The team behind two European brands – Thomas Henry mixers and Undone non-alc wine and spirits – are targeting expansion in the US.
Eighteen months ago, Ralf Huep, the German investor who is the majority shareholder of Thomas Henry, acquired a majority stake in Undone.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Thomas Henry has built a presence in 60 markets in Europe and Asia. Similarly, Undone, with its range of non-alc spirits, wine and RTDs, is in 20 countries, again mostly in Europe and Asia.
Sean O’Rourke, who holds the roles of US partner and head of growth for Thomas Henry and Undone, sat down with Just Drinks to discuss the brands’ plans to crack the US, competing with UK mixer brand Fever-Tree and demand for non-alc spirits Stateside.
“The US is the number one drinks market in the world,” O’Rourke says. “It was just a matter of when, not if. With Thomas Henry having such a strong presence in Europe, it was all the right timing for both brands to now take it over to the US.”
Dean Best (DB): The brands are initially targeting nine states (including California and New Jersey), plus Washington, DC.
Sean O’Rourke (SO): We’ll have 15 by September and then I think we’ll have 20 to 25 by the end of the year. Our goal was 35 by the end of 2026 and then it’s close to 50, full national distribution, by the end of 2027. It’s a very well financed and very aggressive plan. Starting in the north-east is where a lot of us are based, so that had a lot of the strategy. Beyond that, another big part of it [for Thomas Henry] was Fever-Tree had the minority investment by Molson Coors. A big driver for that investment was they moved their business over to Molson Coors. We did make the decision to build Thomas Henry in more independent distribution, go state by state.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataA majority of Fever-Tree’s business was with Southern [Glazer’s] but where it wasn’t – New Jersey with Fedway, Badger in Wisconsin, the wine merchants Hayden Beverage in Idaho – there’s a lot of great homes that lost Fever-Tree so that drove a little bit of the decision-making to be a solution for these folks and really be aggressive and backfill business. From there, it’s filling out core markets, so we’ll do the East Coast, we’ll get to the West Coast and then some of the core markets in central like Illinois and Texas, which are both coming on by September. We’ll fill everything else out from there.
DB: Is one brand a priority over the other in your in terms of investment or focus?
SO: It’s literally dollar for dollar, both brands putting in equal investment. With the non-alcoholic movement and the fact that Thomas Henry and Undone make two- and three-ingredient non-alcoholic cocktails really easy, they sell to all the same places. It’s been really natural to go to market together but they certainly have their own lives, too. You’ll see some crossover on some of our digital marketing campaigns, some of our e-commerce offerings, where we bundle the brands together but you’ll see both brands have their own independent voice and then, behind the scenes, we’re powering them as one unit.
DB: When would customers be set to see either product in bars or in stores?
SO: I was just on a call before we joined about some new cocktail menu placements we got in Illinois this week. You’ll start to see it at bars and restaurants and independent retailers imminently. By this year, it’ll be slowly but surely getting into the cocktail menu restructurings as they come up. Going into next year, I don’t want to say the brands are going to be ubiquitous, we’re still early but they’ll be much more prevalent and have a much broader reach in our core markets.
DB: What bigger accounts are you eyeing in terms of retail and the on-trade?
SO: There’s a capability and investment to go to chains but a core DNA to be patient and build an independent [customer]. You’ll mostly see us in independent on-premise for probably the first year or two. Then the hard thing is making the decisions on what’s the right account for national chains and, in addition to national chains, I’ll throw in control states. PLCB [Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board] has reached out to us, Idaho has reached out to us and Target has been really strong and aggressive in building out non-alcoholic sets. The interest has been there. It’s just being patient. I’d rather open up 100 independents and merchandise them super well then maybe jump right into, you know, Target. But the interest is there. The category is super, super hot.
DB: Are the products made in Europe?
SO: As of now, all of our products are still produced in Germany and we’re importing into the US but we’re slowly developing co-manufacturing here. Today, our blends for our Undone RTDs are finished, so we’re about to do canning tomorrow. Our RTDs are the first thing we’re producing here in the US and then, by probably 12 months from today, we’ll have full co-manufacturing for both brands here. We’re doing a lot of our RFPs and research.
DB: Is that being sped up because of the uncertainty around tariffs?
SO: I guess the truth is, yes, but we had already been talking to co-manufacturers and that was already part of the strategy. For Undone, we always had the 2026 goal in place and we knew we were going to do our RTDs from the start here because it’s expensive and not very green to be shipping cans across the world. Thomas Henry’s initial plan was maybe 2027 to have it but getting on the same path as us was definitely part of the tariff consideration. We’re not passing along any of the tariff spends to our consumer. We held price. When we have co-manufacturing here, it’s not going to end up in a lower price for the consumer. It’ll just make our margins more whole.
DB: What impact does Molson Coors investing in Fever-Tree have on Thomas Henry?
SO: It was exciting for us for multiple reasons. One, it’s validating that the category is of interest for M&A. I think it also validated — we had already made this; we were in the middle of building out this US plan when that happened. It also was just more illuminating, like, ‘Yes, you build a strong drinks brand in America, that’s really where the consumer is [and] that’s really what it takes to get acquisitions if that’s the goal down the line, so, okay, Fever-Tree just proved it can happen.’ And then it’s been a really great blessing with wholesalers and retailers. It’s been a great opportunity for us to move fast with both retailers and wholesalers.
DB: On Undone, how would you describe the market in the US for non-alcoholic spirits?
SO: ANA [the adult non-alcoholic beverage market] was nothing a few years ago. It’s already surpassed $1bn here in the US. It’s supposed to be a $5bn market by 2028 and an $11bn market by 2030, so the next five years in ANA is going to be wild.
The next five years in ANA is going to be wild.
Looking at crystal balls, you are going to start to see what we call mimics – Undone’s a mimic, trying to taste like a spirit – and then there will be either you can call them ‘alts’, you can call them functional beverages. There’s not a lot of aligned terminology yet. It’ll be really interesting to see how the category grows and what the consumer gravitates to – mimics or functional beverages by category: beer, wine, RTDs and spirits. I think it’s going to be at least 2% of the size of the US spirits market and I think it’ll be here forever, right? I don’t think it’s a fad.
What I do think is there’s obviously going to be a bubble of brands as we’re seeing right now in whiskey and craft. The craft spirits movement started 15-plus years ago and it’s just really having its bubble burst and we’re losing some brands. I think it’s going to happen much quicker in non-alcoholic. These days, it’s so easy to launch a product [but] people don’t understand how expensive the drinks market is, whether it’s alcoholic or not. CPG and drinks is the most expensive category to brand build in, between building out a team, marketing, all the trade spends that come with going into chain retail. A lot of people are unprepared for that. I think you’re going to see some great brands that don’t make it because they didn’t budget accordingly.
DB: How do you best ensure that Undone isn’t one of those brands that will burst?
SO: Being well-financed is a big part of it. We have a strong budget and we’re building an aggressive plan but it’s thoughtful. I’m not going to jump into a chain unless I’m sure that it’s going to pull off the shelf. We’re going to focus and build in on-premise and independent liquor store retail first and so I think that’s going to be helpful.
Two, our pricing is where the consumer wants it to be and so I think that’ll help us. I think the packaging is very clear, the messaging is very clear. Then, from a focus standpoint, we do have a broad portfolio, but, in time, we’re going to focus our energies and our marketing dollars with what the consumer is pulling. The beauty of having your own e-commerce is you see that consumer data. If we have to optimise our portfolio, we have that mindset and understanding. I think just being patient, being thoughtful, studying the category.
DB: There’s been a lot of debate about moderation and Gen Z’s consumption of alcohol. Given that Gen Z has been held up as one of the drivers behind demand for alternatives to alcohol, how do you see consumer demand developing? What types of consumers are you going to be targeting?
SO: It’s always hard to go broad but, right now, Millennials are really driving the dollars of ANA. You hear all the buzz of Gen Z but I think it’s moderating Millennials who are the highest percentage of dollars right now. I think young Millennials and older Gen Zs are – a couple hyper-segmented categories – is where we’re putting our early dollars.
Gen Z is going to drink alcohol dollar-wise the same amount as we do
What’s really going to have to happen for us and other brands is you have to own your consumer, be authentic and get in with them. Broad answer, I think ANA is for everybody. I think everybody is going to be drinking it. It’s going to be part of the ritual and I think it’s more just about moderating than it is anything else, just being more mindful, like at work events and other things. I think this is going to be a global movement, it’s going to be for moderation but I think everybody’s going to be in it.
Gen Z is going to drink alcohol dollar-wise the same amount as we do. We’ve seen it for the last 15 years: I don’t think premiumisation is going to stop and so I do think dollars and spirits will stay strong but that’s going to continue to be less and less consumption of spirits. You’re paying and having a few less drinks and drinking nicer stuff. I think it’s going to be that way in ANA, too.
I just look at the adult beverage market now: I don’t think any consumption is going to stop. I’m going to pull ANA into that. I’m going to pull Delta-9 here in the US into that. Consumers are going to drink and go out and drink a lot. It’s just now there’s these two huge new categories that’ll steal share from spirits but they’ll also steal share from soft drinks and soda.
DB: With the proliferation of different types of non-alc drinks, how does your team try to ensure that your products are bought again and again? It might be difficult to build that repeat purchase.
SO: Five years from now, what I say could be totally different, because functional takes over and all that. For now, I think that some of the brands that are marketing the loudest and doing really well like Ghia, De Soi et cetera, they are owning in that very niche, very functional, adaptogen segment. While I personally know about Lion’s Mane mushrooms and other things, the consumer still doesn’t. For us, I think there’s a lot of consumers on the sidelines, one because of messaging and two because of price and three because the availability isn’t at liquor stores where they’re buying.
We’re saying we are going with flavours. You look at our offerings on our RTDs: it’s piña colada, it’s paloma, it’s Italian spritz. Flavours that people are already drinking. We’re really pushing on that zebra stripe moment. We’re really positioning ourselves to be – I don’t want to say the NA for everybody – but really the NA for people who want to drink incredible brands, incredible cocktails, just without the alcohol some of the time. We’re positioning ourselves to be making great-tasting liquid from dealcoholised spirits, so it’s a really close comparison and you’re not losing any of that flavour and that experience. You’re just losing the intoxication. We’re going to mimic the best-performing cocktails and categories.
