New York based premium coffee brand, Wandering Bear, announces its plans to expand beyond the east coast in a nationwide retail agreement with Target and regional rollout with Kroger's Fred Meyer banner. The national expansion coincides with the launch of another new flavor for the brand, Vanilla with a Splash of Coconut Milk. Wandering Bear Coffee has quickly made a name for itself as a pioneer in the fast-growing cold brew category. Starting with a very popular multi-serve cold brew "coffee on tap" box available exclusively online and to offices, the brand caught the attention of investors earlier this year and closed on an $8M Series A financing round to propel the expansion of its direct and retail channels into new markets.
Vanilla with a Splash of Coconut Milk is the third flavor in Wandering Bear's line of 11 oz. resealable TetraPak bottles, joining the flavors, Mocha with a Splash of Coconut Milk and the original Straight Black. Each product in the line is dairy-free, sugar-free, USDA organic certified, and 20 calories or less, making them Paleo-friendly and Whole30 compliant. "Read the label out loud," encourages co-founder Matt Bachmann. "There's nothing in there that you would not want to put in your coffee." Each bottle retails for $3.99.
All three flavors will launch throughout more than 1,200 Target stores nationally and will be sold from the coveted grab-and-go beverage refrigerators located in the Target Cafés at the front of each store. This milestone marks the company's largest rollout to date and follows a successful pilot in Target's northeast region stores.
"Because of the national reach of our direct business, we get multiple inbound requests each day asking where Wandering Bear can be found in stores," said co-founder Ben Gordon. "Finally we can answer that question without asking where they live!" Bachmann built on that sentiment, adding that this opportunity offered continued "validation for the brand and for the new 11oz product line as we build national distribution heading into 2019."
About Wandering Bear Inc.New York-based Wandering Bear Inc. is a beverage company delivering organic and Fair Trade certified ready-to-drink cold brew iced coffee, with no preservatives or sugar, to consumers at home, at work and on-the-go. The Company serves its cold brew in a multi-serve bag-in-box "coffee on tap" formats, 11oz individual units, as well as 5-gallon kegs for food service operators. Subscribe for home delivery at wanderingbearcoffee.com and keep up with the Bear @WanderingBearCo on social.Editor's Insight: Wandering Bear makes ready-to-drink cold brew for consumers and offices. The expansion announced is more evidence that cold brew is becoming a major category segment.
