PL Takes a Shot
Crème Brûlée is an indulgence ground coffee, new from Supervalu under the Java Delight brand.
Are coffee and energy drinks destined for marriage under private label? Stay tuned. But ready to drink tea in several forms is already hot.
Coffee energy drinks? They may be the next big breakthrough in private label caffeine beverages, but canned and bottled ready-to-drink tea has been a big winner over the past year, with store brand sales up 64.6% to $32.6 million, according to Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, IL.
RTD tea isn’t just a niche item for premium brands; it’s even made its way into Aldi, Batavia, IL, a limited assortment chain that – in some of its stores, at least – carries green tea with ginseng and honey in economy 24 oz cans under the Benner brand. “A good-for-you refreshing tea with natural antioxidants,” the chain boasts on the cans.
Flavored RTD teas are all over the place in store brands. Topco Associates, Skokie, IL, offers peach, raspberry and blueberry versions under its Food Club brand, plus diet green tea with citrus and mixed berry flavors. Under its premium World Classics Trading Company brand, meanwhile, are black, white and green tea blends, sweetened with tangerine, blackberry, raspberry and pomegranate – and brewed green and diet green teas with ginseng. Supervalu, Eden Prairie, MN, markets organic spearmint honey and other organic teas under its Wild Harvest brand.
Wegmans, Rochester, NY, promotes is Just Tea RTD line thusly: “Tea On-The-Go! Forget the pot, the steeper and the mug. We’ve put a great tea in this ready-to-drink bottle so you can have the benefits of tea with you wherever you go. It starts with loose leaf tea, naturally brewed in purified water from the mountains of Japan, free of hard minerals. These premium ingredients, combined with a unique brewing process, ultimately results in a cleaner tea.”
That line is limited to a few basics: black, green, jasmine and oolong, but is available in 16.9 and 67.9 oz bottles, plus 12 packs of the smaller size. But the chain also offers more exotic teas, herbal teas and related items, loose or in 3 oz packets and 15-count sachet bags. These include Tomo Sencha, Yerba Mate, Lapsang Souchong, Ti Guan Yih, and Masala Chai, as well as more familiar varieties like Chamomile, Earl Gray, English Breakfast and even Darjeeling Estate.
Tea bag and loose tea sales in private label were up 6.3% to $57 million, tea mixes four percent to $52 million, and refrigerated tea 10.3% to $67 million, IRI reported. Store brand ground coffee sales were up 6.9% to $238 million, ground decaf coffee three percent to $42 million, whole bean coffee 11.8% to $37 million, and additives-flavors 10.8% to $1.8 million. Only instant and instant decaf showed decreases, off 0.7% to $34 million and four percent to $11 million, respectively.
Circle K, part of the convenience store empire of Alimentation Couche Tard, Montreal, QC, is a leader in private label energy drinks. Its West Coast Business Unit, Corona, CA, had already launched a private label line of canned energy drinks under the Talon Energy and Vixen Energy brands, with many flavors appealing to the many different consumer dynamics, from blood punch to sugar free.
Going one step further in 2008, Circle K West Coast extended the Talon and Vixen brands into a foodservice, hot beverage offering. Talon Energy infused French vanilla cappuccino was followed up last year with Vixen Energy sugar-free French vanilla cappuccino. Both are rich and creamy coffee-based beverages infused with caffeine, ginseng, guarana and taurine and dispensed through traditional counter top cappuccino machines.
On July 1, 2008, shortly after Circle K debuted its cappuccino energy drink machines, Beverage World observed: “New to the RTD coffee category has been the addition of coffee/energy drink hybrids such as Java Monster from Hansen Natural Corp., Corona, Calif. The products add the Monster energy drink ingredient blend to coffee flavors.
Similarly, Starbucks and Pepsi-Cola added new Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee to the lineup last month.”
These are canned rather than hot serve products, and could be the next trend in store brands, with the introduction of a 15 oz version under the Archer Farms brand set for spring at Target, Minneapolis, MN. “RTD coffee is poised to become a bigger player in the North American market, according to Euromonitor, which forecasts 301 million liters in sales by 2012,” Beverage World reported. “That’s an increase of nearly 100 million liters over 2007 sales.”
Meanwhile, there are other hot developments in coffee. Supervalu, Eden Prairie, MN, has come out with a new ground line called Java Delight that embraces both Origins coffees like Colombian and Costa Rican and novelties like Crème Brûlée and Espresso Road. Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, offers Mocha Latte as part of its Private Selection ground line – sort of a complement to its bottled lattes, which have been out for a couple of years.
Target, which celebrated the holidays with an in-and-out peppermint latte, is also known for packaging ground coffee in tin containers, and for coffee pods that work in Senseo, Bunn My Cafe, Krups Home Cafe, and Simplehuman single serve coffee pod brewers. Those formats may be unique in store brands, although there are a few retailers, such as Meijer, Grand Rapids, MI, that have their own coffee bags.
