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DoorDash, ALDI Expand Service to Include Alcohol

DoorDash, the local commerce platform, and ALDI, the grocery price leader for six years running, have expanded their partnership, announcing that consumers can now order on-demand alcohol delivery from more than 1,200 ALDI locations across 21 states on DoorDash. With the addition of ALDI, one of America’s fastest-growing retailers, nearly 80% of DoorDash consumers can now access alcohol through safe, age-verified delivery.

“In addition to giving merchants a new way to reach customers, on-demand alcohol delivery helps partners grow their business. On DoorDash, adding alcohol may increase grocers’ average order value by up to 30%. Order values for U.S. convenience orders were on average over 50 percent higher when alcohol was added,” said Fuad Hannon, vice president of new verticals at DoorDash. “We’ve worked hard to build a trusted alcohol ordering and delivery experience. The expansion of our partnership with ALDI reinforces our commitment to provide growth opportunities for local merchants, while simultaneously providing a safe, high-quality experience for customers.”

This expansion comes just a few months after DoorDash and ALDI first announced their partnership to bring on-demand grocery delivery to nearly all ALDI locations nationwide. Now, consumers can conveniently shop the private-label selection of top-quality, award-winning wine, beer, hard seltzers and ciders, along with all their grocery needs, at the affordable prices they expect from ALDI. On-demand orders can be placed from local ALDI stores via the DoorDash Marketplace app or website.

“ALDI offers an everyday selection of private-label adult beverages and rotates in limited, seasonal flavors so there’s something for everyone,” said Scott Patton, VP of national buying, ALDI. “Earlier this month we also launched a new, premium ‘Specially Selected’ wine collection, with most bottles costing under $10. With the expansion of our DoorDash partnership, more consumers can now sip their favorite ALDI products at the prices they love, delivered straight to their door.”

Earlier this year, DoorDash released its inaugural Alcohol Online Ordering Trends Report, a deep dive into the changing landscape of consumer online ordering preferences and emerging dining and drinking trends. The report found that delivery was the preferred way for consumers to safely purchase alcohol with more than 100 percent year-over-year growth for alcohol pickup and delivery on DoorDash from 2021 to 2022. Comfort, convenience, and time-savings are the top reasons consumers say they enjoy using alcohol and delivery services.

Since launching alcohol in 2020, DoorDash has built an impressive alcohol catalog including more than 100,000 SKUs available for purchase across thousands of grocers and restaurants nationwide. U.S. customers across 32 states can access a wide selection of alcoholic beverages, whether it’s to-go drinks from a favorite local restaurant or celebratory champagne from a nearby local store.

DoorDash is deeply committed to delivering alcohol safely and in compliance with local laws and regulations, and has enacted best-in-class safety protocols, including advanced two-step ID verification, alcohol-specific safety compliance modules and a streamlined returns flow for Dashers, and a voluntary self-exclusion or opt-out register for consumers who don’t want alcohol delivered on the platform or in marketing. The company will continue to develop and launch innovative safety features so alcohol deliveries can be responsibly facilitated through the DoorDash platform.

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SweetWater Releases Summer Brew American Lager

SweetWater Brewing Company, the ninth largest craft brewer in the U.S. and a subsidiary of Tilray Brands, Inc., announced the summer release of SweetWater American Lager, a special edition of SweetWater’s flagship Lager, featuring American red, white and blue branding now available in over 10 states across the United States with national distribution coming soon.

Ty Gilmore, president, U.S. beer, Tilray Brands, said, “SweetWater’s American Lager is a salute to American craft beer and our best-selling flagship Lager. We hope the refreshing and crisp American Lager will be a staple at backyard barbecues, tailgates and get-togethers this summer.”

SweetWater’s American Lager (4.5 percent alcohol by volume) is a clean-bodied craft beer with a 100 percent premium Pilsner grain bill along with Crystal and Hallertau hops, expertly brewed for easy-drinking. The new American Lager is flowing at SweetWater’s flagship taprooms in Atlanta and Fort Collins, Colo., and is also available in 12-packs of 12oz cans at grocery and liquor stores, as well as bars and restaurants across the United States in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Maryland, California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas, Missouri, West Virginia and Mississippi.

This Memorial Day weekend, SweetWater will also be one of the participating breweries at this year’s Brew at the Zoo from 6 to 9:30 p.m., May 27, at 800 Cherokee Ave. in Atlanta. To find Sweetwater’s American Lager and other craft brews near you, checkout SweetWater’s beer finder online at www.SweetWaterBrew.com.

One of Atlanta’s original craft breweries, founded 26 years ago, SweetWater Brewing is now the 9th largest craft brewers in the United States. With two flagship breweries in Atlanta and Fort Collins, Colo., SweetWater’s award-winning craft beers and ready-to-drink cocktails are available coast to coast and in more states than ever before. Inspired by the outdoors, SweetWater is a passionate advocate for healthy waterways and conservation initiatives. Through its annual Save Our Water campaign, SweetWater continues to raise funds to support nonprofit organizations fighting for clean water and habitat conservation, including the Waterkeeper Alliance, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and Trout Unlimited.

SweetWater Brewery is a subsidiary of Tilray Brands, Inc., a leading global cannabis-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company inspiring and empowering the worldwide community to live their very best life.

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BarTrack, Arryved Team Up to Streamline Bar, Taproom Operations

Quality management and data technology company BarTrack and Arryved, the leading point-of-service provider for craft food and beverage establishments, have created an integrated partnership for front-of-house bar and taproom operations. The two data-driven companies will host a live webinar on Dec. 13 at 1 pm ET for management teams to learn more about how to utilize these tools as a tandem solution to save an average of $5,000 per week. Click here to register for the webinar.

BarTrack’s beverage and quality monitoring insights integrate with Arryved’s sales and revenue data to provide breweries, bars, and restaurant management teams with industry-leading, one-of-a-kind reports they can use to pinpoint where, when, why, and how waste occurs and strategize improvements to management efficiency and increase revenue.

BarTrack’s system, featuring the first beverage sensor with no moving parts and no obstructions to draft lines, provides real-time metrics on a dozen beverage-specific variables affecting beverage quality, including flow and keg levels, line temperature, pressure, cooler health, line cleanliness, and more. Arryved’s sales data seamlessly integrates with the BarTrack interface to illustrate reasons for waste that occur as a beer is poured.

Current users of the integration see an immediate impact using BarTrack and Arryved, increasing pouring efficiencies from an average of 47% to as high as 97 percent by the end of the first month – an average of $5,000 in savings per week.

“We’re excited to partner with Arryved because we both offer tools built by the industry, for the industry. Like Arryved, we develop solutions based on the key insights we received from owners and operators with decades of experience,” said Brett Danielson, co-founder, and CEO of BarTrack. “Customer success is a tremendous part of both of our solutions and frequent check-ins and strategizing is key, we both focus on providing high-level customer support.”

Equipped with BarTrack’s draft monitoring system and Arryved’s POS, management teams have access to insightful real-time data over every pour from inventory to sale. Insights are specific to the minute and to the ounce, making it possible to determine where losses and waste occur and if the losses are related to inventory management processes and equipment or human error.

Apocalypse Ale Works, a craft brewery in Forest, Va., reduced its pour cost from 12.8 percent to 7.5 percent, a 5 percent total deduction, after only 3 months using BarTrack and Arryved in tandem.

“We are a low staff, family-run business. These tools and reports are a game-changer when it comes to the success of our draft beer program and visibility into business operations. We were able to identify specific problem areas and develop detailed strategies that ultimately eliminated areas of waste, improved our beer quality, and boosted our overall revenue,” said Austin John, owner of Apocalypse Ale Works. “In the first month the system had paid for itself. Arryved and BarTrack are the two front-of-house solutions that every brewery should invest in.”

Grist Brewing Company, based in Highlands Ranch, Colo., increased its pour efficiency from 54.6 percent to 85 percent in the span of three weeks using the integrated BarTrack and Arryved solution. The brewery’s average pour cost dropped from 12.8 percent to 7.6 percent, equating to $6,359 of lost potential revenue to $1,392, an average of $20,000 in savings per month.

“In a short period of time we have dramatically reduced our pour costs through identifying principal causes of waste and creating a specific plan to successfully remedy those causes,” said Chuck Norman, Grist Brewing owner. “This is the solution for breweries to start re-examining their draft program in the taproom and take a revised approach to maximizing potential profits and improving brand integrity through quality.”

The webinar on Dec. 13 at 1 pm ET will feature additional discussion about these case studies and provide actionable recommendations for teams looking to implement process improvements that improve beverage quality and minimize draft waste.

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