Express Checkout #94 - the latest in CPG, Retail, and eComm

CPG and Retail news from the week of 9/30/24

Hello hello!

This week, I had the pleasure of testing out the new Cumulus Machine—a coffee machine that ONLY brews cold coffees. Think: cold brew, nitro, and cold espresso. One of the coolest features? It makes nitro coffee by pulling the nitrogen directly from the air! Insane.

it comes in two colors 👀 

This speaks to a larger trend: Iced coffee is incredibly hot right now. The primary culprit? You guessed it: Starbucks. The coffee giant reported a staggering 75% of its beverage sales across its more than 15,800+ US stores were cold drinks in the third quarter of 2023. Their cold espresso sales alone grew by 13% YoY in that same period.

But it’s not just Starbucks. Wandering Bear Coffee is another company riding the cold wave. Known for its strong, organic cold brew packaged in those distinctive bag-in-box cartons, Wandering Bear has seen incredible growth—a 288% increase in sales volume in the past year alone, per Particl.