Following a tough year, 2021 hasn’t had the most auspicious beginning. Will things improve? To better understand the economic outlook for the year ahead, we invited Rabobank’s Senior Markets Analyst, Christian Lawrence, and Rabobank’s Head of FX Strategy, Jane Foley, to discuss markets, the economy, and what a new US administration could mean for beverage companies.

Luckily for you, our last episode of 2020 is totally Covid-free. No mention of 'unprecedented times,' 'uncertainty,' or 'trying times,' and definitely no use of the phrase 'the new normal.' Steve, Jim, and Bourcard break down three stories that caught their attention and are (mostly) not Covid-19 related: Bang! and PepsiCo’s tumultuous first year of marriage, the growing investments in alcohol e-commerce, and what beverage M&A trends tell us about how companies are thinking about innovation.

This week we partnered with our sister podcast, Consumer Foods To Go, to discuss how bars, restaurants, and manufacturers have survived Covid-19 thus far and how quickly they can recover (fingers crossed) once the pandemic is over.

Listeners of Liquid Assets will love the work done by the team at Consumer Foods To Go. If you are interested in trends in retail, foodservice, or packaged foods, you can subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app.

We tour the world of non-alcoholic spirits and cocktails through the eyes of the people who built its most recognizable and pioneering brands. Ben Branson, CEO and founder of Seedlip, and Claire Warner, co-founder of Aecorn, discuss their brands, how the industry should approach the non-alcoholic spirits category, and their partnership with Diageo.

A few months back, the outlook for specialty coffee was dire. Industry leaders feared that more than half of the coffee shops in the US would permanently close. To our delight and surprise, small coffee shops and roasters have proved far more resilient. Peter Giuliano, Chief Research Officer for the Specialty Coffee Association, shares how coffee shops have pivoted and become more digital and community-focused to not only survive but thrive in the current environment. We also discuss how the shift to at-home coffee consumption could reshape the industry long term, particularly the kind of coffee available at your local grocery store.

Thirsty for growth, beverage companies are shrugging off the yoke of tradition in search of greener pastures. Whether invading adjacent categories or creating new ones, big companies are pouring investment into new spaces where their skills and distribution offer them a distinct advantage. In this episode, we take a look at these ‘white spaces’ from four different angles.

Social media is starting to blur the lines between marketing and e-commerce. Rachel Tipograph, a leader in the digital marketing world and CEO of MikMak, helps us breakdown the basics: what social commerce is, why it's important to your business, and how you can use it to grow your brands.

Liquid Assets gets newsy! Instead of covering one topic this week, we help you catch up on some of the biggest news from recent weeks – accompanied by our expert commentary, of course. Later, we spend some time with Rabobank senior analyst Sudip Sinha on his playbook for capturing attention and sales from consumers stuck at home.

Just days before pubs were set to reopen in the UK, we caught up with Steve Alton from the British Institute of Innkeeping. As CEO of the leading membership organization supporting on-trade establishments in the UK, Steve has a unique perspective on the well-being of the UK pub scene and how it is changing as a consequence of Covid-19. We talk about the role of the pub, digital transformations in hospitality, the impact on big beer vs. craft, and more. It’s bigger than just a UK story and will no doubt resonate with operators in the US, Europe, and the rest of the world.

Tom Cole is CEO of RNDC, one of the largest distributors in the United States. Tom came on the show to discuss how his company is helping bars and restaurants navigate the reopening process, how distributors are supporting growth of e-commerce, and the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the wholesaler business (hint: more consolidation). This episode was recorded on June 17th.