Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/705687
Ready-to-Drink Products 36 Beverage Dynamics • July/August 2016 www.beveragedynamics.com "While our winery produces some fantastic varietal wines, we have chosen to expand our distribution nationally, and soon internationally, with our Soleil Mimosa brand," says Sandra Pacheco, national sales director at Southwest Wines. "The RTD product segment has given our winery the opportunity to grow our sales and to establish great relationships with our retailers, distributors and, most importantly, our consumers." Since the introduction of its Soleil Mimosa Classic 750-ml. (fresh orange juice and premium white wine) 25 years ago, Southwest Wines has extended the brand with other popular fresh fruit flavors like mango, pineapple and pomegranate. "Our marketing and development team researched the popularity of fresh fruit LEADING BRANDS OF PREPARED COCKTAILS, 2014-2015 (000 9-Liter Cases) 2014-2015 Brand Supplier 2014 2015 % Change Jose Cuervo RTD Proximo Spirits 905 1,080 19.3% Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails Brown-Forman Beverages 805 864 7.3% Chi-Chi's Sazerac 376 380 1.1% Bacardi Party Bacardi USA 320 334 4.4% Kahlua Drinks To Go Pernod Ricard USA 310 298 -3.9% BuzzBallz BuzzBallz LLC 277 274 -1.1% Captain Morgan Prepared Cocktails Diageo 265 264 -0.4% 1800 Ultimate Margarita Proximo Spirits 255 256 0.4% Skinnygirl Beam Suntory 150 156 4.0% Malibu Prepared Cocktails Pernod Ricard USA 147 148 0.7% Total Leading Brands 3,810 4,054 6.4% Total Prepared Cocktails 4,765 4,785 0.4% Source: The Beverage Information & Insights Group. For more data, visit www.albevresearch.com. flavors and incorporated those flavors into our already popular Soleil Mimosa brand," Pacheco says. "In addition, we were one of the very first wine suppliers to introduce a 'wine in a can' package. In 2012, Southwest Wines introduced Soleil Mimosa Mini in a convenient and sus- tainable 187-ml. aluminum can." Merrilee Kick, president of South- ern Champion, agrees that the growth in RTDs has been substantial in the last few years, and that buyers are looking for unique products. "We definitely have unique prod- ucts, funny brand names and quality products—using real juice, real cream, that are kosher and gluten free. All of it takes time and money to make," Kick says. "The consumer wants these and all RTDs at a bargain price. To make all of this happen, it means you have to have a scalable manufacturing line, a team with skills to invent and make a quality product and marketing teams to make it fun." In the last two years, Southern Cham- pion has grown its BuzzBallz portfolio of products to include "Shooterz"—a ready- to-drink shots line with pre-made popu- lar shot flavors like birthday cake, lemon drop and jalapeno lime. So how do ready-to-drink products match up against flavored spirits? Eason says consumers reach for RTDs for the sake of convenience. "Many don't know how to make a proper mixed cocktail or don't want to go to the trouble," Eason says. "They are also such a fantastic alternative to beer." In Pacheco's opinion, the RTD cate- gory is going to continue to grow and will compete well with the flavored spir- its category. "There will always be consumers who prefer wine over spirits," Pacheco says. "There is room and there are consumers for both wine and spirits RTD categories. Our Soleil Mimosa brand has established demand from traditional wine consum- ers; however, our product mixes well with added wine or spirits. Most impor- tantly, it appeals to the ever-important Millennial generation." Mehra adds that while flavored vodka, particularly the confectionary flavors,