From BizJournals.com | Chicago-based MillerCoors reported Tuesday that sales to retailers fell 2.6 percent in the fiscal year that ended March 31.
Filed under: Beverages
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Kraft to bring Gevalia coffee to grocery stores
Just weeks after losing its contract to distribute Starbucks coffee in grocery stores, Northfield-based Kraft Foods announced that it is prepping a successor, Gevalia. Get the full story »
Study: McDonald’s winning coffee loyalty battle
Coffee cups at the McDonald's restaurant at Fullerton & Central in Chicago. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
Fickle coffee drinkers are most loyal to a purveyor better known for burgers, a new study found. Coffee customers of McDonald’s Corp., said they were more loyal to the home of the Big Mac than those who frequent Starbucks Corp. and Dunkin’ Donuts in a study by market research firm CustomersDNA LLC.
The as-yet unpublished study involved 15,000 fast-food customers who were asked about their coffee and breakfast-buying habits, only 29 percent of McDonald’s customers said they go to a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee or breakfast in a given month. Get the full story »
Another toddler served alcohol at restaurant
ORLANDO — A 2-year-old boy was accidentally served sangria instead of orange juice at a Lakeland Olive Garden last month, prompting Orlando-based Darden Restaurants to caution its employees to be more careful with alcoholic drinks.
Earlier this week, a toddler was mistakenly given a small amount of alcohol at a Detroit-area Applebee’s restaurant — because a mixed drink was mislabeled as apple juice. Get the full story »
Fortune Brands to invest in liquor business
Bottles of Jim Beam bourbon sit on a shelf in a liquor store in Deerfield, Illinois, U.S., on Nov. 1, 2010. (Tim Boyle/Bloomberg)
Fortune Brands Inc. plans to pour money into marketing its liquor brands like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark as it prepares to become a standalone spirits company.
A top executive also says it will keep an eye out for potential acquisitions. Get the full story »
Snoop Dogg slingin’ Four Loco rival, Blast
Look out, Four Loko. There’s a fruity-booze rival coming to the market — Blast from Colt 45 — and rapper Snoop Dogg is its pitch man.
Blast, produced by Pabst Blue Ribbon’s Colt 45, is an alcoholic drink but does not contain caffeine, the ingredient that got Four Loko and a group of partying college students in trouble last year. Get the full story »
Pepsi preparing to launch mid-calorie pop
PepsiCo Inc. is getting ready to slim down this summer by offering a mid-calorie version of its Pepsi Cola, an industry publication reported Friday.
The new drink, called Pepsi Next, will have 40 calories per 8-ounce serving, or 60 calories per 12-ounce can, according to Beverage Digest. Get the full story »
Dunkin’ Donuts parent eyes IPO
A Dunkin' Donuts in Posen, Ill. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
Private equity-backed Dunkin’ Brands Inc. is considering an initial public offering of about $500 million in the second half of 2011, sources familiar with the situation said.
The IPO could be as large as $750 million, one of the sources said. Two or the sources said that there is disagreement among the sponsors over the company’s valuation. All of the sources said the discussions are preliminary and could change. Get the full story »
Fortune Brands sued over vodka lip design
From the Las Vegas Sun | A southern Nevada company that markets flavored vodka is suing industry giant Fortune Brands Inc. and its Jim Beam Brands Co. unit, alleging trademark infringement. Get the full story »
March 28 at 1:09 p.m.
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Filed under: Beverages, Food, Government, Litigation, Regulations New beer-label bout brewing in Michigan
(Image via Flying Dog)
A Maryland brewery is accusing Michigan’s liquor commission of censorship after the panel rejected labels for a beer that features an expletive in the name.
Flying Dog Brewery has filed a federal lawsuit in Grand Rapids asking that a judge override the commission’s decision to reject labels for “Raging B—-” beer and allow the brew to be advertised and sold in Michigan. Get the full story »
Anheuser-Busch to take over Goose Island
Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall checks operations at the company's Chicago brewery in this photo from 2009. Hall will step down as part of Anheuser-Busch's planned takeover of Goose Island. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
By Josh Noel and Emily York | Goose Island Beer Co., the Chicago-based brewing powerhouse, announced this morning that it will be taken over by Anheuser-Busch (A-B) for $38.8 million.
Goose Island, whose legal name is Fulton Street Brewery LLC, is selling a 58 percent stake in the company to A-B for $22.5 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance, in which A-B holds a 32 percent stake, has agreed to sell its own Goose Island stake to A-B for $16.3 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance owns the remaining 42 percent of Goose Island. Get the full story »
Starbucks maps out plan to conquer grocery aisles
Starbucks Corp. coffee on a shelf at a grocery store in New York. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)
Starbucks Corp. wants to make sales of its coffee and other products in the grocery aisle rival its traditional cafe business, according to Chief Executive Howard Schultz.
The world’s biggest coffee chain is betting it can use the power of its brand to sell a portfolio of goods — such as Via instant coffee and bottled Frappuccino — everywhere food and beverages are sold, whether in a supermarket in the United States or a vending machine in Asia. Get the full story »
Nestle says it will hold price hikes to 1.6%
Nestle AG , the world’s biggest foodmaker, expects to raise prices by 1.6 percent in 2011, the company chairman said Tuesday, similar to last year’s increase despite soaring raw material costs.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe told Reuters Insider that the company, which makes Nescafe coffee and Gerber baby food, would spend an extra $3.5 billion on raw materials in 2011, with more than half of that would be absorbed internally. Get the full story »
Hart Davis Hart optimistic about wine market
After buoyant wine auctions that saw booming sales, most auctioneers believe the only bubbles in the wine market are in the Champagnes poured during the bidding.
Chicago-based wine merchants Hart Davis Hart reaped $4.9 million at its Lafite auction Saturday, reinforcing its image as the most sought-after, top growth Bordeaux. And on the same day New York’s Acker Merrall & Conduit sold $2.3 million at its auction.
“I don’t see prices going anywhere significantly except up,” said John Kapon, its head of auctions. Get the full story »
Fortune acquires reality star’s Skinnygirl cocktails
Bethenny Frankel. (Skinnygirl)
Fortune Brands Inc., seeking to capitalize on the emerging market of low-calorie cocktails, has acquired the Skinnygirl brand created by reality-television star Bethenny Frankel.
Fortune’s Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. unit aims to build on the rapid growth of Skinnygirl Margarita — a bottled cocktail that boasts 100 calories per four-ounce serving — by expanding its distribution and introducing other drinks under the label. Get the full story »
