ATLANTA -- Coca-Cola North America (CCNA) and Caribou Coffee plan to launch a new line of premium ready-to-drink (RTD) iced coffees in the United States next summer.
Caribou Coffee, Minneapolis, has 423 coffeehouses in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The RTD iced coffee launch with CCNA is the third brand licensing arrangement for Caribou Coffee. Earlier this year, the company partnered with General Mills to launch a line of Caribou Coffee snack bars and with Kemps for a Caribou Coffee premium ice cream.
Our partnership [image-nocss] with Coca-Cola North America will extend our great premium coffee taste experience into the ready-to-drink category and allow us to take advantage of CCNA's world-class distribution system, said Michael Coles, Caribou Coffee chairman and CEO.
Volume in the [RTD] coffee category has grown 17% in the last four years, and revenues are up 24%, said J.A.M. Sandy Douglas, president of CCNA, Atlanta.
Its partnership with Caribou is the latest in a spate of recent CCNA innovations in the coffee, tea and indulgent beverage segments. In August, CCNA launched a new line of premium indulgent beverages, Godiva Belgian Blends, in partnership with Godiva Chocolatier. Godiva initially launched in the U.S. Northeast and has now expanded into the Midwest and Southeast, with volume double original expectations.
This summer's reformulation and restaging of the popular Nestea ready-to- drink teas was followed by launch of the new Gold Peak RTD teas. Nestea sales are up 18% June-Oct over the same period last year, the company said, and Gold Peak is building availability in the Northeast and Central United States, with strong repeat sales. Far Coast, a collection of premium brewed beverages, was launched in a special concept store in Toronto, in September and is currently being rolled out to other retail customers in the Greater Toronto Area. The Enviga beveragewhich boosts the metabolism to burn calorieslaunched regionally earlier this month. Enviga has been added to shelves in hundreds of outlets in the New York and Philadelphia markets.
Current RTD coffee and tea products are marketed by CCNA with Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW)a joint venture between The Coca-Cola Co. and Nestle. Early this month, Coca-Cola and Nestle announced the refocus of BPW on black teas and Envigafreeing both Coca-Cola and Nestle to develop and market their own coffees and non-black tea beverages.
Caribou Coffee offers gourmet coffee and espresso-based beverages, as well as specialty teas, baked goods, whole-bean coffee, branded merchandise and related products. Also, it sells products to club stores, grocery stores, mass merchandisers, office coffee providers, airlines, hotels, sports and entertainment venues, college campuses and other commercial customers. In addition, Caribou Coffee licenses third parties to use the Caribou Coffee brand on food and merchandise items.
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