Krispy Kreme led the Beverage-Snack category in estimated sales per unit growth in this year's rankings.

Total average sales growth in the Beverage-Snack segment shrank slightly from the Preceding to the Latest Year, but many indicators — unit growth, sales per unit and complementary product offerings — point to healthy business in this category.

Beverage-Snack chains, including such major brands such as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Starbucks Coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts, had an average sales growth rate of 6.4 percent in the Latest Year, compared with a
6.8 percent increase in the Preceding Year.

“That’s nothing to be concerned about,” said Dave Jenkins, managing director for customer solutions at Datassential. “[Six percent] is still pretty healthy, especially when there’s places doing a lot of things with beverages trying to get a little piece of that.”

Healthy growth was maintained at chains such as Auntie Anne’s and Jamba Juice primarily though unit expansion. For others, a combination of higher per-unit sales and new store openings did the trick.

Krispy Kreme and Starbucks far outdid their Beverage-Snack competitors, growing estimated sales per unit, or ESPU, 4.8 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively. Krispy Kreme was tops, with ESPU of $2.5 million at its 254 U.S. locations in the Latest Year. Starbucks was second to the doughnut chain, with ESPU at just over $1 million at its 11,438 U.S. locations in the Latest Year. 

Data

• Top 100 Rankings and Results

Greater emphasis on beverages helped Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Krispy Kreme to grow sales per unit. Following a strong first quarter in 2013, Krispy Kreme began pushing beverages, such as Frozen Hot Chocolate, White Chocolate Latte and Pink Lemonade, in order to boost sales. It is a tactic the doughnut chain has used with success in the past, and one that Krispy Kreme officials have said they plan to continue through 2014.

A strong focus on food improvement drove Starbucks’ per-unit sales growth. In an October call with analysts, officials at the Seattle-based coffee company said food sales contributed about 2 percentage points to the 8-percent increase in same-store sales among U.S. locations during the quarter ended Sept. 29.

“We’ve achieved in the last nine months what we didn’t achieve in the previous 20 years around food,” Cliff
Burrows, Starbucks’ group president of the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Nation’s Restaurant News at that time.

Starbucks expects to increase consumer attachment to its food offerings as the chain continues to roll out a new breakfast platform under the La Boulange brand, which it acquired in 2012.

Krispy Kreme was among the chains that had the highest unit-growth rate, with 6.3-
percent growth in the Latest Year, while Starbucks’ posted 3.7-percent unit growth in the same period.

Unit growth was also a major focus for Auntie Anne’s, which had the largest year-over-year growth percentage of all the chains in the Beverage-Snack category. The Lancaster, Pa.-based chain grew units by 8.2 percent in the Latest Year, for a total of 1,079 stores. Much of that growth came from the more than 50 nontraditional units the chain opened in 2013.

“We continue to see successful growth in our traditional mall locations, while strategically growing in new nontraditional venues such as airports, travel plazas, military bases and amusement parks,” said Bill Dunn, president and chief operating officer at Auntie Anne’s. “Our goal is to continue building the Auntie Anne’s brand presence across the world and create new pretzel
lovers, one pretzel at a time.”

Similarly, Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ continued to sell a lot of franchises. Unit growth of 5.1 percent in the Latest Year brought the chain to 7,677 U.S. units. In an earnings call with analysts in October, executives attributed the chain’s domestic traffic and ticket growth, in part, to ongoing growth of the brand in the western U.S. They also reiterated the company’s goal of growing the brand to 15,000 locations in the U.S.

By the numbers

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