Position Monitor COrrection
We inadvertently published our position monitor with WING as a long
The future of wine (VWE, NAPA, STZ)
Wine's time is now. As a 6,000-year-old CPG time is on a different scale, but as a public investment wine is back. The wine industry is fragmented with 10,000 wineries, but it is on the path of consolidation. Since the pandemic, consolidation has accelerated. The public markets will facilitate the consolidation. Wine never left the public markets, but there have not been pure-play investment vehicles to publicly invest in wine growth in decades. Then last year four wine companies went public.
We are hosting a Black Book on the wine sector on Thursday, March 31 at 12:30 PM ET.
We will present a deep dive into the wine category. Our Black Book will cover:
- the current state of the market
- demographic trends
- channel power
- the importance of scale
- M&A
- and where we see the sector in five and ten years.
We will also present our investment case for Vintage Wine Estates (VWE), Constellation Brands (STZ), and the Duckhorn Portfolio (NAPA).
BYND - Donald Thompson
BYND is a SHORT - Why would BYND pay Don Thompson (ex CEO of MCD) $1.0 Million in consuming fees in 2021?
From the BYND 10K - "In 2022, the Company entered into a Master Services Agreement with CA Consulting LLC, a restaurant, food tech, and beverage consulting firm, led by Don Thompson, one of the former directors on the Company’s Board of Directors who served until the end of his term in May 2021, for strategic consulting services rendered by CA Consulting LLC. In 2021, the Company accrued $1.0 million in payment towards these consulting services. The Company did not incur any such costs in 2020 or 2019."
In 2018, the Company reimbursed Cleveland Avenue, LLC, (led the Series G round of BYND funding), led by Don Thompson, for certain costs that were incurred by Cleveland Avenue, LLC in connection with Company presentations and the hosting of Company meetings. Cleveland Avenue, LLC received $121,546 in reimbursements for staff time, food, food preparation, and facility rental costs. The Company did not incur any such costs in 2020 or 2019.
The MCD/BYND experiment is not working and the ex MCD CEO walks away with a nice payday!
