Brewbound Frontlines: Adrienne Freeman Discusses Expanding Walmart's Black is Beautiful Craft Beer Program

Justin Kendall [00:07] Welcome to a special retail pulse edition of Brewbound Frontlines. My name is Justin Kendall, and I'm the editor of Brewbound, and I'm joined by Jess Infante, Brewbound's managing editor. Jess, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 [00:19] I'm good. It's nice to be in the studio. How are you?

Justin Kendall [00:23] I don't look as good as you do in that studio. That, that studio is something else. Boy, I look exhausted, but it's a great studio. It is a great studio. But let's get to today's edition of Retail Pulse. Through the end of April, Walmart is selling 13 different versions of Black is Beautiful. The stouts and IPAs in its stores and online at more than 600 stores in 21 states. A portion of the proceeds from this year's beer will go to the Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program, a nonprofit supporting women, black, indigenous, people of color in the brewing industry. This is the 2nd year that Walmart has offered Black is Beautiful, and here today to discuss bringing that beer to Walmart's customers is Adrienne Freeman, Walmart's craft beer merchant. How are you doing, Adrienne?

Speaker 3 [01:12] I'm doing great, Justin. Thank you so much for having me today.

Justin Kendall [01:15] We're psyched to have you here and you've led this effort to bring Black is Beautiful to Walmart's customers. Can you tell us a little bit about how the initiative started for you guys and how those beers perform in your stores?

Speaker 3 [01:29] Absolutely. So Black is Beautiful, to your point, it's our second year having it in stores. When we first learned about this item was actually back in 2020. It was the summer of 2020. There was a lot of conversations about equality and social justice during that time period and we were already, uh, just trying to find ways that Walmart could be able to play, um, and being able to do something. To make a difference. And so while scrolling actually through social media, I came across this brewery called Weathered Souls. There was a lot of conversations about how do we support African-American owned businesses and I had already had Weathered Souls on my radar at that particular time anyways and then when I was leading this effort called Black is Beautiful, for me that really solidified a lot of what they were already doing. and ready to do, uh, in retail. And so we were able to bring that to stores, call it 6 to 8 months later in February of 2021, all just from having a simple post on social media from something that started off in bars and restaurants, and we really tried to centralize this effort to bring it to retail, and it's been doing great in stores, and we were more than thrilled with the results and couldn't wait to bring it back in 2022. Well,

Speaker 2 [02:37] that's really great to hear, and I love that you've gotten a bunch more breweries involved. Uh, who are some of the 13 breweries that are taking part this year?

Speaker 3 [02:44] We have breweries from across the country, so it's not segmented to just one portion of the US. If you look coast to coast, there is representation. Uh, you have brewers such as Revision out on the West Coast. Uh, we've got brewers over on the East Coast in New York with Ithaca and Baxter Brewing, uh, but some of the ones that I'm also extremely excited about are other African-American owned breweries that we haven't always had historical representation in our portfolio of having strong representation of African-American owned breweries. So one of those is out of New Orleans. They're called Cajun Fire Brewing. They actually had a really interesting version of their stout. It was beignets, uh, flavored stout, so I don't know about you guys, but that sounded really great to me when they pitched that to me. Uh, we also had another brewery out of Memphis, um, with Beale Street Brewing as well, and they've got a great stout too.

Speaker 2 [03:33] Uh, a beignet flavored stout sounds like it's right up my alley, absolutely delicious. Um, so we spoke to Marcus in 2020 when he kicked off Black Is Beautiful, and he and I talked a lot about how, uh, it was, you know, he really wanted to make like a really big, bold, delicious stout. Um, but I've also noticed that the program changed a little bit this year to include IPAs, which is obviously a really important segment in craft beer. So, what are your expectations for how the program is gonna perform this year?

Speaker 3 [04:01] I think it will continue and is already showing to continue to do better even than last year. The thought process was, we know that IPAs to a lot of people are almost synonymous with craft beer when you think of the representation of where the bulk of sales come from. Um, a lot of customers gravitate towards that, and we know that all, not all customers are stout beer drinkers, so we know that there were customers who wanted to support the program and did, and when we think about those repeat purchases, sometimes they could do that with an IPA, uh, a little easier. So being able to expand the reach of what we could do with this program was important to us, and that's why we decided to add in the IPA with the stout this year.

Justin Kendall [04:40] That's awesome, um. We know that Kraft hasn't been as representative as it could and should be. We know that less than 1% of breweries in the US are black owned and less than 22% are owned by women. How does that factor into your buying decisions as you look to provide a more diversified shelf set?

Speaker 3 [05:00] Factors into it extremely um importantly. So one of the things that we've seen even in the craft beer industry is that there's over 8000 companies and to your point, less than 1% of them are black and when you look even to retail, the representation there is probably even less than that on the grocery front as well. So we are making a concerted effort to make sure that we're finding those spaces where We can find more diverse representation whether that is women, whether it's black-owned, Hispanic-owned breweries across the gamut, and we know that that's not always going to be the traditional channels that we've always found them in. We may not see those sales pop up in Nielsen or so on and so forth and so it is these things like social media and other these other trade groups that are helping us to be able to identify where are these underrepresented groups. That and how can we be able to help them get a seat at the table to have these conversations with us. Uh, and this is not something that we're only doing within craft beer, but if you look at Total Walmart, uh, we were just last year alone able to source over $13 billion from diverse owned brands, and we're really proud of that fact. And the thing is actually just next week we're hosting our very first Total Food summit. Here at Walmart, uh, that is 100% focused on sourcing from diverse, um, brands from across the total food category. So that's over 150 brands and companies that will be doing it. So there's, long story short, a very concerted effort to make sure that we're including that in our decisions and being aware of where we may not have that representation and build up some innovation as well.

Justin Kendall [06:32] Do you expect that Walmart is going to continue the Black is Beautiful program in the coming years?

Speaker 3 [06:38] We're certainly taking a look at it. There's a lot of excitement and it's very close to our heart. As one thing right now, we're just continuing to evaluate the performance of that and should it be, then we'll bring it back next year, but everything's certainly still under evaluation right now.

Speaker 2 [06:52] Adrienne, during the pandemic, how did your craft beer buying change? Did you bring in more of a, a bigger selection?

Speaker 3 [06:58] And we sure did. So we definitely leaned well into making sure that we supported local breweries. Uh, what we saw is that customers certainly want to support local, and this was prior to the pandemic. We saw that the local craft segment of the craft beer industry was where there was a lot of conversations, where a lot of customers had a lot of passion points, and we at Walmart wanted to be able to play into that. So what you noticed is that for us at Walmart, During the, basically kickoff of the pandemic season there, um, we launched an additional 100 brands into the category, 100 brands, and since then, uh, we've actually brought in another 50, so over 150 new breweries to our portfolio just from 2020 alone, and all of that was within the local craft beer space and so our portfolio has significantly shifted to making sure that we're protecting those national, those core. Brands that everyone has known about for years, but also supporting the smaller companies and the local companies that customers have shown us that they care about supporting and also that they have that level of trust with knowing that this is someone from their own backyard that's bringing these experiences to them.

Justin Kendall [08:10] One of the things that I'm curious about is for those brewers that you bring in, what do they need to know? What do they need to know to, you know, keep you happy and keep, you know, their product on the shelf? Like, what do you expect to see from them?

Speaker 3 [08:25] I think the main things that we were looking for when we look at an item on shelves is one being able to provide that same level of consistency, uh, to the customers, making sure that they've got those core skews. Uh, the other thing is innovation. Customs right now, especially coming out of this pandemic era, customers are Really looking for what's new, what can I experience again, or what can I experience for the first time. So that's what I tell all of my brewers is let's balance having that core balance of assortment, but also bringing in that innovation too. And between that healthy mix, a lot of times we'll be able to have a great sell through through the shelves.

Justin Kendall [09:03] Are you able to be pretty nimble though if, if there are sort of out of stock, uh, issues and like get somebody else in the shelf if need be or switch out that product?

Speaker 3 [09:13] We've had a lot of learnings that we've had to do, uh, throughout this pandemic season. Obviously, there were major shortages that we've had to have, so there was a lot. Out of being nimble. I'm hoping that as we're able to get out of this pandemic and we're able to have a more stable supply, uh, that we can begin to be more, um, beholden to the integrity that we have on the modulars, but knowing that we have ways to be able to go uh and leverage innovation and be able to be the first to market experience for customers too.

Speaker 2 [09:42] What does Walmart's craft beer shopper base look like? What are the demographics of this group?

Speaker 3 [09:48] So it's been growing, I'll tell you that for certain. It's been growing a lot over this past decade. Uh, we know that what was once just a small base, our smaller audience has grown more than 10 points within our own portfolios here. So that great that base is growing a lot. We've seen a lot of newer shoppers enter into the category as well, um, as well, and they're looking for different things, they're looking for ways to have better for you. Aspects, I kind of call it the I have my cake and eat it too complex of wanting to be able to enjoy things but not know that, but know that there's not a ton of, you know, consequences with the choices that they're making. So we're seeing um a lot of those things happen as well. So our customer base still be still holding on to those um core, core skews of the IPAs, double IPAs, getting into higher ABVs, um. Definitely seeing a surge of the, the new entrants into the category, but the biggest thing I'd say is that we're seeing representation across the board and the entire segment for us is growing in our stores. Wow,

Speaker 2 [10:52] I know we spend a lot of time talking about Gen Z consumers as the oldest members of that group are aging into, you know, 21 and 21 and plus. What have you learned about what they're looking for from your alcoholic beverage sets?

Speaker 3 [11:05] So I think the biggest thing there is that just wanting to be again looking for things that roll to their profile of something that's maybe sweeter um or something that has more of a full flavor, and then you kind of layer in this whole concept of trying to have better choices along with that. So you'll see the full flavor is something that we're seeing very, very strongly as a representation of that group. We're still learning about it. every day, um, but then also trying to balance that with the best choices as well.

Justin Kendall [11:35] Are you seeing a lot of, we've obviously seen the rise of hard seltzer and these Beyond Beer offerings. Is that cutting much into the beer shelf set or is that getting cut out elsewhere?

Speaker 3 [11:48] I wouldn't say it's cutting into the beer shelf set. What I'd say is that we're finding that customers are chasing after that category. It's growing as well. We're finding ways to be able to leverage that as as necessary within total beer, but the other thing that I would say there too is that The total beer category, especially within craft beer, has been very smart about trying to find ways to play within the space as well. So there may be a lower calorie or they may play to the other end, which is the best bang for your buck, and that's where we see these higher ABV beers come in as well from the craft beer industry too. So I wouldn't say it's carving. Away from any space within Total Beer. I think the whole category is growing and it actually allows for people to be able to grow the total box when they're doing these choices across seltzers and beer. You,

Justin Kendall [12:38] you get pitched on a ton of things, uh, we know, but what, what are some of the products that you're most excited for heading into the summer?

Speaker 3 [12:48] Oh my, oh my gosh, there's so many items that uh we could choose from. There's 8000 breweries out there, Justin, so,

Justin Kendall [12:55] well, I know. Let's narrow it down to, you know, 3 or 5.

Speaker 3 [12:59] Yeah, um, so I'd say within the craft beer world, uh, we'll talk about a few. So I'd say from a national perspective, I'll go national, regional, and local. We'll do that. Uh, so I'd say from a national perspective, one of the top items out there this year that I'm excited about is from New Belgium. They've got the Juice Force coming out this year, so that is a combination of not only a hazy IPA, which we know has been huge over the last few years, but it's also a double IPA, and that is one of the first um hazy and double IPAs at scale that I have seen. Out there, so really excited for that. Um, I'd say from a regional perspective, you've got brands like Firestone that are coming out with their tropical Mind haze. We've seen a lot from the fruited beers front that I think has been uh really super exciting and you're gonna, I don't want to have to pick one of my babies from a, from a local craft beer. Uh, perspective, um, but oh my gosh, I think one of the beers that I think is just very, very solid, uh, again, it kind of comes from the hazy area of the world too. Down in Louisiana, we've got the, um, the Jucifer, which is a classic beer that's down from Gnarly Barley brewing.

Speaker 2 [14:12] And we've talked a lot about, you know, the Black is Beautiful Project and, and like Justin said, you get pitched from new brands all the time. In your expertise, what can, how can retailers do a better job to support newer breweries and beverage companies, particularly those that are run by people from the black community, the indigenous community, other communities of color, women, the LGBT community? How can we make sure that they're getting the support they need to launch in a major retailer?

Speaker 3 [14:39] The things I would say there is continuous research. We have to be willing to do the work. The companies are out there. The great ideas are out there. The thing that I, I would say is that, um, first of all, the entire purpose of having a diverse supplier portfolio goes down to being able to have that wide net of representation. When someone walks into your store, they should be able to find items that they are accustomed to being able to to relate to, uh, whether that's a taste profile or an. Occasion, they should be able to see products and see themselves within that and that's why diversity and having that diverse uh supplier portfolio is so important and we have to as retailers be responsible for trying to find ways to cater to all of our uh customers, especially at Walmart where we service so many customers day in and day out. The thing that I would say is it takes research to know again to what I mentioned earlier, that that may not always be in the most traditional ways that we've seen them before, and it's going to trade shows that we've never heard of before or going on crawling on social media and checking out forms and seeing what people are saying and just asking questions is the first thing. And then when we find these suppliers that we're passionate. About, I think the next thing there too is understanding that these are suppliers that may not have always had the ability to have that exposure to a traditional retailer and understanding what it takes to be successful in that format and so being able to be patient and have a level of education that you would be able to give to those suppliers to help them understand what you need in order for them to be successful in their stores.

Justin Kendall [16:13] Well, speaking of being successful, we've got a final, final question for you. What are some tips on that brewers should know or, you know, anybody in the Bev Oc space on pitching you?

Speaker 3 [16:26] Um, so the first thing I'd say is this whole concept of white space or filling that void. What is something that has not been done before, uh, within the space, and sometimes that's through different styles, um, I think to what I mentioned earlier about uh New Belgium. I think that's a great idea of being able to take two different styles and merge them into one. That's a new experience. I think things like black is beautiful are so important because that's a, that's a stout. A stout is something that we've heard of before, but being able to pair that with a message, that's innovation. Um, being able to just do something even if it's locally in your, in your own corner of where you are, those are things that you can do to bring a new experience to customers. And so the first thing I would say is being able to find that white space and what is your purpose in being able to have space on the shelf. And then the second thing. I would say there too is also just being able to be hungry and be nimble and be retail ready and understanding that you may not have to have every answer coming to the table, but being willing to be a good student. I consider myself a student everyday and willing to learn and be humbled by my customers, and I think a great supplier is just anyone who's able to do, uh, do the same thing and be willing to learn and figure out how they can evolve their portfolio with us as well.

Justin Kendall [17:44] Well, Black is Beautiful is available in 600 Walmart stores, 21 states through the end of this month, right?

Speaker 3 [17:52] Absolutely.

Justin Kendall [17:54] Well, go, go buy it all. So, uh, Adrian, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with us and share some secrets on selling into Walmart and about this program because we, we're big fans of this program.

Speaker 3 [18:08] Perfect. Thank you guys so much. We are so excited about this one. We appreciate you guys for helping us be able to get the message out about Black is Beautiful. It's very important to me and my entire team.

Justin Kendall [18:18] Absolutely. It's our pleasure. So thank you for doing this and thanks to all of you for watching. We'll be back with more frontlines in the next month.