Spirits giant Beam Suntory has announced that it has acquired the On The Rocks ready-to-drink cocktail brand for an undisclosed sum.
Previously, the company owned a minority interest in the premium brand.
Spirits-based RTD is one of the fastest-growing segments in the RTD market in the US, the company said.
The sales of On The Rocks Premium Cocktails doubled in the first six months of 2020.
'Evolving Consumer Preferences'
President and CEO of Beam Suntory, Albert Baladi, added, "On the Rocks is the pioneer in the premium pre-mixed cocktails category, and joining forces couldn’t come at a better time.
“On The Rocks is perfectly positioned to address evolving consumer preferences, including convenience, quality, the emerging home-premise, and cocktails-to-go.
The brand’s signature cocktail products include the Knob Creek Old Fashioned, Hornitos Margarita, EFFEN Cosmopolitan and Cruzan Mai Tai.
Currently, the brand is primarily distributed in the US and Canada.
'Opportunity To Expand'
Baladi added, “We have the ambition to become number one in the spirits-based ready-to-drink market, and On The Rocks will be a key growth platform that we’ll build along with our fast-growing pre-mixed highball products.
"We see tremendous opportunity to expand the OTR (On The Rocks) brand to new occasions, formats, cocktail recipes, and the low-ABV space.”
In 2015, entrepreneur and restauranteur, Patrick Halbert, teamed up with bartender Rocco Milano to launch On The Rocks.
The duo came up with a concept to develop and bottle premium-quality cocktails with all-natural ingredients.
In the following year, they formed partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the hospitality sector to market their drinks in the air travel and hotel room service sectors as well as major sporting events.
Halbert and Milano will continue to play leading roles with the brand as becomes a part of the Beam Suntory portfolio, the company added.
'High-Quality Premium Cocktails'
On The Rocks founder, Patrick Halbert, commented, “We are thrilled to join the Beam Suntory family, its world-class portfolio of premium brands, and its tremendous people.
“With our combined expertise in delivering quality and premium products, we’re confident that this is just the beginning as we pursue market leadership and delight consumers with high-quality premium cocktails in convenient formats.”
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
