How LiquiDonate Rescued $1.9M of G.O.A.T. Fuel From the Landfill

Background

G.O.A.T. Fuel (Greatest of All Time) is a health-forward sports energy drink brand co-founded by NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, his daughter Jaqui Rice Gold, and her husband, Trevion Gold. It provides a crash-free energy boost using natural caffeine, BCAAs, electrolytes, and adaptogenic cordyceps mushrooms. The family created the brand out of a need for a healthier alternative to energy drinks that included aspartame, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup. The brand quickly became mainstream with national expansion into major retailers like Target, Walmart, Publix, and 7-Eleven.

The Problem

G.O.A.T. Fuel's sports energy drink carries an 18-month shelf life, but one production run was printed with a 12-month date on the bottom of the can. The product was perfectly good, but the mislabel made it impossible to sell through retailers, pushing thousands of cases toward destruction.

Donation was a better answer. G.O.A.T. Fuel had given product away before to various donation outlets. But at this high volume the usual routes broke down: the nonprofits willing to take it didn't have the trucks or manpower to move bulk pallets, and every recipient required a signed liability release before accepting food and beverage donations. Logistically, their small team was stuck. 

How LiquiDonate Solved It

LiquiDonate came to the rescue. When nonprofits register with LiquiDonate, they include how much quantity they can take and the categories they need. They also can agree to not resell products so that there is no market cannibalization, which is the reason many retailers don’t consider bulk donation. 

Within just a few days, LiquiDonate had identified the organizations most local to the G.O.A.T. Fuel distribution center that could absorb the large volume. This service, called WarehouseDirect, also included coordinating the transit and getting the required liability releases out to the organizations, logistical challenges that had stalled the prior donation attempts before contacting LiquiDonate. After the donations were complete, LiquiDonate also provided donation receipts. All of this happened within weeks, not months, fast enough to beat the date.

The Result

Across two pickup waves, six flavors reached five nonprofits, led by Feed The Hungry. In total, 638,976 cans ($1,916,928 in fair market value), or 288 tons of product went to local communities in need instead of a landfill.

The math made the case, too. Base disposal fees for bulk waste range from $40 to $80 per ton, which would have been $11,520 to $23,040 just in landfill fees!

Even if the landfill was only 200 miles away, shipping 250 pallets would have cost an additional $30,000. Adding that to the disposal fees, that’s over $40,000! Moving bulk, heavy products is not cheap, no matter what you’re doing. 

Instead of paying to ship 288 tons of energy drinks hundreds of miles to be landfilled or destroyed, LiquiDonate rescued and rerouted the high quality beverages, delighting the brand with lower fees and shipping costs. By keeping the transit distance to under 30 miles and scheduling nonprofit pickups when possible, LiquiDonate was able to provide immediate cash savings to G.O.A.T. Fuel. 

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Even better, G.O.A.T. Fuel could unlock additional savings by submitting the donation receipts for tax benefits. Donating recovers a portion of the fair market value and opens an enhanced charitable deduction under IRC §170(e)(3). Destruction would have meant paying out of pocket to dispose of 288 tons of canned liquid and forfeiting nearly $2M in value with nothing to show for it.

The team was extremely thankful. LiquiDonate had solved a seemingly impossible problem and made the process fast and easy for the small, busy team.  

“LiquiDonate has been phenomenal walking us through the process. It's been seamless.”

- Jeni Byerley, Operations, G.O.A.T. Fuel

At the end of the day, donation is a much more beneficial option for the company, the community, and the planet. 

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LiquiDonate helps brands rescue short-dated, mislabeled, and overstock inventory at scale — logistics, liability, and documentation handled. More than 150 brands have moved over 16 million items to a network of 4,700+ nonprofits.

Have inventory to move? Start a donation at liquidonate.com

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