Ex-Kraft veteran Mark Murray refocused Jones Soda on neglected channels and grew Q4 14%
After six quarters of decline and a stock down from $30 to 50 cents, new CEO Mark Murray cut costs, chased foodservice and clubs, and returned Jones to growth.
What was changed
Jones Soda, the 25-year-old Seattle craft soda maker known for flavors Big Soda wouldn't touch — Blue Bubblegum, Pineapple Cream, Strawberry Lime — and for bottle labels built from consumer-submitted photos, had fallen from a stock price near $30 in 2007 to 50 cents. The $32 million company was competing against Coca-Cola and PepsiCo at around $200 billion each while cutting-sugar trends reshaped its category. Customers, distributors and brokers told new management the same thing: a great company that had lost its way on innovation and brand investment.
Mark Murray — nearly 40 years at Campbell Soup and Kraft Foods, semi-retired — came in as a consultant in May 2020, became president in September, and added the CEO role in December at chairman Jamie Colbourne's request. He installed cost and management controls, a revised sales strategy focused on core products, and a three-year plan: a broker to pitch the top 200 restaurant chains (35–40 identified as winnable), entry into club channels like Costco and Sam's Club, pushing retailers from 2 SKUs to the top 5, and expansion into the South, Southeast and Northern California.
Spending was rebuilt around marketing partnerships — skateboarder Tony Hawk signed in May 2020 — and social and digital media, channels the company had never used before, instead of $40,000 trade-show booths and national advertising campaigns.
Early results: in the three quarters through Q4 2020 Jones increased sales and trimmed losses each quarter, with Q4 revenue up 14% to $2.5 million and losses narrowing from $930,000 to $918,000. When a reformulated lower-calorie root beer (180 to 100 calories) flopped in taste testing, Murray shut the project down — 'these are indulgent products and they should be treated like a treat.' ISS ESG research director Anthony Campagna called it a steep hill to breakeven, with nostalgia and distribution gains as the levers, and a possible acquisition target if the turnaround holds.
Why it worked
Distribution, not product, was the bottleneck: retailers stocked two of five core SKUs and whole regions had been neglected for years.
Foodservice and club channels diversify revenue into more profitable categories where Murray's 22 years of Kraft relationships gave him unusual standing.
The company 'doesn't have a lot of money,' so every dollar moved from booths and national campaigns to partnerships and digital — channels it had never used.
Taste beats trend: cutting calories broke the flavor that won blind tests, so Murray killed the low-calorie drink rather than chase the sugar panic with a worse product.
What can be applied
A niche brand grows back through distribution, not reformulation: deepen the channels and shelf slots it ignored instead of messing with the icon product.
Aftermath
Murray, four months into the CEO role at the article's April 2021 publication, kept the brand on its path: a novel flavor roughly every six months, mixer packs extending Jones beyond the soda aisle, and a CBD offering 'locked and loaded' pending FDA regulatory clarity. Campagna noted the outlook 'is not all sunshine and roses' but that continued improvement off a low base could make the craft soda maker attractive to an acquirer if Murray — whose task flummoxed prior CEOs — keeps the recovery going.