While many trends impact the beer category, the one that will most directly influence how marketers do business is the continued demand for more choices by the consumer. By Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. It’s been two years since Walgreens jumped back into the beer and wine business, and at least three convenience store operators in…
McLane-NATSO Quarterly Index Up 24%
Hot dispensed beverages up 54% for the three-month period, ended June 30, 2011. Total merchandise purchases by truckstops nationwide served by McLane Corp. increased 24% during the 2011 second quarter, compared with a year earlier, led largely by hot and cold beverage sales along with commissary, foodservice, dairy and deli sales, according to the McLane-NATSO…
Personalized Beer
With Autumn’s cooler weather, adult consumers’ tastes shift to richer, more full-flavored beers. This fall, Newcastle Brown Ale offers discerning beer drinkers everywhere the taste they are looking for through Newcastle’s ‘Your Beer. Your Gear’ fall retail program. ‘Your Beer. Your Gear.’ encourages adult shoppers to enjoy the lightly hopped, less bitter taste of Newcastle…
The Science of Slurpee Flavors
Creating the many flavors of 7-Eleven Slurpees is a sophisticated process. That’s why at the Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) Group Research & Development Center’s Plano, Texas, headquarters, a cadre of scientists, engineers, technical specialists, researchers and marketers work with the 7-Eleven Inc. Slurpee product team on the year-round job of keeping new flavors in the…
‘Slurpee Battle of the Bands’ Begins
The battle is on as bands from coast-to-coast scramble to enter 7-Eleven Inc.’s 2nd Annual “Slurpee Battle of The Bands,” which opened May 10. Entrants will compete for a chance to showcase their talent at one of four regional concerts and for the grand prize of $10,000 plus a recording session in San Francisco…
Kum & Go Debuts ‘Name Our Cup’ Contest
Kum & Go L.C. has kicked off its summer fountain drink contest dubbed the ‘Name Our Cup Contest’ where customers get a free soda with purchase. The contest, which started on May 1, is a first of its kind for the convenience store chain. Customers will submit names at the beginning of the summer for Kum…
Cornering the Nontraditional Market
Behind the Brand: Key Decision Makers • Daniel McCabe, President: McCabe has served as the president and a director of McColla Enterprises since 1987. McCabe is an attorney licensed to practice law in New York and in North Carolina, and maintains a business law practice in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He also acts as the chief legal…
Rutter’s Debuts Flavored Milk
Rutter’s Dairy has introduced Rutter’s-branded vanilla and strawberry milk pints to the consumer market. For years, the two flavors were available only as part of Rutter’s school milk program. The new pints – sold in plastic bottles – are the first new flavors of milk introduced by Rutter’s in a few years. Previously, Rutter’s had…
Coke Plans New Distribution
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. is testing a new method of delivering beverages to 7-Eleven stores in Southern California, using Costco Wholesale Corp. as an intermediary, Reuters reported. Currently, under Coke’s direct-store delivery model, beverages are sent from the bottling facility to a warehouse and then to a distribution center, which distributes the drinks to individual stores.…
Quick Chek Offers Quick Freeze
Quick Chek has announced the results to its “Name it…Claim it” contest, where consumers entered names for the chain’s frozen beverage line during a contest held August and September of 2009. Francis LaMonica of Tinton Falls, N.J., won the contest with her suggested name “Quick Freeze,” which nods both to the name of the chain…