Stateside Brands

Invite me to pour Stateside Brands at a fun beer festival? Imma show up. Tallahassee Beer Fest was one for the books. I love all my children (re: beer festivals) equally, but there’s just something about this Tally one that puts it at the top of my list year after year. As always, special shout out to our local distributor Tri-Eagle Sales, they sure do know what they’re doing when it comes to executing events load in and out, grabbing me a 5th bag of ice mid festival and unfortunately for everyone involved this year, getting a dump bucket that was used for something other than rinsing away from the front of my booth. We ‘sold out’ of the double count of Surfside that we brought in and that’s all a beer fest gal can really ask for. Topped the fest off getting to hang out with my favorite old Molson Coors Beverage Company coworkers, eat a boudin ball or 10 with Rohman Coppertail Brewing Co, and trade Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers tent an 8 pack for a bedazzled Cane’s purse. I had fun, y’all, but is anyone really surprised by that? See ya next year!

When we launched Surfside in 2022, we had distribution in eight states. Fast forward to today, we're a stadium sensation and we're on track to be nationwide by the end of the year! Curious how we went from the sidelines to the star of the show? Click the link below to read more. 👇 Spoiler: We went from 10 cases to pallets faster than a hot dog disappears at a doubleheader! 🌭 https://lnkd.in/erbfsnMg

New flavors just passed through the portal today! Surfside Lemonade Variety Packs and Raspberry Tea 4-packs are now available through Keg 1 Distributors in St. Louis!

Check out what Stateside Brands has been doing with both MLB & Minor League Baseball ⚾️

Going into the month of August like 🏄♂️🏄♂️🏄♂️ #surfsidesummer Stateside Brands Fedway Associates Joseph Mulvey #statesidecareers #brandbuilding #rtdindustry #bevalcindustry Huge thank you Anthony Gordon for building this beautiful display! ☀️

❓❓What do you know now that you wish you knew back when you started the brand? In Ep. 34 of Business of Drinks, entrepreneur Clement Pappas answers that question. He’s co-founder and CEO of Stateside Brands, the maker of Surfside Iced Tea + Vodka, the fastest-growing spirits-based RTD brand in America right now. Learn how Clem scaled up Surfside successfully — growing by over 1 million cases last year. As he shares, managing distributor relationships was a huge part of the story. Get his tips! https://lnkd.in/e-Sg8ASQ #growthstory #rtd #drinksindustry #businessscaling

☄️Ready for a meteoric growth story?! Today we talk with Clement Pappas, co-founder and CEO of Stateside Brands, the maker of Surfside Iced Tea + Vodka, and Stateside Vodka and Stateside Vodka Sodas. 📈For listeners who are not on the East Coast, this brand is suddenly everywhere. Last year, the Surfside line alone grew by 1 million cases to 1.3 million cases. And they’ve already surpassed that amount this year — by mid summer!☀️ 🥇In fact, year-to-date Surfside is the No. 1 fastest-growing spirits RTD brand in the U.S. with top velocity rates and dollar share gains (via BWC data). 🚀This story illustrates the transformative effects an RTD line extension can have for an alcohol brand. In this case, the core brand was Stateside Vodka, which launched in 2015 as a local Philly alternative to Tito’s Vodka. 🍋During the pandemic, Clem and team identified that consumers were hitting seltzer fatigue and looking for alternatives — i.e. an emerging white space for premium, vodka-based hard teas and lemonades. Stateside was an early mover, building up a strong core market in Philadelphia, and expanding throughout the mid-Atlantic before exploding onto the national stage. 🫗They leaned into label transparency — positioning their products at the 100 calorie per can level with 2 grams of sugar and 3 grams of carbs. And they developed fun and cheeky marketing, positioning the brand as a “0 bubbles” alternative to hard seltzer. And it turns out that these things resonate with younger consumers! 🗣️We discuss the pivotal moments and strategies that helped Stateside hit its hockey stick-like growth trajectory — and to maintain it without melting down. Key Takeaways 🔹What led Stateside to identify an innovative new white space in RTDs 🔹The extensive flavor and formulation process that yielded a line of crisp, sessionable — and craveable — RTDs 🔹How Surfside landed on its simple, effective branding and messaging strategy 🔹Local partnerships (baseball teams!) that drove early brand awareness and growth 🔹How Stateside partnered with NJ distributor Fedway to build out the distribution and marketing plan that enabled exponential growth 🔹How Stateside quickly scaled its sales and marketing machine 🔹The brand’s most successful accounts (think stadiums and golf clubs!) 🔹The demographic that’s consuming the most Stateside products 🔹How Surfside’s on-premise sales strategy is driving high velocity 🔊Give a listen — https://lnkd.in/evZz8ASw #businessgrowth #rtd #hardtea #drinksbusiness #growthhacking Erica Duecy Scott Rosenbaum

Some photos from the Haskell Activation at Monmouth Park Racetrack this past Saturday! 🐎 Thank you Fynn Payer & Ryan Kenney for helping out with this event 💪 Stateside Brands Fedway Associates #statesidecareers #brandbuilding #rtdindustry #bevalcindustry

Incredible article by Beer Business Daily with our CEO Clement Pappas highlighting Surfside’s accelerated growth trends this summer with best-in-class sales performance. Year to date Surfside is the #1 Fastest growing spirits RTD brand in the US with top velocity rates and $ share gains. Given our expansion across the country within the last couple months, we anticipate these growth trends to continue as more people discover our delicious lineup of full flavor, 0 carbonation, 100 calorie Iced Tea + Vodka, Lemonade + Vodka, Green Tea + Vodka canned cocktails and become new Surfside fans. A key component to our strong performance to date is a result of the great team work, collaboration and support across all our Stateside Brands teams and with our partners, and am excited for our collective journey to take Surfside to another level in the back half of 2024 and beyond!

Surfside's grown 563% and is on pace to sell 4 million cases this year. Where did they come from and how did they become so popular, so fast? In 2013, two brothers turned their parents' basement gym into a makeshift vodka distillery. But their dad thought they were pulling a Walter White, so he shut it down and kicked them out of the house. After that, they landed a distilling fellowship at Michigan State and then went abroad to learn vodka making from a famous brand in Poland. They came back to the U.S. and launched Stateside Vodka. In 2022, they noticed people in Philly mixing their vodka with iced tea, so they created their first ready-made cocktail. That's when things got really crazy. People fell in love with the taste and nostalgic branding, and in 2023, Surfside sold 1.3 million cases, a 563% increase from the year before, and that was just in 7 states! Now, they’ve expanded to 48 states, and they’re selling 2.5 cases every minute. In 2023, they became the #1 selling spirits drink at the Phillies stadium. Because of that success, they’re now partnering with the Braves, Orioles, Guardians, and Pirates. High Noon sold 21.4 million cases last year. Surfside aims to take over second place in the category, projecting over 4 million cases this year. They’re pushing hard and coming for Portnoy’s throne. Follow me Joe DiRico if you like these kind of stories about up-and-coming brands. Stateside Brands