Coffeeshop chain Starbucks has started charging customers 5p for single-use paper coffee cups in the UK. Part of the company’s efforts to reduce the use of 2.5 billion disposable cups each year, the “latte levy” was rolled out nationwide after a three-month trial in London. Customers who use reusable mugs receive a 25p discount off any Starbucks drink, while in-store customers encouraged to use ceramic cups instead.[Image Credit: © Starbucks Corporation]

Coca-Cola Japan has introduced its third product in the “Fanta Double Plus” line of functional soft drinks that contain "vitamins and seasonal ingredients". Limited edition Fanta Yogurtropical, containing vitamin B and “lactic acid bacteria” debuted in July at $1.26 per 16-ounce bottle, and 49 calories per 3.4-ounce serving. The range also includes Fanta Pineapple GABA, containing gamma-aminobutyric acid and vitamin B.

Reporter Paul R. La Monica says the trend toward “Frankenfoods” – “gimmicky culinary concoctions” – began eight years ago (“arguably”) with KFC’s calorie-packed Double Down sandwich comprising bacon, cheese, and sauce held together by two pieces of fried chicken instead of bread. The trend continues today, the latest example being the Dunkin' Donuts contrivance known as donut fries: crispy pieces of doughnut dough dusted with cinnamon sugar and served in a French fries-style box. Other examples include Burger King's Whopperito, Mac and Cheetos, Nacho Fries, Doritos Locos Tacos, bacon shakes, and chicken rings. More are on the way. The idea, La Monica notes, is “to generate buzz with creations that often combine things people already like.”[Image Credit: © Dunkin’ Donuts]

As You Sow, a nonprofit group representing 25 investment companies managing more than $1 trillion in assets, has called on Nestle SA, PepsiCo Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and Unilever NV, to reduce their use of plastic in packaging of their products. Signed by investment managers, including Hermes Investment Management and Impax Asset Management, the initiative calls plastic packaging damaging to the environment. Companies should reveal their annual use of plastic packaging, establish goals for reducing plastic packaging, and exert efforts to recycle plastic packaging, the group said.[Image Credit: © Emilian Robert Vicol]

At the Consumer Goods Forum in Singapore recently Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey emphasized his company’s commitment to a digital and ecommerce future when he noted that digital will put Coke products “within a click’s reach of desire.” He cited as evidence what’s happening in China, where there are four times as many mobile users as in the U.S., and “rapid and exponential growth” in digital technologies is driving change in Asia’s beverage industry. Quincey said the strategy of creating a consumer-centric product portfolio is based on making Coke products a part of peoples’ lives by offering the brands they want in the package sizes they prefer. Digital tools will make that happen.

McDonald’s in the UK will start using recyclable paper straws later this year, with plastic straws withdrawn completely next year. The company in the UK uses some 1.8 million straws each day, and the move follows a two-month trial at certain UK restaurants. It also follows a similar announcement by UK supermarket chain Waitrose. McDonald’s in other countries, including France, Norway, Sweden and the US, are expected to run trials later this year in their own efforts to find schemes to eliminate plastic straws.[Image Credit: © Manfred Richter ]

Although the connection with its “total beverage company” strategy is little more than a scent, Coca-Cola is nevertheless expanding into cosmetics in a limited-time venture with a Korean beauty brand. The connection in fact is literally a specific bouquet: the brand’s new lipsticks, lip tints, lip glosses, foundation compacts, powders, and eye shadows – many tinted in red, pink, and coral – are all redolent of Coke. The packaging also captures the Coca-Cola look of red and white, and the lip glosses “have a super cute, candy-striped wand,” according to British news website Metro. The products are being sold in South Korea, but are also available online

Sales reps at many companies see e-commerce as a threat to their sales and commissions But Coca-Cola’s system of training and customer segmentation makes e-commerce an asset to sales reps, according to Marta Dalton. For low-volume customers, online buying makes good sense because it only costs $3 to acquire a customer (compared to $50 to $80 to bring in a new customer through a sales call). The real value of e-commerce to a sales rep is the reduction in time wasted on grunt work, freeing the rep to focus on selling, rather than paperwork. E-commerce helps sales reps in areas such as: scheduling appointments; accessing support before, during and after sales calls; and tapping into communication channels that provide B2B services like print, e-mail, search, and social.

Coca-Cola is one of the biggest CPG companies that is replacing “old school and time-consuming” manual store shelf audits with advanced digital tools. The company is using technology from start-up Trax that merges image recognition, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to analyze smartphone images of store shelves to provide timely insight into fast-changing consumer buying patterns. According to Coca-Cola, it used to take a month to collect shelf data manually, and another three months to organize it – way too much time to react to competitive challenges. Using the new technology cuts time and costs, allowing store shelf audits to be conducted every two months instead of twice a year. The company is testing the technology in three of its nearly 70 North American bottlers/distributors that “serve as its regular eye on the ground.”

Alternatives to cow’s milk made from soy, rice, oats, and other plant-based ingredients, are catching on big with consumers, mainly because of smart marketing by producers. The result is that sales of liquid milk slid 3.5 percent in the five years ended in 2017, while dairy alternatives – still a tiny slice of the $600 billion dairy market – grew four percent. The shift is due to a perception by consumers that dairy alternatives are more healthful, and more eco-friendly, than cow’s milk, though experts say there is no evidence of that. But some traditional milk brands have bucked the trend. Coca-Cola’s premium Fairlife milk has grown by touting its ingredients: more protein and calcium, less sugar and lactose. Other dairy companies could follow suit by emphasizing innovation, “premiumization,” new packaging with, label transparency about sourcing, and clear statements about humane treatment of dairy animals.

German family-owned investment group JAB Holdings will acquire the 530-store U.K.-based sandwich shop chain Pret A Manger from private equity group Bridgepoint for $2 billion including debt. Bridgepoint paid $486 million for the chain ten years ago. The purchase price is about 15 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, the people said. Annual sales are about $1.2 billion. 

Chilean dairy producer Soprole has launched a probiotic beverage for children packaged in an 80 ml recyclable Tetra Pak cardboard box. Uno Colación is available in strawberry and multi-fruit flavors in the country’s main supermarkets. The drinks are low in sodium, and sugar- and fat-free. Tetra Pak says this is the first time its container has been used in Chile. The Aseptic 80 ml Slim, designed for children's consumption, is easy to carry and drink from, and is with recyclable cardboard from FSC certified forest sources. Soprole and Nestlé dominate the Chilean dairy market.

Investors are not yet convinced that America’s cereal, soda, and soup companies know how to adapt to the changing food and beverage preferences of today’s consumers. The consumer staples segment of the S&P 500 has slid 13 percent this year, the worst performance in 10 years. Small consumer goods companies grabbed market share from large brands between 2011 to 2016, the first time in 50 years. Sales growth is slowing while oil, freight, raw material, steel, and aluminum costs climb. The pricing power of the big companies is disintegrating as consolidation takes over in the retail and grocery industries, consumer allegiances fade, and cheaper digital advertising lure shoppers. Companies are turning to acquisitions to stem the tide, but acquisitions tend to raise corporate debt and dent profits. And all of this is happening as higher interest rates loom on the horizon.

Coca-Cola’s Simply Beverages unit announced expansion of its juice product line with the addition of more healthful, lower-sugar varieties of orange juice and lemonade. The new orange juice variants – Simply Light Orange Pulp Free and Simply Light Orange with Calcium & Vitamin D – have about half of the sugar and calories of the original Simply Orange. Simply Light Lemonade and Simply Light Lemonade with Raspberry have 75 percent less sugar and less calories than Simply Lemonade. The move represents another step toward the goal of marketing more healthful beverages outlined in Coca-Cola’s 2017 Sustainability Report, which revealed a commitment to reduce sugar in more than 400 drinks.

Nestlé Waters believes it can make the most of its Sanpellegrino customer base while expanding to new audiences with the launch of an RTD subcategory comprising a “flavor-packed, premium sparkling tea experience," dubbed Sanpellegrino + Tea. The range of organic, low-calorie sparkling teas includes Limone + Tea and Pesca + Tea flavors. The brand was launched in Canada in March and recently in the U.K. as a component of a brand awareness campaign this year featuring digital engagement, experiential and sampling activities, in-store merchandising, and print ads.

RTD beverages that contain protein are seeing sales increase to meet demand from health-conscious consumers seeking to conveniently boost intake of the nutrient. Different brands of protein-rich drinks offer various functional benefits, including energy, refueling, rehydration, satiation, sports nutrition, and meal replacement. A growing subcategory of protein drinks is protein water, including those containing WPI, a concentrated clear protein source. Protein water is represented by several brands and companies: BiPro Protein Water from BiPro U.S.A;  Chicago-based Protein2O, with two product lines; Bolthouse Farms (Campbell Soup Co.) B Strong and B Balanced beverages;  Gatorade protein shakes (PepsiCo); and JoeFroyo Functional Cold Brew coffee with caffeine, probiotics, and protein. Protein sources include milk protein isolate, whey, pea protein, pumpkin seed protein, and collagen peptides.

In an interview, Nestlé Waters NA brand business director Sam Martin said the decision to revamp its sparkling water portfolio – Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Ozarka, Poland Spring, and Zephyrhills – with new flavors and packaging was based on perceived opportunities in the market. Though sparkling water has been on a torrid growth ride in recent years, household penetration has reached only 16 percent. Perrier is selling well in plastic bottles and glass but, according to Martin, adding cans to the portfolio represents “a really big unlock for the consumer.” In addition, Perrier has successful core flavors, but new flavors (like pomegranate lemonade) will attract new buyers. The basic strategy is to convince consumers of the benefits of sparkling waters “by entering through the lens of our existing business with them.”

A number of “qualifications” – particularly restructuring costs, currency ups and downs, and ongoing bottler refranchising – make Coca-Cola’s five-year financial performance a little cloudy. But an analysis by just-drinks reveals “modest, if not spectacular, growth” globally. Among the highlights: a gradual shift in emphasis in global product mix due to evolving consumer trends; the success of RTD tea and coffee, packaged water, and sports drinks; overall market share gains in major regions, fueled by a rising global middle class, increased urbanization, and higher spending on personal consumption; an increase in billion-dollar brands to 20; and a reduction to three percent of volume from company-owned bottlers thanks to refranchising in China and the U.S. through 2016 and 2017 that led to lower sales (down 15 percent) but higher margins in a brand-led but less capital-intensive operation. 

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) posted a 4.5 percent increase (FX neutral) in first quarter sales to $1.6 billion along with a 2.3 percent increase in volume. The company is looking forward to a healthy second quarter as Russia hosts the two weeks-long FIFA World Cup matches beginning on June 14. The first quarter rise in sales came despite continued economic weakness in Nigeria and Russia, which are both likely to improve in 2018. Volumes of the company’s carbonated soft drink portfolio increased by 2.8 percent year-on-year, water grew 0.9 percent, but juices slid two percent. The energy drinks segment soared nearly 27.8 percent in volume, with continued strong performance from Monster.

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey is a strong advocate of innovation and experimentation to quickly take advantage of market opportunities. Creating new products, and pushing existing products into new markets, are the underlying concepts behind the “total beverage company” slogan. It’s the reason why the company has tinkered with its line of traditional cola beverages as it expands into dairy, juice, and plant-based drinks, energy drinks, water and sports drinks; and RTD tea and coffee. But this is not just innovation for the sake of innovation, Quincey recently noted, but “in the service of the consumer, in the service of wondering what will connect and engage with the consumer.” The flip side of experimentation, of course, is acknowledging failure and being willing to “kill the zombies.”

Coca-Cola’s country director for Nepal Ambuj Deo Singh says Coke has remained pretty much the same during its 132-year history but has also managed to be relevant in his country, and in many others. Relevance, he notes, comes from talking to consumers about their needs “in the language that they want us to speak.” An example is the recent ad campaign (“Coke Kham Russia Jam”), which “relates to everyone here in Nepal” because it is associated with momo (a type of dumpling). Coca-Cola is also associated with the festival of Dashain, celebrating human relationships. Singh says the company is planning to introduce new products, such as juices, in the near future. Plans also include making Kinley available nationwide and expanding the distribution base.

Texas-based fitness nutrition company NutraBolt is positioning its Cellucor C4 On The Go Carbonated beverages as healthier functional alternatives to conventional energy drinks. The company hopes to exploit the continuing rebound in the energy drinks market, especially among products with reduced sugar. Sugar- and calorie-free Cullucor C4 Carbonated, sold in 16-ounce cans, is positioned as a convenient extension to Cellucor’s C4 pre-workout powder, and somewhere between a sports performance and energy beverage. The company emphasizes the product’s hydrating and energizing effects – supported by clinical research – thanks to ingredients like 200 mg of caffeine anhydrous, CarnoSyn beta-alanine, BetaPower betaine, citrulline malate, N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine, vitamins B6 and B12. The beverage is available nationwide for $29.99 per 12-pack at GNC and Vitamin Shoppe locations, gyms, convenience and grocery stores, and online.

Canadian cannabis company Harvest One has acquired the natural sleep aid Dream Water (Miami, Fla.) for $27 million. According to Dream Water executives the deal will allow the company to exploit “synergies in the commercial cannabis and sleep aid markets.” The company expects to develop product lines that include the non-psychoactive compound cannabidiol (CBD), found in the cannabis plant, that purportedly has several health benefits, including as pain and anxiety relief. After closing the deal, Dream Water USA and Dream Water Canada will be consolidated and become a subsidiary of Harvest One called Dream Water Global.

Tyson Foods has partnered with Toronto, Ont.-based Flashfood Inc. in a Detroit area pilot program that lets shoppers buy quality surplus food items at a discount rate. The Flashfoodbox program involves other services – nonprofit Forgotten Harvest, Michigan Farm to Freezer for processing and packaging, and AxleHire Inc. for shipping – but the core is the Flashfoodbox. The boxes are ordered online or via the Flashfood app and are delivered directly to customer homes. Weekly, biweekly, or monthly subscriptions come with a 10 percent discount. At $44.99 a box, customers get about five pounds of protein, including meat, and nearly 10 pounds of rescued vegetables and fruits, enough to prepare 14 meals at less than $4 per plate. [Image Credit: © Flashfood Inc.]