone team brought out a totally different side of our JuneShine brand.”
“We love that JuneShine challenges convention in the same way Stone has,” Stone chief commercial officer Dan Lamb added in a press release. “This collaboration demonstrates how similar hard kombucha and craft beer can be, and offers a really unique flavor profile that can’t be found in craft beer collaborations alone. Stone Distributing Co. proudly distributes JuneShine kombucha because we respect their honest approach and we’re thrilled that they chose Stone to cross genres with them.”
The two companies will donate 5% of the sales from StoneShine to the U.S. Bartenders Guild National Charity Foundation in an effort to support service industry professionals who have lost their jobs during the pandemic.
As for JuneShine’s 2020, the company is on pace to triple its sales, after selling more than 100,000 cases in 2019. About 90% of those sales last year were in California, and now the company expects about 75% of those sales to come from its home state.
“Overall, we’re doing surprisingly well through COVID,” he said. “In April, we had no idea what was gonna happen, and it was a little bit of a scramble. And then wholesale started taking off, our DTC business has been great for driving trial and awareness.”
Dein views DTC sales as a “trial driver,” as they make up less than 10% of JuneShine’s business.
“What I’m most excited about is tying that online customer to the future value of retail,” he said. “Initially, it looks like people purchase once or twice online and then they start purchasing in store, very similar to our other customers, which is great.”
“We used to acquire customers through in store tasting demos and events and music festivals, beer festivals, kind of the more traditional routes,” he added. “And now we’re able to do it through Facebook and Instagram ads and directly attribute it, which is nice.”
In California, JuneShine still has a lot of runway to grow, with just 8% category weighted distribution (CWD) in IRI tracked channels. Nevertheless, Dein said JuneShine is now the No. 1 selling hard kombucha brand family and boasts the top two selling hard kombucha SKUs — Blood Orange Mint and Midnight Painkiller — nationwide.
“We feel like it’s been like this two-and-a-half year project to get here, and now we’re finally, like, planting our flag as the category leader,” he said. “ We think the category is going to be won in the chain sets spring 2021.”
In order to win that battle, JuneShine has built out its national accounts team, which is led by Chris Gheen. In recent months, the company hired four senior national accounts managers with extensive beverage alcohol backgrounds. They include:
- Chris Zambukos, who joined JuneShine in August after serving as on-premise national account manager for Pabst Brewing Company. His resume includes stints at Rogue, MillerCoors, Red Bull, Widmer Brothers and E&J Gallo;
- Michael Prather, who joined JuneShine in July and whose experience includes more than three years managing the Delicato Family Wines portfolio for Kroger and six years as a senior key account manager at Anheuser-Busch InBev focused on Kroger;
- Jeff Cossin, who joined JuneShine in August and last served as director of key accounts on the East Coast for Crook & Marker. He previously worked at FIFCO USA and Reyes;
- And Elizabeth Isenbart, who joined the company in April after working for nine years at Firestone Walker, where she last served as director of national accounts for the central division.
JuneShine’s “core focus” moving forward is to get Blood Orange Mint and Midnight Painkiller in national chain sets for the spring, Dein said.
Another focus is on JuneShine 100, a 100 calorie, 4.2% ABV hard kombucha in two flavors — Pineapple Orange and Hibiscus Lime. The brand, which already cracked the company’s top five sellers, launched over the summer in California and New York. However, the company plans to take a slow approach with the new brand and won’t look to add new markets until 2021, Dein said.
“We really want to get Blood Orange Mint and Midnight Painkiller national distribution in all the major chains before we bring anything else,” he said. “We’re trying to take a calculated approach and build a brand block on the shelf.”
The Link LonkSeptember 01, 2020 at 01:40AM
https://www.brewbound.com/news/junesshine-collaborates-with-stone-brewing-on-hard-kombucha-fills-out-national-accounts-team
JuneShine Collaborates with Stone Brewing on Hard Kombucha, Fills out National Accounts Team - Brewbound.com
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