“Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Beverage Retailer’s Financial Struggles Revealed”

According to The Street, When you build a business around a trend, you run the risk that tastes change or the trend turns out to be a fad. Americans, it turned out, liked self-serve frozen yogurt only so much, leaving many entrepreneurs who jumped on that trend holding the bag when demand proved soft. Similarly, while plant-based meat has its fans, most fast-food efforts to offer such options have failed to gain traction.

This principle also applied when numerous chains began to offer gluten-free products. Although some consumers follow gluten-free diets, they may not be seeking out gluten-free options at establishments like Dunkin’. These examples illustrate that a trend doesn’t necessarily guarantee a sustainable business model. Unfortunately, this logic also applies to the nonalcoholic beer-and-wine market, as evidenced by the recent struggles of Boisson, a retail chain focused on nonalcoholic beverages that has closed its retail locations and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Boisson Closes Retail Stores Amid Bankruptcy Filing

Reports indicate that while the number of consumers interested in enjoying beer, wine, and cocktails without alcohol has increased, Boisson aimed to capitalize on this trend with its tagline, “we’re evolving the way the world drinks.” The company stated, “Every day, more of us are looking at labels, researching ingredients, and bringing mindfulness to the food we put in our bodies. Brilliant advances in alcoholic alternatives are helping more of us find healthier alternatives to alcohol.”

Boisson operated both an e-commerce platform and five retail stores located in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami. However, all five of those physical locations have now closed as part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

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Company founder Nicholas Bodkins confirmed the decision on his LinkedIn page, stating, “Boisson’s Board of Directors has determined that entering into a restructuring process for the company to shift its operational focus is in the best interests of its creditors and other stakeholders.” This restructuring includes the difficult decision to close all retail locations.

Future Plans for Boisson

Despite the setbacks, Boisson hopes to continue its online operations, which are currently functioning normally. Bodkins expressed his belief that the company’s struggles do not reflect a decline in interest in nonalcoholic beverages. He stated, “First, our failure is not the NA category’s failure. No one should consider this anything other than what it is: a failed venture-backed startup that grew too quickly, made mistakes, and wasn’t able to find capital fast enough to continue to build three businesses at the same time—bricks-and-mortar retail, e-commerce, and wholesale import/distribution—which, in hindsight, proved to be impossibly hard to execute.”

Details surrounding the filing have yet to be disclosed, and the company has not provided information on how it will fund continued operations. Bodkins expressed his disappointment in not being able to deliver for the team he built, saying, “Ultimately, my biggest disappointment is not delivering for our team—both current and former. From our dedicated and knowledgeable retail associates and tenacious warehouse team to our wholesale, e-commerce, operations, and planning teams who dedicated every day to the magnitude of what we were trying to build.”