Only Spider-Man could swing this high, this fast. Bero, the non-alcoholic beer brand co-founded by actor Tom Holland and consumer packaged goods veteran John Herman is approaching eight figures in revenue in its first year on shelves.
The New York City-based company, which launched online in October 2024, expanded into retailers just in time for Dry January. Momentum has not slowed. The brand has scaled into more than 4,000 locations, including chains such as Target, Total Wine, Sprouts, and Erewhon; specialty retailers such as Pop Up Grocer; and members-only clubs such as Soho House and Ludlow House. Bero has also ramped up its international presence with availability in the United Kingdom and a new brewery in Belgium set to open next month.
This rapid trajectory has been “pretty surreal,” even for Herman, who says the past 12 months of scaling the business into the top-selling non-alcoholic beer brand on Amazon and the second most-popular in Target, behind Athletic Brewing, has been a blur. The CEO says the biggest factor holding Bero back from growing even faster is the need to build out the booze-free category further and establish the sector as the growing slice of an overall alcohol industry in decline, rather than a passing trend or niche offering.
“This isn’t just a fad that’s going to fade away,” says Herman, who brushes off any concerns about a bubble in the booze-free space. “I don’t think that tidal wave has gotten any smaller. In fact, I think it’s actually growing.”
That observation is more than just anecdotal. Booze-free beer has become the undisputed leader of the non-alcoholic space, which is forecast to become a $5-billion business in the U.S. alone over the next three years, according to IWSR, a London-based market research firm that provides data on the global drinks industry. Beer’s share of that expanding market keeps growing. From January through August, non-alcoholic beer sales in the U.S. increased by 23 percent and amounted for 87 percent of all non-alcoholic purchases, according to the Beer Institute, a national trade association representing more than 7,600 brewers.
Herman sees this explosion of booze-free beer as part of the longevity boom, which has attracted high-profile investors, such as Daniel Lubetzky and Venus Williams. That’s why other entrepreneurially minded celebrities—including John Mulaney, Charlie Sheen, and George Clooney—have joined in. To stand out in that increasingly star-studded field, Bero has focused on reaching new customers who may not have considered non-alcoholic beer before, rather than stealing market share.
“If we’re just taking away from Athletic [Brewing Company], we’re failing,” says Herman, who adds that more than 80 percent of Bero customers drink alcohol. “Ultimately, the category needs to grow and scale for it to matter to retailers, distributors, and consumers.”
To do that, Bero has expanded its team from eight to 30 people and made sizable investments in sales and marketing, including hiring a full-time creative director. In June, Jacopo Maria Cinti joined from the world of fashion, having previously worked with luxury-brand clients, such as Prada, Gucci, Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Goop, and BMW, and he has brought that old world, heritage mentality with him. Herman says the Bero vision board for world building includes Ralph Lauren and Brunello Cucinelli.
That’s why the brand has hosted events at Wimbledon and partnered with Aston Martin, Robert Downey Jr. and Craig Dubitsky’s coffee brand Happy, and Chase Sapphire, which has stocked Bero in its airport lounges and pop-up lounges at the U.S. Open and Sundance Film Festival.
“Partnerships are amazing if they’re done the right way,” says Herman. “But if it doesn’t come off authentically—especially in this world, where seemingly every partnership has been done—I think the consumer will see right through it.”
His team uses these events as a flywheel, polling customers for feedback and capturing photos and videos for social media. So far, TikTok and Instagram, where Holland has more than 63-million followers, have been the biggest drivers of engagement and growth, but the company is increasingly looking towards YouTube and Reddit.
The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.