In the year For the first three years since his debut in 2017, Owens was sold only to hospitality teams and stadiums. The company markets its mixers to hospitality groups as a shortcut to hundreds of complex, multi-ingredient drinks throughout the night. Examples of popular mixers that Owen has sold to bars and venues include margarita and cucumber mint mixes. But when the pandemic hit, the company had to move. It began focusing its products on outdoor events, added new retail partners like Kroger and Walmart, and tried to capitalize on a time when more Americans started drinking at home.
Now, the company is returning to its roots by tapping into the need for quick and easy drinks among on-premise operators. This week, Owen Craft Mixers launched a new product, the Espresso Martini Mixer, to busy bars in high demand for the seasonal cocktail.
This month, Owens Brand received an undisclosed investment from Miami Heat player Jimmy Butler, who met him at a local bar. This funding extension will be used to support the brand’s next phase of growth, which will focus on Owen’s compound offering business. Overall, Owen Kraft Mixx accounts have quadrupled since 2020., Especially in expanding live entertainment and sports stadiums across the country.
Owen’s co-founder Josh Miller told Modern Retail that the company’s new strategy is two-pronged, with hospitality-driven sales serving as a promotion for the brand’s growing retail line.
Currently, the brand is available in 23,000 doors – with key retailers being Publix, Kroger, CVS, Walmart and Total Wine, while Owen’s is often sold alongside spirits brands. The company will begin promoting the line on Instacart and is partnering with GoPuff later this year.
This mix of channels, Miller said, is meant to help Owen adapt to drinking trends more quickly. Owen’s has a long history of powering live event venues and stadiums — Citi Field, which began using Owen’s mixers in 2018, is one of the company’s biggest labels. But when outdoor activities became popular during the pandemic, Miller said the company shifted to creating related products and offering quick solutions to new customers.
In the year In 2020, Owen launched a circulatory blend made with grape juice and ginger. The product Built with Barstool Sports and available Become famous in golf events. “We’ve been leaning into golf, especially during the Covid season, and the transfusion mix is now used on the PGA Tour and at more than 1,500 golf courses nationwide,” Miller said.
Now Owen is turning his attention to bars, restaurants and swing back. Arena events such as concerts and games. The Espresso Martini Mixer is the first product the company has launched as part of its return to hospitality strategy.
According to Miller, the idea came about after receiving R&D feedback from bartenders around the country. Making espresso martinis takes time and some tools that bartenders don’t always have on hand.
“We’ve heard from bars that they don’t even have espresso machines to keep up with customer demand,” Miller said. In turn, Owen’s team decided to create a ready-to-mix solution, he said. “We’ve developed the product with expert tasters, and the cans have the same caffeine content as Starbucks nitro brew and provide an automatic half-inch of foam,” Miller said.
To launch the new espresso product, the brand slowly introduced the innovation of choosing Bar and restaurant customers, It resulted in a 24-hour sale of its first product run. “We think this will be our top seller in the next six months,” Miller said.
To meet demand, the brand has invested in a new 3PL manufacturer to triple its B2B production processes. The investment in product will also allow the brand to focus on increasing DTC and Amazon channels in early 2023, after prioritizing in-store and pre-home for the past two-plus years.
The espresso martini craze isn’t over, Miller said, adding that the company is bidding “there’s always going to be interest from bars and restaurants that don’t have the resources to make complex drinks.”
One of the first restaurants to use an espresso martini mixer was Bad Brown’s Miami Steakhouse Gecko. Cafecito Con Leche Cocktail It quickly became the restaurant’s best-selling drink. “We’re looking for these trendy spots to help promote us, which will lead to customers finding Owens in stores,” he said. “Another way we’re going back to the old world is through partnerships with major chains,” Miller said — including the upcoming Paloma collaboration with Chuy’s Tex-Mex.
According to Sean Ryan, partner in the CPG sector at Kearney, beverage brands operating in the alcohol space these days need to drive consistent sales through retail and hospitality partners.
“While most of the volume is driven by off-premises channels, most of the brand value is driven on-premise,” Ryan said, noting that many drinkers are discovering new cocktail recipes at their favorite bar or restaurant.
While the pandemic has temporarily halted eating and drinking, hospitality is important to vendors.
Humans are social animals – they want to go out, be with others, connect with social groups. Ryan said. He added that while people may “trade down to lower-priced brands” in light of inflation, volume consumption will continue.
Going forward, Owen will continue to create CPG products that can be used by home mixologists and hospitality businesses, and plans to tap more into current cocktail trends. At the same time, Miller, the company is trying to cope with the pressure on each drink trend.
“We would have made our own RTD if we had been given the push we received,” Miller said. But we think our approach has tapped into a lot of growing habits like non-alcoholic and ready-to-mix drinks.
