Ep. 56 Bill Shufelt of non-alc brewer Athletic Brewing Co.

--- Panel --- Harry is joined by Bill Shufelt of non-alc brewer Athletic Brewing Co. on their meteoric growth over the past four years, along with editors Jenn Litz-Kirk and Jordan Driggers. ---Time-Stamped Contents --- 00:00 Intro - hilarious and interesting banter.  02:40 origin story of founders bill shufelt/john walker and athletic brewing.  05:20 addressing "pain point" of not having good non-alc alternative to drinking.  06:00 going from pain point to intellectual curiosity to passion.  10:00 people are watching inputs into their lives compared to outputs.  11:10 bws companies fighting over the same 2-3 days a week.  non-alc beer first incremental occasion driver.  13:20 giving heiney 0.0 props.  14:00 how big is big for non-alc brew?  15:25 the marketing has to be there too.  15:40 craft brewers have hit a wall as they haven't added new drinkers/occasions.  16:10 athletic as lifestyle marketer.  16:30 non-alc beer has to be actively marketed, often face-to-face 17:50 bill welcomes new entrants to raise category awareness.  18:20 how much interaction with cannabis? 20:00 going from 'cans in hands' marketing to real marketing -- multimillion-dollar marketing budget, addition of andrew katz from heineken.  20:40 athletic under-distributed at top 25 brand at only 7% acv distribution.  21:20 hop sparkling water and other innovations coming, something mysterious in march.  22:00 growing big manufacturing capabilities in short time challenge.  23:05 where is shelf space coming from?  (whole foods non-alc space up 100%). 24:35 on-premise small but growing, 4 to 8% of business.  25:50 grokking dtc vs dsd.  27:30 ecomm side directs them where demand is.  29:20 leveraging dry january and sober october to trial and retain new customers. 31:30 why not call out the low calorie count? 33:10 regulations, cleaning, making non-alc harder than alc.  34:10 like energy drinks or seltzers, non-alc will have 2-3 main players, shakeout of the rest.  34:25 losta barriers to entry  - hard to make.  35:15 how bill picks distributors. 37:00 no franchise, but utilizes strong contracts.  38:00 looking ahead and a message of hope.  ---About--- Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher joins his editors and other guests 2 times a week as they grok the industry issues of the day.   -Podcast Hotline: Text or call Harry in confidence at:‪ (262) 345-2501‬ -Audio/Video feeds at HarrysPod.com -Articles referenced at beernet.com -Twitter / IG / TikTok:  @beerbizdaily