To our Global Staples Conference this year. Joining us on stage today is Amy Taylor, President and CEO, and Girish Satya, CFO. As many of you know, Zevia PBC is an emerging non-alcoholic beverage company that went public about four years ago. Zevia PBC's portfolio of products include a variety of flavors that are zero sugar, zero calorie, and naturally sweetened with stevia across soda, energy drinks, and organic tea beverages. Zevia PBC just reported strong Q1 results, and we're very excited to hear more about the company's recent initiatives today, including the rollout of packaging, refresh, new on-trend fruity flavors, I see some, I think, expanding distribution and a significant marketing push. Thank you both for joining me again this year.
Yeah, thanks.
Thanks for having us.
Nice to see you. All right. I'd like to kick things off with your results last week.
Sure.
Your Q1 top line was robust, and I think ended up coming in much better than I would say my expectations. Broad Street expectations. It was enough that you felt comfortable and confident to raise your top-line guidance. First, can you highlight what drove the better top-line results? Second, hoping you could highlight, you know, growth drivers as I think about for the rest of the year.
Sure
would be helpful.
In simplest terms, Q1 over-delivered both on volume and price. When we look at what drove that, we did have a softer Q1 from a promotional investment perspective because we prioritized the summer for promo dollars as our new packaging is rolling out, so we wanted to align the two. Retail sales came in stronger than expected, despite less promotional effect. Think of that as base business health. That was a key driver. Second one, there was a little bit of help from new distribution. We gained new distribution last year. We're lapping Q1 prior to that change of last year, as well as some new distribution at Costco. We had a national rotation there. Thirdly, we did see some acceleration in velocity from existing distribution.
Finally, in Q1, we realized our price increased both a little bit faster and more completely than anticipated. Those are really the key drivers. Looking ahead, while last year was a big step change in distribution, getting national distribution at Walmart, this year we'll see growth a little more normalized from a mix of distribution gains, continued distribution gains, and velocity acceleration. We have an eye on velocity acceleration in particular because we are rolling out new packaging with clear communication of why Zevia. An improved taste profile across the portfolio, innovation, and then a step change in marketing, which I'm sure we'll talk about later today. Those are some of the drivers.
In the context of that, you know, and taking into account your Q2 guidance, your full year implies healthy growth, I would say, I think my math 5% in the second half. I know you're investing in the brand, new packaging and marketing, but maybe talk through a little bit more about the confidence you have in being able to kind of execute on that, you know, 5% growth in the back half.
Sure. Do you want to talk about that?
Yeah. I think ultimately, you know, we touched on sort of the first quarter, in the second quarter we knew there were gonna be some shifts. We're obviously, as a reminder, we had talked about discontinuing our tea line which will impact the second quarter. We had some load ins from the prior year that we're lapping with Walgreens and Albertsons in the second quarter. We knew there'd be a little bit of pressure because of that in Q2. Separately, we'd also shifted a lot of our promotional spend and marketing dollars into Q3 to leverage not only the Cardi B relationship, but also the new packaging, the rollout of our new sort of on-trend fruity flavors more broadly, and separately, just the enhanced flavor profile. We sort of have all those things coming together in Q3 as the new packaging, as a reminder, is rolling out as we speak.
That really gives us not only confidence that we can sort of accelerate growth in the back half, because the early, the very early reads on the enhanced packaging are positive. It gives us a lot of confidence that we can continue despite some of the, you know, headwinds to the consumer. We can continue to sort of drive growth.
Speaking of the new packaging, you are just it's rolling out as we speak. When is it expected to be finished, you know, rolling out? Is it in a couple of months or how long does that process take you?
Yeah. It's really a Q2 rollout. Such that it'll be complete or materially complete at the start of Q3. which aligns then with increased promotional support and some of our new marketing campaigns.
Then you touched on Cardi B, so I'd love to hear a little bit more about that relationship and what, you know, she can do for the brand ultimately.
Yeah. You know, the first thing we love about Cardi B is that she is a radically real character. We talk about our brand as being the radically real people's champion, and she certainly keeps it real by every definition. Importantly , though, what she does for the brand, in addition to, like, representing it very well is step change reach.
She has 280 million total social media followers. She has the 25th most followed account on all of Instagram with super high engagement. When you invest in Cardi B as a partner, a mutual investment, as she also is a shareholder in the company, you get high engagement. You know, she really works hard for the brands with whom she partners. She has, like I said, strong reach, also what that manifest in is strong engagement for the consumer. Ultimately, we're hoping to speak to a new consumer set, step change, you know, the top of funnel or the top of mind awareness and then drive trial for our product.
When does all of that start? It just started, kicked off, I mean.
Sure. We just announced the partnership.
Yeah, I know. Right.
With Cardi B, and there's been a couple social posts on her side and ours. She did a spontaneous and super authentic no makeup post from Whole Foods in the beverage aisle the other day. That's the kind of organic, incredible communication we see from her. That's really just the announcement. What you'll see is a full campaign, including mainstream television and digital advertising this summer. Concurrent with the other initiatives Girish was mentioning earlier. Always on social media, a couple of appearances, some editorial support, some retail activation, and then eventually, you know, at the right time, some product innovation that we work on together is definitely at least. In the ideation, stages. Yeah.
Okay. She came to you with some ideas. They're collaborating already.
She definitely has a point of view which is awesome, and so we're able to leverage some of her ideas as well. as her personal preferences so she can work on something she's really passionate about.
While we're on the topic of this to some extent, you know, thinking about marketing spend as a percentage of sales, what is the right level, you know? As I ask that, thinking about the ability to, you know, accelerate top line growth, whether it's, you know, from the brand, new channel, new innovation, et cetera. What level of spend do you think is right?
Yeah. I think as a reminder, you know, we've doubled marketing spend as a percentage of revenue over the last two years, and so I think we're starting to approach the appropriate amount of marketing spend that's sort of, we'll call, loaded into the P&L. You know, we're happy with what we're seeing right now in terms of investment, and so we could see, you know, certainly incremental investment as warranted. Right now, I think we're happy with kind of where it is today as a percentage of revenue.
Is there a particular area of focus, you know, that you're, I don't know, channeling more of that dollar spend, whether it's channels, brand, social, et cetera?
I think the critical thing for us is the right mix of brand spend.
All of it.
Establishing distinction from a brand identity perspective as well as reach. Think of that as top of funnel investments, advertising, et cetera. Closer to the point of purchase, those kinds of accountable dollars that drive velocity, for which we can have some form of attribution and metrics, right? Retail, digital advertising. It's a mix for us. I think what we've added in new- is also some grassroots marketing. It's a page out of my old book. From my Red Bull days, but we're doing a lot more sampling. We're showing up kind of on the ground, close to the consumer.
Whether it's the Diplo's Run Club or South by Southwest or a sampling tour that we're executing this summer. We are also a part of Cardi B's first ever sold-out arena tour, so we had brand presence at every stop. This way we're getting cans in hand. Our product tastes better than ever. Taste is the number one driver of this category, hands down. While better for you positioning keeps people coming back, it's taste that gets them in the door. Sampling becomes a really big priority for us.
Speaking of that, 'cause you just mentioned it, talk to me about how you have evolved the taste profile, because I think that's something you've been working on for the last few years.
Yeah. We're really focused on our, as Girish briefly mentioned earlier, we have pruned the portfolio to get focused on soda and our nascent energy drink. business opportunity over time. In the soda portfolio, we've made a couple of fundamental changes. First of all, recall that we have a core business of soda that is kind of classic soda flavors, Cola, Ginger Ale, Root Beer, et cetera. We have a lot of innovation in the fruity and fruity creamy spaces. Across the baseline, we've improved taste. at, for about just over half of our core existing SKUs with a more sugar-like taste experience. As we continue to learn best use of the components of the stevia leaf and our blend of natural flavors. We've improved the core taste profile across the portfolio. The second thing that we've done is started to pick up a pace of innovation.
We're innovating within that core classic, soda flavors. We've started to introduce new on-trend fruity flavors, which is bringing a new shopper to the franchise as well. Finally, just expanded, you know, distribution and presence is helping us to drive trial against that, the two areas of play, right? The core soda flavors, the innovation piece.
As you mentioned, you're picking up the pace of innovation. Are you also discontinuing any SKUs, or is it just continuing to be adding to the portfolio?
You know, so far distribution has been the gift that keeps giving. Our new products have demonstrated remarkable incrementality. To our existing portfolio, which I think, you know, is just bodes well for the future productivity of innovation. Yes, in time, there's also some flavors that can kind of find their way out. We make best use of every linear square foot on the shelf.
Okay. In terms of household penetration, I think you mentioned during Q1 call that you're in the mid-single digit range. How does that compare to last year? I was trying to remember. Ultimately, what's a realistic goal for household penetration?
Sure. I would tell you, if we back up a little bit to the story of the brand, we had to settle from, our household penetration for, based on a couple of initiatives first, and then get back to growth. What I mean by that is we pruned some unproductive portions of the portfolio, getting out of mixers and kids and now tea. We also, through, in the midst of a supply chain transition, lost distribution at Sam's and at Target, as Target launched a private label. Now, we expanded distribution in 2025 to 100% of Walmart. In the U.S. and about half the business in Canada and growing, and that was then a step change back for household penetration, as you mentioned, into the mid-single digits. All the additions, both from a distribution and new consumer perspective from here forward, is net additive.
I think with some of these initiatives we've talked about in the pipeline, we expect to see continued steady growth from household penetration from here forward. We have distribution upside in club. I mentioned, you know, Target, of course. Just continuing to win new consumers in existing distribution as well.
Okay. Then I was thinking about the current environment, whether it's, you know, legislation, secular trends, et cetera. How do you think about your portfolio and your brand, you know, possibly capitalizing, you know, on some of these trends? Do you think about being advantaged relative to peers? You know, can this ultimately drive faster growth for your business over the medium term?
I think so. There's a macro move away from sugar. We know this, especially relevant for a younger consumer. They're looking for a clean label product. We have the fewest ingredients of any soda on the market, so no artificial ingredients is certainly an advantage for us. Within our peer set, where we sit on the shelf next to Modern Soda, we're also the affordable player.
We're the key performer when it comes to kind of core soda flavors, and we're the multi-pack and home stocking brand. In an environment where folks are thinking twice with their discretionary income, we find that, you know, kind of over-performing as a home stocking brand is really to our advantage. Another place where we spike from a strength standpoint is e-commerce as well as digital, retailer.com and click and pick type of an environment. All of these tend to be a little bit more resilient. We are not immune to the macroeconomic climate, of course. That's why we're a little bit cautious about how we project. We do think that we have a relative advantage within the category, given our price points that look a little more like a soda t han the rest of the category, who is close to twice our price point per unit.
True. I think about in the context, you know, your position, the better for you [inaudible] beverage segment. If I think about all the big players and new entrants, it's gotten quite competitive. How are you dealing with that competitive, you know, dynamic? You know, what kind of pressures are you seeing? How do you feel that you're gonna be able to kind of win there?
Yeah. Net-net, the excitement in the beverage category, the return to growth for CSD, and then the rapid growth of what they're calling Modern Soda better for you . Those are tailwinds for us.
Right.
Net-net, they're tailwinds because in our early stages, we were, you know, by far and away the number one brand in a category that didn't garner a lot of attention. Now we're a top brand in one of the most exciting categories in beverage. When you think about the Modern Soda category in a Walmart or an Albertsons, and increasingly in additional national and regional grocers getting set up as a true category, there's a foot traffic impact for us. We're getting trials from folks that are trying products across the category, and that's been, again, a tremendous tailwind. You know, the competitive environment for us just is indicative of the future opportunity.
At the end of the day, 90%+ of households stock soda. People are increasingly leaving the category because of sugar or artificial ingredients. We're literally a solution for both, and we taste great at a great price point. All the macros point to tailwinds for Zevia for the long run, and our job is to continue to churn out great tasting products, keep the price point accessible, and drive distribution so that we're at arm's reach.
Yeah. I wanna ask about GLP-1s.
Yeah.
I'm just curious because, you know, I touched on some of this and how is that impacting your business as, you know, we see potentially more consumers going on GLP-1s, et cetera? Is that a potential opportunity, risk? Have you seen any noticeable you know, consumer behavior changes?
You know, I think we observe the same trends that others report on. Meaning folks are snacking less. for beverage that s not necessarily the case. We provide support for someone on a wellness journey, kind of with or without GLP-1 being able to have, like, a tasty hydrating treat. With zero calories, zero sugar, and no impact on the glycemic index is certainly a complement to a wellness journey, a weight loss journey inclusive of GLP-1. If I had to pick between a headwind or tailwind, I would definitely say. It's a tailwind. I think we're a great sort of treat halfway through your day or first thing in the morning or otherwise, along with food as well for a GLP-1 user.
I want to circle back to innovation, you know, the pipeline. You mentioned on your recent call that, you know, you have some new product launches and early signs of incrementality. Can you touch a little bit more on that and maybe, you know, just in general, 'cause Amy, I've known you for a few years now about the evolution of your innovation pipeline just generally?
Sure
as well.
Sure. The comments we made on the call were as follows. There was one retailer at which our new items were delivering 38% incrementality, and the second retailer where our new items were delivering 53% incrementality. We don't expect that to sustain. That doesn't indicate 150% growth. What we do know is that that's indicative that our innovation is additive to the portfolio. That's really one of the stories of Zevia overall, is that we are powerfully incremental. This is what the retailer, of course, wants to hear as well. As more and more functional beverages at high price points come into the category, they are stealing share. From the top two functional brands, and far less so from us.
It indicates that we play a unique role in the category. How do we innovate based on that insight? We wanna continue to grow with our kind of loyal user that is drinking our Cola and our Root Beer and our Ginger Ale and those classic soda flavors. We wanna continue to surprise and delight and bring younger consumers in with this fruity and fruity creamy. I'll use examples, our Orange Creamsicle flavor, our Strawberry Lemon Burst, which was new news from last year, an up-and-comer, Strawberries & Cream, which has become the number one Zevia SKU at Kroger. We think has tremendous opportunity for nationwide distribution next year. Those are some examples of just continuing to diversify the portfolio. Bring in new and younger shoppers to complement the loyal base that drinks our classic soda flavors.
With some of this innovation, are you structuring it such that it's staggered as you roll it out into the marketplace?
Yeah
Peak summer selling.
Yeah, a lot of time what we'll do is we'll bring in a limited time offer or a retailer exclusive.
Okay.
That is both, like, tactically advantaged to help us kind of get things done with a specific retailer. It's also a great opportunity to road test a new flavor. Build some proof points and then bring that with tremendous confidence to the full market the next year. You are seeing that pattern, and that has been what we've learned has worked for us.
All right. I'm excited to try some of it.
I brought you a few in the back.
Yes. All right. Spring shelf resets. I'm curious to hear. I think, you know, your shipments were strong in Q1. I think you suggested maybe a little bit pressure on Q2 shipments potentially. I'm just trying to think through the phasing of that and how do I think about that in the context of spring resets or shelf space this year.
Maybe I can share a little bit on the spring resets. Girish Satya can talk about the phasing of our growth expectations and what plays into that. Last year was a big step change in distribution with national and Walmart. Which I mentioned. We also increased our space by 30% in a major grocery operator, Albertsons.
Okay.
Albertsons, again, in 2026, will increase Zevia space more. In part, that's because the entire category is growing, and in part it's because our velocities are accelerating. The learning is when you set the shelf properly for Zevia is incremental to your growth. We're continuing to take that story to other retailers, and we'll see improved spring sets across Kroger, and the other ones that I mentioned in prepared remarks were H-E-B and Publix, but there are more. We're bullish on just continuing to chip away at same-store distribution increases. Both through incrementality from innovation and through insights-based selling that gets us up to that vertical brand block and eye level. That is part of what will contribute to our growth for the balance of the year, although our eye is largely on velocity. Girish maybe you could talk about the phasing a little bit.
Yeah. I think just coming into the year, we knew Q1 and Q3 were gonna be. Sort of the big quarters, and then Q2, or Q2 and Q4 were gonna have some sort of headwinds. I think again, we, the discontinuation of the tea line. T he lapping of some of the one-time sort of fill, pipeline fill from last year, and then just our shifting promotional calendar, and shifting club rotations are really gonna drive some of that volatility, you know, quarter-over-quarter. Generally speaking, I think we're seeing a lot of strength in the base business, as we alluded to earlier. I think although there are some shifts, which are normal, I don't think it's anything to, you know. It's not anything that we're concerned about.
Yeah, it's just timing and alignment. Okay. On your Q1 call, you also talked about passing through a price increase, but no further plans for pricing, I believe. Maybe remind us of the pricing that you're expecting this year versus, you know, your approach in prior years and just the cadence of that.
Yeah. I think we're, you know, really laser focused on the consumer. Really trying to understand, you know, how we all see the same things, right?
Yeah.
We all see this K-shaped economy, and we know we have a very broad consumer base. We want to ensure that we're delivering as much value as we can to the consumer. As a reminder, we actually did not take price last year. We passed through a moderate price increase earlier this year, primarily to offset some of the headwinds that not only we experienced last year but also knew we were gonna experience this year as it pertains to aluminum.
That being said, you know, again, we're really trying to maintain that sort of affordability angle of our value proposition. You know, as Amy alluded to, we're priced at a slight premium to conventional soda, but at a significant discount to the rest of the Modern Soda sort of competitive set. We think that's a, you know, we think that's an advantage, especially today. Given that we're also a multi-pack, you know, home stocking brand, which again, all very unique and sort of can play into that sort of long-term, sort of long-term moat for the brand. Again, from a pricing standpoint, I think we're comfortable with sort of where we are right now. I don't know that we're, you know, gonna sort of pass through a second price increase. It's probably pretty unlikely. Again, we'll reevaluate that as the year goes on.
Okay. What about package innovation? I'm thinking of RGM or price pack architecture. You know, other ways of maybe if you need that to offset some of the headwinds, which we'll talk about, you know?
Sure.
Yeah.
Go ahead. No, go ahead
Yeah, no, I was gonna say there's a ton, there's still a ton of opportunity i n that regard. Meaning, you know, there's obviously some opportunity for us to continue to find incremental cost out opportunities. That being said, there's also incremental opportunity to drive, you know, more favorable package mixes as well, which can help offset some of those, whether that's mixing, you know, further mixing into singles. You know, our energy portfolio highly accretive. Certainly, playing with, you know, different, price, you know, different pack sizes will allow us to sort of offset and mitigate some of those pressures.
Okay. Wanted to switch gears a little bit, just kind of go back to the club channel b ecause you did talk about this on your call in terms of the National Rotation Program at Costco, which, you know, really has given you access to new markets, consumers. What else have you seen with this program, and do you expect it to result in additional rotations or maybe permanent, you know, new distribution?
Those would be the two great outcomes, right?
Yeah
We probably in the early days got into club too early. We are now establishing a healthy and sustainable approach to club, you know, from a pricing and flavor mix and pack size and everything. We had a national rotation, meaning 100% of outlets in January. What that helped to do is not only kind of confirm, you know, put us at the front of store and confirm strong velocities in our existing footprint, but open the door to exactly what you said, which would be incremental rotations in new regions. Permanency, so new, permanent item status in a number of regions and/or a national rotation. There is some club in our presumed outlook or some club presumed in our outlook. Incremental club distribution would be upside on the current guide.
Have you quantified, I guess I could look into this, what % of your portfolio is in club?
We haven't We haven't. It's not a major one, but you know its club is strategically club is a sort of a treasure hunt.
Yeah.
It's a place to find new consumers and drive trial, and that's really why we're focused there. Of course, volume helps bring scale and profitability to the channel. Right now it's not a major driver of the business from a mix standpoint.
To your point earlier, you see further opportunities within club?
Definitely
like whether it's at other retailers like Sam's.
That's right. We, upside on club for us is incremental Costco. Sam's Club is white space for us. BJ's Wholesale Club. There's incrementality to be had at BJ's Wholesale Club, and then Restaurant Depot and Jetro.
Okay. Food channel.
Yeah.
You've been making some nice distribution gains, and especially you mentioned Albertsons. What percentage of your business in the food channel or is in the food channel and how much more growth do you see there by channel?
Yeah. We haven't broken down channel splits, but food is a top channel for us. It continues to grow. we set the shelves properly and have a full mix of the assortment, we gain share. This is a great story because for the retailer, it's incremental, and for us, we continue to help support user base growth. We have same store distribution growth opportunities. We have ACV or SKU distribution growth opportunities in club, and then we really believe that the marketing, packaging, and taste improvements will drive velocity acceleration. Those are really the three opportunities to drive further growth out of food. We're pretty bullish on food, actually.
All right. Anything else that I didn't ask about as it relates to channel mix? You know, 'cause I Food service and, you know.
Yeah, I think the next frontier is singles for us.
Most beverages are built through singles d riving trial, and then you move people up to multi-packs. Zevia did it backwards. We're a multi-pack brand. We're a home stocking brand. We sort of super serve our super fan. Now our opportunity with this new packaging. Is to finally really drive singles, right? That can be in grocery. It can be in natural, which often operates a bit like a deli, but to your point, the white space is food service and convenience. When the category is broadly ready for convenience. Convenience channel is ready for the category, we will be there, and we'll build that in a steady way. In the meantime, food service is a great place to drive trial.
You've made progress within the C-store channel. You're there.
Yeah. We have some regional pilots.
Yeah.
We're there. We have some learnings. It's just really a matter of change that fits the brand. Meaning who is their shopper and are they looking yet for a better-for-you product? We think that over time, kind of next generation, that'll be 100% of convenience stores, but it'll take some time to get there.
Yeah. All right, now I wanna pivot to the fun topic.
Sure.
From the FNO. Gross margins and costs. You know, your gross margins were down in Q1. You expect margins to be under some, you know, pressure this year as most do. You know, given some higher costs from whether it's aluminum, fuel increases, can you talk a little bit about some of the levers you have to pull in the near term to offset the impact? Then also curious as we're talking about all this, where do you source aluminum, you know, from? Have you broken out what percentage of COGS? No.
Yeah. I guess there's a few questions in there. I'll try to unpack them. We haven't, like everyone else, we're seeing, you know, tremendous sort of inflationary input cost environment. As a reminder, you know, we've taken $20 million out of the cost structure. We see room to take another incremental $3 million-$5 million, you know, towards the end of the year, maybe really the beginning of 2027. We've largely found opportunities in COGS and in selling, and transportation expenses is fundamentally where we've taken the majority of the expenses out. There'll continue to be opportunities there. I think in the short run, you know, for a business our size, it is t here aren't a lot of levers that we have to pull, you know, given we have an asset light model.
We really leverage the aluminum purchasing contracts and aluminum purchasing practices of our co-manufacturing partners, we continue to work with them. As we talked about earlier, you know, the levers really are around price pack architecture, around, you know, penetration into, you know, singles and then driving, you know, more penetration into our energy drink business, which has very, you know, high margins. Those are some of the levers we have to play with, and I think generally speaking, you know, we've made a lot of progress on the cost out. You know, some of that is just we're dealing with the same transitory, you know, headwinds that everybody else is dealing with.
Okay. Some of the cost savings, was that already planned, or was that anything that you were able to pull forward, you know, some of these initiatives?
Yeah
probably other opportunities?
I mean, I think it's sort of an ongoing you know, exercise where the $20 million, as a reminder, you know, will be completed this quarter, so that sort of completes the sort of initial transformation journey that we talked about, you know, two years ago. There will be the three to five is probably what we pulled forward. From 2027 into sort of end of 2026, given some of the incremental headwinds we're seeing.
Your gross margins in Q1 were 48.4%.
Correct.
What do you think is a realistic, you know, gross margin over the, I don't know, medium, long term? For your business?
I'd say long term, yeah. No, it's a great question. Long term, this should be a business that's sort of mid-fifties gross margin. you know, we would've been in the low fifties. Setting aside all of the, you know, tariff, fuel impacts. You know, I think we're on that path, and we're on that journey to get there. How will we get there? Again, it's mixing into singles, you know, driving higher mix into energy. Obviously, don't we price opportunities, you know, over time we see price opportunity, and then with more scale we'll be able to drive, more efficiencies. The path is clear. We just have to continue to sort of, go down it.
I'm looking at the clock.
Yeah.
I wanna spend a couple of minutes on energy, 'cause you've touched on this.
Sure.
Because clearly my background, and we've seen this category growth, which has been incredible. What is your approach to the energy category?
I think every time we've talked about this. I've nodded and acknowledged.
I know. I know.
That we have a nice small energy drink business.
Thank you.
Now we're ready to get after it. What do I mean by that? We have truly been through a very specific and disciplined and well-implemented transformation program, and now we stand on a really solid foundation, you know, with a path to profitability and a more efficient operation. That gives us organizational bandwidth to turn our focus to what now I think the consumer is catching up to, which is the overlap between those that would choose to drink an energy drink and are looking for a clean label product. That overlap did not exist before, right. There's a mainstream, you know it well.
The mainstream energy drink category. There's, you know, the last 5-10 years, fitness, energy, which has really exploded. Those are not necessarily what I'll call clean label products. For those that are seeking to avoid artificial ingredients, but want the benefit of an energy drink, we think we're proverbially skating to where the puck is going, and we're actually really excited about our energy drink business. It's profitable, it's healthy and growing in the natural channel and in e-commerce. With sort of concepting a marketing plan and an expansion plan around that, more to come in the coming quarters to talk about 2027 and beyond, but that's a material next revenue source for us. That would really be complementary to our margins.
Yeah, just 'cause you touched on-
To our user base.
Not only that, but top line and then margin and profit. Yeah, okay.
Yeah, all the way down
Yeah.
It's a very attractive category, as you well know.
Yes. No, exactly. Speaking of profitability, I know we've talked about this in the past, but, you know, EBITDA, you know, profitability, what is the end game, or when do you expect to be able to kind of cross the line of becoming profitable?
Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, ultimately, if you were to sort of strip away the fuel and aluminum impact. I mean, we would be in the mid-single digits, you know, this year. Of course, there's some unforeseen Uncontrollable events. We do see those as transitory. Fuel will eventually come back in line. Although this year will be a bit of a challenge, but, you know, as a reminder, you know, on a trailing 12-month basis, we're basically EBITDA neutral.
Yeah.
You know, we're at that cusp, right? Really, it's about underpinning, you know, the business, our very strong unit economics as we continue to prioritize investment and continue to prioritize, you know, accelerating top line growth. You know, we will get there. You know, I think it's, although we thought we'd be there this year, it's, you know, probably just gets pushed.
You're not alone, but yeah.
It gets pushed by a year, but generally speaking, you know, we're very confident that that will happen, and it's just gonna, you know, take a little longer than we had anticipated.
Well, it sounds like you have a lot of, you know, green shoots this year and then really the setup, you know, for 2027. Kind of heading into the year from a position of strength.
Yeah. Yeah.
with everything that you just touched on.
We can say that with confidence now.
Yes. Good to hear. Okay, the final minute.
Sure.
What do you, and I think I always ask you this, but I'm curious to hear what you think investors might be missing in terms of, you know, your performance and whether it's the stock, you know?
You know, this is a business that answers the tension in one of the largest categories in all of CPG, which is carbonated soft drinks. When we solve the problem, which is the tension between health and taste, great tasting product that's healthy. With 5% household penetration, now a stable foundation, increasing distribution, really strong package communication refresh, improved taste, and a rapid pipeline of innovation. What I'm excited about demonstrating in the back half of this year is that when we're able to invest in marketing on that foundation that I just described, we're going to start accelerating velocities and step-changing the user base.
While I don't necessarily sit here and tell you that this will be an 80 or 85% household penetration brand, today it's around five. I can see it being eight and 10 and 15 and 20, and I really see such a massive opportunity for this brand as really the perfect solution to the problem that carbonated soft drinks has with the next generation. It's a long-term play. Girish is demonstrating where we're gonna, how we're gonna get there in the near term as well, but I think the opportunity is probably much larger than people would see at first glance.
Okay. Perfect.
Thank you very much, Bonnie, and thanks for having us.
Yeah. Thanks, Bonnie.
All right. Take care.