When you build a business around a trend, you run the risk that tastes change or the trend turns out to be a fad. Americans, it turned out, only liked self-serve frozen yogurt so much and that left a lot of people who jumped on that trend holding the bag when demand proved soft.
In other cases, people have overestimated demand in areas that do have real followings. Plant-based meat, for example, has its fans, but most fast-food efforts to offer plant-based meat products have failed.
Related: After Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, retail chain may get lifeline
The same logic applied to when many chains decided to offer gluten-free products. In most cases, those efforts failed as while some people clearly eat a gluten-free diet, those people may not have been going to Dunkin’ any more than they wanted plant-based options from the chain.
These are real trends, but a trend does not necessarily support a business. The same appears to be true of the non-alcoholic beer and wine market. A retail chain built around the non-alcoholic beverage market, Boisson, has closed its retail locations and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
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Non-alcoholic beverage chain closes stores
In theory, there has been an increase in consumers who want the experience of drinking beer, wine, and cocktails without the alcohol. That’s a trend that Boisson, which used the tagline “we’re evolving the way the world drinks” tried to capitalize on.
“Every day, more of us are looking at labels. Researching ingredients. Bringing mindfulness to the food we put in our bodies.And like what we eat, what we drink is changing. Brilliant advances in alcoholic alternatives are helping more of us find healthier alternatives to alcohol. At Boisson, we bring the best non-alcoholic alternatives from around the world to you,” the company shared on its website.
The company operated an e-commerce business as well as five retail stores in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami. All five of those physical locations have been closed as part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
Company founder Nicholas Bodkin confirmed the decision on his LinkedIn page.
“Boisson’s Board of Directors has determined that entering into a restructuring process for the company to shift its operational focus is in the best interests of its creditors and other stakeholders. This and other difficult decisions have been made, including the decision to close all retail locations,” he shared.
Boisson hopes to continue
The non-alcoholic beverage company hopes to continue its online operations and they are currently operating normally.
“While this is certainly disappointing, taking these actions will allow the company the opportunity to put forth a restructuring plan aimed to focus on the wholesale distribution and e-commerce divisions, which continue to operate, accepting and fulfilling orders without interruption,” Bodkin wrote.
The Boisson founder does not believe that his company’s failure means that interest in non-alcoholic beverages has dimmed.
“First, our failure is not the NA category’s failure. No one should consider this anything other than what it is: a failed venture-backed startup that grew too quickly, made mistakes, and wasn’t able to find capital fast enough to continue to build three businesses at the same time (bricks and mortar retail, ecommerce, and wholesale import/distribution), which in hindsight, proved to be impossibly hard to execute,” he added.
Details of the filing are not yet available and the company has not shared any information as to how it will fund continued operations.
Bodkin was reflective in his post and noted that the company had served 250,000 customers.
“Ultimately, my biggest disappointment is not delivering for our team — both current and former. From our dedicated and knowledgeable retail associates and tenacious warehouse team, to our wholesale, ecommerce, operations, and planning teams who dedicated every day to the magnitude of what we were trying to build,” he added.
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