CHICAGO -- Which products will be voted the best of 2016? That’s for convenience-store retailers to decide. Before visiting a polling place to elect the next president of the United States, elect CSP’s 2016 Best New Product Contest winner.
The new product committee—also known as the esteemed editors of CSP magazine—sifted through hundreds of worthy nominees and selected three finalists each in 26 product categories. Now it’s up to c-store retailers to select the winners of CSP’s 13th annual Retailer Choice Best New Product Contest by filling out their official ticket at www.cspdailynews.com/2016bestnewproduct or by tweeting the company name and product with the hashtag #CSPnpc2016.
Voting is open Aug. 2 through Sept. 9.
“The quality and innovation of new products launched every year makes it more and more difficult to name just three products per category as finalists,” said Abbey Lewis, editor in chief of Winsight Media’s Convenience Store Products magazine. “It’s a testament to how well suppliers are meeting and exceeding the rapidly increasing expectations of the consumer. Your vote helps recognize the deserving suppliers and continues the great trend of quality products introduced to the industry.”
The group of finalists represents products that have been introduced into the c-store market between Aug. 1, 2015, and July 31, 2016.
Winners will be announced and will receive an award plaque at the NACS Show in October. They also will be mentioned in an article that will appear online at www.cspdailynews.com and in the December issue of CSP magazine.
The full list of finalists includes:
| Product Category | Supplier Name | Product Name |
|---|---|---|
| Best New Packaging | Anheuser-Busch | Budweiser (America Packaging) |
| Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. | Del Monte® Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grab n Go cups | |
| J&J Snack Foods Corp. | Mary B's Biscuit Melts | |
| Candy (Chocolate) | Mars Chocolate North America | SNICKERS® Crisper |
| Prairie City Bakery | SNICKERS® Crisper | |
| The Hershey Company | Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cups King Size | |
| Candy (Non-Chocolate) | HARIBO | HARIBO Twin Snakes |
| Mondelez International | Sour Patch Kids Strawberry re-sealable stand up pouch | |
| The Hershey Company | Allan Big Foot Gummy Candy | |
| Design/Construction/Display | Anthony | iDOOR® |
| MasonWays Indestructible Plastics | Mixed Recyclables Center | |
| Replications Unlimited | Urestone Faux Brick and Stone Panels | |
| Dispensed Beverage Equipment | Cornelius a Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company | IDC Pro |
| Franke | A600 | |
| Lancer Direct | Touchscreen Tower | |
| Dispensed Beverages | Kerry Convenience / Insight Beverages | OREO Hot Chocolate |
| Nestlé USA | Nestle Carnation Half & Half Liquid Creamer Singles | |
| Sunny Sky Products | Sour Punch Sip -N- Sour Slushies | |
| Edible Grocery | General Mills, Inc. | Cheerios Protein |
| KYVAN Foods | KYVAN® Mild Honey Apple Salsa | |
| Reichel Foods | PRO2snax | |
| Energy Drinks | Celsius | Celsius Sparkling Watermelon and Sparkling Grape Rush flavors |
| Red Bull North America | Red Bull Summer Edition | |
| Rocky Mountain High | Hemp Energy Drink | |
| Energy Shots/Supplements | Haider Corp dba Tweaker Energy Drink Co. | Tweaker Energy Shots Watermelon |
| Life Support | Life Support Recovery Shot | |
| Living Essentials | 5-Hour Energy Extra Strength Cherry | |
| Equipment - Foodservice | Hatco Corporation | Round Heated Well |
| Merrychef/Manitowoc Foodservice | Merrychef eikon e2s | |
| Tomlinson Industries | 513H Humidified Merchandiser | |
| Foodservice Products (dessert) | f'real foods | f'real Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Milkshake |
| J&J Snack Foods Corp. | Superpretzel Sweet Cinnamon Soft Pretzel Bites | |
| Sara Lee Foodservice | Sara Lee Pie slices | |
| Foodservice Products (Snacks and Sides) | Brakebush Brothers, Inc. | Tater Chip Strips |
| Home Market Foods | Sriracha Chicken RollerBites | |
| Hot Stuff Pizza | Pepperoni Pizza Roll | |
| Foodservice Products (general) | AdvancePierre Foods | BIG AZ Biscuit Stacker |
| Johnsonville Sausage | Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit | |
| Ruiz Foods | El Monterey® Empanadas | |
| General Merchandise | Armor All Professional® Extreme Shine Wax | Zep Vehicle Care Inc. |
| Briggs & Stratton | Gas Off | |
| ICEE | Sip-N-See Straws | |
| Health & Beauty | Convenience Valet | Kaomojibalms™ |
| Lil' Drug Store Products | Rolaids Advanced | |
| Convenience Valet | Waterless Disposable Razor | |
| Meat Snacks | Jack Link's Protein Snacks | Lorissa's Kitchen Szechuan Peppercorn Beef Premium Steak Strips |
| THANASI Foods | Duke's Chorizo & Lime Smoked SHORTY Sausages | |
| Tyson Convenience | Ball Bark Flame Grilled Jerky | |
| Packaged Beverages (Alcohol) | Anheuser-Busch | Best Damn Cherry Cola |
| Boston Beer Company | Twisted Tea Bourbon Barrel | |
| MillerCoors | Henry's Hard Soda | |
| Snacks (Bars) | Clif Bar & Company | CLIF Nut Butter Filled Energy Bar |
| Quest Nutrition | Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bar | |
| thinkThin | Unwrapped Protein Bites | |
| Snacks (Salty) | General Mills Convenience | Chex® Xtreme™ |
| Tyson Convenience | Hillshire Snacking Small Plates | |
| Van Holten's | Van Holten's Pickle-Ice | |
| Snacks (Sweet) | Hostess Brands | Hostess Suzy Q's |
| Leaf Brands, LLC | Hydrox Sandwich Cookies | |
| Mondelez International | belVita Sandwich Peanut Butter | |
| Technology - Hardware | EchoSat, Inc | PaySafe SPG |
| Minor Decliner LLC | Minor Decliner Age Verification System | |
| Wand Corp. | Digital Menu Board | |
| Technology - Software | GSP | Print on Demand Technology |
| Hot Stuff Pizza | iGnG - Intelligent Grab N Go | |
| Verifone | Mobile Payment API | |
| Tobacco (Accessories) | Kretek | Djeep prepacked display |
| BIC Consumer Products | Bohemian Series | |
| Republic Tobacco | OCB® Organic Hemp Cigarette Paper Display | |
| Tobacco (Cigars) | Cheyenne International, LLC | Cheyenne Limited Edition Tropical Cigars |
| Swedish Match | Game Leaf Black Cherry | |
| Swisher International, Inc. | Swisher Sweets Wild Rush Cigarillos | |
| Tobacco (Vaping Products) | blu eCigs | blu Carolina Bold Tanks |
| Logic | Logic Power Refills 3-Count | |
| NJOY | NJOY Daily |
Chicago-based Winsight LLC is a business-to-business media and information services company specializing in the convenience-retailing, restaurant and noncommercial foodservice industries. Its media portfolio includes CSP, Restaurant Business, FoodService Director and Convenience Store Products magazines, a suite of digital products including websites, e-newsletters (CSP Daily News and Restaurant Business Daily) and webinars, plus video products, mobile and tablet apps, custom marketing solutions and the convenience-retailer intelligence tool, CSPedia. The Winsight Events group produces six exclusive, large-scale executive-level conferences—Restaurant Leadership Conference, FARE Conference, Outlook Leadership, Convenience Retailing University, FSTEC and MenuDirections—in addition to more than 12 major EduNetworking conferences and advisory meetings. Winsight recently acquired Technomic Inc., a food-industry provider of primary and secondary market information and advisory services.
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