CPG Week: C-Store Special – Highlights From the NACS Show

[00:00:05] Monica Watrous: Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by BevNET and Nosh. I'm Monica Watrous, here with my co-host Lukas Southard, and today we are talking about all the trends and news from the NACS show. While I didn't attend, Lucas, you were there along with our colleagues Brad Avery, Martín Caballero, and Jeffrey Klineman at the National Association of Convenience Stores trade show in Chicago last week. And you saw quite a few interesting food and drink offerings on the show floor. What were some of the snacking trends you saw?

[00:00:37] Lukas Southard: Among the many snacks that were on display and being sampled throughout the show floor in Chicago last week, there was a lot of protein bars. Obviously, this is something that we've been talking about a lot. There were some interesting innovations in terms of adding on new value propositions or doing maybe a kind of protein plus. So Jimmy bar was one of the ones that stood out to me. They were showing off their creatine bar, which has 20 grams of protein with five grams of creatine in it. Another brand that stood out in terms of showing off something slightly new was Quantum Energy Squares. So this is a legacy energy bar maker. They had changed up their packaging design. They used to have kind of like a sunset motif, these bright yellow packages with a sunset motif, and they switched out for bright yellow with a lightning bolt. And they were also with their new packaging, they had put protein on the front. So originally they had played into the caffeination of their bars. Now they had caffeine plus protein equals energy squared as their kind of tagline rate in big, bright letters on the front of their packaging. So they're leaning into protein, which was already in the formulation.

[00:02:00] Monica Watrous: So that's the highlights from the bar segment. What were you seeing in terms of meat snacks?

[00:02:05] Lukas Southard: Well, Monica, if you know me well, you know that I love a good meat stack and I came home with a bag full of samples, but I did, I did walk around and talk to some brands that I haven't reported on as much. So I stopped by the Jack links booth, which was quite impressive and had some really good conversations with some of the brand representatives there. One of the biggest innovations they were really excited to talk about was this new. line called JL3. And so, yeah, it's just three ingredients. It's beef, it's vinegar, and it's salt. And frankly, it was quite good. Over at the Oberto booth, I was actually able to talk to the grandson of the company's founder, Steven Oberto. And we were talking a lot about how this legacy family owned business was adapting to the growing interest in the set, as well as how it is modernizing some of its SKUs and some of its varieties to reach this premium meat snack consumer. So one thing they've been doing is offering a lot more international flavors. Stephen talked about Korean barbecue and chipotle chili flavors, as well as their Bavarian line. Also, Alberto had seen a lot of interest in single species. They're a hundred percent grass-fed beef sticks. We're doing very well. Steven told me, and there was a lot of interest in meat snacks that were playing into grass-fed or other sustainability and better for you trends. Finally, I did stop by the Archer and Chomps booths. And although they weren't showing off a whole lot new innovation, they were there.

[00:04:08] Monica Watrous: To really kind of extend themselves further into the convenience channel that covers the snacking side, our colleague and regular co-host of CPG Week, Brad Avery looked at what was going on in coffee and bottled water at the show on the coffee side. Nearly two years after its acquisition by Chobani, La Cologne's goals for 2026 are still gaining distribution and driving trial, while 2027 is slated to be a big innovation year. Both La Cologne and Black Rifle Coffee Company are leaning into ready-to-drink unsweetened black coffee, and we're sampling options at NACS. Offerings are seen as drawing more consumers to the category who maybe are looking to avoid flavors and sweeteners as well as milks. The upcoming launch from Black Rifle coincides with a refreshed label design across its canned coffees that provides a better visual intended to pop more on shelf. Elsewhere on the floor, Uptime Energy reported that it's also reworking its recent cold brew coffee pickup, Rise. On the water side of things, several bottled water brands at the show were focused on new innovations in pack size and formats. speaking to consumers' embrace of sustainability and healthier lifestyles. Primo Brands, which is the multi-billion-dollar water category leader, sampled new reusable aluminum bottles for its Ozarka and the Mountain Valley regional brands. and longtime aluminum bottle water company Path is continuing to lean into unique visual designs for its product. Brad reported that the company is releasing American flag bottles as a major push next year as the country celebrates its 250th anniversary.

[00:06:09] Lukas Southard: I did walk around and talk to a bunch of ice tea brands, especially the kind of next generation modern iced tea brands. Most of them were going after what one of the brands told me was the golden brands. So think Gold Peak, Lipton, Pure Leaf, the iced tea brands that you would find in the PepsiCo or Coca-Cola portfolios. When I talked to the real company who was there for their first time at NACs, they were really betting on. C-store friendly flavors. So they had recently launched a rocket pop earlier this year. They also had a watermelon flavor that had started out as an exclusive limited time offer. and had now become part of their regular portfolio. So these are the kind of flavors that they said were showing some traction with some of the C-Store partners that they had already. Real Iced Tea was also pretty excited about a three-year licensing deal that they had just inked with the Jolly Rancher brand. They were going to bring blue raspberry and green apple flavors to the iced tea set and really betting on those being something that Gen Z consumers would like. In another part of the floor, I talked to St. James, which was showing off its resealable aluminum bottles. They had initially launched those at Expo West in March, but One of the things that they talked about a lot at NACs last week was the fact that a big reason they had switched over to these aluminum bottles was their former Tetra pack cartons really didn't fit into the refrigerator gliders that you find in most convenience stores and gas stations. whereas these aluminum bottles fit very nicely. They even had a glider on their table. And so that was really something that they were excited about. They were also sampling their newest flavor, Peach, which was a partnership with Ashton Earl and Juicy Couture. It was quite tasty. I liked it. Finally, I did talk to Yerba Madre and their CEO, Ben Mand. He told me a lot about how the brand was kind of diversifying its portfolio into different sugar contents, a no sugar, a low sugar and a full sugar varieties on many of their SKUs. The brand has been around for a while and is already pretty well established in the convenience channel, but Man talked about how they were using these new varieties and tweaking some of the packaging. So it spoke to consumers a little bit better about how much sugar was in them.

[00:09:04] Monica Watrous: Our colleague BevNET Managing Editor Martín Caballero spent quite a bit of time at the PepsiCo booth at the NAC show and reported on some of its bold swings and subtle tweaks across a range of beverage categories, including protein, soda, coffee, sports drinks, and tea. Muscle Milk is bulking up its Pro line to a staggering 42 grams of protein per 14 ounce bottle. And that brand is taking a concerted effort to welcome female consumers back into the category. With a complete reformulation that includes ultra-filtered milk, which contains both whey protein and casein. Elsewhere from Pepsi, artificial ingredients have been cleaned up. The complete muscle milk family now has no thick flavors, sweeteners, and added colors. It uses just stevia and cane sugar to sweeten the formulations. Starbucks has new coffee and protein drinks that are geared towards busy moms looking for coffee that does more, according to booth reps. These new SKUs may enhance the better-for-you credentials of a brand that is best known at retail for its hyper-sweet and indulgent frappuccinos. Gatorade's ever-evolving Propel water line is due to launch a powder stick next year that has 22 grams of clear-whey protein as well as caffeine. And Gatorade Lower Sugar is set to arrive early next year across all formats. As the name suggests, the new formula touts 75% less sugar, clocking in at 5 grams per serving, but also eliminates artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners. Other highlights at the PepsiCo booth included Dirty Mountain Dew Cream Soda, Pure Leaf's new sparkling Mental Focus line extension, and Pepsi Prebiotic Soda, which despite the functional positioning of three grams of fiber and the addition of stevia, still looks and tastes much like the original formula.

[00:11:01] Lukas Southard: So while Marty was doing the walkthrough at the PepsiCo booth, I was doing a similar walkthrough at its chief competitor, Coca-Cola Coke was a little lighter on the innovation. I will say at least from my perspective. They were really betting high on the launch of their mini-can format, which has done really well in grocery. And they are now putting that into C-stores as single-serve individual cans that will be in the refrigerated case. Also at the Coke booth, they were showing off the return of Mr. Pibb. It has been Pibb Extra for a long time. And now it's back to being Mr. Pibb. He's coming back with 30% more caffeine. So they're really playing into this spicy, sweet, or swicy flavor. I think that's how you pronounce it. Not really sure, but they're adding more spice to it. More caffeine, new can branding that is a little bit more loud and jumps off the shelf a little bit.

[00:12:11] Monica Watrous: Welcome back, Mr. Pibb.

[00:12:12] Lukas Southard: Welcome back, Mr. Pibb.

[00:12:15] Monica Watrous: Insiders can read full recaps on all of these trends and highlights from the NAC show at BevNET and Nosh. Here are some other notable bits of news from the week. Greek yogurt giant Chobani has raised $650 million in new equity capital to support its continued growth and recent manufacturing investments. Molson Coors Beverage Company will eliminate around 400 salaried positions across its America's Business Unit by the end of December. And finally, the J.M. Smucker Company has filed a complaint alleging Trader Joe's infringed on its trademarks with an Uncrustables copycat. For these stories and more, become an insider at BevNET and Nosh. And if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. That wraps up this edition of CPG Week by BevNET and Nosh. Thank you to our audio engineer, Joshua Pratt, our director is Mike Schneider, and our designer is Aaron Willette. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice, and we will see you next time.