brought a Blue Raspberry Lemonade, just launched at 7-Eleven. Super refreshing for the summer.
Okay, that does sound good.
Yeah.
All right. I think we'll get started. So it's a pleasure to introduce our next speaker, John Fieldly, CEO of Celsius Holdings. We also have Toby David, Chief of Staff at Celsius, joining us. Now, Celsius is a rapidly growing and now mainstream brand in the energy drink category, with an impressive 11.5 share of the energy drink category, up 4 points year-over-year, and an exciting pipeline of innovative and better for you beverages and powders. Now, Celsius is at a pivotal point in their journey, lapping strong triple-digit growth from last year, fueled by their distribution agreement with Pepsi, which by all accounts, really has been a great success. They're also looking to further ramp their international presence and recently announced a number of new distribution agreements abroad.
So importantly, the stock continues to outperform, up an impressive 58% year to date, following last year's incredible performance. So thank you both for joining us today.
Thank you.
I wanted to kick things off at a high level and, you know, maybe talk about the category, you know, first, before we dive into some of the company's specific details. A top-of-mind concern, or maybe question that I'm getting right now from investors is, you know, the energy drink category growth has decelerated recently. At least that's what we're seeing...
Mm-hmm.
in the scanner data and certainly based on some conversations I've been having with retailers. So curious, from your viewpoint, what's been the driver of some of this deceleration?
Yeah, I think, what an amazing introduction as well. We're excited to be here. Just one thing to add is-
Happy to keep having you.
... The first real brand in the last decade to break a 10% share in the energy category, too.
Yeah.
So just a really astonishing job on the team and the way the brand is resonating with a broader consumer. But, you know, looking at the data, and there's a lot of data out there, no one's better at analyzing the data than you. And, but, you know, the way we see it, 2023 was pretty high comps, within the category, so we're comping 2023. So I think you have to take that into consideration.
Mm-hmm.
I know that you do a lot of the analysis on the two-year stack data, so that's something to look at in perspective. In general, I think we're really bullish on the category. Mintel just came out with a recent report that anticipated an 8.8% category growth. So they're anticipating category growth. Also, they're anticipating that to continue, you know, for the foreseeable future. So I think we're all needing more energy. We're seeing the category blur, and that's what's interesting about Celsius, is we're bringing new consumers in. We're seeing usage occasions expand outside of that traditional need state of energy. It's becoming more of a daily lifestyle, a daily routine.
So I think as we sit with Celsius, I think we're in a really good position and almost going after, like, total beverage now-
Yeah
... as the lines are blurring. So we're really excited about the category, but just keep in mind, we're lapping that 2023, which was really big category growth rate for energy.
Yeah. So just in context, yeah, it's just a step down in growth, but still, the consumers are attracted to the category. So you're not seeing any noticeable changes, either with consumption patterns or?
Yeah, some of the data we're looking at, we're not seeing, not really seeing anything significant at this point. We're seeing, you know, good growth, and we're going to talk about some reset opportunities this year we see that's taking place. But I think the brand is really well-positioned. You know, we're hitting... Really bringing in new consumers, and then some of the consumers that maybe would have aged out of the category are seeing Celsius as a better fuel alternative, so we're keeping them in the category. So those are some data points we're getting. I think we'll know more as we get through summer. And we really-- you know, we're really still under indexed in convenience, which is about 68% of category sales are in convenience.
So I think once these resets come, we'll look in the summer and we'll get some more data, at this point on the Celsius brand and how it's resonating.
Okay. And last year, you reported your Q1 results, which were quite good, you know, with growth up 37%, granted, lapping 95% from the prior. So as you mentioned earlier, just tough comps, but still very attractive growth. And as you come out of Q1, how are you seeing that growth continue? You know, just I'm thinking about whether it's in April and May, you still feel pretty good about that growth continuing?
Yeah. I'll turn it over to Toby, Chief of Staff.
Yeah, sure. I mean, you mentioned the 37%. That's, you know, that's a revenue or sell-in to Pepsi and our other distribution partners and retailers. You know, as we called out in earnings, you know-
Mm-hmm
... there was a significant inventory reduction as far as the days on hand that Pepsi was holding.
Mm-hmm.
I think when you look at that, and you also look at there was an artificial inventory build in Q1 of last year that we were lapping, we called out $20 million-$25 million inventory build in Q1 of 2023.
Mm-hmm.
That 37% figure is a little bit—it, it's not quite what the sell-through is to the actual consumer. I believe we're around 70% growth on the IRI data that we look at for Q1, so we're bullish on, on the brand and where we're at. You know, some very strong data points out there that are pointing that the brands continue to resonate with current energy drink consumers, as well as, as John mentioned, bringing new consumers to the category. So we're excited. As John referenced, the resets are still underway, and so we're extremely bullish as I referenced.
Yeah, that makes sense, and definitely know that that came up a lot on the call just in terms of the sell-in and distribution from Pepsi. What I'm trying to reconcile still is, as you mentioned, the spring resets. So I definitely want to touch on the shelf space gains that you all are going to be getting. So as I think about that and the sell-in to Pepsi, you know, how are they going to be ordering more as they need to fill in all this additional space that you're going to be securing?
Yeah.
I believe you've secured some, but more is coming.
Yeah, we have. We're about 50%.
Okay.
... when we did the call the other week, I think about 50% are set. We think the biggest resets are still to come when, it's really in the convenience channel. That's where the biggest opportunity is.
Okay.
But to Toby's point, when you look at, you know, the scan data and you look at our sales, you know, our sell through to Pepsi, you have to keep that into consideration. I think as long as the registers are strong, we're seeing scan data grow. We talked about on the earnings call, you know, we ended a quarter at 11.5% share, and then on the call we said, you know, and it's not. You have to be careful on one-week reads, right? Because one-week reads can be very much impacted by promotions, you know, new flavor launches by competitors. There's a lot of variables, but it is something as in maybe a potential early indicator. And what we said on the earnings call, as a one-week look back at the time we released, was, we had 11.8% share.
So, you know, we're seeing some good signs of continual performance on hitting record weeks. We had a record scan week when we released earnings. So, and we just had last week, which was another record week. The data came in at a 12.1 share in the category, and it was another record week. So right now we have we've had two back-to-back weeks of record sales at the register, so demand's there, momentum's there. Convenience store resets are still going to be taking place through the end of May. You know, we do feel they're going to be done by June. We were just at I have the whole team right now at Casey's, which is a major retailer in the convenience channel, one we've historically been under indexed in.
Yeah.
With only one or two facings, you know, almost 18 months ago. So we come and see our booth at the show. It looks really great. We actually won a supplier award as well, so it shows the team is working, being customer-focused, not only on our vendors and our distributors, but also our retailers, so, and, and maybe end consumers. So we're really excited about that. But the underlying demand is strong.
Mm-hmm.
We can't control what our distribution partner really takes inventory up or down. We ended Q1. We think they're going to maintain the inventory on days of supply will be consistent. Now, it'll increase with our revenue increase, you know, as sales increase, but it, it's really out of our control. So if they bring inventories up or down, I mean, at the end of the day, it's what, what is consumers? I mean, we're— consumer demand is going to flow through and our revenue will catch up, you know, whatever quarter that, that may be.
How-
We are gaining efficiencies, though. So you have to really understand that as well. We're in the second year of this partnership with Pepsi, so you know, we're gaining more synergies in our supply chains, working more efficiently together. We've optimized our inventory over the last 15 months by $47 million. So you know, that's what, that's what really good partners do, is find ways to be more efficient on that, as we continue to grow, scale and grow together.
Pepsi is a big distributor now for you, but they don't do all of it. Remind us the percentage that they distribute of your business?
In North America, it's about 62%.
Yeah. The rest of it, how are your inventory levels with the rest of your distributors? Were they-
They're pretty much consistent.
Okay.
Yeah, pretty much consistent.
Okay.
The other, we go direct to Amazon.
Right.
We go direct to a lot of the club channel. And then we have a Big Geyser here in New York, which is a great distributor for us. Do phenomenal.
Sure.
We're up to close to almost a 20% share in New York City, which is phenomenal. Very close to be the number two brand. Maybe this summer we can achieve that. We're working really hard. We got great marketing assets available, and it's exciting. But Jerry Reda and Big Geyser do a phenomenal job in New York.
Jerry is definitely great. I know you guys have been strong partners, and speaking in New York area, I think there's some changes going on, possibly with one of the other big energy drink brands, and there could be an opportunity for you-
Yeah
... in the market. I don't know if you want to share on that?
Yeah, sure. Yeah, Red Bull, they terminated their longtime New York City distribution partner. They go direct in many regions of the country, so they're choosing to go direct here. So listen, Red Bull is an amazing company, amazing brand globally. We'll see what happens. Anytime you have noise, it can cause disruption, and, you know, we're gonna try to take, make sure it's an opportunistic situation for Celsius.
For sure.
I wanted to circle back on the shelf resets, and I think you've seen our Beverage Bytes retailer survey recently. I mean, you're one of the biggest space gainers, at least, that's what we're hearing from the retailers. Now, you mentioned, I think you have visibility, or about 50% of your shelves have already been, or you've gained.
Yeah, that's. When you look at it, it's really the huge opportunity for us right now, as we stand, is convenience. So if you look at, you know, grocery and mass, historically, Reset a little bit earlier.
Okay.
And this year, it seems like the convenience channel, and we're hearing labor shortages and a variety of other details, but it seems like we're somewhat delayed on some of the resets and convenience that are coming through. But that's gonna be the biggest opportunity for us. If you look at our share by category, we have about a 10% share in the you know, in the convenience space. And then if you look at food and you look at mass, we're much higher. So that's how we're getting that blended rate. But 68% of energy drinks are sold in convenience stores.
Yeah.
Huge opportunity. We know we resonate with a broader consumer base. We just got to get these resets really set, really build out that billboard at, at retail, get secondary cold placements, and really continue to partner with these retailers. We got great innovation. I talked about the,
Yeah
... Blue Raspberry Lemonade. Super refreshing. We have a Galaxy Vibe over here that Toby has, a watermelon strawberry flavor, just really great. Kicked it off this year with some key retailers, and we got some exciting stuff for this summer that's gonna continue to drive momentum as we go through. Last night, Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson kicked off their PR activation here at the Apollo Theater. We're gonna be a big part of that. That's gonna get a little further increase our brand awareness. Supposed to be one of the hottest events - live sporting events in the world, and our household penetration has increased over the last year. We're up to about a 29% household penetration, and to see that grow over 11%, almost double, it's just astonishing.
And that really has to do with the distribution and a lot of our marketing assets and the team that's been really working hard.
Do you or can you give us a sense, John, of the percentage increase of space you're getting or expecting to get at retail this year? And then I'd love to hear how that compares to prior year, and if it matched or exceeded your internal expectations. Do you have a way to quantify-
Yeah.
Roughly?
Well, when we're quantifying it, is we haven't really specifically given the exact quantification, but what we're seeing, you know, we're looking at, as an example, let's look at Publix, right? So in the food channel, historically, we've been still in the HBC set. That's health and beauty. Due to sales, demand, the way the brand is resonating, now we're starting to migrate over to the beverage aisle.
Okay.
At Publix now, we're in the beverage aisles, which allows us access to those cold checkout coolers...
Mm-hmm.
which are super important. We're doing the same at Kroger. If you go to Kroger, a lot of their banners, we're in beverage, and we're also in HBC.
Mm.
So it's really disrupting that path to purchase, is what the teams are working on. We've quadrupled the size of the sales team, quadrupled the size of our key accounts team. You know, specifically quantifying, we were talking about this in one of the meetings earlier.
Mm.
You know, it's not counting the number of items reported in IRI or Nielsen. You know, because I think we're right around at 20, 20 average items, right around 20.
Right.
If you look at Monster, Red Bull, they're like 28-30. You know, we could add 1 or 2 facings on average or items per store on average.
Mm-hmm.
But we could really significantly impact the retailer with improved shelf placement. Moving, you know, as we would say, out of the gutter into the bull's eye zone. You know, building out that billboard, getting those secondary placements, and we haven't really talked about quantifying those specific numbers by channel.
Yeah, we haven't given out a percentage, but, you know, you mentioned the 50%.
Yeah.
Just for clarity, that 50% of the way through.
Right.
You know, John's referenced previously that this was the year we expected to get our biggest gains ever. Circle K is the second-largest convenience chain in the country.
Mm-hmm.
I think they have, like, 13 divisions, and we just went into probably half of those divisions last year. If you... You know, Florida, Circle K Florida, we do exceptionally well in Florida. It's, it's our home state. We have 20+% share in multiple markets in Florida, and if you go into a Circle K, many of their locations, we only have one shelf. It's down the bottom row, the gutter, as John referenced, and they haven't had the resets yet. But we certainly, like, in a place like that, a Circle K in Florida, we merit a lot more space, better location. So there are situations like that around the country where we anticipate having significant gains, better location, and that's gonna drive not only more sales, but more trial-
Right.
which brings in new consumers once you get that better location.
Definitely.
With Dollar General, I mean, if you just look at it as an example, then Dollar General, we added a few more items, but last year we were warm.
Mm-hmm.
Right? So going from a warm shelf, now gaining cold placements, I mean, technically, that's even though you didn't double your shelf space-
It's better
... you gain additional placements in the store to cold checkout, cold coolers, which just further increases the opportunity for disrupting that path to purchase. So, I mean, that's almost doubling, you know-
Yeah
... your availability when you go from the warm shelf to the cold shelf-
Yeah
... in a Dollar General. We did the same at Maverik, doubled our space at Maverik. A lot of retailers are leaning in with us, which is really exciting.
Mm-hmm.
If you look at the scan data, if you look at where Celsius is driving growth, Celsius is driving about 47% of the category growth. So, if you're a retailer, if you're looking at the data, you need to add more Celsius to your sets. So that puts us in a really big position, and we're seeing a lot of the retailers lean in.
Okay, great. Maybe I'll shift gears a little bit, because that's helpful, and I agree. Couldn't agree more, especially in the convenience channel, to drive trial. Price increases, right? So last year, Red Bull took one, which I think was unexpected from a lot of us, and then most recently, Monster did announce that they are going to move on pricing, and they're gonna implement their price increase in Q4. So love to hear your thoughts on that. I don't know if you're prepared to talk about whether or not you'd consider following or how you think about pricing.
You know, we're constantly analyzing the market. You know, it's... We don't want to be a drag on the market, that's for sure. We do see opportunities as we go forward. I think your timing and sequencing has to be...
Mm-hmm
... really critical. We're in the middle of the largest resets in company history.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we're looking at promotional strategies. We also just launched a new line called Celsius Essentials.
Mm-hmm.
So, that's a 16-ounce offering, which is. We'll be launching in convenience.
Sure.
That's a 16-ounce offering that's coming into convenience, and we are doing some promotional strategies to get trial, and it has been incremental to us. I mean, we think there's a big opportunity in the channel for the Celsius Essentials in a 16-ounce pack. There is a segment of the energy drink category that really sees value in that larger can. This allows us to compete at that level.
Mm-hmm.
Pricing and promotional architectures are extremely critical, not only in totality, but also by channel, and also pack mix. So keep that in mind. You know, we are a 10-share in the energy drink category, under-indexed in our overall sales mix. We do really well in grocery and mass, and variety packs have been a larger mix of our portfolio potentially than Monster has when you're looking at a, you know, a cost per ounce, and historically, that goes for a lower ounce-
Yeah
... cost per ounce. So those are just some mix, the portfolio mix-
Mm-hmm.
where we are in our life cycle, percentage of sales by channel. I think that'll really evolve. Hopefully, it evolves after the resets. But things we're looking at, I'm not gonna announce a price increase today, so you know, things we look at and where there's pricing opportunity, you know, team is very disciplined to take advantage of it and find leverage through our system and continue to drive a healthy P&L.
So open. Fair enough, right?
Yes.
Stay tuned. You mentioned CELSIUS ESSENTIALS, so I believe it's been incremental to your overall portfolio, but I'd be curious to understand how much it has potentially cannibalized, you know, some of the core brands.
Toby, you wanna talk about it?
Yeah, sure. So, you know, we've been ecstatic about the performance-
Yeah
and the incrementality of Essentials. We launched it in 7-Eleven in Q4 last year. They were really excited to bring it on. We have gotten quite a bit of data points out of the 7-Eleven launch and the incrementality. It is a new consumer. It's a different consumer, as John referenced earlier. They're people who just want more volume, a 16-ounce can in their hand. So, you know, it's different branding as far as the packaging, and we feel it's got a ton of, a ton of runway ahead of it. So we've been excited about the incrementality. The cannibalization, I mean, that was a big thing for us. We wanted to make sure that we weren't putting a product on the shelf, that people would just pivot from one of our core lines into that.
We were looking to design a product that would resonate with a different consumer.
And super refreshing flavors, and the flavor profile of the Essentials line is just... It's spot on. Team did a really good job. Provides that additional energy, consumers are looking for in that channel, and we're excited about it.
Okay. As I think about the energy drink market, a lot of innovation, not just from your company, but from really everyone. You know, I'm just thinking about some of the competitor launches. Obviously, you've had such great success, as, you know, I don't know how you define whether it's the better-for-you, fitness, performance, energy drink category. Thoughts on some of this competition and how you're gonna defend your share? What I'm referring to is whether it's Reign Storm, Bang, et cetera. How do you feel about this stepped-up competition, and how concerned are you?
Well, I think there's... You know, the beverage industry alone is extremely competitive.
Yeah.
I mean, 1,000 new brands come to market every year. It's very difficult to get to $100 million in sales, let alone $1 billion in sales. We have, we have a consumer segment, we have a loyal consumer. You know, there's constant innovation in the category. You know, Bang has, prior, has a great brand. I'm not sure what's gonna, how that brand's gonna evolve under the new leadership team. But, you got Reign Storm out there, you got ZOA. There's so many different competitors.
Yeah.
We need to stay true to our core. We need to continue to stay focused on our consumers, and we're gonna win them over each and every day. We got amazing innovation, we got amazing assets to leverage, and we need to connect with our consumer, not only because of the liquid in the can, but connect, connect with them through culture. We need to be, you know, we need to be bigger than the liquid in the can. And when I was coming up here, on the flight up, they were talking about Nike-
Mm-hmm
... which I thought was quite interesting, and they were talking about the marketing behind Nike. They were saying, "You know, Nike shoes are really like a commodity.
Mm-hmm.
They never talk about the features and benefits of the shoes. They talk about it's a lifestyle, it's supporting the athletes.
Mm-hmm.
It's really a sense of culture, and that's really what we do here at Celsius.
Okay. Now, I wanted to switch gears to some of the moves you've made internationally, maybe starting with Canada. You know, I think it's a priority still for Celsius, and I think you began selling product in January, if I'm not mistaken, in Canada. And already, I think you've reached 5.5% share as of your Q1 earnings call, which is pretty impressive in just that short amount of time. So curious to hear really where that share is coming from. How big is the energy drink market, you know, in Canada, just even versus the U.S., for perspective?
Yeah, we were really surprised on Canada.
Sure.
There are a variety of different theses on that, but the brand has really resonated extremely well. And, Toby, you wanna touch on some topics around-
Yeah, I mean, it's-
-international expansion?
... you know, all international markets are important, but it's also critical to remember that the US is our highest priority, because of the size of the market. Now, Canada, obviously, being our neighbor, you get some spillover because a lot of the marketing that we have. It's about $500 million in sales, if you capture 100% of the category. So you know, call it, we're at 5% share. I think I can do the math. It's around 25, close to $25 million run rate. So you know, we're excited about it, but you know, we also remember it might be, like, the size of, like, Ohio.
Yeah.
Right?
Right.
It's really important to win in every market that we go into. That's why we're taking a more methodical approach with our international expansion in general.
Okay. And then, what about some of the other plans to expand internationally? I think you've expanded into Australia, France, Ireland, New Zealand, UK. I don't know if I've missed any-
Well, well, we just-
Or you've talked.
We just start-
I should say you talked.
Yeah, we just signed distribution agreements.
Right.
But we actually have product on the ground right now.
Mm-hmm
... in the U.K. and Ireland.
Mm-hmm.
We're taking them. As Toby mentioned, we're taking a really methodical approach, timing and sequencing. We all know how difficult it is when you land on shelf. You really have, you know, 60-90 days to perform.
Mm-hmm.
We wanna make sure we have a loyal consumer base. We launched in select retailers as well as in the fitness channel, and then we're gonna build scale as we continue to grow. Australia, France, New Zealand, are all planned for Q4 this year.
Right.
We're gonna take the same methodological approach as we continue to grow and scale, and then as we see greater consumer acceptance, we'll lean in a little bit more. We wanna be very cognizant on driving profitable growth.
Mm-hmm.
So it's, you know, where do you place your resources for the biggest drive for the business? And as Toby mentioned, it's North America at this point. We know we can put investments to work in North America. It's a huge energy drink category. There's so much opportunity here in the U.S., but international is important. It's gonna be important for years to come, as we continue to evolve. And we know Monster has a great-
Mm-hmm
... international presence as well as Red Bull. We do feel the same health and wellness trends that has made us successful in the U.S. are global trends. Everyone wants better for you. They don't want to sacrifice flavor. Everyone wants their food and drinks to do more, and more functionality, and fitness is lifestyle, and it's broad, and it touches every culture.
Okay. As you enter some of these markets internationally, can you talk to us about your route to market? I know you've chosen some different distribution partners, and walk us through the decision process when it comes to choosing an international partner.
Yeah. Toby, you want to-
Yeah, I'll grab that one. Yeah, I think it's, you know, it's important to remember because we get this question a lot-
Yeah.
especially because Pepsi's our North American distribution partner in both the U.S. and Canada. So, you know, their system's a little bit different than Coke's is globally. Whereas most of Pepsi's international distribution is through third-party bottlers that they have relationships with. So, you know, there are some countries like Canada and Germany that are Pepsi-owned, but most of them are these third-party bottlers, which they're great.
Right.
So we negotiate with all of them, or we're introduced to many of them. But I think one of the benefits for Celsius and our shareholders is, we're not beholden to just have to go with them. If you're locked into having to go with a particular distribution partner, you don't have much to negotiate as far as on the P&L and the route to market and entry in that market. So, you know, we'll talk to the Pepsi bottlers. We'll also, as you've seen, we've signed multiple deals with Suntory, who I mean, they were very excited to partner with us, and they, they're a tier one distributor in every market. In Australia, they're the number one energy player as far as distribution already.
So I feel it just gives us a better opportunity to negotiate, get a better P&L profitability. I think that's something you've even seen with Monster. They've got such a gap between their U.S. business and their international business. Now, I don't know all the reasons behind that, but I'd imagine that, you know, when they went into the Coke network 10+ years ago or around 10 years ago globally, that they went in fast. They probably signed deals that, from my understanding, are probably expiring soon, a lot of them, and they're probably going to renegotiate a lot of those. So I think they're probably in a good position as well.
Yeah, and I think, you know, on Suntory that we picked in a variety of markets, they are a Pepsi partner-
Yeah.
- in a variety-
Yeah
... of markets as well.
Right.
They're really excited, and I think it's gonna be... We're gonna find the right part- the best partners for the best opportunity in each market, and each market's unique.
Right. Ultimately, to be clear, the US is still the number one priority.
Right.
The great runway internationally. If we're sitting here again in five years, hopefully, we are, you know, what do you think or how, how big do you think international will be as a percentage of sales of your business? I mean, how quickly do you think you can scale this?
I mean, we look at Monster as our peer. I can't-
Mm-hmm.
I don't see why Celsius couldn't be at, have the same revenue mix, as, you know, 5, 10 years from now-
Okay
... as we reach maturity, and there's a long runway of Monster growth left. It's great brands they have, and-
Yeah
... the energy category keeps getting, we feel it's gonna continue to keep growing in these markets. We're in a great spot, a growing category, one of the fastest-growing categories in food and beverage, and-
Mm-hmm
... we have a great product, a great portfolio, and we're in demand for consumers.
Yeah, I would just say Monster at the same stage we're at today, their mix of U.S. and international was a little bit greater international than where we're at.
Yeah.
I think it was maybe 20%, roughly, of their revenue at the same time.
We're only at five.
I think it was five.
Yeah.
So I mean, we're gonna take it easy. I mean, we're judged every quarter by the Street. We're not gonna burn up our P&L by investing tons of cash in as many markets as possible. So, we're confident that as we build this brand in the U.S. and in key international markets, we have the, you know, international properties like F1, where we're partnered with Ferrari. We think this is an opportunity for us to, once it starts snowballing, it'll happen quickly. But, you know, I don't think that we want to commit to being at 40% of international revenue in five years the way the way Monster is, but we'll see.
Right.
We'll see how quickly it can happen.
And I think you saw that, you know, taking our first step-
Mm-hmm
... to being, really further building Celsius as a global iconic brand with that F1 Ferrari partnership, you know, that... There's a lot of excitement around that. They have Lewis Hamilton coming to the team next year.
Yeah.
We're able to leverage Ferrari in a variety of other markets, so in the UK and even some of the APAC markets. We're looking at global assets now-
Right
... as we really take the next phase.
Now, you bring up a good point, growing profitably. Speaking of profits, wanted to ask you guys about gross margins. You continue to expect them to be in the high 40% range this year, but Q1, you know, came in at a bit over 51%, so I have to ask. You know, you know, walk through the decision, you know, maybe to leave the, I don't know, softer gross margin guidance in the high 40% range. Like, and, you know, where, and then ultimately, where you see the most gross margin upside moving forward?
Yeah, we said the upper 40s-
Mm-hmm
... you know, as some guidance on our margins as a full year. You know, I think when we look at the margins, we don't wanna commit to that number at this point, especially with the resets coming in. Just because the shelves are reset, doesn't mean that, you know, tour buses full of thirsty Celsius consumers come and grab Celsius, right? We need to disrupt that path to purchase. We're gonna have to use pricing, promotional strategies to get that trial. We know when we get the trial, it'll create loyalty. We're launching a new line, our Celsius 16-ounce Essentials line. You know, also, some retailers are paying slotting fees for it. As we go in, we need to cycle that volume through as we build volume.
So there's a variety of different margin constraints that are coming, that will come into play, but I think we're pretty confident on the upper 40s right now.
Mm-hmm.
We had a great first quarter. We're building out our orbits. So when we talk about orbits, it's about producing and selling within really a one-day truck ride. So anytime you do overnight truck deliveries, you know, hauls, your costs go up substantially. So you really want to produce and sell in the same orbit, and it needs to be one-day delivery or same-day delivery. That's gonna be your cheapest freight rate. We're also seeing there's opportunities for further cost savings as we go, as we gain further leverage. You know, co-packer arrangements are coming up. Our volume's much bigger than, you know, say, potentially five years ago when we entered into those. So there's a variety of different leverage. We have Paul Storey, our head of ops.
He's been just a great asset to us, and he's got a lot of ideas as well as we continue to grow and scale to find more margin.
To be clear, the high 40s is the guide this year, but longer term, do you have an aspiration for gross margin?
I think we need. You know, we've always said we wanna be somewhat similar to. We think upon scale, we can be similar to Monster as our largest peer. Now, keep in mind, we include outbound freight in our gross profit, so you need to take their freight. I believe it's in their selling expense line, and add that in. But we think we can be very close to our peer group upon maturity, as we get to those sizes. We are investing right now. We see great opportunities in the convenience channel. Like I said, we're at a 10% share.
Mm-hmm.
Greatest resets coming in company history, and just last week, we're at a 12.1 share nationally. So, you know, I don't think now is the time to really, truly focus on the margin impact.
Yeah.
We need to drive further scale within the category and a further holding power. This is the first brand in the last decade to get north of 10 share in the category. So just keep that in mind as well.
Right. And as you think about future growth, I know we're running close to time, it's really a combination, I assume, innovation, distribution gain or gains. You know, what are some of the other drivers of your-
Yeah.
Your top line growth?
The top line growth is gonna be, we got distribution, so better placement at retailers, further expansion, additional cold placements. Innovation has been a great driver for us, not only with our core fruit-f orward line, but our Vibe line. As Toby's has a Galaxy Vibe right now. We got great Vibe flavors coming out. We have a Fizz-Free line we're gonna further build out. This is our third flavor right here as Raspberry Lemonade, which is super refreshing. That's a huge opportunity going forward as well, going after that cold coffee consumer-
Yeah.
Potentially. And then you also have the Celsius Essentials line. And we don't really talk too much about the powder opportunity, but we have Celsius On-the-Go sticks. We've just further expanded into a Vibe line with our On-the-Go sticks at Walmart, and we are the number one selling energy drink powder product within the category. So there's a lot of opportunities there to grow and just really starting to put some focus on that. So, and then, as we scale, we could go into other adjacent categories-
Mm-hmm.
with timing and sequencing. You know, hydration has been on the talking points, as well as a variety of other sublines as well. But right now, we're really focused on the energy category.
When you mention adjacent categories, is that organic, or would you consider M&A in any?
I think it's organic, but you know, it could be an opportunity down the road. We would need to partner closely with our major distribution partner-
Yeah.
to make sure we, you know, it fits into the distribution network. I think running two fragmented networks would be somewhat difficult for the sales team.
Sure.
We wanna make sure we're really leveraging our assets. Right now we have almost 800 employees who are just really getting ready right now for the 100 Days of Summer. It's gonna be the biggest summer of company history. From MLS to, as Toby mentioned, F1, we've got the Jake Paul-Tyson fight coming up. We have a variety of concerts series from country to EDM across the country, great influencers, and we're looking to heat up the summer.
Okay. Well, that sounds good. Last question from me, as we're sitting here, the next year and the next few years, what are some of the, you know, aspirations for your share? Should we make some predictions today, where you're gonna be? I don't know if I would have guessed, if I think about being on stage with you last year, I mean, how quickly-
Yeah.
you grew to
No, I agree.
Right.
So I think, you know, I still probably would say the standard, what we've always talked about. So we're a 20 share on Amazon, and we do consider that, like, an equal playing field-
Mm-hmm.
-where all brands are treated equally. What's interesting is we gained. We went from a 60 share last time we were on stage, to about a 60, you know, even ACV, I was gonna say.
Yeah.
60, right around 60% ACV.
Got it.
This was prior to Pepsi, and we were right around a 20% share on Amazon.
Mm-hmm.
We've gained, you know, 98% ACV-
Right.
tons of availability. You would think that number would come down.
Right.
But it's held. We expanded in the club, it still held.
Mm-hmm.
So bringing new consumers in, I guess we're somewhere between 12% that we did last week, 12.1% and 20% share today.
Yeah.
So-
Okay.
Somewhere in between. We'll see how it goes.
All right.
But we got to win in convenience.
Right.
If we don't win in convenience, we won't be able to get there in the energy category.
All right. The summer will tell us. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us today. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone.