Rachel Krupa on What Gets a Brand on the Shelf + Brown-Forman Rejects $15B, LVMH Exits Beyoncé's Whisky | Unpackaged Goods

The growth in alcohol has left alcohol, and this week the whole industry admitted it at once.

Two celebrity-linked spirits brands were sold in seven days. A whiskey family turned down $15 billion for the second time in three months. And beer companies are buying everything except beer.

Plus: an interview with Rachel Krupa, founder of The Goods Mart and Krupa Consulting.

THIS WEEK IN CPG

Brown-Forman says no to $15 billion. Twice. The Brown family, holding the majority of Class A voting shares, called Sazerac's $32-per-share offer "not actionable." A deal would have created the second-largest drinks group in the world behind Diageo. Ownership structure is a strategy, not a cap table detail.

LVMH quietly exits Beyoncé's whisky. Moët Hennessy sold its SirDavis stake back to Beyoncé, and most headlines got the direction backwards. La Lettre reported in January that Moët wanted the brand off its books. This is portfolio surgery, not an acquisition.

Campari sells Cabo Wabo. Two global spirits groups walked away from celebrity-linked brands in the same week. The famous name buys trial. It does not buy reorders.

The beer giants are buying everything that isn't beer. Spanish brewer Damm bought into UK soda brand Dalston's. AB InBev posted beer volumes up 1.1% and no-alcohol up 27%, with Cutwater tracking toward $1 billion. If you're building the thing people drink next, your most motivated acquirer is a brewer.

Orkla spends €207 million on candy factories to keep up with BUBS demand. Third straight week we've covered a company buying its own supply chain.

Plus: Align Ventures closes a $125M Fund II, Whisps' parent hires the CEO who took Dot's Pretzels from $19M to $250M, Epicutis raises $25M selling only through med spas, Vita Coco posts a 28% quarter, and Gap reissues its 1990s fragrance line at $52 a bottle.

INTERVIEW: RACHEL KRUPA

Rachel Krupa has spent 20 years deciding which brands people find out about. She founded Krupa Consulting in 2010, building it into one of the most influential PR agencies in food and wellness, with work spanning Thrive Market, Our Place, Purely Elizabeth, Seedlip, Khloud, and Goop's wellness vertical. Then in 2018 she did what most publicists never do: she opened a store.

The Goods Mart is a better-for-you convenience store built on the bones of the gas station mini-mart she grew up loving in Michigan. Every product is hand-picked. Nothing costs more than $25. Non-GMO with no artificial flavors or colors is the baseline, and after that it comes down to taste, the founder's story, and whether it resonates with the people actually walking through the door.

That makes her one of the few people in CPG who sees the entire funnel: the pitch, the press, the shelf, and the customer picking it up or putting it back.

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