CSP Announces Winners of 2024 Retailer Choice Best New Products Contest
CSP Announces Winners of 2024 Retailer Choice Best New Products Contest
By CSP Staff on Sep. 30, 2024Best New Products Contest 2024
Celebrating its 21st year, CSP's Retailer Choice Best New Product Contest is now old enough to drink the winning alcohol packaged beverage. The annual contest celebrates the best in candy, foodservice, beverages, tobacco and more.
Hundreds of retailers voted in this year’s competition, choosing winners from manufacturers large and small. These new products—introduced to convenience stores between March 1, 2023, and March 1, 2024—represent some of the hottest trends in c-stores and retailing right now, including new takes on familiar candy and snack brands, ingredients to diversify foodservice menus, ready-to-drink cocktails, and technology and equipment making retailers’ and consumers’ lives easier.
Awards will be presented to the contest winners in October during the NACS Show in Las Vegas.
Candy
Reese’s Big Cup Caramel Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Available in standard- and king-sizes, Reese’s Caramel Big Cup offers up a gooey layer of caramel to the iconic peanut butter cup—now for the first time available in a big-cup format. Next to peanut butter, caramel is the most requested combination paired with chocolate, according to the supplier.
Food Product
Krispy Krunchy Cajun Chicken Sandwich
A premium-quality offering that’s crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, Krispy Krunchy’s new Cajun Chicken Sandwich features an all-white meat breast fillet marinated in the brand’s mild Cajun spices. Coated in proprietary breading and topped with signature honey sauce, Krispy Krunchy Cajun Chicken Sandwich (suggested retail price of $4.99) is served on a warm brioche bun.
Foodservice: Dispensed Beverages
Upouria Cold Brew Iced Coffee
Upouria Cold Brew coffees are made with premium 100% Arabica Cold Brew coffee extract, real dairy and no preservatives. They’re bold and refreshing, with a smoother, less acidic flavor than traditionally brewed coffees. Retail gross profit margins generally exceed 50%, according to the supplier. Nine flavors are available.
Foodservice: Equipment
Bunn Premia | BUNN
Premia is a high-performance brewer that automatically grinds, brews and manages freshness for optimal coffee availability during peak times while reducing waste during slower dayparts. This next evolution of equipment delivers hot and iced coffee with a drip-style flavor profile, no crema, excellent cup clarity and instant dispense for fast speed of service for your customers.
General Merchandise: HBC
Amazing Grass Greens Blend Mood | Amazing Grass
Amazing Grass Greens Blend Mood offers relaxation support with L-theanine, known for its calming effects on the body and mind. The addition of 1 billion CFU of probiotics helps to foster a healthy gut and seven nutritious greens provide a good source of Vitamin K. The tangy Passionfruit Citrus flavor adds a delicious way to spice up any drink and give an extra boost of energy when needed, according to the supplier. This blend combines nutritious farm fresh greens including fruit and veggie ingredients for digestive health and mood support for a delicious and simple way to support overall health and wellness.
Meat Snacks
Taco Seasoned Beef Jerky Sticks
Chomps’ newest flavor, Taco Beef, launched in March 2023. Chomps Taco Seasoned Beef sticks combine taco flavor with high-quality, grass-fed and finished beef. Seasoned with paprika, chili powder, black pepper, sea salt and cumin, Chomps Taco Beef sticks provide 10 grams of protein and 100 calories in a flavorful on-the-go snacking format. All Chomps sticks are zero sugar and free from soy, dairy, artificial preservatives or colors, MSG and artificial nitrates or nitrites. The brand is Whole30-approved, certified gluten-free and allergy-friendly, showcasing an ability to meet diverse dietary needs.
Chomps.com
Packaged Beverages: Alcohol
Twisted Tea Light
Twisted Tea Light is a refreshingly smooth hard iced tea made with real brewed tea and a twist of natural lemon flavor. It is great tasting and refreshing like Twisted Tea Original but with only 110 calories, 6 grams of sugar and 4% ABV, according to the supplier.
Packaged Beverages: Nonalcohol
Celsius Sparkling Raspberry Peach
Celsius launches its newest flavor in Celsius Sparkling Raspberry Peach, a fruit-forward blend of freshly picked raspberries and ripe peaches. Made with seven essential vitamins and zero sugar, the brand—a premium alternative to traditional energy—is regarded as functional and balanced, all to provide users with essential energy.
Packaging
Take-out packaging for Scratch Dig-In-Chicken
Harbor Foods’ take-out packaging for Scratch Dig-In-Chicken is designed to reflect the premium quality, dig-in worthy meal inside without the look of fast food. This craveable chicken is unlikely to make it far before being devoured, but these eye-catching take-out boxes will protect that cargo.
Snacks
Kind Protein Max
With 20 grams of protein and 1 gram total sugar, Kind Protein Max is built to help consumers hit their nutrition targets while leading with real, delicious peanuts as the No. 1 ingredient. The bars strike a keto-friendly combination of net carbs, protein and sugar for a tasty snack with zero grams of added sugar.
Technology
PDI Point of Sale (POS)
PDI Point of Sale (POS) is designed to modernize convenience, fuel and foodservice operations on a single, integrated technology platform. The solution supports a wide variety of complex transaction types and decreases employee training time while increasing customer throughput with its intuitive user interface. Businesses can quickly improve store profitability through prompted upselling, leverage robust management tools to prevent fraud and provide exceptional customer experiences. To meet industry-specific needs, PDI POS integrates with back-office enterprise management software to deliver a powerful platform that can support up to 120 fueling positions.
Tobacco/Nicotine
Zeo Universe Nicotine Flavor Free Pouches
ZEO Universe offers pharmaceutical-grade nicotine with over 99% purity, with an FDA acceptance letter for all nicotine products. It can be found in major U.S. retail chains in more than 40 states. Zeo’s Tobacco Flavor Free pouches come in strengths of 3, 6, 9 and 12 milligrams. Each can has 25 pouches.