Celsius’ 2026 Shelf Bet Is Tied to PepsiCo Distribution, Expanded Portfolio

Celsius Holdings’ 2026 growth plan is increasingly about what happens after the products land on shelves. In a June 8 market note, Zacks said the company’s momentum through 2026 will depend on whether it can convert a wider brand footprint into stronger organic performance for its legacy CELSIUS business, while expanding execution for Alani Nu and Rockstar.

Zacks pointed to Celsius’ first-quarter performance as evidence the wider platform is already changing the company’s scale. In Q1 2026, Celsius reported revenue of $782.6 million, up 138% year over year, attributing the jump to the portfolio expansion that followed acquisitions. The key question for the rest of the year, according to Zacks, is whether the additional brands lift velocity and shelf positioning without masking a slowdown in the core CELSIUS trend.

A second pillar is the timing of retailer “shelf resets,” when chains refresh planograms, reorder assortments, and reallocate facings. In February, reported that management discussed expected shelf-space gains for spring resets, citing an expectation of at least 17% more shelf space for Celsius products and more than 100% growth in Alani Nu space in the U.S. Convenience stores, which the report said represent about 60% of category demand, were flagged as an especially important driver for the resets to flow through.

PepsiCo is central to Celsius’ route-to-market story. Under the amended distribution agreements and what Celsius calls a “captaincy” structure, Zacks said PepsiCo serves as the primary distributor in the U.S. and Canada for CELSIUS, Alani Nu, and Rockstar, coordinating sales execution, placement, and promotional priorities across the portfolio. The company has also described Pepsi’s commercial role in filings as using commercially reasonable efforts to sell and distribute Celsius’ energy drink portfolio and prioritize Celsius products within Pepsi’s U.S. beverage distribution system.

Celsius and PepsiCo further characterized the arrangement as giving Celsius category control while Pepsi handles distribution scale. In a strategic partnership announcement, the companies said Celsius would become PepsiCo’s “strategic energy lead” in the U.S., managing the CELSIUS, Alani Nu, and Rockstar Energy brands, while PepsiCo would lead distribution for the portfolio in the U.S. and Canada. Celsius’ partnership materials describe the captaincy as giving Celsius control over allocation decisions such as planogram design, SKU prioritization, and promotion strategy, while Pepsi leads distribution.

PepsiCo’s own reporting helps explain why those in-store decisions matter operationally. In its 2025 Form 10-K, PepsiCo described its primary performance obligation as the distribution and sales of beverage and convenient food products, including direct-store-delivery practices to remove and replace damaged or out-of-date products. The filing also notes that merchandising and distribution can involve payments such as shelf space and discounts to promote lower retail prices, along with in-store display payments and other sales support.

Still, several specifics remain outside public view for investors watching the 2026 shelf narrative. The Zacks and pieces discuss expected shelf-space changes and channel impacts, but they do not guarantee outcomes, and PepsiCo’s filings do not break out performance by any single energy brand under the Celsius partnership. What to watch next is whether Celsius’ next quarterly results show that shelf gains translate into sustained underlying velocity across CELSIUS, Alani Nu, and Rockstar, rather than just one-time placement effects.