7-Eleven Tries Ready-to-Drink Meals
By Steve Holtz on Jul. 10, 2017LOS ANGELES --7-Eleven convenience stores in Los Angeles are now offering “ready-to-drink meals” in a test of three products from Rosa Foods Inc.
Soylent Ready-to-Drink Meals are nutritionally complete, drinkable meals and will be available in 18 7-Elevens in the greater Los Angeles market in three flavors: Cacao, Cafe Coffiest and Cafe Chai. This is Soylent’s first step into brick-and-mortar retail after being available online since 2016.
Each 14-ounce bottle include 400 calories of a soy-based beverage that contains 20 grams of protein, 21 grams of fat and 236 grams of carbohydrates.
"Soylent is a differentiated product for the on-the-go millennial,” said Todd McFarland, 7-Eleven senior product director for the cold vault. “It is a great example of a product that has reached online success in a short period, and we are excited to collaborate with Soylent to bring the drinkable meals to our stores in a single serving."
"This new collaboration with 7-Eleven will make Soylent an even better option for customers looking for convenience without sacrificing their health,” said Rob Rhinehart, founder and CEO of Soylent.
Here are four other recent additions of beverages to c-store shelves that caught our eye …
Jones Soda
Jones Soda Co. is now available in more than 800 Petro-Canada locations across Canada.
Based in Calgary, Suncor’s Petro-Canada branded network is positioned as a leading retailer in major urban areas of Canada. Jones Soda Co.’s Root Beer, Cream Soda and Blue Bubblegum Soda are available on shelves now.
“Having launched Jones in Vancouver, Canada, over 20 years ago, it is an honor to celebrate our heritage by partnering with Western Canada’s largest gas retailer, Petro-Canada,” said Jennifer Cue, CEO of Jones Soda Co. “Retailers are seeing the growth potential of the premium soda segment as consumers look for alternatives to the mainstream.”
Natural Cabana Lemonade
Westlake, Ohio-based TravelCenters of America is now stocking Pulse Beverage Corp.'s Natural Cabana Lemonade and Limeade in its 540 travel centers and convenience stores.
The travel-center chain will stock six flavors of the drinks in its stores across the country.
Alkaline88
The Alkaline Water Co. Inc., bottled under the trademark Alkaline88, has entered into six strategic agreements with national brokers to pursue sales opportunities with Wal-Mart/Sam's, Target Stores, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Costco, 7-Eleven, Circle K and other national retailers. This is a key component of the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company's strategy to add national retailers as part of its coast-to-coast expansion.
The company packages and sells its alkaline water in 1-gallon, 3-liter, 1-liter, 700-milliliter and 500-milliliter sizes to over 31,000 retail locations in all 50 states.
Amazon wine
E-commerce giant Amazon debuted a proprietary wine in late June, working with King Vintners in Eugene, Ore.
King Vintners’ Next brand is the first wine ever developed from conception specifically for release with Amazon Wine.
"Amazon Wine provides a convenient destination for customers to shop a vast selection of high quality and every day wine brands," said Nick Loeffler of Amazon Wine. “We're thrilled to connect wineries, like King Estate, with millions of customers and give them an innovative format to launch new brands."
Next launched with three offerings: Pinot Gris ($20), Red Blend ($30) and Pinot Noir ($40). It is available for purchase exclusively on amazonwine.com for now and eventually on kingvintners.com. Initial production is 1,500 cases of each varietal. King Vintners plans to add four more brands to its lineup, each representing a different wine-growing region from which KV sources its fruit.