The founders behind Nowadays, the THC beverage brand that reached more than $100 million in sales in three and a half years, are back with a new bet: Unwind, a sparkling functional beverage built around magnesium L-threonate (Magtein®) and L-theanine rather than cannabinoids. The brand debuted October 1 in approximately 1,000 Walmart locations nationwide, with Walmart.com live at launch and TikTok Shop access set for mid-October. For operators and buyers watching the functional beverage aisle, the speed of this distribution grab — straight to mass retail rather than through natural or specialty channels — is the signal worth tracking.
The Product and Pricing
Unwind is a 12-ounce sparkling can in five SKUs: Berry, Cherry, Citrus, Tropical, and Spicy Lime. Each variety is zero-caffeine, low-sugar, and low-calorie. Suggested retail starts at $2.79 per can and $10.99 per four-pack — a price point engineered to sit comfortably alongside conventional sparkling water while trading up from it on perceived functionality. Co-founder Justin Tidwell framed the brief plainly: consumers are not always under-energized, they are often over-stimulated, and the brand exists to address that second problem.
What Walmart Placement Signals
The choice to anchor launch at Walmart rather than Whole Foods or a specialty fitness channel is a deliberate category-building move. Co-founder Anthony Puterman noted that Walmart is actively leaning into the emerging relaxation occasion, which suggests the retailer has already run its own category analysis on calm-functional volume. For foodservice and hospitality operators sourcing RTD beverage programs — hotel minibars, wellness spa retail, airline lounges, gym vending — the Walmart launch provides early proof of concept at consumer scale before the brand pursues foodservice distribution. Additional national retail rollouts are already scheduled for early 2027, meaning buyers will likely see formal trade outreach within the next two quarters.
The go-to-market plan pairs paid media, creator partnerships, sampling events, and in-store activations, with TikTok Shop serving as the direct-to-consumer engine. That dual-channel approach — big-box physical plus social commerce DTC — mirrors playbooks used by energy and hydration brands that successfully crossed from specialty into mass retail over the past three years. Operators evaluating brand-launch readiness criteria should note how Unwind compressed the typical specialty-to-mass timeline by leveraging the founders' existing retail relationships and operational infrastructure from Nowadays.
For procurement teams and category managers in hospitality and foodservice, the ingredient stack is worth attention. Magnesium L-threonate (Magtein) has been gaining traction in supplement channels for cognitive calm rather than pure sleep support, differentiating Unwind from melatonin-forward competitors. L-theanine is well-established in the functional beverage trend landscape and carries strong consumer recognition — reducing the education burden at shelf. The combination positions the can as an any-time relaxation beverage rather than a bedtime product, broadening daypart applicability for foodservice accounts.
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.
