With astonishing three-year revenue growth of +13,071%, non-alcoholic craft beer maker Athletic Brewing Company was ranked the 26th fastest growing private company in the country by Inc. Magazine.
“Being ranked No. 26 out of 5000 companies is truly an honor and something that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago,” founder and CEO Bill Shufelt said in a press release. “Nearly two-thirds of Americans do not drink or have less than one alcoholic beverage per week. From Day One, we’ve always believed that consumers want to enjoy great-tasting beer without the hangover, and that’s what drives us to continue expanding and innovating.”
Milford, Connecticut-headquartered Athletic makes its Inc. 5000 debut as the top beverage company and the No. 2 CPG brand on the magazine’s annual ranking of American businesses. The list measures three-year growth, and companies must have been generating revenue on or before March 31, 2018, to qualify.
Athletic’s +13,071% growth far surpasses the lists’ median growth of +230% and the food and beverage industry honorees’ median +250% growth. Of the 146 food and beverage brands on the list, only No. 5 HighKey – an Orlando, Florida-based better-for-you snack manufacturer – ranked higher, with +40,585% growth.
The food and beverage manufacturers on the Inc. 5000 created a combined 32,552 jobs and brought in $5.3 billion in revenue. More than half (76) are repeat honorees.
Shufelt and head brewer John Walker co-founded Athletic in 2017, an idea that germinated from Shufelt’s eschewing of alcohol in 2013, according to a feature Inc. published to accompany the list. The next year, the brewery produced 875 barrels of beer (about 12,000 cases), according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) New Brewer magazine. Athletic’s output has skyrocketed every year since. Last year, the brewery produced 104,000 barrels of beer, an increase of +177%, making it the country’s 27th largest craft brewery by volume, according to the BA.
To meet demand, Athletic opened its third production facility in June, which has the ability to brew more than 6 million cases (about 435,000 barrels) annually.
“2022 is off to an incredible start, and our beers will be distributed in all 50 states before the end of the year,” Shufelt said in the release. “Global non-alcoholic beer sales are forecasted to grow from $16 billion to more than $23 billion by 2025, and we’re proud to be leading that effort here in America, driving 40% of all non-alcoholic beer category growth in 2022.”
Athletic recently signed the final distribution contracts it needed to reach nationwide distribution:
- Alaska with The Odom Corporation,
- Arkansas with Southern Glazer’s,
- Hawaii with The Odom Corporation,
- Iowa with Doll Distributing and 7G Distributing,
- Utah with General Distributing.
Those launches are slated to take place in August and September.
Other beer, wine and spirits makers and adjacent companies on the Inc. 500 include:
- No. 321 Drake’s Organic Spirits
- No. 921 Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
- No. 1,363 contract brewer and co-packer Octopi
- No. 1,706 Scout & Cellar wines
- No. 1,913 Soto Sake
- No. 2,166 Bishop Cider
- No. 2,341 Island Brands USA
- No. 2,634 Mighty Swell Spiked Seltzer
- No. 2,692 Volio Imports
- No. 2,804 Riverbend Malt House
- No. 2,934 Waters Edge Wineries
- No. 3,222 Ole Smoky Distillery
- No. 3,393 North High Brewing
- No. 3,423 Black Button Distilling
- No. 3,782 Mast Landing Brewing
- No. 4,361 Mother Road Brewing.