Building on the discussion, Poye shared an observation from a recent visit to an Indian restaurant where he encountered Indian-spiced popcorn. He used this example to illustrate how familiar carriers, like popcorn, pizza, or sandwiches can be platforms for introducing bold new flavors. He pointed out that regional innovations, like Nashville hot or hot honey, often start small and then expand nationally. The les- son, he suggested, is to explore how new flavor profiles can be gradually introduced in recognizable formats. Poye also emphasized the importance of customer trust. Some stores may already have the consumer’s permission to experiment with bold offerings, while others may need to take a more gradual, strategic approach to innovation. Trust, he concluded,
is key to successfully expanding a menu’s creativity. Cold Brew Coffee Energizes Sales
Before I came to McLane, I ran retail stores and one of the mistakes we made was we rolled out bean to cup in every store and we’re like, man, we’re going to sell iced coffee… What we found through a bunch of trial and error was we could just put the syrups out there and let customers make it themselves… It’s just the way it happened, but we saw more adoption that way of just saying, ‘Hey, come in and make it yourself iced coffee, cold brew the way you want it.’ And the mistake we made was actually spending all the money to do bean to cup and not putting those things out with it. Jon Cox , Vice President Retail Foodservice, McLane
Iced coffee and cold brew coffee trends also evolved into a broader discussion on beverage strategy and execution. Jasmine Struble , senior category manager for Yesway, asked a clarification question whether the prominent figures Conaghan presented were based on cups sold, regardless what was inside the cup. Conaghan clarified that the data referenced was consumer-reported behavior, not register data. Thurston inquired about customer preferences for cold brew flavors and equipment, citing his own experience with nitro cold brew, which failed to take off at his com - pany. He found more success with flavored varieties like salted caramel. Cox shared a past experience in retail where a major investment in bean-to-cup machines failed because of a lack of complementary offerings, such as flavor options and syrups. Through trial and error, they learned that simply offering syrups and allowing cus - tomers to personalize their drinks was more effective. Global Partners’ Vice President of Food, Innovation and Strategy Jac Moskalik is introducing cold brew in all of their
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