News Briefs for May 17, 2022
May 17, 2022•Total Wine & More has promoted Troy Rice to CEO. Rice joined Total Wine & More in 2017 as a chief store officer and most recently served as chief operating officer. In his time with the retail giant, Rice is credited with helping the company’s sales surge past $5 billion a year while embracing digital technologies to modernize business, encouraging continued expansion and entry into new markets, and navigating the global pandemic.
•E-commerce giant Instacart is eyeing an initial public offering. The company has made a so-called confidential filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission toward an IPO, which allows it not to disclose the planned size or timing of the offering. The filing comes after Instacart slashed its valuation from about $39 billion to $24 billion in March, and amid falling stock prices in the tech sector, with rivals including DoorDash and Uber seeing shares trade nearly 50% lower than a year ago.
•New York’s Fishers Island Lemonade has launched its first variety pack, as well as expanded distribution to Florida and South Carolina. The new 8-pack features four cans of the brand’s flagship 9% abv Lemonade, as well as two cans each of Fishers Island Spiked Tea at 7% abv and Fishers Island Pink Flamingo, also at 7% abv. The variety pack retails for around $27. For its two new markets, the company has partnered with Breakthru Beverage; in addition, Fishers Island has aligned with Empire Distributors in Georgia, and also expanded its partnership with Amoskeag Beverages in New Hampshire.
•San Francisco’s ImpEx Beverages has added Ayrshire Distillery Lochlea to its import portfolio, bringing the Lochlea brand to the U.S. for the first time. In June, two expressions will be released from the young single malt distillery, which was founded in 2018: First Release, a 46% abv single malt matured in ex-Bourbon and Pedro Ximenez casks; and Sowing Edition, a 48% abv limited-time-offering that matured entirely in Bourbon barrels. ImpEx will also import Lochlea’s flagship Our Barley and the distillery’s seasonal series, including summer’s Harvest Edition, fall’s Fallow Edition, and the winter release Ploughing Edition.
•Spindrift Spiked has announced four new hard seltzer flavors. All four new flavors—Grapefruit, Lemon, Blood Orange Tangerine, and Passion Orange Guava—are at 4% abv and come in 12-ounce cans, all available in the brand’s new Paradise 12-pack. Beyond launching new flavors, the brand has expanded and is now available in 18 states across the U.S., with six more coming online this year.
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