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American consumers’ desires for organic products continue to gain steam. According to data from the Washington, D.C.-based Organic Trade Association (OTA), sales of organic products reached $35.1 billion in 2013, an increase of 11.5 percent compared with the previous year.

Approximately one-fifth (21 percent) of consumers today say that beverages play a very important role in deciding which restaurants to visit for meals, according to Technomic Inc., Chicago.

Despite the number of hurdles that it has faced within the past year, the convenience store channel still is holding steady, experts note.

Kraft Foodservice, a division of Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group Inc., is offering free merchandising racks for its Mio liquid water enhancers. Designed to boost bottled water sales at foodservice locations, the company is offering two options: a hitchhiker rack or a cooler door rack.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated its new Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards, which affect the sale of foods and beverages that are not part of federally supported meals programs.

Cinemark Holdings Inc., Plano, Texas, announced that its chain of theaters now offer Honest Kids organic juice drinks. Starting immediately, the beverages are available in all of the company’s 334 cinemas nationwide. Honest Kids organic beverages are available for sale individually as well as in Cinemark’s Movie Snack Packs.

Whether overcoming residuals from the economic recession or more immediate factors, the foodservice channel has faced its share of challenges in recent years.

Chicago-based Argo Tea is celebrating the start of summer, National Iced Tea Month and the 110th birthday of iced tea in America with a new unsweetened iced tea line that includes Hibiscus Apple herbal tea, Green Tea Strawberry, and Ginger Peach black tea.

Last spring in Lahore, Pakistan, and New Delhi, India, Coca-Cola vending machines connected consumers in the two communities separated by 325 miles and decades of political tension.

Food Marketing Institute (FMI), Arlington, Va., released its annual “U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends” study in collaboration with the Hartman Group, Bellevue, Wash.