OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- Ferrara Candy Co. has recalled 5-ounce packages of its Brach's Almond Supremes after discovering that some packages may include peanuts and wheat, which are not declared on the label.

People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts risk having a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products.

Consumers are instructed to return opened or unopened product to the retailer for a full refund or replacement. The affected items have a "best by" date of April 22, 2017. The item UPC is 11300 39733.

The packages were distributed throughout retail stores in Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

The company discovered the packages may include Brach's Bridge Mix, which contains peanuts and wheat.

Ferrara Candy determined that the packaging error was caused by an incorrect roll of packaging film being accidentally loaded in one of its manufacturing facilities. It said to date no illnesses have been reported in connection with this issue.

Based in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., Ferrara Candy Co. manufactures branded and private-label confections.

SAN ANTONIO – With more than 500 convenience retailers and petroleum marketers in attendance, technology provider PDI saw record-breaking attendance numbers at its annual users’ summit last week, where officials spoke about the latest version of its core product, Enterprise 8.

One of the newer aspects of the enterprise software is enhanced market-basket and transactional-database capabilities, says Austin Skaggs (pictured), vice president of marketing for PDI, Temple, Texas. Primarily done to help comply with major tobacco manufacturers’ requests for transactional data, the software can now properly format that data in the necessary ways, he said.

The conference featured speakers and workshops designed to train attendees on the features of PDI solutions. Skaggs told CSP Daily News the meeting’s major themes included POS data management and their developments in that area, plus how to maximize operations efficiences with PDI Enterprise 8 and PDI services, which give retailers the ability to turn many of their current automated processes over to PDI. One such service was handling pricebook tasks, Skaggs said.

“We have a team of over 25 people whose sole job is pricebook maintenance,” Skaggs said. “Things [retailers] would normally do in their system, we can handle so they can focus on maximizing margin and creating marketing and promotion strategies.”

Company officials also talked about PDI’s recent acquisition of Intellifuel, Titusville, Fla., which handles downstream petroleum and biofuels processes. Skaggs said the acquisition would help customers who deal with wholesale fuels pull orders into the PDI system, with in-field personnel report updates available on their iPads or hand-held devices.

For Jason Collins, information technology director for Englefield Oil, Heath, Ohio, the Intellifuel announcement was welcome news. “It shows that PDI is focused on growing and looking into the future,” he told CSP Daily News.

He said his company intends to implement PDI’s Workforce and Petronet products in the coming months. “Of all the industry events that I attend each year, the PDI users’ conference provides the best conversation and networking,” Collins said. “I get just as much out of the networking as I do attending all of the hands-on classes put on by PDI.” 

YORK, Pa. -- Rutter’s Farm Stores is using this year’s presidential election as inspiration for a new promotional event, dubbed "Vote With Your Cups." The promotion echoes 7-Eleven’s recent political-themed marketing campaign, also tied to the U.S. presidential election.

Customers can purchase a blue cup representing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton or a red cup representing Republican candidate Donald Trump when they purchase a fountain or frozen drink. At checkout, the cups are scanned to keep count of each customer’s choice.

Each Tuesday until the election, Rutter’s will hold Tally-Up Tuesday, when cup votes will be counted to show results thus far. The counts for each candidate’s cup will appear on Rutter’s website and Facebook page.

“This is a great, fun way to involve our customers during a tension-filled election," said Derek Gaskins, chief customer officer for Rutter’s.

Rutter’s also believes that this particular type of political promotion is a good fit, considering the history of its home state. "We decided to create this event to acknowledge the rich history and importance of Pennsylvania as a key swing state,” said Gaskins. “York was the first capital of the United States, and the mid-Atlantic region where our stores are concentrated is pivotal to elections."

York, Pa.-based Rutter’s is a family-owned convenience-store chain with 64 stores throughout central Pennsylvania.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Two Mobil-branded convenience stores/gas stations in Orlando and Lakeland, Fla., have rolled out pizza vending machines from Pizza Touch, an Italy-based company that offers pizza baked hot in two minutes.

Pizza Touch pizzas are priced at $6; the machine takes cash, cards or coins. Customers use a touchscreen to select and pay for any one of three pizza varieties—Margherita, Pepperoni and 4 Cheese, with mozzarella, gorgonzola, Edam and emmental cheeses.

Pizza Touch operates nearby service centers for its ATM-style modules, where logistics are in place to refill machines with pizza. Each Pizza Touch machine also records ordering information in real time.

Vending is a category with the potential to grow in the convenience-store foodservice segment, especially for snacking occasions. Recent Technomic research shows that consumers—particularly younger foodservice users between the ages of 18 and 34—seek out vending machines for snacks. Forty-one percent of younger consumers choose vending machines for midmorning snacks; 58% say the same for midday snacks.

Pizza is increasingly appealing to consumers in this age range as a snack; Technomic’s 2016 Snacking Consumer Trend Report shows that 49% of consumers ages 18–34 purchase pizza as a snack, and 68% of consumers overall report choosing pizza as an afternoon snack.

Pizza Touch is a division of Grupo Rocket, an Italian holding company that has been operating foodservice and technology businesses for 15 years in global markets, including Australia, Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Japan, Italy and now the U.S. Pizza Touch vending machines are currently up and running in 400 stores in overseas locations.

Grupo Rocket announced the arrival of Pizza Touch to U.S. markets in April 2016; convenience-store installations, including the initial rollouts in the Florida Mobil units, are tests for the company. If successful, Grupo Rocket will prep for wider expansion of Pizza Touch in convenience stores and gas stations nationwide. 

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Two new initiatives from Eby-Brown LLC are aimed at improving the way the distributor communicates with retailers and markets its fresh foods.

New ESP 360

The company Sept. 20 launched its new mobile application: Eby Source Point 360 (ESP 360). ESP 360 makes store management and ordering faster, easier and more convenient for retailers through an intuitive user interface accessed across an omnichannel environment that provides value-based information and allows them to have inventory metrics and analytics at their fingertips, the company said.

“Telxons and smart hand-helds are tools of the past. Mobile solutions are the tools of the future,” said Eby-Brown co-president Thomas Wake. “EbyBrown is committed to providing our customers technology solutions that give them an advantage in the marketplace. The release of ESP 360 is another example of this commitment.”

ESP 360 allows Eby-Brown customers to access information at any place, anytime, the company said.

“Our goal is to empower our customers through an easy-to-use application that will help them become more accurate and efficient,” Wake said. “ESP 360 transforms the ordering process by putting crucial data at the retailer’s fingertips and giving them the tools they need to make informed decisions quickly and easily.”

And the app will evolve as customers’ needs change, the company said.

“It will provide customers the foundation for an enhanced interaction with not only Eby-Brown, but other industry partners as well,” Wake said. “Future commitments to strengthen this initiative will include suggested orders to our retailers based on their order history. Additionally, it will provide the ability to check in orders and view estimated delivery times, not to mention order their products directly from Eby-Brown publications.”

A Reboot for Wakefield

Meanwhile, Eby-Brown is rebooting its Wakefield proprietary food line. The brand was established in 1994 and delivers fresh food products to the convenience-store market. New packaging, a refreshed logo and an extended product line will help reinforce the promise of fresh quality, the company said.

“Taking a different position on the branding was part of the strategic repositioning of the brand that began a year ago to meet the evolving market needs,” Wake said. “We partnered with an agency who has extensive global background on the c-store market. Through a combination of their research and our own, we developed the new brand to coincide with the demand for healthier, better-for-you choices in the c-store market.”

Wake said he expects Wakefield to resonate with c-store customers. “We know today’s c-store consumers want choices that lead to healthier eating habits," he said. "As a result, in addition to the quality sandwich offering we have always provided, we have added healthier options like fresh parfaits, heart-healthy sandwiches like our new egg white frittata, and wrap sandwiches.”

And expect more to come. “As our research has indicated, we will continue to add healthier choices for our c-store customers to keep ahead of the market trends, and as always, make our offerings with the freshest and finest ingredients as we enhance the options to our food line,” Wake said.

Retailers can get a glimpse of the improved Wakefield line and the ESP 306 app at Eby-Brown’s booth at the NACS Show Oct. 18-21 in Atlanta.

Naperville, Ill.-based Eby-Brown Co. LLC is the largest family-owned wholesale consumer products distributor in the convenience industry.

FRISCO, Texas-- Retailers attending the Pinnacle Corp.’s recent user conference saw new features regarding transactional-data transfer and overall platform use.

With a record attendance of 180 clients, sponsors and Pinnacle team members, the Arlington, Texas-based company’s Summit 2016 was held in mid-September in Frisco, Texas.

The conference included 36 breakout sessions and three general sessions, with a keynote address from Shep Hyken, a St. Louis-based motivational speaker to Fortune 100 companies. Other sessions included an industry panel with PMAA chairman Mike Bailey, who is also president and CEO of Bailey Enterprises, Riverton, Wyo., and Gray Taylor, executive director for Conexxus, Alexandria, Va. Another panel brought together three retailers to talk about the data-transfer feature tied to tobacco transactions within the Pinnacle solution.

Retailers in attendance spoke about what they learned. “I realized how I can utilize [the Pinnacle solution] to customize a dashboard to more easily track the data from our new grab-and-go sandwich program,” said Benjamin Van Cleave, director of operations for Buffalo Services, McComb, Miss.

LAVAL, Quebec –Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. chairman Alain Bouchard said a solution can be found over the next five years to protect the convenience-store chain from the threat of a hostile takeover, reported the Canadian Press.

Bouchard's comments at Tuesday’s annual shareholder meeting come a year after opposition from large institutional investors forced Couche-Tard’s four founders to withdraw a shareholder vote on extending their voting advantage.

Bouchard declined to detail available options, but he said an agreement is possible that eliminates the need for a formal vote.

He said he would never go around shareholders. “I’m too respectful of our shareholders, even the ones that didn’t support me,” he told reporters after the company’s annual meeting.

The founders last year withdrew a proposal allowing them to retain multiple voting share as long as one sits on the company’s board. Under the current “sunset clause” set to expire in five years, the advantage ends when the last of the four turns 65 or dies. Jacques D’Amours reaches that age in December 2021, while Bouchard, Richard Fortin and Real Plourde are all at least 65.

The founders require support from two-thirds of shareholders to make any change.

They faced opposition last year from proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, which many large companies follow in casting their votes.

Bouchard said there appears to be more support now for the proposal.

Mutual-fund giant Fidelity Investments is among the big investors opposed to the proposal to maintain the founders’ control, sources told The Globe and Mail.

But founders’ control is not the main issue for Fidelity, the report said. It is more concerned over the passing of the control stake to the founders’ children, who might not be able to provide the same shareholder returns of the founding partners, the sources told the newspaper.

Bouchard also defended Couche-Tard’s new CEO, Brian Hannasch, against shareholder Yvon Gagnon’s criticism of Hannasch’s lack of ability to speak French.

“I find this somewhat insulting,” Gagnon said, pointing out that Bouchard promised two years ago that the American-born CEO would learn French.

“I steered him in another direction,” said Bouchard, according to the Globe and Mail. “We worked on expanding the company. There wasn’t any time” for French lessons.

The annual meeting is still conducted mostly in French.

Meanwhile, Bouchard said he is not opposed to government efforts to increase minimum wages to $15 per hour, but said the result would be higher prices as the costs would be passed to consumers.

Couche-Tard’s retail network includes more than 12,000 locations, primarily under the Circle K brand. In North America, its network consists of 7,863 convenience stores, including 6,474 stores selling motor fuel. It has 15 business units, including 11 in the United States covering 41 states and four in Canada covering all 10 provinces.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia, Ireland, Poland, the Baltic states and Russia through 10 business units. Of the 2,708 stores, most sell motor fuel and c-store products, while the others are unmanned automated fueling sites. Also, under licensing agreements, more than 1,500 stores are operated under the Circle K banner in 13 other countries and territories worldwide (China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam).

NEW YORK – United Parcel Service Inc. finds itself on the defensive as the New York attorney general’s office accuses the shipping firm of delivering untaxed tobacco products from American Indian reservations, according to Bloomberg.

The state is seeking more than $800 million against the Atlanta-based company. Bloomberg reported New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as saying that from 2010 to 2014, UPS allegedly made more than 78,500 illegal shipments, violating a 2005 pact to stop the practice. The shipments translated to more than 683,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes and a direct tax loss to the state of $30 million and New York City of $4.7 million, Schneiderman said.

In an opening statement this week in a Manhattan federal court, Carrie Cohen, the lawyer for UPS, said the company was in full compliance with the law, saying the city and state mistook cartons of legally shipped “little cigars” for cigarettes.

“Little cigars are practically indistinguishable from cigarettes,” Cohen said in her opening statement, calling the damages amount a “ridiculously high” number. “UPS is in full compliance with the law.”

The attorney general first filed the lawsuit in early 2015 and after some legal wrangling last fall, the case has proceeded to trial. New York filed a similar suit against Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx for allegedly shipping 80 million in contraban cigarettes across the state, which is also making its way through the legal process.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- A newly constructed, 23,000-square-foot academic wing on Salve Regina University’s seaside campus has been named in honor of Cumberland Farms chairman Lily Haseotes Bentas for her longtime friendship and service to the university.

The Lily Haseotes Bentas Center was dedicated during a ceremony Sept. 17. U.S. senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) offered remarks, along with members of the Haseotes family and representatives from the Salve Regina community. The center will house the Department of Business Studies and Economics, along with its business outreach program, the Rodgers Family Department of Nursing, student common areas, classrooms, conference areas and faculty offices.

“Lily Bentas’s support of Salve Regina extends far beyond the boardroom, proving that the values of family, friendship, community and corporate responsibility truly make a difference in this world,” said Jane Gerety, president of Salve Regina, Newport, R.I. “Lily has contributed greatly to the excellence of Salve Regina through her generosity of time, experience and resources. We will be forever grateful for her longtime friendship and support.”

Bentas’ leadership and generosity have helped advance the university mission in far-reaching ways. She has been a trustee since 2007. Her support helped build Our Lady of Mercy Chapel and establish the Antone Academic Center and raise scholarship funds. Her generosity also supported the establishment of the Nuala Pell Leadership Program in Public Service, which prepares future generations of leaders through specialized training. She established the Lily Haseotes Bentas Scholarship in Business Studies, which is awarded to a female undergraduate who aspires to a career in business and who demonstrates a commitment to building community through ethical practice.

Bentas is the daughter of Vasilios and Aphrodite Haseotes, who started Cumberland Farms as a single-cow farm in Cumberland, R.I., in 1939. Opening its first convenience store in 1957, Cumberland Farms has since grown into a multibillion-dollar corporation that employs 8,000 people. It operates 600 c-stores with gasoline in eight states throughout the Northeast and Florida.

Bentas, who has served in a variety of leadership positions at Cumberland Farms for 40 years, is a former member of the board of directors for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

“An inspiration and role model for all business people, most especially aspiring young, professional women, Lily has been my most trusted business partner and mentor in addition to being my beloved aunt,” said Ari Haseotes, Cumberland Farms president and CEO. “Lily is the picture of humility and grace. Never forgetting the humble roots from which our family has come and always remembering that our success as a family in business is most heavily attributed to the many thousands whom we call members of our team and a commitment to continuously investing in our people and our business over the long term.”

SHERMAN, Texas -- The National Retail Federation (NRF) and other retail groups have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the millions of employers—including convenience stores and restaurants—and their employees who will be drastically affected if the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) changes to the federal overtime rules go into effect on Dec. 1. A coalition of 21 state attorneys general also has filed a lawsuit challenging the new overtime rule.

Legislation introduced on Sept. 21 by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) would extend the deadline for the Department of Labor Overtime Rule to June 1, 2017.

On March 13, 2014, President Barack Obama ordered the DOL to revise the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemption for executive, administrative and professional employees—the “white collar” exemption—to account for the federal minimum wage. On May 23, 2016, the DOL issued the final new overtime rule. It doubles the salary-level threshold for employees to be exempt from overtime, regardless of whether they perform executive, administrative or professional duties. After Dec. 1, all employees are entitled to overtime if they earn less than $913 a week.

The new rule also contains a mechanism to automatically increase the salary level every three years without going through the standard rule-making process required by federal law.

If implemented, the new rule would more than double the minimum salary cutoff under which employers must pay overtime to their employees, the lawsuits say, and will force small businesses to substantially increase their employment costs at the expense of their budgets and services. The rule will also likely lead some employers to reclassify employees as hourly workers with the potential of reduced hours and pay. Layoffs may even be necessary, the AGs said.

The complaints, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, urges the court to prevent the implementation of the new rule before it takes effect.

“The Labor Department’s extreme and reckless changes to the overtime rules will hobble the career paths of millions of Americans trying to climb the professional ladder,” said David French, NRF's senior vice president for government relations. “Retailers are already struggling to implement this new government mandate before the swiftly approaching deadline, and the automatic update included in the rule would make them do this same dance every three years for as long as they are able to remain in business. This is a massive government overreach of executive authority, and the courts need to put a stop to it.”

Click here to view the NRF filing.

The AGs filing the separate lawsuit represent the states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

Click here to view the AG filing.

CHICAGO -- Demand for natural beverages is growing across North America, according to a new report from Technomic.

As consumers become more conscious about the foods they put into their bodies, the same logic is being applied to beverages. In fact, 38% of consumers want restaurants to offer healthier beverage options, and 60% are more likely to purchase all-natural beverages.

"Consumers have made it clear that they look for beverages that are natural and free from artificial ingredients," said Kelly Weikel, director of consumer insights for Technomic Inc., sister company of CSP Daily News. "Emphasizing these aspects along with functional benefits like digestive support and stress relief can help appeal to today's consumers."

The data comes from Chicago-based Technomic's newly released 2016 Canadian Beverage Consumer Trend Report: Quenching Canada's Thirst. Lead researcher Maia Chang said U.S. numbers are roughly the same.

Nonalcohol beverages are a major part of consumers' everyday routines, and Canadians purchase beverages away-from-home about three and a half times per week, according to the report.

Other key takeaways and opportunities include:

• Nearly a quarter of consumers (23%) are willing to pay more for beverages made with 100% fruit juice.
• Nearly half of consumers (49%) say that they are more likely to purchase beverages that are handcrafted or house-made.
• Roughly a third (34%) of consumers desire greater beverage variety at full-service restaurants, and this is especially the case amongst Generation Zers (50%) and millennials (43%).

Compiling findings from more than 1,000 consumers, as well as Technomic's MenuMonitor and Digital Resource Library, the comprehensive 2016 Canadian Beverage Consumer Trend Report serves as a guide for foodservice operators and suppliers to help them understand consumer behavior for beverages and to identify key areas of opportunity.

Brought to you by Paytronix.

Connecting with millennials today is crucial to the future of your business. At more than 75 million strong, millennials dominate the U.S. population. This generation, born from 1980 to 1996, has around $1.3 trillion in spending power, according to Boston Consulting Group, and they haven’t even reached maximum earning power—yet.

The age gap in the millennial generation is at the root of many marketing communication challenges. The 20-year-olds could be at college with irregular daily schedules, limited budgets and a single relationship status. On the other end of the spectrum, 36-year-old millennials are likely to be married homeowners with children.

Do individuals from ages 20 to 36 really have enough common characteristics to be lumped together as a single target audience?

Researchers commonly cite the generation’s general characteristics as having short attention spans and an expectation for brands to cater to their personal needs and very busy lifestyles. It boils down to this: Millennials demand that reward programs are relevant, simple and convenient.

1. Relevant: Millennials expect every interaction to be tailored to their preferences. To be relevant, brands need to collect and understand consumer data, from demographic information to behaviors and engagement preferences. Besides tailoring the content of a message to a customer’s individual needs, a savvy way to make messages relevant is to incorporate the notion of context. Relevant messages require the marketer to take several factors into consideration when planning out campaigns. Context includes time of day, location, weather, devices, past behavior, purchase history and channel preference. In a time when millennials are bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages a day, the key is making communications and the user experience relevant.
2. Simple: There are two questions millennials will ask when learning about a rewards program: “What’s in it for me?” and “How much of my time will this take?” It should take little to no time for a customer to calculate the benefit that the program offers to them, and they should see a clear path to their first reward. If the program contains a complicated points system or an unclear benefit, enrollment numbers will be affected. The enrollment process also needs to be simple and easy so that it can be done quickly via mobile app or in store. If enrollment in the program takes too long, millennials will either walk away or be turned off by the program and not engage with it after enrolling.
3. Convenient: Given the age difference in the millennial generation, it’s important to make your program available to them whenever and however they want it. The 20-year-olds are constantly on the go and always on their smartphones. But millennials with kids always have their hands full running around and may not have their phones with them at all times. Engaging with millennials means adopting a multichannel marketing strategy including email, push-and-pull messaging and social media.

Building relationships with millennials has immediate benefits, but it pays off even more in the long term. Capture their attention early, and they could remain loyal to your brand for the rest of their lives, even passing on their love of your brand to their children. However, getting their attention is tricky.Learn more about attracting millennials to your program by downloading the whitepaper “Marketing to Millennials.”

LISLE, Ill. -- Royal Buying Group Inc. has formed a partnership with Alliance Cost Containment (ACC) to provide RBG convenience-store members with customized indirect expense cost-reduction programs.

These programs provide pre-negotiated discount pricing and there are no fees to participate.

Alliance Cost plus will provide savings programs with Joshen Paper and Packaging, Gunnebo Smart Safes, Snagajob.com, Trane Building Advantage, ADP, Global HR Research, Office Depot/Office Max, Laser Connection, Advanced Service Solutions, Dell, OnTrack Communications and The Wasserstrom Co.

“RBG will provide an increased independent c-store retailer reach to ACC’s key suppliers. In turn, ACC will offer more than 12 new supplier savings programs to enhance the value to our retail membership” said Angela Angelilli, executive vice president of RBG.

Alliance Cost Containment, Louisville, Ky., provides cost-reduction services that allow all types of companies to maximize operating revenue and save up to 40% in more than 35 common expense categories. ACC aggregates purchasing volume to provide buying power on a scale that most companies cannot achieve on their own.

Royal Buying Group, Lisle, Ill., is a national organization dedicated to maximizing the sales and profitability of convenience stores, petroleum locations, college bookstores, truckstops, travel plazas, auto-repair facilities, drug stores, tobacco outlets and liquor stores. It represents 6,500 locations nationwide. Its core service capabilities include negotiating with regional and national suppliers for sales and marketing programs and providing category management, marketing and customer service support.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. -- WhiteWave Foods officially rolled out its ready-to-drink cold-brew coffees Sept. 21 after introducing them to convenience-store retailers during Winsight's FARE Conference in Dallas in June.

Stok Cold-Brew Coffee is a ready-to-drink coffee brewed at a cool temperature for a minimum of 10 hours to bring out a smooth taste.

Stok is made with a proprietary Arabica-based blend of coffee beans. It uses a higher ratio of coffee beans to water than typical hot brewing. The cool-steeping process removes bitterness, resulting in a smoother, slightly sweet flavor, the company said. 

“We are excited to introduce new Stok Cold-Brew Coffee at a time when consumers are embracing the craft-coffee movement at home and on the go,” said Monisha Dabek, WhiteWave Coffee Creamers & Beverages marketing director. “Stok has been a passion project for our team for several years. Stok celebrates the craft and creativity in making better coffee."

Stok is adding a 48-ounce multiserve package in Un-Sweet and Not Too Sweet varieties for a suggested retail price of $4.99. The product was first introduced in single-serve 13.7-ounce packaging in Mocha, Vanilla and Not Too Sweet Black varieties. The single-serve size is available for a suggested retail price of $3.35.

Denver-based WhiteWave Foods is a consumer packaged food and beverage company that manufactures,
markets and sells branded plant-based foods and beverages, coffee creamers and beverages, premium dairy products and organic produce. In July, Paris-based Danone agreed to purchase WhiteWave for $10.4 billion.

CINCINNATI -- Calling its convenience stores “Kroger’s unsung strength,” a report by National Real Estate Investor (NREI) said that the grocer’s c-stores “are a plus for the company, since it handles the format more deftly than other grocery competitors, like Wal-Mart.”

Based in Cincinnati, Kroger owns approximately 2,780 supermarkets with 1,390 fuel centers under a variety of banners in 35 states and the District of Columbia. It also operates approximately 785 convenience stores (about 725 with fuel) under six banners in 19 states: Kwik Shop, Loaf N' Jug, Quik Stop Markets, Tom Thumb Food Stores, Turkey Hill Minit Markets and Smith’s Express. It recently added a Kroger c-store banner.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched the small-format Walmart Express stores in 2011 only to pull the plug on the brand early this year.

“Wal-Mart executives did not quite get a handle on how to successfully operate the smaller format,” said the report.

Kroger does not have a lot of specific areas of business where it does exceptionally well or performs particularly poor, said Kurt Jetta, CEO of Shelton, Conn.-based TABS Analytics, a research firm that specializes in the consumer products industry, to NREI. Despite the retailer’s size, Kroger avoids sprawl in the markets where it does business, he said. It enters into new markets and establishes a critical mass. After that, it tends to make sensible decisions about what store sizes are required to operate well.

“They don’t just go to the massive footprint for stores,” Jetta said. “They have a good sense of space.”

Analysts and investors had expressed lukewarm opinions about Kroger’s second-quarter 2016 performance, the report said. The company reported that total sales increased to $26.6 billion, but it was not enough to lift its entire revenue picture, which missed analyst estimates by $220 million, said NREI, citing various media reports. So while the company is not always on top, it is positioned to handle the influx of competition, the report said.

“They have a very consistent track record of trying to stay on trend,” said Jetta. “And certainly the small format is on trend.”

CRANSTON, R.I. -- Colbea Inc.’s Seasons Corner Market is implementing Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s Passport Point of Sale with EMV functionality and FlexPay IV forecourt payment terminals across its entire network of more than 100 convenience stores.

As it upgrades its network for Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) payment acceptance, Colbea will also include Applause TV to maximize its technology investment.

“[Gilbarco’s] forecourt media offering has been a great asset for attracting customers to our stores and also growing in-store sales, and their Passport point of sale has helped us run our business efficiently,” said Andrew Delli Carpini, CEO of Colbea Inc.

Colbea’s forecourt EMV upgrades leverage Gilbarco’s FlexPay IV payment terminal.

In addition to enabling EMV chip payments at the pump, FlexPay IV provides gas stations and convenience stores the ability--through Applause TV powered by Pump Media--to engage consumers while they are pumping gas with timely news and entertainment content along with product advertisements and digital coupons that help drive consumers from the pump and into the c-store, the company says.

Jointly developed with Verifone, a provider of payments and commerce solutions, FlexPay IV from Gilbarco is the first PCI PTS 4.x certified fuel-dispenser payment terminal in the United States that supports EMV, near-field communications (NFC), mobile wallets, encryption and 2D barcode scanning, as well as regulatory changes.

FlexPay IV provides retailers the ability to upgrade their fuel dispensers in advance of the October 2017 petroleum forecourt EMV liability shift.

For its EMV upgrades inside the c-store, Colbea is leveraging Gilbarco’s Passport Point of Sale system. It provides general availability of software supporting both EMV credit and debit transactions. Support of multiple common payment types reduces consumer confusion around inserting vs. swiping a card at the payment terminal.

The multi-EMV card format support ensures that all EMV-capable cards are processed as a chip payment, maximizing the retailer’s protection against fraud and liability. In addition, releasing credit and debit support of EMV in a single software update for the Passport POS minimizes retailer downtime.

Colbea is a proactive marketer on EMV, and it is taking advantage of equipment upgrades driven by EMV to also improve how it interacts with customers, said Mark Williams, vice president of marketing North America for Gilbarco Veeder-Root.

Greensboro, N.C.-based Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s major product lines include fuel dispensers, pump media, POS systems, payment systems, tank gauges, software development and integration, fleet management systems and nozzles.

Cranston, R.I.-based Colbea operates approximately 145 Seasons Corner Market convenience stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Mondelez International's launch of two new Oreo flavors comes with a new twist. 

The cookie brand has partnered with Jungle Creations and its social-media food channel, Twisted, to create a seven-week digital video campaign for the new flavors: mint and strawberry cheesecake.

Recipe videos using the newest flavor of Oreos are a key part of the campaign. In creating the recipes, Mondelez required Jungle Creations to keep each serving to less than 250 calories.

"We've had to work closely with the brand teams to achieve every objective and target that's been set, including keeping the final serving of each dish under 250 calories,” Jungle Creations said in a statement.

The mint recipe video on the Twisted site has more than 3 million views, and the strawberry cheesecake recipe is tracking more than 2.7 million views.

Also during the campaign, Arron Crascall, a social-media influencer who has more than 4 million views on Facebook, produced a live stream for the new Oreo flavors.

Mondelez International Inc. is based in Deerfield, Ill. It is one of the world’s largest snack companies, with 2015 net revenues of approximately $30 billion. Its products include snacks, biscuits, candy and gum.

SEATTLE -- Theo Chocolate, a fair trade bean-to-bar chocolate maker, is launching a new line of snacks called Theo Chocolate Clusters.

The bite-sized snack combines dark chocolate with whole-food ingredients and a minimum of 50 milligrams of cocoa flavonols per serving. Cocoa flavonols are phytonutrients found naturally in the cocoa bean and support healthy blood flow, according to Theo, which is based in Seattle.

The clusters include a combination of quinoa, toasted coconut, dark chocolate, and cocoa flavonols in three flavors:

• Salted Almond: Almonds, dates, and chia seeds with a touch of Himalayan pink sea salt
• Turmeric Coconut: Ground turmeric and coconut with puffed sorghum
• Lemon Hemp: Hemp seeds and puffed sorghum with lemon essential oil

“We know that in today’s world, 92% of consumers are snacking during the day, and we created Theo Chocolate Clusters to achieve that perfect sweet spot, where you can have a satisfying treat without ingesting empty calories,” said Debra Music, Theo Chocolate's chief marketing officer.

Theo Chocolate Clusters are sold online and in Theo’s factory store in Seattle at a suggested retail price of $5.99. Distribution to national retailers is planned for January 2017. Theo Chocolate Clusters come in a resealable pouch and are organic, fair trade and non-GMO project verified, vegan, gluten free, soy free, and kosher.

Theo Chocolate was founded in 2006.

YORK, Pa. -- Rutter’s Farm Stores is upgrading its fuel dispensers at all of its convenience stores to the new EMV standards to facilitate loyalty, payment and omnichannel marketing. “[Its] goals are to enhance the fueling experience and simplify the loyalty rewards redemption, consumer messaging, payments and purchasing processes at our pumps,” Kirsten Dickason, marketing coordinator for the retailer, told CSP Daily News.

York, Pa.-based Rutter’s is implementing NCR Corp.’s NCR OPTIC, a new outdoor payment terminal, at its 65 convenience stores in Pennsylvania.

Rutter’s and NCR will launch the first OPTIC installation early in the fourth quarter of 2016. The retailer has been an NCR partner for more than 10 years.

NCR OPTIC is a modular, self-service solution that accepts a range of payment options in its standard configuration, including Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) and magnetic stripe, contactless (including mobile phones) and mobile wallet and 2-D barcode scanner options.

OPTIC comes in two sizes, a 5-inch terminal for use with older dispensers, and a 12-inch widescreen. It has been engineered to retrofit most brands of fuel dispensers, NCR said.

“The open-source platform allows us to easily integrate our Rutter’s VIP Club rewards program, while the new media capabilities extend our storefront marketing to the forecourt,” Scott Hartman, CEO of York, Pa.-based Rutter’s, said when it announced the deal with NCR.

“NCR OPTIC will enhance our overall customer experience because we believe our customers will appreciate the large touchscreens as a major upgrade to their fueling experience,” Dickason said. “Fueling prompts will be easier to see and interact with, and full motion video will increase engagement. The added technology of scanners and NFC chips will also lay the foundation for true omnichannel retailing.

“The open source nature of the product appealed to us,” she continued. “We like the OPTIC has the flexibility to plug and play into our pumps, and has a host of integrated features to enhance the fuel experience. OPTIC is unique as it brings together a large touchscreen, EMV-compliant payment terminal, 2-D barcode scanner and integrated NFC technology for the ultimate in mobility.”

Duluth, Ga.-based NCR’s software, hardware and services enable more than 550 million transactions daily across retail, financial, travel, hospitality, telecom and technology and small business.

GLENDALE, Calif. -- Nestle Nesquik officially launched its Protein Plus line extension with the release of a tongue-in-cheek ad campaign that riffs on the typically serious tone of sports advertising.

Available in two flavors—chocolate and vanilla—Nesquik Protein Plus contains 23 grams of protein in each 14-ounce bottle. It is made with real milk from cows not treated with the added growth hormone rBST and contains 28% less sugar than the leading protein-enhanced flavored milk.

Better-for-you beverages, such as protein-enhanced drinks, bottled water and sports drinks—have seen a 24.5% increase in dollar sales and 28.2% increase in unit sales in convenience stores in the 52-week period ending mid-June 2016, according to data researcher IRI, Chicago.

Also, 64% of Americans seek to include protein in the diet, a statistically significant increase compared to 2015, according to the 2016 Food and Health Survey from the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC), Washington.

To introduce consumers to the new product, Nesquik introduced the light-hearted "Fueling the Everyday MVP" campaign, which kicked off with a video titled "Anthem" (see below) created by digital creative agency Deep Focus. Designed to carve out a completely new space for protein drinks, the video takes on dramatic sports commercials in a witty and relatable way for the athlete in all of us, the company said. Protein Plus is for those who are not necessarily gym rats, but still want serious protein when enjoying some of their favorite games: Frisbee, whiffle ball and kickball.

Protein Plus is available on store shelves nationwide at convenience stores and select grocery stores.