CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mistic E-Cigs has announced the availability of its Haus Craft Collection, a new line of vaping hardware and vape juice. The Haus brand extension includes three new e-liquid flavors and a mod-style starter kit with a sub-ohm tank and coils, allowing retailers the opportunity to provide customers with products only currently available in vape shops and on the Internet.

Available now, the Haus Craft Collection is launching in more than 15,000 convenience stores and mass retailers, the company said. Mistic plans to expand distribution into the majority of the company’s 70,000 retail partner locations by the end of the year.

“The VTM [vapors/tanks/mods] category is growing very rapidly with advances in hardware device technology and higher quality e-liquids,” said John Wiesehan Jr., CEO of Mistic. “With our Haus Craft Collection, retailers can now give more choices to a wider mix of customers, ranging from former smokers who recently switched to vaping, to advanced vapers looking for more robust experiences.”

He added, “It’s our goal to bring the vape shop and Internet consumer back to national retail with the best price and convenience.”

Made in the United States, each Haus Craft Collection vape juice is encased in a heat-sealed, child-resistant wrapping and packaged in individually branded boxes. Offered in 30 mL glass bottles with easy-grip glass drippers, Haus Craft Collection vape juices retail for $23.99 and are available in 4-mg nicotine levels in three flavors: Moon Milk (slightly toasted creamy vanilla-like with sugary-sweet caramel and coconut undertones); Sweet Voo-Dew (creamy, sweet and fruity with a mixture of cantaloupe, watermelon and tropical melon); and Cloud Punch (fruity, berry-like with notes of raspberry and blueberry).

The Haus Craft Collection’s mod-kit is selling for $49.99. Packaged in a lid-lift-style box with tamper-evident seals, each mod-kit contains a variable 30W device with LED display, accompanying sub-ohm tank, replacement coil and USB charging cable.

Mistic also is separately selling its Haus Craft Collection sub-ohm tank for $24.99. Packaged similarly to the mod-kit, each Haus Craft Collection sub-ohm tank has its own adjustable airflow for varying user preferences and comes with its own replacement coil. Available for $14.99, the company is selling three-pack mini sub-ohm replacement coils for use with the Haus Craft Collection sub-ohm tank.

Mistic is an independent manufacturer of vapor products, primarily sold through brick-and-mortar retail channels under the direction of its parent company, Ballantyne Brands. The company’s Mistic brand of rechargeable and non-rechargeable e-cigarettes, including the Mistic Bridge, as well as its Haus line of vapor products, such as the Haus Personal Vaporizer by Mistic and Haus e-liquids, are sold in 70,000 retail outlets and wholesalers across the United States, including Walmart, Walgreens, Dollar General, Kangaroo Express, Circle K, Hess, Speedway, Family Dollar, Winn Dixie/Bi-Lo and Food Lion, HT Hackney, McLane, Coremark, Nash Finch and Petrey. The company produces all of its e-liquid in the United States, including the bottling and filling of its Haus-branded e-liquid bottles, as well as the filling and assembly of Mistic refill cartridges and starter packs.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Regional convenience-store retailer Sheetz Inc. has again taken its place among 100 Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania. Team Pennsylvania Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) revealed the 2015 list on September 21.

Team PA is the lead sponsor and, along with DCED and The Central Penn Business Journal, a founding partner of the program, which pays tribute to top companies around the commonwealth.

The 2015 Best Places to Work list represents companies with more than 22,900 employees throughout Pennsylvania.

The Best Places to Work in PA Program is generally made up of two groups of companies: 50 small/medium-sized (25to 249 employees) and 50 large-sized companies (250 employees or more).

Sheetz has more than more than 16,000 employees chain-wide.

Through the research process, a survey is sent to both the employers and employees from hundreds of companies from across the commonwealth.

However, this year, more medium-sized companies scored higher marks than large-sized companies, so the list is made up of 74 small/medium-sized firms and 26 from the large category.

Winning companies achieve the highest combined scores in a twofold evaluation: review of a company’s workplace policies, practices, philosophies, systems and demographics (25%); and results of an employee survey to measure the employee experience (75%).

Using a formula similar to Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America,” the Best Companies Group surveys and scores the workplace practices survey along with the employee survey and each Best Places to Work candidate is given an overall score.

Click here to view the full list.

Sheetz ranked at No. 87 on Fortune’s list, and it also made the Best Places to Work lists in Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Established in 1952 in Altoona, Pa., Sheetz is one of America’s fastest growing family-owned and operated convenience retailers, with more than $6.9 billion in revenue for 2014. The company operates more than 500 c-stores throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.

The chain provides a menu of Made-To-Order MTO subs, sandwiches, salads and specialty coffee drinks that customers order through touchscreen orderpoint terminals.

WAYCROSS, Ga. –With multiple sources saying that Flash Foods, a well-respected and technologically innovative 170-store convenience-store chain in the southeastern United States, is in the process of reviewing prospective bids, its CEO would only confirmed that the sale was in the exploration phase, and that it “may or may not happen.”

As reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash, in a statement released on September 21, Jimmy Jones, CEO for the Waycross, Ga.-based chain, said, “The Jones Co., which is the holding company for Flash Foods, is exploring a potential sale at this time but the sale may or may not happen.”

Flash Foods stores are known for their cleanliness, according to CSPedia.

And in a time when master limited partnership (MLP) players and other consolidators are bidding up multiples for prime assets, the Flash Foods chain—despite its largely rural platform—may make for an attractive target, with its long history of developing technologies specific to convenience stores.

Its IT team has been leading-edge in areas of scanning, conversion to item-level inventory, loyalty development, mobile apps, mobile payment and as recently as last month, implementing a test with Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc. for digital tobacco coupons.

Flash Foods’ Rewards in a Flash loyalty program, has 600,000 active users and has grown to account for 35% of total transactions. The program rewards customers with 2% back in “Flash Cash.”

Sources within Flash Foods speaking confidentially to CSP Daily News expressed concern over the continuation of the chain’s technology infrastructure and focus, as well as retention of its personnel, but felt cautiously optimistic.

Waycross, Ga.-based Flash Foods Inc. operates 170 stores in Georgia and Florida, with all but 16 in Georgia. The Jones Co. also includes a grocery distribution arm (Distribution South), a fuel distribution company (Fuel South) and several car dealerships. The company also operates 23 restaurants, some of which are freestanding, including Subway, Taco Bell, Krystal and Dairy Queen.

According to CSP’s Convenience Top 101, Flash Foods began as a small grocery store in Folkston, Ga., in 1952, operated by J. C. Jones Jr. and his father J. C. Jones Sr. The company grew through the 1960s, and it acquired a small wholesale grocery distribution center located in Alma, Ga., to supply the stores.

As the grocery-store industry evolved toward ever larger supermarkets, Flash Foods underwent a fundamental change to a convenience-store format, with individually sized grocery products, snacks and drinks. And the stores were open for business when the supermarkets were closed.

It added gasoline pumps, usually as part of a joint venture with a local oil company distributor. In 1981, it created Fuel South to purchase fuels directly from refiners and distribute it to Flash Foods stores.

The Jones Co. was created in 1982 to serve as a holding company for Flash Foods and affiliated companies.

WATERBURY, Vt. — Keurig Green Mountain Inc. is close to pulling the trigger on its new soda maker.

In emails this week to interested consumers, the company, best known for its single-serve-pod coffee brewers, announced, “Keurig Kold is launching soon, and you’re invited to be the first in line to get yours.”

Pairing promotions of its own Tierney’s Iced Tea and Waterful Sparking Water brands with stalwart Coca-Cola, Keurig reminded the faithful, “Soon you’ll have the freedom to make a Coca-Cola, a Diet Coke, a Dr Pepper or a new favorite that you have yet to discover, fresh made and perfecting chilled at the touch of a button.” From there, the company encouraged consumers to visit its webpage for more information.

The long-discussed soda machine will launch “this fall” with online sales first with 16 brands, as previously reported in CSP Daily News, including six of its own and 10 familiar names via the company’s partnerships with Coca-Cola Co. and Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

Following the online debut, Keurig will add retail availability through 2016 at suggested price points ranging from $299 to $369.

At launch, Keurig Kold pods will be available in the following name brands:

• Canada Dry
• Coca-Cola
• Coca-Cola Life
• Coca-Cola Zero
• Diet Coke
• Dr Pepper
• Fanta
• Glaceau vitaminwater
• Gold Peak Tea
• Sprite

And Keurig proprietary brands:

• Waterful flavored water in three flavors
• Flyte sports drinks in three flavors
• Seraphine sparkling water in to flavors
• Tierney’s Iced Tea in three flavors
• Red Barn craft soda in three flavors
• Flynn’s craft soda in two flavors

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. & LONDON — While R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and British American Tobacco Holdings Ltd. (BAT) continue to negotiate the specifics, the companies have announced that they have signed a vapor product technologies-sharing “term sheet.”

The term sheet is the first step in forging an agreement, with a goal of reaching a definitive contract by the end of 2015.

As reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash, it provides a framework for collaboration and mutual cross-licensing of vapor product technologies through 2022. The companies’ collaboration will include a process for joint research and development activities and cooperation on regulatory, scientific and manufacturing issues related to vapor products.

“This proposed technology-sharing agreement makes great business sense as we lead the transformation of the tobacco industry, allowing us to continue to deliver innovative, high-quality vapor products to adult tobacco consumers seeking smoke-free alternatives,” said Debra Crew, R.J. Reynolds’ president and chief commercial officer.

Separately, BAT also has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the CHIC Group in Poland, including an e-liquids production facility, a research-and-development center and Polish e-cigarette brands including VOLISH, P1, Provog, Cottien, LiQueen and Aromativ.

“Acquiring the CHIC Group … provides BAT with scale and market reach through Europe’s largest e-cigarette retailing network, as well as important manufacturing and R&D capabilities,” said BAT managing director of next-generation products (NGP) Kingsley Wheaton. “Today, we’ve announced two significant milestones to enhance our next-generation product business globally, further enabling us to meet the demands of today’s consumer.”

Commenting on the deal, Bonnie Herzog, managing director of beverage, tobacco and convenience-store research at Wells Fargo Securities LLC, New York, said, “We believe this strategic framework could ultimately have a significant positive financial impact, particularly for RAI, since RAI’s licensing arrangement with BAT allows RAI to participate in the global e-cig category, which we continue to anticipate will generate significant growth and profits.”

She continued, “By joining forces and leveraging each other’s strengths, these two companies will likely accelerate the pace of e-cig/vapor/reduced risk products’ growth on a global basis and importantly will be able to more successfully engage with regulators both in the U.S. and internationally.”

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based RJR, an indirect subsidiary of RAI, is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States. RJR’s cigarette brands include Newport, Camel and Pall Mall. These brands, and its other brands, including Doral, Misty and Capri, are manufactured in a variety of styles and marketed in the United States.

Based in London, BAT is a global tobacco group with more than 200 brands sold in more than 200 markets.

DALLAS & SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Convenience-store retailer 7-Eleven Inc. has partnered with financial services technology company PayNearMe to introduce the PayNearMe Bill Pay app, enabling U.S. consumers to pay more than 17,000 national and local billers with cash using a convenient barcode scan at participating 7-Eleven stores.

The PayNearMe Bill Pay app serves as a full-service bill payment center, allowing cash users to keep track of payment history, set reminders and securely pay their bills in under 60 seconds with one trip to their local 7-Eleven store.

Most of 7-Eleven’s nearly 8,000 U.S. stores are open 24/7, allowing users with even the tightest schedules to easily and conveniently stay on top of their bills.

The range of billers that are payable include cable companies, utilities providers and insurance companies, as well as PayNearMe’s existing merchants such as Greyhound and Indego, the city of Philadelphia’s bike share program.

“Cash users are largely neglected in today’s bank-based digital economy,” said Danny Shader, PayNearMe’s founder and CEO. “By building a suite of easy-to-use financial services that are also easy for retailers to provide to their customers, we will make it possible for everyone to benefit from the convenience of digital transactions.”

With money transmitter licenses already secured in all 48 states where they are required, PayNearMe expects to add national and regional retailers to its payment location network in the coming months. It also plans to add other financial services.

For retailers, the PayNearMe Bill Pay app offers a new way to provide additional value to customers, increase in-store traffic and attract new customers. The app’s cloud-based technology gives retailers the ability to implement PayNearMe with minimal change to their existing systems.

7-Eleven is the first retailer to capitalize on PayNearMe’s technology by partnering with PayNearMe to offer a co-branded app. Called 7-Eleven Bill Pay Operated by PayNearMe, the app features the same 17,000 national and regional billers as PayNearMe Bill Pay, but is marketed exclusively by 7-Eleven to its customers.

“7-Eleven Bill Pay app builds on 7-Eleven’s portfolio of products and services that are affordable and convenient for financially underserved customers.” said Raja Doddala, 7-Eleven’s vice president of innovation and omnichannel strategy. “This app is one in a series of innovations that will take 7-Eleven stores from being convenience stores to ‘convenient’ stores.”

Both the PayNearMe Bill Pay and 7-Eleven Bill Pay Operated by PayNearMe apps are available to download for free in the Google Play store or iTunes App Store.

A convenience fee applies, depending upon the biller and the size of the payment, but most of the time, it is approximately $1.99 per payment. Most payments are posted to the account within four business days, though many billers post payments the next business day.

“There is a lot of buzz around the potential of digital payments, but you can’t push cash into a smartphone or a computer,” said Shader. “We are digitizing cash transactions to make it easier for consumers to pay, for billers to accept and for retail partners like 7-Eleven to process.”

PayNearMe is a technology company that offers consumers an electronic way to pay with cash using their mobile device. The PayNearMe Bill Pay app enables consumers to pay for cable and phone bills, insurance, utilities, rent, loans, and much more with cash. Consumers can pay bills on their own schedule, in their own neighborhood, in less than one minute at nearly 17,000 retail locations in PayNearMe’s nationwide network, which includes 7-Eleven and Family Dollar stores.

Based in Dallas, 7‑Eleven operates, franchises or licenses approximately 10,500 convenience stores in North America. Globally, there are more than 56,600 7‑Eleven c-stores in 16 countries.

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — Following months of perfecting the flavor and design of the packaging, Roar Beverages and NFL football player Odell Beckham Jr. revealed the first product in Roar’s Odell Beckham Jr. Series. Roar’s OBJXIII is an all-natural strawberry-and-watermelon-flavored coconut water-based sports drink, scientifically formulated with B-vitamins and charged with electrolytes.

The new OBJXIII bottle features the Roar Performance brand logo interlocked with Beckham Jr.’s iconic one handed catch and carbon-fiber backdrop that is consistent with the brand’s innovative and edgy packaging. The new flavor will be the eighth under Roar’s portfolio of flavors and the initial all-natural product in the Odell Beckham Jr. Series.

“This has truly been an unbelievable experience, and I am blessed to have had the opportunity to work with the people at Roar Beverages,” Beckham said. “To see your vision come to life and know that the product is going to benefit the next generation of sports-drink enthusiasts is something I am proud of and stand behind 110%.”

Roar beverages are made with 25% less sugar than other sports drinks and with no artificial flavors, caffeine, preservatives, gluten or brominated vegetable oil (BVO).

“Our goal at Roar Beverages is to create products that are meaningful and authentic for our consumers. The new OBJXIII embraces this philosophy, and we have worked with Odell to create a product that is superior in hydration and vitamin-packed, that is tailored for his on-the-field needs and also matches up to his personal style and attitude that represents Odell off the field,” said Roly Nesi, CEO of Roar Beverages. “Odell has been an unbelievable partner throughout every step of the process from label design to flavor profile; this new product is our version of a one-handed game-changing catch.”

Based in Huntington, N.Y., ROAR Performance products are made in the USA. The line includes seven additional flavors including Fruit Slam (fruit punch), Green Rush (lemon-lime/cherry), Iced Out (blue raspberry), Orange Smash (orange citrus), Cotton Candy, Patriot Punch (rainbow Italian ice), as well as a zero-calorie option Zero Ice (blue raspberry).

DUBUQUE, Iowa — An Iowa convenience-store owner is embracing solar power to save utility costs and maybe even help the Earth, according to a report by The Telegraph Herald.

Waseem Serwar has installed solar panels at two of his c-store sites in Dubuque, Iowa. This includes more than 30 panels on top of the canopy of Serwar’s Dubuque Quick Stop Mart, and 24 on top of his IOCO station’s canopy.

He had two main reasons for installing the solar panels, the report said.

“I am going to save money, and I am happy that I am doing something to help save the environment,” he told the Herald.

While the solar panels will not provide all of stations’ electricity, they will trim their energy usage and electric bills. Serwar said expects the panels at Dubuque Quick Stop Mart to offset his energy usage by 10% and help him save $1,960 in electricity costs per year. The panels at the IOCO site should offset 5% of its energy use and cut costs more than $1,300 per year.

Dubuque-based Solar Planet Inc. installed the panels, said the report. Tim Mueller, president of Solar Planet, said that Serwar is “ahead of the curve” in his adoption of solar energy, and claimed that his two sites are the first gas stations in Iowa to install solar panels.

“For a gas station to use solar energy, that is obviously a big contrast,” Mueller told the Herald. “But I think the petroleum industry can get a real boost in public image if they start using renewable energy at their stations.”

Serwar took advantage of a federal business energy investment tax credit and state solar energy systems tax credit to help fund the panel project. The two credits combined offset almost 50% of the $64,000 investment, the report said.

Click here to view the full Telegraph Herald report.

MINNEAPOLIS — As the consumption of mini meals grows each year, food and beverages serving all day-parts are beginning to appeal more to time-starved consumers seeking smaller portions that cater best to on-the-go eating.

Side dishes and appetizers have jumped from a menu’s “left side” to the center of the plate, and so have mini-style breakfast items.

Having shipped nationally in April, Pillsbury Minis—a packaged bakery item made available exclusively at convenience stores for the packaged bakery aisle—is noted as one of the fastest rollouts of a new product within the Pillsbury Minis brand’s portfolio, according to General Mills Convenience.

The Minneapolis-based company added Apple and Raspberry flavors to its lineup of Pillsbury Minis, joining Mini Cinnamon Rolls, Mini Blueberry Muffins with Streusel, Mini Cinnamon Crumb Cake and Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Most c-store bakery merchandisers have traditionally held full-size items that are harder for consumers to eat on the go, the company said. These new items cater to that need.

As of April, more than 90% of all 7-Eleven stores carried at least one of the Pillsbury Mini SKUs. 7-Eleven reports that the majority of the volume from the Pillsbury Minis is incremental to the category, according to General Mills Convenience.

Convenience Store Products caught up recently with Steve Gokey, national account manager, General Mills Convenience and Foodservice, to talk about the motivators for the new product line customized for c-store merchandising.

Convenience Store Products: This product was noted as one of the fastest rollouts of a new product within franchise. Can you go into detail on the speed to market—namely to 7-Eleven stores—compared to other past initiatives?

Gokey: The rollout of Pillsbury Minis has been one of General Mills Convenience’s most successful product launches with 7-Eleven to date. Within six weeks, more than 90% of 7-Eleven stores had ordered Pillsbury Minis. The quick “take rate” was due to the fact there was an opportunity in the packaged bakery category and with potential for a high-quality, bakery-style product from [the Pillsbury brand]. Thus, the franchise made the most of the product launch and ensured all of its stores had information early on along with detailed planograms.

Q: What observations had you made about c-store breakfast opportunities and what was lacking across the channel in general?

A: The packaged bakery segment in c-stores hasn’t seen a lot of innovation in recent years; however, we know that consumers’ preferences are evolving and there is a major opportunity to freshen up the bakery aisle. Particularly at breakfast, we know consumers are looking for convenience as well as items that satisfy a sweet craving. They want food that not only tastes great but is in a format they can eat in the car or on the go. Further, it is interesting to note that breakfast items represent a large portion of this large category (64% of the nearly $2 billion category), demonstrating the opportunity at hand for c-stores that want to enhance their bakery offerings.

Q: Do you see Minis as being intended for the retailers who lack an ambitious breakfast program and need an easy entrance to drive this day-part segment?

A: The Pillsbury Minis are a great way for any retailer to freshen up their packaged bakery aisle and can particularly help those retailers who don’t have a robust breakfast program. The new item helps retailers capture those morning customers, offering them a bakery-style product with homemade taste in clear, resealable packaging that lets the product quality shine.

Q: How did the relationship with 7-Eleven come about?

A:We had some conversations with distributors early on about the state of packaged bakery and it evolved into a space we decided to explore. We did some initial testing with 7-Eleven that went very well and saw the opportunity come to life.

Q: Can you reveal what other chains are on the short list to incorporate the program?

A:In addition to 7-Eleven stores, the Pillsbury Minis are now widely available at a number of retailers nationwide including Kum & Go, Circle K and more.

Q: How have 7-Eleven stores fared thus far from a weekly/monthly breakfast volume standpoint since April? (7-Eleven was not available to shed light on the maturation of this program.)

A: We cannot comment specifically about the performance of the Pillsbury Minis at 7-Eleven; however, according to Nielsen, all items are in the top third in the packaged bakery category for sales. The highest ranked item is the Pillsbury Mini Cinnamon Roll, which is ranked 17th. All four items have a weighted ACV above 30%. The four [original] SKUs represent 5% dollar share of top 125 selling items within category.

Q: How are the Pillsbury items merchandised in the stores to build awareness and drive trial?

A: Pillsbury Minis are placed in-line with shelf talkers and also have secondary placement on racks on the coffee counter. Retailers can also customize header cards to promote their coffee programs.

Q: Looking to the future, can you go into detail on the portfolio expansion beyond Minis?

A: We are thrilled with the excitement and early growth around the Pillsbury Minis and look forward to introducing new flavors and formats down the road.

WAYCROSS, Ga. — Flash Foods, a chain of 170 convenience stores in the southeastern United States, is in the process of reviewing prospective bids, CSP Daily News has confirmed.

In a statement, Jimmy Jones, CEO of Flash Foods parent The Jones Co., said that a sale is in the exploration phase, but that it “may or may not happen.”

Waycross, Ga.-based Flash Foods Inc. operates 170 c-stores in Georgia and Florida, with all but 16 in Georgia. The Jones Co. also includes a grocery distribution arm (Distribution South), a fuel distribution company (Fuel South) and several car dealerships.

Watch for details on CSPnet.com and in CSP Daily News.