With the pandemic conditions impact on supply chains, contract packers have had to innovate in search of ways to meet trending demands while also adapting, improving and growing. 

NuZee Inc. (doing business as Coffee Blenders), Plano, Texas, and Farmer Bros. Co., Northlake, Texas, announced a strategic partnership under which Farmer Brothers will provide access to manufacturing capacity as NuZee continues to roll out new coffee and tea products in the United States. Under the agreement, NuZee may place up to 50 co-packing machines in Farmer Brothers' 500,000-square-foot, SQF-certified, zero waste facility in Northlake, Texas. 

The Bardstown Bourbon Co. (BBCo), Bardstown, Ky., announced that Grain & Barrel Spirits, the maker of pre-prohibition brand Chicken Cock Whiskey, has joined BBCo’s Collaborative Distilling Program. Grain & Barrel will work with BBCo to produce custom bourbon and whiskey for the Chicken Cock brand, which dates back to 1856. BBCo and Grain & Barrel concluded their first distillation of 616 barrels at the end of August.

Founded in 2013 by local entrepreneurs Pete and Vienna Barger, Southern Distilling Co., Statesville, N.C., offers a broad range of contract distilling services for domestic and foreign brand owners, distilleries and retailers including custom distilling, warehousing, and bottling/packaging services.

Cott Corp., Tampa, Fla., announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its traditional beverage manufacturing business — Cott Beverages — to Refresco, the Netherlands, for $1.25 billion. The transaction includes Cott's North America, United Kingdom and Mexico businesses and excludes the RCI International division and its associated concentrate facility as well as the Aimia Foods division.