Not to scream, but America is quite literally about to see the seemingly endless tap of White Claw dry up sooner than California’s water supply. The company confirmed on Friday afternoon to CNN that it has been struggling hard to keep up with the outrageous demand on the product. 2019 has been a massive year for the hard seltzer industry, as consumers are becoming more interested in alcoholic beverages that are low in sugar and calories. White Claw, one of the major companies with a variety of hard seltzer flavors on the market, is among one of the most popular brands since going viral as a meme just a couple of months ago.
The company revealed to CNN on Friday that it can’t work fast enough to keep up with demand. White Claw is facing a nationwide shortage after the Labor Day weekend and will see a shortage for the foreseeable future, as the company did not provide an estimated date for when its stock would return to normal. “We are working around the clock to increase supply given the rapid growth in consumer demand,” said the company’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sanjiv Gajiwala. The company also stated that it’s popularity is wildly unexpected, at least to the degree that it’s become a sensation.
White Claw’s Massive Growth Is Every Startups Dream
The fairytale of the hard seltzer industry comes as no surprise. Americans are hyper-focused on dieting, something that’s been wildly apparent for the last several decades. Americans also like binge drinking, something that will become apparent upon entry of any bar in the country on a Saturday night after midnight. Keeping up with a diet and binge drinking don’t really go hand in hand, unless of course consumers could binge drink without the guilt that comes with consuming too many calories, carbs, or sugar.
Enter hard seltzer, the low calorie, low carb, and low sugar alternative to drinking. While White Claw may be at the forefront of the industry, the hard seltzer boom has all but forced other alcoholic beverage companies to abandon their trades in beer or liquor and turn toward hard seltzer themselves. Companies like Boston Beer and Anheuser-Busch, which owns hard seltzer brand Bon&Viv as well as Natural Light, which also produces beer, are among just a few of the companies to begin shifting their focus on drawing in consumers that would otherwise avoid drinking based on sugar and calorie content.
White Claw, however, has reported massive growth since launching in 2016. The company went virtually unnoticed in its first couple of years, but saw a massive growth in sales by the summer of 2018. By spring 2019, White Claw had become a viral sensation and its sales boosted over 200% throughout July. The company reported that on July 4 2019, it had seen a growth in sales of 283% from the previous year, according to Nielsen.
