Los Angeles-based De La Calle is rolling out a Día de los Muertos limited-edition Spiced Pineapple Tepache can into its existing retail footprint of more than 8,000 locations nationwide, including Whole Foods Market. The LTO marks the brand's first season-specific SKU and is available online and in stores for a limited run tied to the holiday.
The Product
The LTO uses De La Calle's signature fermentation process — the same traditional method applied across its core lineup — to produce a tangy, effervescent spiced pineapple profile. The can carries Día de los Muertos artwork and is positioned as a shareable, occasion-specific expression of the brand's Mexican heritage. Tepache, a fermented pineapple beverage with pre-Columbian roots, has been gaining shelf presence in the natural and better-for-you beverage set, and seasonal formats are an increasingly common tactic for brands looking to drive incremental trial without permanently extending their SKU count.
Retail Context
For c-store buyers and category managers tracking the non-alcoholic, better-fermented segment, De La Calle's distribution scale is the relevant data point here. Reaching 8,000-plus doors puts it firmly in mass-natural territory — a tier that now routinely overlaps with premium convenience and grocery. The brand, affiliated with LOAF Brands, has built that footprint on a core tepache lineup before layering in this LTO, a sequencing pattern familiar from hard kombucha and craft soda brands that have found traction in the dispensed and packaged beverage set at convenience.
Limited-time offerings in the fermented beverage category serve a dual function: they create urgency for existing buyers and give retail partners a story for secondary placement or feature pricing during a high-foot-traffic seasonal window. Día de los Muertos falls in late October and early November — a stretch that convenience operators know as a high-impulse period bridging Halloween and early holiday traffic.
Brand Positioning
"Día de los Muertos is about remembrance, celebration, and community, and that's exactly what we wanted this can to hold," said Alex Matthews, Co-Founder of De La Calle. He described the LTO as "a tribute to where the brand comes from, brewed the traditional way and made to be shared at the ofrenda, the block party, and everywhere in between." De La Calle says community and cultural programming will accompany the can launch throughout the season, though specific activation details were not disclosed.
For retailers, the cultural programming angle matters: brands that invest in consumer-facing seasonal activations tend to sustain velocity on LTOs better than pure product launches, reducing the markdown risk that often accompanies limited inventory. The non-alcoholic fermented beverage category — tepache, hard kombucha, probiotic sodas — continues to attract shelf space in premium convenience as operators look to fill the gap between soda and the growing functional drinks set.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
