Tea, coffee and juice products challenge milk sales
Sales for refrigerated juices and teas, and RTD teas and coffee show real promise. Plus, we highlight some new juice, tea and coffee products.
Bolthouse Farms, Bakersfield, Calif., launched three organic, alternative protein beverages in its 1915 brand that include almond milk, soymilk and pea protein. Packaged in 12-ounce BPA-free bottles, the protein beverages contain 12 grams of protein per bottle, and are made with dairy-free ingredients and no artificial sweeteners. The flavors are vanilla, chocolate and coffee. The drinks, which retail for $3.99, are available nationwide at select Kroger, Walmart, Target and Meijer stores.
Califia Farms, Anaheim, Calif., introduced five functional ready-to-drink plant-based beverages at the Natural Foods Expo West in March. The non-GMO beverages include a cold-brew coffee with almond milk that’s made with Arabica beans; Matcha almond milk that contains green tea; and ginger almond milk that contains both ginger and turmeric spice. The cold brew coffee with almond milk contains 60 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of sugar and 1 gram of protein per 10.5-ounce serving. The almond milks retail for $2.79 per 10.5-ounce bottle, except the cold brew coffee, which retails for $2.99. The beverages are available in stores nationwide.
Crystal Creamery, Modesto, Calif., launched a line of juice drinks sold in half-gallons in four flavors: tropical punch, berry punch, fruit punch and watermelon punch. The drinks have a suggested retail price of $1.29 to $1.49. The tropical punch flavor contains 60 calories and 15 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. The punches are sold in stores like Food 4 Less, Grocery Outlet and Nugget in Northern California.
San Francisco-based Purity.Organic expanded its portfolio with a new line of organic, super-premium ready-to-drink teas. The teas feature antioxidants and the amino acid L-Theanine to offer additional functional benefits. The line features five flavors, including brewed matcha green tea with honey; brewed matcha green tea with hibiscus, honey and lime; and brewed Mate tea with grapefruit and ginger. The matcha green tea with honey flavor contains 20 calories and 5 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. The teas are available on the East and West Coasts at Safeway, and retail between $2.49 and $2.79 per 14-ounce glass bottle.
With many dairies also bottling teas, juices, lemonades and coffee-based drinks, it’s important for dairy processors to keep an eye on what’s new and trending in these nondairy beverage categories.
Sales were up for many of these categories, including refrigerated teas and coffee, refrigerated juices and drinks, and canned and bottled teas, as they look to compete with milk for a “share of the stomach.” The lemonade segment also showed real promise, while orange juice sales struggled.
Refrigerated juices/drinks — a $6.7 billion category — saw dollar sales increase 1.7%, and unit sales increase 1.5%, according to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago, for the 52 weeks ended Feb. 21, 2016. This category included these segments, with many seeing dollar and unit sales ticking up:
- The refrigerated orange juice segment saw declines. Dollar sales dropped 3.1% to $3.2 billion, and unit sales fell 3.4%.
- The refrigerated fruit drink segment’s dollar sales jumped 7.1% to $1 billion, and unit sales increased 4.3%.
- In the refrigerated juice and drink smoothies segment dollar sales were up 7.6% to $903.8 million and unit sales improved 8.3%.
- The refrigerated lemonade segment’s dollar sales increased 10.9% to $639.5 million, while unit sales jumped 11.3%.
The tea/coffee ready-to-drink category registered impressive gains. Dollar sales jumped 12.9% to $5.2 billion and unit sales increased 10.3% to 2.6 billion. Both the category’s segments — canned and bottled tea and cappuccino/iced coffee (which includes some dairy-based drinks) — saw promising sales numbers. The $3.4 billion canned and bottled tea segment’s dollar sales improved 9.4%, and unit sales increased 7.7%.
The refrigerated teas/coffee category also saw impressive numbers — dollar sales rose 12.4% to $1.3 billion, and unit sales were up 9.4% to 581 million. The refrigerated teas segment dominated this category with $1.1 billion — dollar sales jumped 12.3% and unit sales increased 9.5%.
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