Fleet Feet Brings Athletic Brewing Company to Stores

Fleet Feet is tapping into a new market (yes, pun intended) with Athletic Brewing Company, a brewer of non-alcoholic beer.

The brewer will sell its Run Wild and Upside Dawn flagship brews in three markets across the U.S., targeting runners in the Austin, TX, Delray Beach, FL, and Sacramento, CA, stores.

The companies will promote the partnership through local and in-store activities, including fun runs and happy hour events with product samples. Consumers will also be able to purchase single cans and six-packs at the Fleet Feet stores.

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"From pub runs to beer miles, there's an undeniable cultural connection between running and beer," said Joey Pointer, president and CEO of Fleet Feet, who noted that the partnership provides it with another opportunity to broaden the retailer’s appeal to consumers.

Fleet Feet operates through a franchisor model, which means adopting a hyper-local business model is a priority, according to Fleet Feet COO Jason Jabaut in a recent interview with RIS News. In addition to holding local events, the retailer is also experimenting with op-tin advertising programs for its franchisees that allow for this hyper-local approach.

The company, which operates 186 stores across the U.S., is also building out its mobile app to provide their loyalty members with inventory information, event details and content.

For its part, Bill Shufelt, Athletic Brewing founder, said the company is excited to brings it product to runners, whom he said were among the first consumers to embrace the non-alcoholic beverage. Launched in 2018, the company said it’s holds nearly half of the non-alcoholic craft beer category, and it grew nearly 500% year over year in 2020 for the second year in a row.