Lou Prignano

Tequila!   Many large players such as White Claw, and The Boston Beer Company (maker of Truly) are expanding their offerings and releasing tequila-flavored ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails as consumers are increasingly turning to tequila offerings in the beverage alcohol sector.   I had the opportunity to share my insights and thoughts on this surging trend with The Food Institute. In the article, I emphasized how innovations in ready-to-drink (RTD) formats, including tequila-based seltzers and margaritas, are meeting consumer demand for novel flavors. Additionally, I pointed out that tequila production has remained stable despite global supply chain disruptions and highlighted the increasing consumer preference for high-quality artisanal spirits.   Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gB9f-3Ci   #Tequila #BeverageIndustry #MarketTrends #ConsumerInsights #RTDCocktails

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A double earnings/sales beat, raised guidance in many meaningful categories, and new product new news for CAVA makes for a great quarter. In fact, very few other brands--only a handful-- are doing as well. A new brand regarded as cool by guests and employees and the right kind of executive management and food has been evident for years now. The IPO seems to have supercharged attention and momentum. The discussion about the calendar adjusted SSS and traffic and the two year stacked SSS number warrants a note. While the 10Q P&L necessarily focuses on change from prior year, we are almost certainly wrong focusing on that number. We as an industry can and must spend more time on 2 year and even five year stacked numbers for better MD&A. CAVA did today. Their disclosure changed the tone. Thank you Brett Schulman.

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New sales channels for NA brands & accessible purchasing locations for consumers is a plus for retailers, consumers and brands. Even with the existence of supermarkets & the concern that stores will eat into each other's sales, a lot of folks in NYC will keep their local stores they find enjoyable or convenient alive. There's CVS all over the place, bodegas still thrive. There's an abundance of both mass chain and small business restaurants. There are more than enough consumers in this city for multiple formats to survive. https://lnkd.in/g6ZYvSmx

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The Adult Non-Alc space is fascinating. As it evolves I think we’ll see some stratification between the functional ingredient beverages and the alcoholic beverage analogs with no functional ingredients. I think the route to market and consumer demand segment will end up being very different for these two distinct categories. I think there’s a bright future for both. What do you think?

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Texas Wine Market Monday! How can you drive higher sales volumes in todays softer retail consumer market? 🍷 🍇 Things aren’t how the were just after “re-opening” with massive tasting room traffic numbers and sales conversion rates. Every customer who walks in is PRECIOUS! 💎 1) Have a unique and facisinating story/draw to get people in the door. Try not to make it “stereotypical winery” story if at all possible. It doesn’t even have to be your whole lineup, maybe even just a single label! ⭐️ 🤩 ⭐️ 2) Back things up with OUTSTANDING wine quality! Getting them in the door means zilch if you can’t make them a new convert and brand loyalist! Hammer home your cool story with amazing product. 🥇🍷 🏆 3) Don’t spend a ton of capital to try new things in todays market when capital is much more expensive. Leverage partners to help you! While you are looking to make the next product to push your business further, don’t dump a bunch of expensive capital on equipment or tank space until you prove out the concept. Leverage partners to do that R&D and product development with THEIR equipment! 💵⚙️🧐 Tip if you read to the end: We are seeing more movement in wine-based beverages that aren’t your traditional still wines! Think creatively and look for problems to solve, folks! Texas Vine Country FermForge Matt Moreland Mike Moreland Brian CHEESEBOROUGH #TexasVineyards #TexasWine #GrapeReturns Shoutout to Vmech Technology / Westside Equipment Company / Oxbo for the sweet hat! It’s one of my favorites!

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The ARCs decreased last week from $163 billion to $158 billion, the third consecutive week of decline. The average yield of the group is 16.3% and the average coupon is 6.9%. That gap illustrates the challenge some companies will face to refinance their existing debt in a higher, longer interest rate environment. Mitigating the higher, longer market environment are three macroeconomic factors: 1. Rise of private credit and the creative/flexible structures those funds bring 2. Generally favorable macroeconomic conditions, i.e no recession 3. Generally favorable equity markets and improving M&A market trends Companies with challenging refinancings have multiple alternatives available. While these alternatives may take considerable time and resources to evaluate and execute, just waiting, hoping for a big change or ignoring problems is often a very risky strategy. #governance #turnaround #restructuring #privatecredit

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"You need to make it so that your machine can only use your proprietary mixing tins, so your customers will be forced to buy more from you." More unsolicited, bad advice given to me from a so-called business expert. I remember this conversation like it was yesterday. It was a typical bartending shift at Morton's Steakhouse--when I had just started Omni-Rinse. A random business traveler-guy asked me what else I did besides bartending. I told him about a patented invention I was trying to bring to market that automatically rinsed bar tools--without the use of electricity. He then proceeded to give me his very bad advice about making proprietary mixing tins. The sad part--he thought he was so brilliant. What a joke! 🤣 🤣 🤣 Why do some "experts" think that screwing customers is a good thing? The way I see it, you gain loyalty by making the best product possible for your customers, rather than trying to entrap them to squeeze every last dollar from them. Making proprietary mixing tins was an ultra-dumb idea because: ❌ It's just not feasible from a design point of view--at least not in the way he was thinking (to make them magically usable only for Auto-Rinse). ❌ Customers are smart. They know when they're being tricked. ❌ Proprietary tins would make my potential audience much smaller. ✅ The great thing about Auto-Rinse is that it can rinse a wide variety of drink-making tools used in bars, specialty coffee, and bubble tea. So why would I want to narrow my audience? I won't even give business traveler-guy credit for having good intentions, because he wasn't trying to help me--he was just trying to flex his business acumen. He later started asking me about my financials, like I was a contestant on Shark Tank. For some reason, people think they're privy to your private information when you're a server or bartender. In response to his question, I asked "Are you an accredited investor?" Silence. Suddenly, he was out of wisdom. Suddenly, he started eating his food. Suddenly, the hot air stopped blowing out of his hot-air hole. The takeaway: If you have a strong vision, believe in it and follow it. People front as experts all the time, with all kinds of "great" advice. But the reality is that most people have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to your particular situation. They just watch too much Shark Tank and think they’re Mark Cuban. #bars #entrepreneurship #restaurants #inventions

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⁉ Question: Do you care that a large portion of the meat we eat in the United States come from foreign state backed monopolies? ⁉ Hogs 🐷 (that's where bacon comes from). The largest owner and processor is Smithfield | China Beefs 🐮 --> Brazil based JBS and National Beef Packing are the big barrons there 📣 📣 Austin Frerick and John Kempf drop some knowledge on the topic in this quick, easy and informative podcast 📣 📣 Everyday we have the choice to bury our head in sand or get JUST A LITTLE more educated so we can make decisions that help create the world we want! https://lnkd.in/eUwzYCdu #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableFarming #FoodSystem #SoilHealth #ClimateSmartAg #Agroecology #CarbonFarming #FoodSecurity #FarmtoTable #OrganicFarming #Biodiversity #SustainableFood #HealthySoil #AgTech #CircularEconomy #ClimateAction #EnvironmentalSustainability #CommunitySupportedAgriculture

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Interesting stat and forecast of the day: 20% of #restaurant orders in 2023 were #digital orders. According to Josh Gurley, Digital Growth Strategist at The Coca-Cola Company, that number will rise to 50% by 2035. #foodservice #nrashow #digitalstrategy #foodinstitute

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This article from The Wall Street Journal highlights the slippery slope of additional fees (https://lnkd.in/g5AXQ9aS). There's no overstating how much this is going to be a problem within foodservice. Understandably, operators across foodservice segments are trying to manage and protect their businesses against rising prices dictated by both the marketplace and government regulation. It's making an already challenging industry even more challenging. It's very easy to focus exclusively on the needs of the business, and get very caught up in the numbers when staring at shrinking profit margins. But making business decisions from a place of fear and anxiety will only result in business decisions that negatively impact consumers. Is it better to have all of these fees tacked on once it is, in most cases, too late for a consumer to make a decision on what they are willing to or able to pay? Is creating frustration and angst at the very end of an experience the way you want your patrons to leave? It will be the last thing they remember regardless of how good the experience was before that moment. When we talk about hospitality and what's required, we often focus on training and what a staff member should do or even how offering great hospitality can make staff feel. Consider, for a moment, how bad hospitality makes consumers feel. Frustrated, angry, insulted...sure, all of those are likely part of their experience. But when a patron feels someone has dupped them or pulled something over on them the feelings can go much deeper. "Why am I not worthy of better treatment?" "Why does someone feel like they can treat me that way?" "What is it about me that makes someone feel it's ok to treat me that way?" Is it personal? Of course not, but the degree to which a bad experience can suddenly feel intensely personal can't be underestimated. #hospitality #foodservice #foodandbeverageindustry #restaurants #menumattersllc #consumerbehavior #fees #profit #trends2024 #innovation #insights

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As promised in my previous post here’s a quick explanation of Strategic Sweet Spot. It is that space in which you (the company/restaurants) are able to satisfy customer needs either: 👉 Better 👉 Cheaper 👉 More personalized & customized 👉 Conveniently 👉 or Differently from your competitors. It's the intersection of three key areas: Customer Needs: Understanding what your target audience wants and delivering it in a way that resonates with them. Competitive Landscape: Outperforming or offering a better alternative compared to your rivals. Capabilities: Leveraging your unique skills, resources, and experience to create a competitive advantage.

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Everyone is talking about Foxtrot and rightfully so. I could talk about a lot of things on this subject. How raising too much growth capital leads to irresponsible spending that is hard to control, or how small format grocery is just tough even though enticing, or the pressures of retail that have been happening since well before the pandemic. All would great topics to cover. But I don’t want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about innovation. I think back to maybe 2008, when my friends Alejandro Vélez Ramírez and Nikhil Arora walked into a single Whole Foods store with a 5 gallon bucket of organic oyster mushrooms they grew in their fraternity house, and sold it in immediately, and how that led to a gardening revolution educating millions of kids on growing your own food. The power of retail embracing the new and the bold, and being equipped to do so. Reflecting on a recent conversation with Michael Besancon who spent so many years in a VP of purchasing role, who brought in SAMBAZON when nobody knew what Açaí was. What makes this so tough, is that Foxtrot started to represent that first step in retail, a validator, an important endorsement of the new and bold, and more importantly in a way that works for new and small brands. Yes you can launch your brand D2C, and you should if you can, but retailers are the ultimate influencers. They have a lot of followers, and we need that route to market in a way that works for brands. Daniela Wong who founded Senor Mango is a great example of a new brand that should have a platform, end caps, in store signage, shelf talkers, anchored distro. Why? Because her products are great, her brand is fun, and she is representing her family heritage and a unique variety called Kent that her family has grown for generations. She is also one of the most genuine and creative people I have met, and a bad ass woman founder based in Mexico City. That’s enough to take a chance on, and some are thankfully, but more should hop on and in a big way. There are so many great stories of founders putting everything on the line to make it happen, and bringing true innovation to the table. There are plenty of me too products to filter through also, but when we see the real new, the bold new, we need the retail platform to endorse. Discovery will always be the biggest advantage you have as a retailer, so let’s go! If Foxtrot demise could lead to more off cycle innovation in other massive platforms, it would all be worth it. #innovation #emergingbrands #groceryretail Victor Guardiola Max Kabat Will Ahearn Adam Spriggs Emily M. Lindsay Robb Carlotta Mast Jessica Rubino Katrina Tolentino Kathryn Flouton Isabella "Bella" H. Candice Choi

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Here's a quarterly update video interview featuring Sean Black, CIO of Happy Belly Food Group (CSE:HBFG). I love companies that have highly-motivated, domain experienced management teams that have worked well before. Putting the band back together again can be powerful in terms of team chemistry and seeing a company hit the ground running. Happy Belly is a good example of this, back in 2013 they sold some of their franchised restaurant brands to MTY Food Group and then again, monetized restaurant brands in 2021, selling assets to Recipe Unlimited Corporation (now Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited). They provided speculative microcap investors with a groundfloor opportunity when they stepped in to refocus a struggling plant-based CSE stock back in 2022. Since then, they have been executing QoQ...8 record quarters in a row and seen the share price rise by more than 600%. This isn't a quick promote-type stock that enters a quickly becoming crowded buzzy sector, this is a management team that are doing what's in their DNA and they've grown up doing for most of their lives. This isn't financial advice at all but if you are a microcap investor, this recent interview might be worth your time to assist with your due diligence and at the very least you'll hear from someone who created a restaurant brand that you've likely eaten at. ✌ 🎤 💧

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POS companies have reported that 30% of monthly customers are "regulars". It begs the question, does your restaurant have a defined customer retention strategy to increase that percentage? If not, it might be time to consider implementing one. So, what are the key elements of a retention strategy?

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Edenesque CEO, Leslie Woodward, moves headquarters to Buffalo following support from Launch NY : “Woodward and her company’s HQ have both relocated to Buffalo, where the company will be closer to its new contract manufacturing partner, Elmhurst Dairy, Inc., and its main distribution partner, Sonwil Logistics | Sonwil Transportation. The company is sold in retail stories throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, has a presence in corporate offices such as Calvin Klein and Estée Lauder, and is sold at restaurants and cafes in New York City. Edenesque products will hit the shelves at Whole Foods Market this Fall, and it is planning a marketing blitz that coincides with its reemergence on the market. Edenesque’s chef-crafted, plant-based dairy products provide uniquely superior nutrition to enable its customers to thrive and Be the Love™ — nourishing themselves, their communities, the environment, and their local economy. Edenesque is also participating in the University at Buffalo’s Cultivator accelerator program. Edenesque’s goal is to be a $15 million company within five years.” Edenesque’s #BaristaBlend & #Unsweetened #OatMilks are distributed by Hudson Harvest , Odeko , Premier Perk and ,local specialty grocery stores , https://expcorpusa.com/ Foodservice , Workplace & On-The-Go! Sales & Distribution: LaRon.Batchelor@Edenesque.com https://lnkd.in/eZGFyXYC

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The consumer will decide?!?!?!?! So much to unpack in this article! Worth a quick read. Writing from my own observations as a former supplier and wholesaler, the top two beverage distributors referenced in this article partner with the top 20 US Suppliers who make up 75%+ of wine market share nationally. The combination of consolidated distribution houses in parallel with national and regional chains streamlining beverage options for efficiency, deeper pricing terms, and minimal distribution partners has resulted in limited options for end consumers when walking a wine isle. As national and larger regional chains remain flat or down in annual wine sales, category managers are reviewing and applying increases to margin. 30% margin was a staple, 40% margin is now the norm increasing price points substantially. Circling back, where has this consolidation captured competitive pricing for the end consumer? I look forward to continued reading of the FTC review on regulatory practices. #winebusiness #winetrends #competitivepricing #wineconsolidation

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