To capture a greater share of the breakfast business, retailers are developing fresh bakery programs extensive enough to make their products destination-worthy in the morning and throughout the day. By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor. Few, if any, local supermarkets or mom-and-pops in the Iowa, Minnesota or Wisconsin market areas where Kwik Trip has its 358…

By John Matthews, founder of Gray Cat Enterprises Inc. “Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs the T-shirt. Spaceballs the lunchbox. Spaceballs the coloring book. Spaceballs… the flamethrower! Kids love it. And my favorite, Spaceballs the Doll — me!” — Yogurt from the movie Spaceballs Merchandising is a critical aspect…

While a few big gum and mint brands have the cache—and steady sales—to merit prime display space, hordes of newcomers are trying to snare a share of this valuable retail real estate. By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor In its “New Product Pacesetters” report, research firm SymphonyIRI Group revealed that the gum and mint sector accounted…

E-cigarettes offer consumers an alternative to traditional cigarettes. They are also virtually odorless, allowing them to be consumed in locations where traditional smoking is commonly prohibited. By CSD Staff Vapor Corp., one of the only publicly traded companies (OTCBB: VPCO) servicing the electronic cigarette and vaporizer industry, maintains its integrity in a fiercely competitive market…

The energy shots and drinks market has been on an upward growth trajectory since 2010 and with the improvement in the economy is expected to continue on this growth. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor Americans need all the energy they can get their hands on, which goes a long way to explaining the enduring success…

The first sports and energy bars in the U.S. were marketed primarily to serious athletes, through alternative channels such as health food stores.                      These bars did not have wide appeal or distribution as recently as 1990, but over the past two decades these products have since gained mass appeal and distribution after greatly improving flavor…

Convenience stores have evolved from being a destination for cigarettes to a destination for tobacco products as a whole. By Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. It was inevitable that the conversation on convenience store cigar sales would shift eventually from rapid growth to supplier relations, category management and marketing. As cigarette regulations and prices and taxes…

Convenience Valet and Advantage Sales & Marketing have entered into a strategic alliance with Finiti e-cigarettes to represent and distribute the company’s electronic cigarette products. Finiti e-cigarettes will now be available through many distribution partners, including Core-Mark, Eby-Brown, Grocery Supply Co., H.T. Hackney Co., DOT Foods, LibertyUSA and C.D. Hartnett Co. These partnerships will extend…