Coca-Cola with big plans for U.S. RTD coffee category – in PET
Coca-Cola North America is brewing up a multi-brand strategy to compete more aggressively in the piping-hot cold coffee category. The company started to roll out a range of diverse yet complementary ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee offerings.
Dunkin’ Donuts’ new line of bottled, ready-to-drink (RTD) iced coffee beverages are hitting refrigerator cases at grocery, convenience stores, mass merchandisers, and participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout the U.S. Four flavours are offered in re-sealable PET bottles.
In addition, Gold Peak, a billion-dollar iced tea brand in the U.S., will also introduce two flavours of both cold-brew coffees and bottled tea lattes in early 2017.
In the U.S., the multi-billion-dollar RTD coffee category has been growing by double digits annually since 2011 and shows no signs of slowing down. Canned and bottled coffee is a natural extension of the premium java culture in the U.S., which has been fuelled in recent years by the growing popularity of iced and cold-brewed varieties.
Coca-Cola North America will promote its new and existing coffee brands through retail sampling, in-store merchandising and advertising through a variety of mediums. Geoff Henry, vice president, coffee and tea, Coca-Cola North America assesses that RTD coffee has the potential to be a platform for product and packaging innovation.
