This year, NürnbergMesse North America’s Interbev tradeshow co-located with Food Marketing Institute’s FMI Connect for a multi-day food, beverage and retail tradeshow June 10-13 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

At the joint show, exhibitors highlighted their latest products and solutions for retail channels. Below are some highlights from both tradeshows.

InterBev

The American Beverage Association (ABA), Washington, D.C., highlighted its members’ efforts toward offering smaller portion sizes, reducing calories, and displaying nutritional information clearly on packaging and in vending machines.

Applied Food Sciences Inc., Austin, Texas, highlighted its new PurCaf organic, GMO-free caffeine sourced from unroasted green coffee beans using a chemical-free water extraction method. The ingredient is certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and consists of 92 percent pure caffeine. The company also showcased its new Gyusa.g guayusa leaf extract, which naturally contains polyphenols, flavonoids, saponins and L-theanine.

Carmi Flavor & Fragrance, Commerce, Calif., highlighted its portfolio of custom flavors for the beverage industry. Representatives also noted that events such as the World Cup are influencing flavor trends.

Crafted Cocktails, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., offered samples of its new Spicy Watermelon Mojito Mix. It also revealed plans to launch a Spicy Pineapple Margarita Mix soon as well as a line of “cool” mixers in the fall.

Dairy Farmers of America, Kansas City, Mo., highlighted its co-packing expertise for low-acid, shelf-stable, canned beverages.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Plano, Texas, offered samples of its reduced-sugar Mott’s juice drinks, which made their debut earlier this year. The lineup includes Wild Grape Surge, Fruit Punch Rush and Strawberry Boom flavors. The company also highlighted its low-calorie Ten platform and Canada Dry sparkling waters, which now are available in single-serve bottles.

Enterprise Beverage Group, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., offered samples of its Hard Rock Energy drinks, which made their debut at select retailers in April. It also announced the expansion of the drinks into smaller 10-ounce cans in July.

Hino Trucks, Novi, Mich., announced that its hybrid trucks now come standard with Hino Insight 2.0 powered by Telogis. This telematics solution also is available as an option on its non-hybrid vehicles.

Liqui-Box Corp., Worthington, Ohio, showcased its bag-in-box flexible packages for foodservice applications. It also announced a new flip cap for its flexible pouches for blended ice machines, which adds convenience, it says.

Marvelus Beverage Group, Ocala, Fla., showcased its American natural sparkling artesian mineral water, available in 1-liter bottles in Florida. The company noted that it plans to add a half-liter or 20-ounce packaging size later this year. Additionally, it is in the process of developing a line of high-pH still waters, according to a spokesperson.

Protek Cargo Inc., Napa, Calif., highlighted its insulated shipping cargo blankets and pallet covers, which can be used for all modes of transportation. These thermodynamic solutions offer significant cost savings compared with reefer units, a spokesperson says.

RTC Industries, Rolling Meadows, Ill., highlighted its new ProfitPusher Gen3 flexible shelf management system as well as its EcoTrac spring-glide shelf management system. Both options are made with clear plastic fronts to enable shoppers to see the entire product on the retail shelf.

Salient Management Co., Horseheads, N.Y., displayed its new Drillable Dashboards solution, which is part of its Collaborative Intelligence Suite for visual data mining and performance management. In July, it released the suite’s latest version, 5.7, as well as an app for Apple and Android devices.

Preston, Wash.-based TalkingRain Beverage Co.’s Sparkling Ice brand offered samples of its sparkling flavored waters, including its new Cherry Limeade, Strawberry Watermelon, Peach Lemonade and Mango Lemonade offerings.

FMI Connect

Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, showcased its Brew Appétit program, which focuses on food and beer pairings, and discussed how the program can boost sales on- and off-premise. At its booth, the company offered food and beer pairing demonstrations as well as tastes of many of the beers, ciders and Ritas in its portfolio.

Chep USA, Atlanta, displayed its 40-inch by 24-inch half-pallet, which is suitable for both shipping and display purposes, and its 48-inch by 40-inch block pallet for shipping.

The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, focused on its retail strategy, which includes co-locating its beverages with complementary snack offerings in stores’ perimeters. It also showcased dispensed beverage offerings, such as the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, vitaminwater Hydration Station, Gold Peak Variety Tea Tower and Gold Peak Coffee machine, which has recently been rebranded from Georgia Coffee. The company also called attention to new product introductions, including Dasani Sparkling, Minute Maid Drops, Fruitwater and Fairlife milk as well as its “Share a Coke” offerings. At the show’s Front End of Tomorrow exhibit, The Coca-Cola Co. also showcased new animated coolers to help drive impulse purchases at the register.

Delkor Systems Inc., St. Paul, Minn., displayed its Delkor Cabrio Case shipping case, which easily converts to a retail-ready display.

Dematic Corp., Grand Rapids, Mich., highlighted its Multishuttle automated storage and retrival system for each-picking in beverage warehouses.

Drink Blocks, Ladera Ranch, Calif., offered samples of its new, same-named flavored waters. The beverages do not contain calories, sugar, gluten or artificial colors and come packaged in bottles shaped like blocks. The blocks’ labels are bilingual and highlight educational concepts like letters, numbers and colors. The packages also can be used as toy blocks when empty.

EcoLab Inc., St. Paul, Minn., discussed its Large Fly pest elimination program as well as its temperature-monitoring and cross-contamination-reducing solutions.

Hometown Coffee Co., Atlanta, highlighted the new single-serve format for its Nautica and Hometown Specialty coffees.

Kraft Foods, Northfield, Ill., showed booth visitors the new clear-bottom pouches for its Capri Sun juice drinks. The see-through packaging allows consumers to see the natural ingredients inside the packages, according to a brand representative.

Magnum Coffee Roastery, Nunica, Mich., offered samples of its Taste of the Exotics coffees and highlighted its range of seasonal coffees, which the company launched this year.

Motorola Solutions, Schaumburg, Ill., demonstrated its new MC18 Personal Shopper solution for retail customers. The new system uses a smartphone-style device that allows shoppers to scan the products they want to purchase as they load their shopping cart. At the end of the trip, these shoppers can use expedited check-out lines where store employees can perform courtesy checks to ensure all items were scanned and arrange payment. The system’s software also allows the retailer to track where shoppers are in the store and send push notifications for coupons or to select complementary products to items they’re already planning to buy.    

Niagara Bottling LLC, Ontario, Calif., announced that it will introduce five new beverages in 2015: Niagara Sparkling essence waters, Aragani green teas, V-ssentials enhanced waters, Gusto aguas frescas flavored waters, and Gameplan sports drinks. It also reported 30 percent annual growth for its branded and private-label waters.

NuTech Beverage Inc., Peachtree City, Ga., demonstrated its Cool Caps functional caps for kids and hydrology functional caps for adults. The sports caps twist onto most bottles of water and can be pushed to add color and flavor to a beverage, according to the company. Cool Caps are designed to encourage kids to drink more water and give kids the power to customize their drink with flavor without adding caffeine, calories or sugar, according to the company. Hydrology is available in an Acai Blueberry flavor and adds antioxidants and flavor to a bottle of water.

Ozone Vodka, a brand of Kaunas, Lithuania-based Stumbras AB, offered tastes of its five times distilled vodka. The brand’s portfolio includes an original vodka, as well as Blood Orange and Lime flavored varieties. In addition, the brand plans to launch White Peach and Melon varieties in the United States this fall.

Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI), Reston, Va., set up an Innovation Stage at its booth where it hosted various presentations about hot-button issues in the packaging industry. Topics included driving growth through packaging innovation, quantifying a packaging design’s return on investment, and coming up with packaging ideas for private-label brands. The company also highlighted its partnerships with Hub Folding Box Co. Inc., International Paper and Kliklok-Woodman.   

PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y., offered samples of its new Pepsi Real Sugar sodas. Pepsi Made With Real Sugar is available year-round; however, Pepsi Vanilla Made With Real Sugar and Pepsi Wild Cherry Made With Real Soda will be available for a limited time through Labor Day, according to a representative. The company also offered samples of its ready-to-drink Starbucks Iced Coffee, including a new Caramel flavor. A representative also noted plans to add a coconut water variety to its Mountain Dew Kickstart platform.

Raw Foods International LLC, Miami, gave attendees the chance to try its lineup of 100 percent fruit-and-vegetable juices, including Cranberry Ginger, Raspberry Lemongrass, Passion Fruit Wheatgrass, Carrot Lemonade, Better Beets, Very Berry Wheatgrass, Mango Guarana, Pineapple Cucumber and Strawberry Purple Carrot varieties. The natural juice blends are non-GMO verified, gluten free, vegan and kosher, the company says.

Raymond Corp.,Greene, N.Y., highlighted its Model 102XM Walkie Pallet Truck for store delivery purposes. The pallet truck can carry up to 4,500 pounds, make 180 degree turns, and operate in temperatures as low as -13 degrees Fahrenheit.

Two Rivers Coffee, South Plainfield, N.J., featured its licensed single-serve hot cocoa products under the Tootsie Roll, Junior Mints, Sugar Babies and Charleston Chew brands and licensed single-serve coffee under the Select by Trump brand. The company hopes to launch the products sometime this month.

 Yale Materials Handling Corp., Greenville, N.C., discussed how its forklifts and other warehouse vehicles can help support SKU proliferation. It also noted that these vehicles can easily be integrated into any supply chain, because vehicles can be added or subtracted from the system at any time, resulting in a smaller investment in the assets.