LAVAL, Quebec -- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is launching four new beverages in Canada for its summer season, said The Gazette.
They include an improved iced coffee and an energy drink containing 7% alcohol and the latest of its gross-out Sloche flavors, Gadoue (slush).
Couche-Tard also has an exclusive deal to sell Fruite Bulles Tetes a Claques, fizzy, faux-fruit-flavored drinks tied in to the popular French Canadian animated humor website Tetes a Claques (Tac), www.tetesaclaques.[image-nocss] tv.
Lassonde Inc., packagers of Oasis, Fairlee, Everfresh and Rougemont juices, have produced 600,000 bottles of the limited-edition beverage bearing the likenesses of TaC characters Monique, Raoul and the Captain of DC-132.
There was already a Tetes a Claques clip about a guy getting on a plane with a bottle of grape juice. Everyone knew it. We realized we should try to do something with them, said Nathalie Nasseri, Lassonde's director of marketing.
A bottle of Fruite is prominently displayed in a new clip called Le Pilotte, Part 3.
Lassonde talked to Salambo Productions, the company behind the Web animation. At about the same time, Salambo was talking to Couche Tard. A natural three-way partnership was born, said the report.
According to the label, each 345-ml serving of Fruite Bulles contains 41 grams of carbohydrates, or between 14% and 17% of the recommended daily serving, no vitamin A or C, and no iron or calcium. The single-serving drinks retail for $1.59 (Canadian).
This isn't meant to be a replacement for your orange juice in the morning. It's a fun and refreshing beverage, Nasseri said.
Between 8% and 9% of the company's annual revenues here are derived from beverage sales, according to the Gazette. That translates to about 210 million fountain or bottled drinks each year.
Keeping the flavors fresh and fun is key, Chantale Sajo, the retailer's marketing director, told the newspaper.
Couche-Tard saw slushy drink sales soar after it created its own house brand, Sloche, and introduced flavors like Winchire Wacheur (Winshield Washer), Sang Froid and Poussin Frappe (Crushed Chick).
This year's offering, Gadoue, is muck-colored. It sells for between $1.58 and $1.99. Couche Tards sells more than 200,000 a week during the summer months.
Montreal-based Blue Spike Beverages has developed Octane, which also hit Couche-Tard shelves this week, the report said. The drink, sold in bottle-shaped aluminum cans, gets its 7% alcohol content from cider. It also contains guarana, a caffeine-like stimulant.
Consumers will have to present identification before being allowed to purchase the drink, said the report.
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