Jones Soda Struggles to Find Profitability as Revenue Slides Further

Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. (CSE: JSDA) (OTCQB: JSDA) continued fighting to get out of the red in the third quarter of 2023. Revenue dipped across the board, including with its cannabis-infused “Mary Jones” product line, the company reported in its latest financials.

Jones Soda trimmed its losses for the quarter, both sequentially and year-over-year, to $900,000 from $1 million in Q2 and $1.7 million a year ago, and operating expenditures were slashed to $2.4 million from nearly $3 million a year ago, but profitability was still elusive.

Revenue fell to $4.4 million from $4.8 million a year prior, and stand at $13.1 million for the year so far, down from $15.3 million for the same timeframe in 2022, Jones Soda reported.

“While the third quarter was more challenging than originally anticipated, we continued to make noteworthy progress towards profitability, and I believe we are setting the stage for encouraging growth initiatives in 2024,” CEO David Knight said in a statement.

Knight said the company has been dealing with “headwinds in our food service channel” for its regular non-infused sodas, and that “sales velocity in our grocery channel has been slower than expected.”

With Mary Jones, the company’s cannabis drink, sales plummeted to $220,000 in Q3 from $400,000 in Q2, but the performance is still an increase from the same period a year ago, when Mary Jones pulled in $114,000.

And, Knight emphasized, Mary Jones is still being rolled out in California shops.

“While our expansion plans have experienced some delays, we were able to launch into the state of Washington by the end of the third quarter and have seen early success there,” Knight said of the line. “We currently expect to be up and running in Michigan by the end of the fourth quarter and live in Nevada by early 2024.”

Knight asserted that he remains “confident” in the direction Jones Soda is taking, and noted the company has cut costs and shifted spending for a “600-basis point expansion in our gross margin” to 32.9%.

At the close of September, Jones Soda had $11.9 million in total assets, including $5.2 million in cash, against $3 million in total liabilities.