Products from almost every convenience store category were introduced last month at the annual NACS Show in Las Vegas.
Among the innovations were new frozen drinks from Sunny Sky Products. “We launched two new Sour Patch Kids [drink] flavors—lemonade and red berry—in both frozen uncarbonated and frozen carbonated,” said Isabel Atherton, vice president of marketing for Sunny Sky Products, which anticipates good things from the new options.
“Our customers have had great success with our branded LTOs,” she said. “In fact, a top c-store chain launched the Sour Patch Kids watermelon frozen carbonated, and it overperformed any of their prior LTO flavors.”
Last year, sales of frozen dispensed beverages increased to $4,134 from $3,501 in 2022—the largest increase in sales of all foodservice categories, according to the NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2023 Data. While the category made up only 5.8% of foodservice sales in 2023, it generated the kind of margins that retailers want to see.
“Frozen dispensed is typically the smallest contributor to foodservice sales, but it boasts the highest margin,” said Emma Tainter, research analyst/writer at NACS. “From 2022 to 2023, category margins increased from 63.35% to 65.31%.”
Colors and Flavors
7-Eleven made beverage history with the Slurpee drink, trademarked the word “brain freeze” and continues to entice customers with unique new flavors.
“This year’s peach candy lemonade Slurpee is a continuation of that tradition,” said Megan Edwards, senior category manager of cold dispensed for 7-Eleven. “It was inspired by our fan favorite 7-Select gummi peach rings—a soft, chewy candy of tangy, peach delight—blending the sweetness of peach with the tartness of lemonade to make the perfect frozen treat.”
In August, 7-Eleven released the first ever pumpkin spice Slurpee, a flavor from Sunny Sky. Available at five select 7-Eleven stores, the LTO “was a fun experiment that corresponded with the launch of the full pumpkin spice coffee lineup,” she said.
Fun fact: While you might expect Slurpees to be most popular in warmer climates, it’s not necessarily the case. In fact, Winnipeg, Canada, is the Slurpee capital of the world according to 7-Eleven.
—Jeff Lenard, guest editor
Frazil, a Utah-based company with three slushy brands, also offered a pumpkin spice Frazil LTO in September and used the NACS Show to introduce its new espresso option, which will be a permanent flavor for its Café Tango line. Café Tango targets consumers craving cold or frozen coffee, and Frazil recommends putting the cold drink dispenser on the coffee bar. “In blind taste tests, our frozen coffee beats out Starbucks and other category leaders,” said Brittany Bennion, associate brand manager at Frazil.
The company also produces the Frazil Energy drink in four fruity flavors, with the addition of cherry limeade slated for 2025. All three beverage lines use the same type of equipment, which Frazil owns, provides and services. Currently, the company has 35,000 machines across more than 20,000 locations.
“Frazil products are made with 100% real sugar,” Bennion said. “We don’t use high fructose corn syrup, and consumers like that a lot. We also use a dry powder product, not traditional syrups, so our product has a five-year shelf life, which is significantly greater than similar products. And because the beverage is uncarbonated, it tastes like a drinkable snow cone.”
Jones Soda Co. offers an array of both sweet and sour flavors for convenience operators to choose from.
“Jones Soda bestsellers are berry lemonade, green apple, blue bubblegum and strawberry lime,” said Jim Whitaker, vice president of strategic accounts at Jones. “Currently, we’re testing dill pickle slush with Circle K Canada and preparing new tropical Jones blends for testing in 2025.”
The most popular colors are red and blue.”
Maverik, Jacksons Food Stores and Thorntons joined other Icee retailers to introduce a new Froot Loops frozen beverage, a collaboration between Icee and WK Kellogg Co. The Icee Co. describes it as a “must-try flavor for kids and adults alike,” and social media influencers claim it truly replicates the taste of the popular cereal.
“Icee and Froot Loops are beloved brands that instantly transport you to childhood and make everyday moments special,” said Kimmra Hingher, vice president of marketing for The Icee Co.
In addition to tasty flavors, slush sippers crave beverages in bright colors that they can stack, swirl, mix and photograph for Instagram.
“Color is extremely important because customers shop with their eyes,” said 7-Eleven’s Edwards. “Every sales period we look for the best-tasting products; but behind that, we want to create as much color variety as possible across the barrels.”
Bennion said the most popular colors are red and blue—Frazil’s top flavor is Red Tiger’s Blood, which tastes like strawberry coconut, followed by sweet and fruity Blue Razzmatazz.
When surveyed, consumers often indicate that they want better-for-you beverages, but frozen drink providers haven’t noticed a change in shopping behavior.
“Better-for-you options are always welcome in beverage sets, but less-so with frozen,” said Whitaker. “The finished products are not as light in texture when sugar substitutes are used, and they can clump in the cups during melting. Frozen is a more a unique consumer occasion, where mixology comes into play with consumers customizing them ‘my-way.’”
“I think those full-sugar options are what people reach for [in the frozen category],” said Atherton. “People see a frozen drink as a treat. It’s a little indulgence for them.”
Shake It Up
Datassential surveys found that consumers crave frozen drinks, and 81% of consumers love milkshakes.
Since it made its debut in 2003, f’real, the blend-it-yourself shake, has grown into a global company with products available at more than 22,000 locations. Customers pick a flavor from the f’real freezer, place it in the branded blender, hit the button and walk away one minute later with a cold shake or smoothie. In addition to the self-serve blender, “f’real has a B7 blender that c-store operators can use behind the counter to create fun, seasonal, Instagrammable creations,” said Elizabeth Sommer, customer marketing manager at Rich Products, manufacturer of f’real.
The brand offers seven core flavors made with real milk and recently launched two new flavors that it unveiled at the NACS Show: Blue Raspberry Energy Freeze and Strawberry Watermelon Energy Freeze. Each energy drink has 100 mg of caffeine, which is about the same amount as a cup of brewed coffee.
“In the summer, f’real introduced a Mystery Flavor Milkshake, which had a fruity and familiar flavor that celebrated the heyday of summers past and present,” said Sommer. “And this fall, we introduced the Choco-Choco Chip Oat shake, a treat made with oat milk that will appeal to consumers seeking dairy-free options.”
The Other Cold Drink
This fall, we introduce the Choco-Choco Chip Oat shake, a treat made with oat milk.”
“Cold dispensed beverages, the third largest foodservice category, made up 7.5% of foodservice sales in 2023,” said Tainter. The category beat NACS’ inflation metric and grew sales by 9.6%, a year-over-year sales dollar increase from $4,836 to $5,301. Gross profits increased from $2,667 to $2,744, and while gross margins decreased year over year, the category still managed a high margin of 51.76%.
While every c-store fountain should carry time-tested basics, occasionally tweaking flavors keeps the beverage bar fresh.
“We’re always looking to diversify our product offerings, and we’re excited about the fountain innovations we have coming yet this year,” said 7-Eleven’s Edwards. “We’re refreshing our fountain with new products and flavors from Fanta (pineapple), Mtn Dew (Pitch Black) and others. All are exclusive to 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes stores.”
Earlier this year, 7-Eleven conducted a small test of self-serve boba tea, which resulted in a rollout of bubbler machines to 48 stores in and around San Diego. “We’re watching that to determine possible expansion of the program,” she said.
Kick Up Sales
A few years back I heard a speaker talk about hyper-commuters (those who commute a minimum of 90 minutes each way). These drivers love milkshakes, especially ones that take a while to consume, since they help the time pass by.
To encourage creativity and more fountain sales, Utah-based Maverik developed its mixology beverage program, which urges customers to mix a flavorful syrup—for example, coconut, pineapple, vanilla, peach and/or fresh lime—into their fountain drinks. A menu of suggested options is posted at each store’s beverage bar, and Maverik heavily promotes the program on social media by encouraging consumers to share their own recipes.
Sunny Sky suggests stocking the beverage bar with a robust selection of flavor shots for both frozen and fountain customers.
“You can do the flavor shots in a multiflavor machine that has a base and added flavor shots that are in the barrel,” said Atherton. “If retailers don’t have that type of machine, they can offer an energy base and then have the syrups on the side that can be pumped into it to make their own customized drinks.”
Promotions also draw attention to beverages and can help boost sales. 7-Eleven rewards frequent fountain drinkers with free products and discounts. “We’ll maintain our ‘buy six cups, get the seventh free’ promotion through the end of the year,” Edwards said. “We’re also building more meal bundle options that pair our popular Big Gulp drinks with food,” he said, including a promotion that offers a Big Gulp for 89¢ to rewards members who purchase a roller grill item.
Every Friday during June was “Free Frazil Friday” at participating stores nationwide. On those days, customers received a free 12-ounce Frazil slush. That promotion was followed by a similar giveaway over Labor Day weekend, in which free cups of Café Tango were distributed to cold-coffee aficionados. During the two events, more than one million cups of no-cost slush were consumed.
People see a frozen drink as a treat. It’s a little indulgence for them.”
“Consumers across the country pretty much lost their minds,” said Bennion. “It was a lot of fun.”
In the summer of 2023, Mondelēz International and Murphy USA teamed up to publicize the new Sour Patch Kids watermelon frozen drink. The Mondelēz center store team worked with Murphy USA to expand the promo to include branded candy.
“This type of program does phenomenally well and brought in a lot of new customers who wanted to try Sour Patch Kids candy and a Sour Patch Kids frozen drink,” said Atherton. “This is just one way convenience stores have partnered with all different aspects of the brand. It’s a great way to increase foot traffic and keeps things new and innovative.”