Frerichs: Anheuser-Busch Vetoed Black Rifle Coffee Deal as Too Controversial
Anson Frerichs · Ex-Bud Light President: The Truth Behind the Brand’s Collapse · Joe Lonsdale · Feb 21, 2025 · at 21:34
Former Anheuser-Busch president Anson Frerichs recounts internal corporate politics prior to his departure to co-found Strive Asset Management.
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“I tried to do a partnership with Black Rifle Coffee Company when I was at Anheuser-Busch. This made all the sense in the world. I mean, the guy who's drinking a six pack of Budweiser at night is a lot of times drinking Black Rifle Coffee in the morning. And, but in the 20, 21, 20, 22 time period, I had the whole business model of the whole case. Black rifle had grown from seventy million to 300 some odd million of revenue. They need a distribution partner to take their new 16 ounce can coffee into Walmart Kroger seven 11. So we were going to make a bunch of money doing that. And then all of a sudden our external affairs team based in New York City said, no, we can't do this partnership. It's too controversial.”
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