Joining Starbucks bottled beverages on store shelves next year will be Dunkin’ Donuts, which says it’s teaming up with Coca-Cola to launch ready-to drink iced coffee products.
Dunkin’ apparently timed the news to National Coffee Day, announcing that Coca-Cola will be in charge of manufacturing, distributing, and selling, but the products will be branded by Dunkin’.
The iced coffee drinks will use the same Arabica coffee blends Dunkin’ uses in its other coffee offerings, and will be available with milk and sugar in a variety of flavors in grocery and convenience stores, by mass merchandisers, and inside Dunkin’ restaurants across the U.S.
Dunkin’ is hoping its first foray into the ready-to-drink coffee category will give it a chunk of the $2.3 billion a year market. Also: millennials.
“This new product introduction will increase consumption of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and increase our brand relevance with existing and new consumers, including many younger customers, which we believe will in turn, drive incremental visits to our restaurants,” Dunkin’ Brands Chairman and CEO Nigel Travis said in a statement.
The company adds that it will equally share net profits from sales of the drinks that happen outside restaurants with “qualified” U.S. franchisees.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist