Bethenny Frankel sold her Skinny Girl cocktail brand!
On recent episodes of Bethenny Ever After, we’ve witnesses the former Real Houewife, and brand machine Bethenny Frankel stress out over the fact that the manufacturer of her low-calorie pre-mixed low-calorie margarita isn’t shipping out enough product to stores to meet the demand that she’s created through her reality shows, books and media coverage.
On camera, she asks her new husband Jason Hoppy to step in and find out why this is happening, and he learns that while they only produced 100,000 cases for 2010, they were projecting to produce 1 million for 2011! Wowza.
The true problem with Bethenny’s product not being able to meet the demand she created probably has to do with the fact that she’s creating a pretty formidable empire with just a few people. It’s basically just Bethenny, her long-suffering assistant Julie, the newest addition; her husband Jason Hoppy. (Pretty boy assistant Max apparently didn’t work out because he wasn’t doing much.)
With all the struggling to keep up, Bethenny ultimately sold her Skinny Girl cockatil brand to Fortune Brands Inc’s spirits company Beam Global Spirits & Wine.
Bethenny has said”very difficult decision” but ultimately she “wanted big muscle behind it and “wanted it now”.
Bill Newlands, Beam Global’s President North America, is stoked! His comments about the acquisition:
“We’re thrilled to add Skinnygirl to our Beam Global Spirits portfolio.Skinnygirl is an innovative premium brand that’s growing fast in a rapidly expanding segment. In just the past year, Skinnygirl has built strong consumer equity and momentum, particularly among women seeking convenient, low-calorie premium cocktails. We believe our strong sales and distribution organization will build on this success by bringing Skinnygirl to more consumers and growing this high-quality brand from coast to coast. We’re also excited that Skinnygirl offers an excellent platform for further innovation.”
Bethenny’s latest book, A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life, comes out tomorrow, March 22, 2010. Click here to order your copy now on Amazon.
