The year in off-premise beer (BUD)
According to IRI, total beer dollar sales in the off-premise channel increased by 14.7% to $43.8B in 2020. Volumes increased by 10% in the multi-outlet and convenience store channels. In food stores, beer category sales grew 18.3% to $14.2B, while convenience store sales grew 13.7% to $23.4B. Growth by sub-category is depicted in the following table (note hard seltzer is included in FMBs).
Anheuser-Busch remained the top-selling brewer in the U.S. The top 25 are listed below:
Anheuser Busch InBev owns five of the top ten best selling beers. Bud Light remained #1 in the off-premise channel with sales growth of 1.7% to $5.2B. Michelob Ultra was #2 with 22.9% sales growth to $2.8B. Budweiser grew 3.1% to $1.89B, Busch Light grew 16.5% to $1.1B, and Natural Light grew 1.9% to $1B. Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial was #3 with a growth of 21.5% to $2.6B while Corona Extra was #6, growing 9.7% to $2B. Molson Coors’ Coors Light grew 6% to $2.4B for fourth place. Miller Lite grew 8.2% to $2.2B for fifth place. Heineken grew 9.9% to $871M for tenth place.
More Hard Seltzer competition (SAM)
White Claw’s first variety pack had sales growth of 56.9% to $719M. White Claw is the seventh best-selling beer brand family with a growth of 131% in 2020 to $1.97B. Truly was the tenth best-selling beer brand family with sales growth of 147% to $923M. Truly’s top-selling SKU was its Lemonade Seltzer mixed pack at $269M. Twisted Tea sales grew by 31.8% to $506M. Bud Light seltzer sales reached $372M in 2020. Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade will launch on January 18th with four flavors. Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer will launch in March. Truly’s top seller will soon have more direct competition. Michelob Ultra launches its first hard seltzer on January 12th.
Hero pay for L.A. (ACI)
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has proposed a $5 per hour pay increase for front line grocery workers. The increase applies to publicly traded grocery stores or drug stores. The county’s attorneys are drafting the ordinance, and the board will vote on the measure at its next meeting on January 26. Los Angeles and Long Beach city councils are considering similar measures. Albertsons has the most market share of the Southern California market, followed by Kroger (Ralph’s) and Walmart. The region also has a sizable percentage of stores for Grocery Outlet and Sprouts Farmers Market. California has a history of exporting progressive ideas to the rest of the country.
