The start of ‘Dry January’, a month when many people abstain from drinking, generally puts more focus on non-alcoholic beverages. But the CEO of one of the leading non-alcoholic beer companies said demand for the non-alcoholic brew has been on the rise for a month now.
“This is the moment we’ve been waiting for in the category,” Bill Shufelt, CEO of Athletic Brewing, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Long a sleepy category within the wider beer industry, non-alcoholic beer has seen its growth skyrocket in recent years with big beer giants such as AB InBev And heineken The launch of new products as well as the rise of independent brewers such as Athletic Brewing. AB Inbev, which owns brands such as Budweiser, Corona, Michaelob, and Modelo, previously set a goal of making 20% of its beer volume non-alcoholic and low-alcohol by 2025.
A lack of quality non-alcoholic beer options prompted Shufelt, a former trader at Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, to start the Connecticut-based company in 2017, which focuses entirely on non-alcoholic brewing.
,[Non-alcoholic beer] “0.3% of the beer category and total afterthought and penalty box beverages is something that’s really exciting, aspirational and going to change the way modern adults think,” Schufeldt said.
Shufelt said that non-alcoholic beer now accounts for more than 2% of all beer sold at US grocery stores, and at some national chain retailers, it makes up 8% of their beer category.
Cans of beer are packed at Athletic Brewing’s non-alcoholic brewery and production plant on March 20, 2019 in Stratford, Connecticut.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Growth of the non-alcoholic beer category
According to GMI Insights, the global non-alcoholic beer market is set to reach $22 billion in 2022, reaching $40 billion by 2032, as more consumers shift to healthier alternatives and safer drinking habits of non-alcoholic beer Could According to Nielsen, non-alcoholic beer has grown 20% in retail dollars in the US over the past year.
Still, non-alcoholic beer makes up a small percentage of the total global beer market, which is valued at more than $750 billion.
But the growth of the overarching category has helped Athletic Brewing, which Schefeldt said has a 55% market share of craft nonalcoholic beers. Inc. According to the magazine, Athletic Brewing’s revenue in 2021 was $37 million, a three-year revenue growth of 13,071%.
in November, Neat Dr. Mirch Invested $50 million in Athletic Brewing, acquiring a minority equity stake similar to other major investors in the brewer such as TRB Advisors and Alliance Consumer Growth. To date, Athletic Brewing has raised over $175 million.
This latest investment is allowing Athletic Brewing to invest in its facilities in Connecticut and San Diego, helping the brewer “become a completely different producer of non-alcoholic beer,” Shufelt said.
“It’s an investment that no one else is making in the category, so The Athletic is really pushing it,” Shufelt said. “We are outpacing most big brands in the overall category, and are on track to become the number one player overall this year.”