The past 52 weeks has been a good time to manufacture ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee and tea. With the exception of one category — cold brew, down 5% year over year to $314 million — it was a banner year ending July 10, according to data provided by IRI.
Refrigerated RTD coffee especially enjoyed a fantastic 52-week period, with overall sales rising 27% to nearly $949 million, reports IRI. Also, all of the top 10 producers of refrigerated RTD coffee experienced significant year-over-year gains in dollar sales.
Starbucks had the most sales in the refrigerated RTD category for the period ending July 10. Its sales increased 18% to $378 million. Starbucks is followed by Stok, whose sales increased 35% to $201.5 million. International Delight also exceeded $100 million in sales, with $169 million in sales for the 52 weeks ending July 10, a 37% increase, reveals IRI.
Other standouts in the refrigerated RTD category were Bizzy, whose sales saw triple-digit growth of 290% year over year to $9.4 million; La Colombe, whose sales rose 55% to $14.5 million; and Coca-Cola, whose sales expanded 50% to $43 million, IRI data reports.
Like its coffee counterpart, refrigerated RTD teas enjoyed robust sales gains for the same 52-week period. Overall, sales in this subcategory rose 11% to $1.44 billion, according to IRI. This subcategory is especially noteworthy as the No. 1 seller of refrigerated teas in the past year also attained the largest year-over-year sales growth. This distinction belongs to Milos, which had $389.2 million in sales for the 52 weeks ending July 10, a 48% year-over-year growth trajectory.
Other winners in the refrigerated RTD tea category were Pom, whose sales rose 47% to $22 million; Tazo, whose sales rose 42% to $31.5 million; and Solti, attaining a 36% increase to just shy of $4 million.
Switching gears to RTD cappuccino and iced coffee, this subcategory’s overall sales increased by 4% to $3.3 billion for the 52 weeks ending July 10, IRI reports. Starbucks, by far the biggest seller of iced coffees with 64% market share, suffered a 2% sales decline but remained king of the category with sales of $2.1 billion.
Other standouts in this subcategory included No. 4 veteran owned and operated Black Rifle, whose sales rocketed by 361% to nearly $85 million. International Delight also had a banner year, enjoying a dollar sales increase of 137% year over year to $21 million. On a smaller basis with less than 1% market share, Black Stag’s sales rose an astronomical 4,654% to $8.5 million in the past year.
Canned and bottled tea also saw sales rise, albeit at a more subdued pace. This subcategory’s dollar sales improved by 2% overall to $4.3 billion for the 52-week-period ending July 10, per IRI. Pure Leaf was in the pole position in this category, with its sales coming in at $949 million, an increase of 1.5% year over year. Close behind Pure Leaf in this subcategory was Arizona, whose canned and bottled teas sales increase by 2% to $872 million.
Canned and bottled tea percentage-gain standouts were Brisk, Guayaki, Honest, Clean Cause, Shaka Tea Honolulu, Ito En and Zevia, all enjoying double-digit sales gains for the 52 weeks ending July 10 vs. the same period a year prior, IRI reports.
