The Coffee House Roasters C-Store Connection

Two major retailers poised to enter the c-store channel and battle for the convenience shopper. Both Atlanta based Home Depot and UK based Tesco have announced they will enter the c-store channel, beginning in 2006 and 2007. (more info)

At the recent Future Forum meeting in Atlanta, Maureen Azzato, VP, Publisher and Editorial Director of Convenience Store News gave an informative update of the convenience store channel. Below are some key bullet points that summarize the current state of the industry. (more info)

Refreshing “New” Items from Coffee House Freezers frozen beverages, target emerging consumer trends and are just in time to cool and refresh your thirstiest consumers while building incremental sales. (more info)

Package beverage sale grew at 11.4% in 2005. Leading the package beverage sales growth was “energy drinks” at 43% growth. Followed by “bottled water” at 23.5% growth and sports drinks at 16.6% growth. Carbonated soft drinks make up 40% of the beverage category, but only showed a 2.5% growth rate in the convenience channel. (more info)

According to CSN annual report, total store margin has continued to erode in the c-store channel, dropping from 28.70% in 2004 to 28.22% in 2005. Margin compression was in part due to inflationary prices and competition from other retail channels vying for the convenience shopper. At the same time gross margin dollars per store have increased as well as total margin dollars. Beverages seemed to be the hardest hit from a margin percentage decline. (more info)