Interview: Southern Glazer’s David Chaplin And Kariff Rhooms On CBD Drinks

The company’s CBD brand portfolio includes offerings from Constellation-backed Canopy Growth—such as Martha Stewart CBD—as well as other labels like Defy, Centr, Mad Tasty, B Great, and Curaleaf Hemp and Select CBD. SNDC associate editor Danny Sullivan recently spoke with Southern Glazer’s chief growth officer David Chaplin and vice president, SG Ventures Kariff Rhooms for an update on the distributor’s activities in the CBD market.

SNDC: How has SGWS approached its CBD business?

Rhooms: Greater than 50% of all retailers are saying it’s one of their strong growth categories. We like to support the direction that our consumers are going, the way our retailers are going. So we feel it’s in their and our best interest for us to look at this space and invest. At Southern, we’re always interested in doing things the right way so we’ve invested ahead just to help this industry shape up for the future that everybody’s predicting it can be. But we’ve got to go create that future together.

SNDC: What trends are emerging in consumer preferences?

Chaplin: Our focus has been in the ingestible form factor with CBD beverages as well as gummies. We are in every category in CBD from a compliance standpoint, but we are going deeper in the categories that consumers have shown interest in.

Rhooms: We do know from a category perspective that beverage is one of the fastest growing categories, gummies are one of the fastest growing categories. Take one of our brands, Defy, as an example: it’s a great isotonic, black-owned, woman-owned, woman-founded brand. NFL legend Terrell Davis is a co-founder, and it’s aimed at athletes. You have other form factors around like sparkling water as well. But so far there are few strong brands out there.

SNDC: How has Southern’s relationship with Canopy Growth developed?

Chaplin: Canopy was our first partner and we’ve appreciated having that first mover advantage and aligning ourselves nationally with the largest partner in the space that has made investments and is over-investing. We felt like our interests were very aligned, and our relationship has continued to evolve. We are learning together, identifying best practices together. It’s a new category. And I think that’s really what it comes down to: we want to find partners that are going to invest and learn together, and we’ve grown that partnership and we’ve expanded our distribution from seven to 18 states and have learned a lot along the way.

SNDC: Another brand in your portfolio that’s gaining steam is Centr.

Rhooms: Centr fits perfectly into the healthy, better-for-you category, which is extremely popular today. They have a sugar-free option and a light sugar option. It can be enjoyed in any situation. If you think about it, you can have it during the day, you can have it after a run, you can have it after a night out. It’s low-calorie, so it’s ticking all those boxes, and it’s got great packaging as well.

SNDC: What are your goals and expectations for the category going forward?

Chaplin: Our goal is to continue to grow the category for our suppliers and for consumers who have shown continued interest in the space. Our expectations are to continue to invest. That’s what you’ll see for Southern Glazer’s, to continue to over-invest in this space with dedicated resources for CBD. We believe in the category, we believe in the space, and we want to make sure that we are performing for our CBD suppliers going forward to help drive their business and the overall category.

Tagged : cannabis, Canopy, Centr, Defy, Southern Glazer's

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