We’ve heard of blind taste tests between competitive products. Oftentimes, consumers can’t tell the difference between a national brand and its private-label equivalent. However, in recent years, retailers have taken it to a whole new level. These days, consumers might find it difficult to pick out a private label product on-shelf because of the way it’s packaged and marketed.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR), Waterbury, Vt., announced that Aramark Refreshment Services LLC, Philadelphia, will acquire the Van Houtte U.S. Coffee Service business, also known as Filterfresh, from GMCR for approximately $145 million.
Tully’s Coffee, a brand of Waterbury, Vt.-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.’s specialty coffee business, unveiled Taste of Community, a community-centric program in partnership with non-profit organization Pomegranate Center.
It’s one of the largest independent bottlers in California, but Nor-Cal Beverage Co. Inc., Sacramento, Calif., is more than just a contract packager. In addition to its successful co-packing business, which operates production facilities in Sacramento and Anaheim, Nor-Cal also is an Anheuser-Busch distributor in Northern California and markets its own Go Girl line of energy drinks. The family-owned company was started by Roy G. Deary in 1937 as a franchise of Hires Bottling Co., explains Deary’s granddaughter and current president and chief executive officer of Nor-Cal Beverage, Shannon Deary-Bell. The franchise bottled and distributed Canada Dry, Dr Pepper and RC Cola brands in the Sacramento area.
Demands for premium tastes as well as for competitively priced products helped contribute to growth in the coffee category. The category experienced a 9.1 percent increase in sales for more than $4 billion, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, for the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart.
Tea continued to capitalize on a positive year in both the bagged and loose leaf tea segment as well as the ready-to-drink (RTD) segment. RTD showed the most growth at 8.5 percent for more than $2.3 billion in sales, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, for the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart. Bagged and loose leaf tea sales experienced a 1.8 percent increase for more than $782.5 million, the market research firm’s data states.
Consumers are refining their tastes when it comes to tea. Product launches and sales data suggest that organic positioning for teas and ready-to-drink (RTD) teas are helping to sustain and grow certain aspects of the category.
Consumers continue to turn to coffee as one of their many sources of caffeine. Steady growth could be found in coffee segments such as ground coffee, which posted an increase of 1.2 percent with more than $2.4 billion in sales in food...
Fair Trade certified beverages grow in popularity, finds Beverage Industry's Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Fuhrman. Fair Trade USA, a third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States previously known as TransFair USA, released a number of announcements to coincide with Natural Products Expo East in Boston last month.
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