News Briefs for March 22, 2024
March 22, 2024•The 16th Els for Autism Pro Am took place on Monday, March 18 at Old Palm Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, raising $825,000 for charity. Nineteen teams—each of them played with a designated professional golfer—participated. The winning team, with a score of 54, was from Republic National Distributing Company. Pro Retief Goosen (who won the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Opens) was joined by Nick Mehall, Marc Sachs and Taylor Sommer. Second place went to Jackson Family Wines, with Rick Tigner, Richard Tigner and JJ McCabe joining pro Jim Thorpe, with a score of 55. The team from Reyes Holdings, with Tom Day, Jimmy Reyes and Stephen Reyes playing with pro Steve Stricker, finished in third place, shooting 57. The charity tournament benefits children with autism and their families at the Els Center of Excellence in Jupiter, Florida. It was sponsored by Cigar Aficionado and Wine Spectator magazines, published by M. Shanken Communications Inc.
•Heaven Hill Brands has announced a new office location in Louisville, set to open in 2025. The new facility, made in partnership with NTS Development, will be at the ShelbyHurst Office Campus and come in at nearly 50,000 square feet over two stories. The building will have a tasting bar and amphitheater in addition to office space for over 100 Louisville-based employees of the distiller. This year, Heaven Hill is also completing a $200 million investment in the Heaven Hill Springs Distillery in Bardstown.
•Darden Restaurants reported total sales up 6.8% to $3 billion for its fiscal third quarter, ended February 24. The company attributed the gains to the addition of 79 Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse restaurants, as well as 53 other new restaurants in Darden’s portfolio. While the company’s newest restaurants propelled growth, its legacy brands continue to grow, too, with Olive Garden seeing $1.31 billion in Q3 sales compared to $1.3 billion a year earlier. LongHorn Steakhouse and the company’s fine dining portfolio posted stronger gains, with LongHorn rising to $731 million for the quarter, adding $35 million over the prior year, and Darden’s fine dining—including Capital Grille and Eddie V’s—reaching $373 million, up from Q3 2023’s $236 million.
•Non-carbonated RTD brand Mom Water has launched its second variety pack, Vacation Mode, following the brand’s recent 6-state expansion of its distribution footprint. The new 8-pack features two new flavors—Kathy (blackberry lime) and Mary (apple melon)—named for the founders’ moms. The new releases, like the rest of the line, are canned at 4.5% abv and have 90 calories per 355-ml. can. Vacation Mode retails for around $20 a pack. Earlier this month Mom Water expanded into Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada, bringing the brand to 36 states in retail and 42 through DTC. Mom Water neared 750,000 cases in 2023, according to Impact Databank, with the company projecting 1.25 million cases this year.
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