Press Releases

01/03/2019 CSNews PURCHASE, N.Y. — The University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., has some new freshmen on campus: PepsiCo’s Hello Goodness snackbots. As part of a collaborative partnership with Bay Area-based Robby Technologies, the Hello Goodness fleet of snackbots are outdoor, self-driving robots from Hello Goodness, a curated portfolio of better-for-you brands from PepsiCo that include Smartfood Delight, Baked Lay’s, SunChiops, Pure Leaf Tea, bubbly, LIFEWTR and Starbucks Cold Brew. The snackbots are the first robots from a major food and beverage company in the United States to roll out, bringing great-tasting, healthier snacks and beverages direct to students, making better-for-you snacking ultra-convenient, PepsiCo stated. “We’re thrilled to launch our Hello Goodness autonomous delivery snackbots and reimagine college snacking for the future,” said Scott Finlow, vice president, innovation and insights, PepsiCo Foodservice. “PepsiCo has a unique opportunity to better serve today’s ambitious college students, by joining together the power…

Samantha Bailey 10 December 2018 The Australian Taco Bell North Lakes in Queensland, to open this weekend. Picture: David Alexander. Taco Bell’s comeback in Australia is gathering pace with the announcement of a new wave of Tex-Mex fast food restaurants set to open over the next six years. New Zealand-based Restaurant Brands announced today it plans to open more than 60 restaurants in New South Wales, the ACT and New Zealand. It follows rival fast food franchisee operator Collins Foods’ announcement in October that it plans to roll out 50 new Taco Bell restaurants in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia over the next three years. America’s Taco Bell, a subsidiary of US giant Yum! Brands, unsuccessfully tried to establish itself in Australia in the 1980s, and again in 1997, but by 2005 had pulled out again. But Collins Foods said last month it had successfully opened its second Taco…

Melissa Kress 12/11/2018 CSNews Electric vehicle charging sign Couche-Tard installed cameras at a number of sites with EV charging stations to learn. LAVAL, Quebec — At the end of its 2018 fiscal year, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. designated Norway as the laboratory for testing different approaches to the changing fuels market, namely electric vehicles (EV). Now, the retailer is taking a close look at the results. During the company’s latest earnings call, President and CEO Brian Hannasch shared that he was planning to head to Norway this month for a deep dive into the issue. “I think to date we’ve felt a pretty good understanding of the charging occasions, the frequency that people charge at home, at work or shopping occasions, and then in our stores,” Hannasch said during a Nov. 28 call detailing the company’s second-quarter fiscal 2019 results. Couche-Tard installed cameras at a number of sites with EV charging…

Erin Del Conte December 11, 2018 CSDecisions The latest addition to the 7-Eleven wine portfolio is ideal for wine lovers on the go. 7-Eleven Inc. is debuting its first canned wine: Roamer. Roamer is available in chardonnay and rosé and is ideal for on-the-go wine drinkers. The Roamer Syrah-based rosé is a dry, fruit-driven wine with hints of strawberry and raspberry, making it a crisp, easy-drinking rosé. The Roamer chardonnay has an oak influence, with bright tropical and citrus fruits that add to its bright acidity. According to an industry study released this year, growth of canned wines in the U.S. surpassed any other type of alternative wine packaging. While glass bottles still hold the vast majority of wine sales, canned wines sales surged 43% from June 2017 to June 2018 totaling a $45 million business, according to Nielsen. “The name, Roamer, reflects how we think people will enjoy this…

Angela Hanson 12/04/2018 CSNews NATIONAL REPORT — At lunchtime, a hungry office worker gets into his car to pick up lunch at a convenience store. Like many Americans, he’s within minutes of several c-stores that offer foodservice programs, which gives him options, but presents him with multiple questions. Does he want something that can be extensively customized, or an item that is already hot and waiting? How long is he willing to wait for something made to order? If he wants something fresh, what exactly does that mean? Convenience store operators, as they build up their foodservice programs, are wrestling with the same questions. What do they want to offer their customers, and what kind of foodservice program do they want to be? The answers that retailers give to hundreds of questions will shape their offering, but as convenience foodservice evolves and individual retailers are able to create more advanced…

November 30, 2018: The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has lent its support to company tax cuts and the abolition of tobacco, alcohol and fuel excise proposed in a new Bill introduced by Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm. AACS CEO Jeff Rogut said huge taxes on select items like legal tobacco unfairly applies extra cost of living pressure to people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and effectively amounts to discrimination. Excessive taxation also has significant negative impacts on small businesses like convenience stores, who miss out on lost legitimate sales as more and more consumers turn to the black market to make tobacco purchases. “Law-abiding adults who choose to consumer legal tobacco have for too long been singled out and demonised by Governments through exorbitant excises. It has created an environment whereby Australia is one of the world’s most expensive markets for legal tobacco, which has of course given rise…