John Lustyan

The fact that AI now recognizes tech-forward, Maker-focused models like LibDib as the future of distribution is a big moment—and a strong validation of what we’ve been building. The alcohol distribution landscape is changing—and AI is taking notice. We asked Google’s Gemini which distributors small and mid-sized alcohol brands should consider, and the response was clear: LibDib is a top choice. As LLMs like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity reshape how Buyers and Consumers discover products, it's more important than ever for brands to rethink their go-to-market strategy. Some predict 75% of online revenue will soon be driven by AI over traditional search. Check out what Gemini had to say and why LLM's matter for every brand. https://lnkd.in/e2GiPuVy

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There’s a major shakeup happening in alcohol distribution. Here's what you need to know and why it matters 👇 Last week, Brown-Forman announced it was ending its long-time partnership with RNDC. This comes right after Tito’s switched its California distribution from RNDC to Reyes, a beer distributor. Earlier this year, Sazerac made a similar move. These changes are a big deal. Distributor relationships in this business are deep, complex, and worth billions. Changing partners means overhauling logistics, sales ops, compliance, and more. So, why now? Alcohol companies are finally going on offense. For decades, the industry enjoyed steady, predictable growth. The same playbooks worked year after year, and few felt pressure to shake things up. But COVID and the post-COVID reset changed all that. The old strategies aren't working anymore. Suppliers will continue to get more aggressive in refining their route to market and adjusting their portfolios through M&A. Distributors are being scrutinized. Some are stepping up to become better partners. Others are falling behind. This is a pivotal moment. Expect bold, strategic moves to be rewarded. Expect stagnation to be punished. More major moves are coming. The next generation of winners will be the ones that adapt fastest and execute with clarity. The alcohol business remains one of the most lucrative and resilient categories out there. The real question is who has the guts and vision to seize the moment. I’ll be watching closely. This is where it gets interesting 👀 CC Top Shelf Ventures

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THE JOMAG TAKE #032 Last Mile Platform Strategy Business as it really is. Franchising, Licensing, and Partnerships Are Platform Strategy Disguised as Retail Most people look at franchising, licensing, and partnerships and see retail. Stores. Counters. Sales per day. That’s surface-level thinking. What they really are when designed well is platform strategy. - The mistake most founders make They think platform power comes from: • owning factories • controlling production • running logistics • building distribution empires That’s one way. It’s also capital-heavy, fragile, and exhausting. There’s another way quieter and more durable. Own the last mile. Own access. Own demand. - The real platform move When you franchise, license, or partner correctly, you are not trying to be: • the manufacturer • the production company • the distributor You are positioning yourself as: the orchestrator of the last mile. You sit between: • IP and execution • ambition and opportunity • product and customer You don’t need to make everything. You need to make everything work together. That’s platform thinking. - Why supplying franchisees makes this stronger When you also supply franchisees, partners, or licensees especially at the last mile you gain leverage without visibility. You: • standardize quality • see demand patterns early • influence pricing indirectly • shape behavior through supply You don’t force control. You design dependency. And dependency, when fair and value-adding, is dominance. - Why this is middleman thinking (and why it’s smart) Business schools say: “Eliminate the middleman.” Smart operators ask: “Where is friction unavoidable?” Where there is friction, the middleman who removes it becomes powerful. Franchising, licensing, and partnerships work because: • starting a business is hard • running consistently is harder • scaling without systems is hardest The platform absorbs that pain. That’s not inefficiency. That’s value creation. - The quiet advantage From the outside: • it looks like retail • it looks fragmented • it looks non-dominant From the inside: • you see the data • you influence the rules • you anticipate shifts • you change the game quietly Competitors fight for visibility. You control how the game is played. - JOMAG VERDICT Franchising, licensing, and partnerships are not retail strategies. They are platform strategies disguised as retail. The real power is not in owning everything it’s in being the layer everyone depends on to reach the customer. That’s middleman thinking. And done right, it’s the strongest position in the game. — JOMAG PRESS Business as it really is.

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💥 The biggest drinks acquisition story of the year isn’t a bourbon brand or a celebrity tequila. It’s a boxed party punch that started as a business-school project — and is now on the verge of being acquired by Anheuser-Busch for $700 million, based on a report from the Wall Street Journal. BeatBox Beverages is a case study in how cultural relevance, distribution strategy, and community building can turn a niche idea into a generational brand. Here’s why ABI wants it — and what every drinks founder should take away: 🔶 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗰𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘀. BeatBox didn’t try to win the wine category. They didn’t chase “better-for-you” or premium cues. They chased fun — music festivals, tailgates, nightlife, sporting events. On Shark Tank, Mark Cuban understood this a decade ago: “You don’t sell wine, you sell fun.” 🔶 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭’𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿, 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. The 500ml Tetra Pak wasn’t a packaging trick — it was the unlock. At about $4–$5 per unit and 11.1% ABV, it gives younger legal-age drinkers what they want: Flavor exploration, value, and something you can pass around with friends. 🔶 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗧𝗗. BeatBox over-indexes with millennial and Gen Z drinkers, Hispanic and African American consumers, and the festival-going audience — but half their customers are over 40. Their Discord community has thousands of superfans coordinating real-world meetups (!!), which is unheard of in beverage alcohol. 🔶 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿: 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀. Most brands talk about consumer pull. BeatBox rebuilt its entire distribution architecture from scratch, leaving wine and spirits distributors for beer houses that could service convenience stores. That was the turning point that unlocked real velocity and national scale. 🔶 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘆 — 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹. BeatBox raised about $24 million total, far less than many fast-growth RTD brands — yet still built a 12-million-case, $100-million-plus business with triple-digit annual growth. That discipline makes them an especially attractive target for a strategic buyer. ABI’s reported interest is simple: They need brands that resonate with younger legal-age drinkers. BeatBox has what legacy alcohol desperately wants — cultural relevance, flavor leadership, and community at scale. It’s not just a potential acquisition. It’s a signal. The brands winning the next decade won’t be the most premium. They’ll be the most connected. Listen to the Business of Drinks episode with Beatbox co-founder and CEO Justin Fenchel for the story behind how this brand was built. 👇 #BusinessOfDrinks #RTDs #GenZConsumers #BeverageInnovation Scott Rosenbaum Caroline Lamb

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In uncertain times, consumers gravitate towards reliable brands. In a recent Take On the Week podcast episode by The Wall Street Journal, Markus Hansen shared insights about how food brands historically fare well during recessions, partially because consumers will remain loyal to their comfort foods (like Coca-Cola and Oreos) in times of economic distress. That makes total sense. So if you're a F&B founder, this is my reminder to you that now is the time to show up for your customers and double down on building and maintaining your relationships. Now is the time when marketing matters most. https://lnkd.in/gaemkTED

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Most cannabis brands are building Pizza Hut. They should be building Domino’s. Here’s why: 1) Specialists win. Domino’s built a tech-based delivery company that happened to sell pizza: Faster delivery. Better routing. Tighter menus. Operational excellence. Pizza Hut tried to be everything: Dine-in experience. Buffet. Delivery. Takeout… and it eventually killed them. Cannabis is full of Pizza Huts: Vertical companies with no mastery everywhere, brands selling across six categories with no core consumer. 2) A+ operations beat gimmicks. Every time. Domino’s didn’t win because their pizza was perfect. They won because their ops were. Zero ordering friction Optimized delivery logistics Data driving decision making Brutally efficient cost structure Meanwhile, Pizza Hut chased stuffed crusts, novelty SKUs, and short-term promotions. Sound like any other industry you know? 3) Domino’s built operations shifting consumer habits. They rode a huge shift in America in the early 2000s: families got busier (and poorer), and they stopped going out as much. Pizza Hut was built for a world that was disappearing and could not adapt fast enough. Cannabis is at the same inflection point… But we still see too many brands building for the equivalent of dine-in Pizza Hut: Overbuilt stores and under built online ops. Packaging built for shelf appeal with no thought of operational efficiency. Endless promotions on repeat. 4) Pizza Hut became a side project inside a bigger machine. When Pizza Hut got folded into Yum! Brands (and before that, under PepsiCo), it stopped being a focused operator and became a portfolio asset. These things have very different incentives: Quarterly optics > long-term excellence Synergies > product quality Committee decisions > founder-level conviction No one woke up every day obsessed with making Pizza Hut 10x better. It was just one line item. Meanwhile, Domino’s lived and died by one thing: being the best in the world at delivery pizza. Cannabis is heading straight into this trap… MSOs stacking brands without real operators behind them. Holding companies treating brands like SKUs. Financial engineers replacing builders. If your brand becomes “one of many,” it’s already dead. Cannabis companies have a choice: Be Domino’s: Focused. Operationally elite. Tech-enabled. Built for how people actually consume. Obsessed ownership. Or be Pizza Hut: Bloated. Reactive. Dependent on promos. Managed by committee. Slowly losing relevance.

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