Cold Stone Creamery led the beverage-snack category in systemwide sales.

Beverage-Snack chains among the Second 100 mostly enjoyed robust growth in the Latest Year, with domestic systemwide sales up by 7.2 percent on average — and that includes a 15-percent decline in sales by Caribou Coffee.

Caribou, which became sister brands with fellow Second 100 Beverage-Snack concept Peet’s Coffee & Tea in January 2013, when it was bought by Peet’s parent, German holding company Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH, ended the Latest Year with a net 166 fewer locations, following a decision to close 80 underperforming locations and reflag 88 of the remaining units under the Peet’s moniker.

That decision helped make Peet’s the second fastest-growing Beverage-Snack chain, with a net 27 additional units at the end of the Latest Year, an increase of 13.6 percent. Latest-Year sales grew even faster, by 15.6 percent.

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt was the fastest-growing chain in the segment, however, with both its domestic unit count and domestic systemwide sales up by about 18.6 percent in the Latest Year.

Smoothie King performed well, with sales up 6.4 percent and net unit count up 21 in the Latest Year, but the New Orleans-based chain fell short of earlier-announced plans to open 30 company-owned locations in 2013.

Early in the Latest Year, Smoothie King Franchises Inc.’s new president and chief operating officer Tom O’Keefe said the company would create a new division for company-owned stores, focusing initially on the Miami and Dallas/Fort Worth areas for expansion. He said he foresaw 30 corporate stores by the end of the year and envisioned a system that was 20 percent company owned.

At the end of the Latest Year, 11 company units were in operation, up from five in the Preceding Year.

Data

• Second 100 Rankings and Results

Many chains in the segment stuck to their knitting over the course of the year — marketing core products in their niches and not expanding the product mix by much.

An exception was Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee. While it was closing units, it also introduced new Lite Sparkling Teas & Juices in the spring of 2013, including Green Tea Lemonade, Peach Black Sparkling Tea and Lemon Ginger Pomegranate Sparkling Juice, as permanent menu additions. It also added an apple- raspberry tea as a limited-time offer. In July, it added two quiches: Ham & Cheddar and Spinach & Swiss.

In fact, Caribou has continued expansion of its menu in 2014, with upgraded pastries introduced in February, new lunch sandwiches in March and ready-to-eat snacks planned for August.

Sister chain Peet’s didn’t make significant menu moves in the Latest Year, but the Emeryville, Calif.-based concept is doing so now, with a new Fresh Food line that was introduced in its core San Francisco Bay area market. The line was developed by local chef Arnold Eric Wong of Bacar and E&O Trading Company.

Tropical Smoothie Café frequently creates news with LTOs, and it did that in the Latest Year, too. In January 2013, the  Atlanta-based chain introduced a two-month promotion of Tropical Tacos — grilled tilapia or chicken and a Caribbean salsa of mango, pineapple, jícama, red pepper, jalapeños and cilantro in toasted flour tortillas — as well as a passion fruit smoothie.

In September and October, it offered two noodle bowl LTOs. The Spicy Mongolian Steak Noodle Bowl was made with noodles, steak, green and red bell peppers, baby spinach, scallions, and sesame seeds, and was topped with Mongolian barbecue sauce. The Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Bowl had noodles, chicken, edamame, shredded carrots, baby spinach, scallions and peanuts, and was layered with Thai peanut sauce.

In June, the chain added vegetarian Chicken-Free Strips, made of soy and pea protein, as a permanent option.

By the numbers

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Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
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