Crunch Pak, the US convenience industry leader in fresh sliced apples, was named “cool new product” by attendees at the 2010 National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show on 5-8 October in Atlanta, the US.
The NACS show is the annual conference for the convenience store industry with more than 22,000 in attendance.
This year, conference attendees were equipped with hand-held scanners and asked to scan the labels of products they deemed “cool new products” for convenience stores.
Crunch Pak’s featured products were the most scanned items all three days of the show.
Tony Freytag, national marketing director for Crunch Pak, said the interest and expressed need for healthy snacks by the convenience store channel is similar to interest expressed six years ago by the retail grocery channel.
“We are so excited about the size of the channel and the opportunity the market presents,” Mr Freytag explained.
“Convenience stores serve nearly 160m customers per day and 58bn customers every year; our product line is perfect for the convenience store customer who wants a healthy, on-the-go snack.”
There are 144,541 convenience stores in the US – one per every 2,100 people.
Cumulatively, their US$511bn in sales are similar to competing channels that are often thought of to be much greater, including restaurants (US$580bn), supermarkets (US$556bn) and drug stores (US$218bn, not including prescriptions).
Sliced apples are a US$120m a year category and Crunch Pak has 40 percent of the market share.
Dick Spezzano, owner of Spezzano Consulting Service, said he is interested to watch the healthy snacks category develop in a new channel the way it has in traditional grocery.
“Crunch Pak sliced apples are no longer an item, they’re a destination within the produce department the way bagged salads are,” Mr Spezzano said.
“The healthy snack category is the right size and the right price for convenience stores. Crunch Pak proved if you create a department, people will come to it.”
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