"Hispanic consumers are looking for products with authentic flavors," said Bill Fry, president of BP's ampm franchise. "After testing products with more than 400 consumers, we selected their top three choices to launch our El Mero brand. Hispanic consumers have exhibited strong loyalty to the ampm brand, and we will continue to find ways to give them what they want."
El [image-nocss] Mero, which loosely means "the boss" in Spanish, is the latest Hispanic food offering at ampm stores. The chain currently carries a variety of authentic Hispanic bakery and burrito products.
"With El Mero, stores are getting a high-quality product that adds to our 'too much good stuff' offer for anyone who enjoys zesty snacks," Fry said.
The ampm stores are now selling three El Mero products: Chili Mango fruit snacks (dried mango slices, coated with a chili-sugar mixture). Garbanzos (crunchy garbanzo beans with chili powder and a touch of lime). Churritos (chili-flavored corn snack sticks).
The official rollout of El Mero snacks follows the recent debut of the chain's new in-store brand, Good Stuff by ampm, starting with candy and bottled water. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.).
The ampm brand was founded in 1978 in Southern California by ARCO. The brand became part of BP when BP acquired ARCO in 2000. ARCO-branded ampm stores are currently found in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona; BP-branded ampm stores are located in Chicago, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Atlanta. BP supplies more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 11,000 retail outlets. BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO), ARAL and Burmah Castrol.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.