ATLANTA — InComm, a leading prepaid product and transaction services company, has announced the addition of new brands to the InComm Incentives e-commerce site for bulk gift and reward card purchases, including vacation brands as well as the Vanilla Visa Reward Card.

The expanded offering gives companies a greater variety of choices for rewarding customers and employees with gift and reward cards to use during the summer travel season.

“From outdoor brands to entertainment companies, from lodging to travel, there’s something to reward everyone for every type of getaway,” said Vicki Ravenel, director of InComm Incentives. “The growing variety of options as well as our extremely popular Vanilla Visa Reward Card makes InComm Incentives a premier e-commerce site for companies looking to incentivize those who drive their business.”

InComm Incentives takes the stress out of planning and executing rewards and promotions with a B2B e-commerce portal. The site offers a variety of brands to choose from and a seamless platform for ordering. These attributes immediately empower companies with the ability to launch promotions or reward employees faster than ever by leveraging one of the most in-demand incentives around: gift and reward cards.

“Recent research has shown that more consumers than ever are turning to prepaid products for personal use and as a convenient way to manage money,” Ravenel said. “For travelers, prepaid cards are a great way to stay within a vacation budget while also increasing security. While lost debit or credit cards can turn a pleasant trip into a stressful nightmare, using reward and gift cards while on vacation can prevent exposure to personal financial information.”

The InComm Incentives e-commerce store offers access to gift cards from more than 100 brands in variable denominations with more brands added regularly. Companies can purchase many brands in both physical and digital format to target a variety of consumers.

Leveraging deep integrations into retailers’ point-of-sale (POS) systems, InComm provides connectivity to a variety of service providers that allow consumers to conduct everyday business at more than 450,000 points of retail distribution worldwide. Whether those consumers are activating prepaid products, paying bills, enjoying real-time discounts through a membership card, purchasing digital goods in-store or adding funds to an online account, InComm can provide gift-gifting opportunities, cater to on-the-go shoppers, deliver added value through loyalty programs and serve cash-based consumers.

With 186 global patents, InComm is based in Atlanta with a presence in more than 30 countries.

MINNEAPOLIS — Yesterday, two Massachusetts state legislative committees held hearings on bills to raise the state’s minimum age to purchase and use tobacco products from 18 years old to 21 years old. This focus on a statewide legal age of 21 in Massachusetts follows recent news from Hawaii, which became the first state to enact an age 21 law on tobacco products.

While Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah already have laws setting the legal age to buy and use tobacco at 19 years old, other states with legal age bills still pending include California (age 21), Massachusetts (age 21), New Jersey (age 21), New York (age 21), Vermont (age 21) and Washington (age 19). Several other states had legal age bills fail due to adjournment of the legislature including Iowa (age 19), Oregon (age 21), Rhode Island (age 21), Texas (age 19) and Utah (age 21).

When a legislative bill is proposed to raise the legal age to purchase and use tobacco products, the rationale tends to focus on the public health. However, a convincing argument can be made that personal liberties of all adults need to be considered when this kind of legislation is being debated. Personal rights are important because government and society impose responsibilities and duties on those who have reached the age of 18, and the magnitude of these obligations should also allow a person of adult age to choose what legal products they desire to purchase.

Some of these serious responsibilities and duties borne by adults who are 18, 19 and 20 years old include voting, military service, marriage, divorce, payment of income taxes, health insurance mandates, health directive decisions, candidacy for public office, and prosecution as an adult for crimes committed. 

If the proponents of legislation to raise the legal age to buy and use tobacco products truly believe that raising the legal age will reduce underage use of tobacco products, the national minimum age of 21 to purchase and consume alcohol provides an important and analogous situation. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducts two surveys, the National Youth Tobacco Survey and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.  These two surveys show cigarette smoking nationwide among high school students has decreased significantly from 15.8% in 2011 to 9.2% in 2014 while drinking alcohol among high school students is currently at 34.9%.  In other words, four times as many high school students drink alcohol as opposed to smoke cigarettes even though the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol is 21.  

From this CDC data, a conclusion can be drawn that mandating an age of 21 for the purchase and consumption of alcohol has not created an impediment for more than one-third of minors who are currently consuming alcohol. This brings into question the true efficacy of a similar increase in the age of tobacco and raises the more serious health-related question of whether such a change in age of purchase could actually result in an increase in underage tobacco use as minors, in addition to adults who are 18, 19 and 20 years old, look to other sources for acquiring tobacco products.  

These other sources are known as “social sources” and a study released by the Journal of School Health in August 2014 found that 86% of underage youth obtain cigarettes from non-retail sources, such as older friends, siblings, parents, and strangers. Raising the legal age to 21 may only cause those underage youth and then 18-, 19- and 20-year-old adults to either continue to rely on these social sources or to seek out social sources in order to obtain tobacco products.

When lawmakers consider raising the legal age to buy and use tobacco products, the potential health-related consequences of a higher legal age need to be taken into account and whether such action will have the opposite affect on underage use as the CDC statistics on under age alcohol consumption indicate.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Back in April, a TPSAC (Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee) panel voted against Swedish Match AB’s application to market its General Snus brand as less harmful than cigarettes and unanimously rejected the company’s request to remove the required tooth loss and gum disease warnings (read the full story here).

The decision was considered by many to mark the death of Swedish Match’s modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) application, a notion Jim Solyst, Swedish Match’s vice president of federal regulatory affairs, vehemently denies.

“If the decision had been made, we wouldn’t still be hearing from CTP,” he said, pointing out that he’s had multiple calls with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) since the TPSAC meeting. “We’re continuing on with the process.”

In an exclusive interview with CSP/Tobacco E-News, Solyst shared his experience at the TPSAC meeting and how the company is moving forward on modified risk.

On the Panel’s Understanding of Snus:

“I was disappointed that, on the first day, the committee did not seem to understand the unique features of General Snus,” said Solyst. “There is an abundance of human health evidence, and it is manufactured following the GOTHIATEK standard (Swedish Match’s internal quality standards).”

Solyst believes the committee ultimately understood more about the product (particularly after a second day presentation on GOTHIATEK); however, many TPSAC members were not swayed by the evidence presented in support of snus.

On Positive Aspects of the Experience:

“I would not say it was all doom and gloom,” Solyst said of the meeting, despite the panel’s decision. “It was a good communication opportunity. I think TPSAC did have a better understanding of our product at the end of the two days than at the beginning [and] I’d say both Swedish Match and CTP have learned quite a bit.”

Another major benefit for Swedish Match: positive attention for its pioneering efforts.

“At the end of the TPSAC meeting, (CTP director) Mitch Zeller referred to us as ‘trailblazers,’ ” he said, adding that it’s a term the CTP has used frequently when describing Swedish Match.

On What’s Next

At this year’s NATO Show, Zeller was quick to point out that “federal committees like TPSAC serve an advisory function; they are not the decision makers,” a fact Solyst brings up when people equate the TPSAC ruling to a final decision from the FDA.

“It’s certainly not unusual for an FDA center to not take the advice of an advisory committee,” he said. “There are many precedents.”

As such, Solyst remains hopeful that the CTP will ultimately approve some, if not all, of the requests in the MRTP application.

“One option would be that CTP gives us the MRTP order, but not give us all of the warning-label changes,” said Solyst. “That’s still a very positive development. They can’t give us the MRTP order unless we’ve demonstrated that (snus) reduces individual risk and it benefits the health of the overall population. That’s a significant statement.”

LAVAL, Quebec — For its fourth quarter ended April 26, 2015, convenience-store company Alimentation Couche‑Tard Inc. has announced net earnings of $129.5 million, a 10.8% decline over last year’s $145.1 million. Non‑recurring restructuring and integration costs of $22.2 million in connection with the acquisition of The Pantry Inc. c-store chain and a $600,000 additional loss on disposal of its aviation fuel business, among other factors, affected the results.

Excluding non‑recurring items for both comparable periods, net earnings for the quarter would have been approximately $142 million compared with $123 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, an increase of 15.4%.

This increase is attributable to continued organic growth and higher fuel margins as well as to the contribution from acquisitions.

Couche-Tard closed on the acquisition of The Pantry on March 16, 2015, through an all‑cash transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $1.7 billion including debt assumed. Results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015 include The Pantry’s results for a period of 41 days, including non‑recurring integration costs of approximately $22 million.

Click here for full coverage.

“Our performance in the fourth quarter was a great way to end an exceptional fiscal year. It allowed us to begin fiscal year 2016 with the momentum needed to achieve the ambitious goals we have set for ourselves” said Brian Hannasch, president and CEO. “In all our markets, we recorded strong organic growth while maintaining our solid profit margins, confirming the sustainability of our strategies. … In the U.S., we have experienced our strongest growth since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008.”

Raymond Paré, vice president and CFO, said, “We are very proud of our fourth-quarter results, but even prouder of our ability to demonstrate strong, sustained growth, quarter after quarter, year after year. Even after the acquisition of The Pantry, our financial position remains strong.”

Net earnings amounted to $933.5 million for fiscal 2015, compared with $812.2 million for the previous fiscal year. Excluding the same items and acquisition costs from both periods, fiscal 2015 net earnings would have been approximately $1.022 billion compared with $766 million for fiscal 2014, an increase of 33.4%.

For the quarter, Couche-Tard reported that same‑store merchandise revenues were up 5.2% in the United States, 3% in Europe and 3.8% in Canada. Same‑store merchandise revenues in the United States include The Pantry’s results from the acquisition date.

Merchandise and service gross margin stood at 33.4% in the United States, at 42.1% in Europe and at 32.5% in Canada, for a consolidated margin of 34.1%.

Same‑store road transportation fuel volumes grew by 6.4% in the United States, 3.7% in Europe and 1.5% in Canada. Same‑store road transportation fuel volume in the United States includes The Pantry’s results from the acquisition date.

Road transportation fuel gross margin was 15.46 cents per gallon in the United States, at 8.55 cents per liter (U.S.) in Europe and at 6.18 cents per liter (Canadian) in Canada.

Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard operates a network of more than 6,300 convenience stores throughout North America (more than 7,800 including The Pantry). Its North American network consists of 13 business units, including nine in the United States (under the Circle K brand) in 40 states and four business units in Canada (under the Mac’s and Couche-Tard brands) covering all 10 provinces.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), Poland, the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia, with approximately 2,250 stores–the Statoil Fuel & Retail network it acquired in 2012.

Also, under licensing agreements, about 4,600 stores are operated under the Circle K banner in 12 other countries (China, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam and United Arab Emirates), which brings to more than 13,100 the number of sites in Couche-Tard’s network.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Marking 85 years since the Twinkie debuted, Hostess Brands LLC has introduced The Twinkies Cookbook, Twinkies 85th Anniversary Edition, a collection featuring more than 50 recipes created by Twinkie aficionados and notable chefs throughout the country.

Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, the cookbook’s concoctions include Twinkling Turkey, Deep-Fried, Bacon-Wrapped, Chocolate-Covered Twinkies and Chicken & Winkies.

The book debuts two years after Hostess Brands mounted what it called “The Sweetest Comeback in the History of Ever,” returning to store shelves following a groundswell of fan support after a bankruptcy temporarily took the snack cakes out of stores.

Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. bought the snack maker out of bankruptcy for $410 million in March 2013

“Hostess is a brand rooted in innovation, and nowhere is that spirit more embodied than in the Twinkie, the crème filled, sponge cake sensation that has set the gold standard for snack cakes for 85 years,” said Ellen Copaken, senior director of marketing at Hostess Brands. “We thank the legions of fans who made their voices heard to pave the way for the return of the iconic Hostess brand and especially those who channeled their creativity and culinary wizardry to make this cookbook possible.”

The history of the Twinkie dates back to early 1930. Hoovervilles were sprouting from state to state, the Chrysler Building neared completion in New York and bakery manager James A. Dewar—10 years after starting his career driving a horse-drawn pound cake wagon for the Continental Baking Co. outside Chicago—came up with an idea. Continental was looking for a new, inexpensive product that would appeal to frugal consumers in the tight economy. Why not use the company’s stockpile of shortcake pans to create a treat that could be sold year-round?

He whipped up the celebrated recipe by injecting smooth and creamy banana filling into the oblong golden finger cakes. Unlike strawberries, which were only in season for six weeks during the summer, bananas were readily available year-round.

As for the name, a St. Louis billboard advertising “Twinkle Toe Shoes” provided the inspiration Dewar needed. He was quoted as saying he “shortened it to make it a little zippier for the kids.”

Dewar’s new two-for-a-nickel treat was an instant hit.

Kansas City, Mo.-based Hostess Brands now sells nearly half a billion Twinkies each year.

MANCHESTER & GLASTONBURY, Conn. — Members of the Gasoline & Automotive Service Dealers of America (GASDA) who live in Connecticut can now get a 5% discount on auto insurance policies from Nationwide Insurance.

The savings come from an exclusive group auto insurance program developed by GoodWorks Insurance for GASDA and its members. GASDA has about 375 members in Connecticut.

An independent insurance agency in Glastonbury, Conn., GoodWorks Insurance donates 50% of its operating profits to local nonprofits that support education, healthcare and public safety through GoodWorks Community Grants.

“Our members and their families can now enjoy a valuable benefit,” said GASDA executive director Michael J. Fox. “And part of their premiums will come back to support charities in their communities.”

Additional savings are available to members who also place their home or apartment insurance with Nationwide.

GASDA also named GoodWorks Insurance its top recommended independent insurance agency for its members’ business insurance. GoodWorks offers members two major advantages, Fox said.

First, it offers one-stop shopping among the many carriers it represents. Because gas stations have installed new federally mandated safety equipment over the last several years, they are low-risk now, Fox said. But many insurance companies haven’t recognized that and have kept their rates high.

“GoodWorks canvasses the broad market, finds the most competitive rates and provides comprehensive business coverage for our members,” Fox said.

Second, it provides hands-on local service. “They’re like the doctor in the old days, who took the time to talk to you,” he said. “They’re very good at diagnosis and making sure that service stations are neither underinsured nor over-insured.”

Based in Manchester, Conn., GASDA consists of Connecticut gas stations and auto service stations.

LAVAL, Quebec – While he touted the company’s performance and its “strongest growth since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008,” Brian Hannasch, president and CEO, spent a significant portion of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.’s fiscal 2015 fourth-quarter earnings call focusing on the March 2015 acquisition of the approximately 1,500 stores of The Pantry Inc.

Couche-Tard reported net earnings of $129.5 million, a 10.8% decline over last year’s $145.1 million. Non‑recurring restructuring and integration costs of $22.2 million in connection with the acquisition of Cary, N.C.-based The Pantry affected results.

Click here for CSP Daily News coverage of Couche-Tard’s quarterly and fiscal 2015 results.

Couche-Tard reported the $850.7-million deal recorded earnings transaction costs of $900,000 in connection with this acquisition.

“We’re already working actively on the integration of The Pantry, and all indicators we have point towards an impressive contribution potential towards our company’s growth,” Hannasch said.

As of the close of the company’s fiscal-year 2015, Hannasch said Couche-Tard has taken actions that should result in cost reductions of $45 million (before taxes) on an annual basis. Couche-Tard estimates it will be able to realize a minimum of $85 million in annual cost reductions over the next 24 months.

“We believe we can turn around The Pantry’s previous trends with strong net growth in sales and volumes in the coming quarters in addition to achieving the cost-reduction targets we’ve previously communicated,” he said.

“We are applying all of our best practices to The Pantry’s network, and the integration is going well,” Hannasch said ahead of the call. “In line with our business model, our people are already actively working on sharing best practices, benchmarking and on the identification and realization of synergies, which should not only benefit our newly acquired network but also our existing network.”

He continued, “We have just completed The Pantry’s budget process, and I am very excited about what I have seen and heard. The opportunities are plentiful, and our teams are eager to make the most of them. I am confident that we will be able to meet our objectives.”

“Our return on capital employed dropped slightly on a pro forma basis following the acquisition of The Pantry, as expected, but we are still best in class,” Raymond Paré, vice president and CFO, said ahead of the call. “We are already hard at work to bring it back to a level in line with our expectations. To achieve this, we will use the usual tools we have at our disposal, including the realization of synergies and other opportunities coming from the acquisition of The Pantry and those still available in Europe as well as our proven ability to generate strong and sustainable organic growth.”

Acquisitions such as The Pantry are not the only area where Couche-Tard has (and will continue) to grow its network. Hannasch said his team has done “an outstanding job in terms of network growth and improvements” to new and existing retail locations.

Throughout 2015, Couche-Tard completed the construction, relocation or rebuilding of 72 stores and added 32 single sites for a total of 104 added or improved sites. As of April 26, 2015, the company had 26 stores under construction that should open in the coming quarters.

“I’m particularly pleased with the performance of our newly constructed sites,” Hannasch said. “Our plans for 2016 are to step up our activity in this space.”

In terms of growth inside the stores, Hannasch focused on two major areas: private label and foodservice.

“It’s a never-ending journey to continue to look for new ways to provide convenience to our consumers,” he said. “Certainly, right now, top of mind is private label.”

Couche-Tard has “stepped up significantly” its private-label offering, introducing more than 100 items in North America since May 2014.

“Our efforts in this area are paying off,” said Hannasch. “Private label continues to be one of the fastest-growing product ‘cats’ we have.”

As for food, Couche-Tard is focusing on two options: fresh delivered food programs and prepared onsite offerings. Hannasch said there are some 700 stores with fresh delivered food (including pastries, salads, fresh sandwiches, and fruit cups), a program that started four-to-five years ago.

“We feel good about the top-line results,” he said. “We’ve worked hard this year to optimize the logistics costs and spoilage. We continue to feel better and better about their performance. As such, as we enter our new fiscal year, we’re planning to add another 300 stores [to the program] this coming year in a variety of geographies.”

The prepared onsite program is admittedly newer and smaller. The company has launched three pilot stores in Houston with a goal to add 30 to 40 locations in the coming fiscal year. Hannasch said bigger, new-to-industry sites with high traffic flows and more rural stores were prime candidates for the onsite foodservice program.

“It’s very early, but we’re cautiously pleased with results,” he said. “We’ve responded to our customers’ desire for fresh and convenient foods by increasing our offer both in terms of quality and quantity.”

HOUSTON — Cardtronics Inc., a leading retail ATM owner and operator, completed its acquisition of Columbus Data Services LLC on July 1. CDS is a leading independent processor of ATM and payment-card transactions, providing leading-edge solutions to ATM sales and service organizations and financial institutions.

CDS will operate as a separate division of Cardtronics and will continue to be led by the current management team.

The acquisition of CDS adds a dedicated technology platform for servicing ATM deployers that address independent retail locations. CDS currently services more than 90,000 ATM terminals for bank and non-bank ATM deployers and has a growing base of financial institution customers for card processing services.

The mobile and online management technology offered by CDS gives its customers self-service tools to manage their ATM portfolios efficiently and in real-time. Its technology infrastructure and direct connections to all major U.S. debit and credit payment networks provides a highly scalable platform for growth.

“CDS’ … presence in processing ATMs in independent retail locations is highly complementary with Cardtronics’ strength in the larger-chain retail market,” Cardtronics CEO Steve Rathgaber said. “We look forward to bringing Cardtronics’ deeper resources, extensive distribution channels and differentiated ATM product set to CDS to accelerate its growth and provide greater value to its customers.”

The aggregate purchase price was approximately $80 million, subject to customary closing adjustments; Cardtronics funded the acquisition with borrowings under its credit facility.

CDS, based in Dallas, is a leading ATM and issuer processor, providing ATM ISOs, financial institutions and merchants with ATM driving and management services, network gateway access and debit-card management services.

Houston-based Cardtronics owns and operates more than 111,500 retail ATMs in United States  and international locations.

NEW YORK — North Atlantic Trading Co. Inc.’s (NATC) attorneys at Venable LLP, led by Marcella Ballard of the firm’s New York office, have successfully executed seizure orders on merchants and wholesalers found to be selling counterfeit Zig-Zag cigarette paper products.

The seizure orders are part of North Atlantic’s strategy of zero tolerance against counterfeit goods imported into the United States.

“North Atlantic takes intellectual property infringement seriously and will prosecute known violators to the fullest extent of the law,” said Ballard, an intellectual-property partner and member of the firm’s brand protection group. “We have obtained three successful ex parte seizure orders to conduct successful raids on counterfeiters over the past year and will continue to actively enforce anti-counterfeiting measures against any and all violators.”

Ballard’s and NATC’s efforts against counterfeit Zig-Zag products have in the past resulted in the seizure of businesses, significant multi-million dollar judgments and criminal liability with federal prison sentences and deportation.

Zig-Zag cigarette paper products are a popular brand of rolling papers that originated in France. The papers, which come in five sizes, are made largely from flax and use natural gum Arabic. They are imported and distributed in the United States and Canada by Louisville, Ky.-based North Atlantic Trading.

Venable LLP is based in Washington, D.C.

READINGTON, N.J. — QuickChek has maximized its involvement with the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning over the years to build its convenience-store brand, introduce new menu items and showcase its customer service to a large audience. At the festival, July 24-26 at Solberg Airport in Readington, QuickChek is launching its new Q Café on a large scale.

Q Café offers nearly 40 varieties of handcrafted hot and iced cold drinks, fresh-brewed cappuccinos, lattes and espressos; blended-to-order fruit smoothies; and frozen chocolate treats.

“The balloon festival is our No. 1 branding event,” said QuickChek CEO Dean Durling, whose family-owned company’s title sponsorship of 23 years is the longest-running sponsorship of any festival in the United States. “It has proven to be a great way to introduce consumers to our brand and to our newest offerings.”

The convenience-store chain has opened Q Cafés in its newest stores to “great success,” it said. At the festival, attendees can enjoy these same drinks.

Hot drinks including seven varieties of cappuccinos; seven varieties of lattes; two kinds of hot chocolate; and espresso brewed with freshly ground QuickChek Dark Roast espresso beans.

Cold beverages include six kinds of blended-to-order smoothies with real fruit purees. Frozen latte flavors feature caramel, mocha, and vanilla. And adding to the Festival’s wow factor: decadent frozen chocolate and frozen white chocolate drinks with caramel, banana, mango, strawberry, strawberry banana and superfruit.

The Q Café pairs well with QuickChek’s 2,700-square-foot, air-conditioned replica store at the festival, where attendees can enjoy custom-made oven-toasted subs, premium salads and wraps, breakfast sandwiches, hot and iced coffees and frozen drinks. The Q Café will be located across from the store.

“We’re very happy to offer our attendees another great dining experience,” said festival executive producer Howard Freeman, who noted that patrons can dine outside the QuickChek store under umbrella-covered tables or in the enormous QuickChek hospitality tent, which provides families with the opportunity to relax together in between balloon ascensions and headlining concerts.

Featuring 100 sport and special-shaped hot-air balloons from around the world, the 33rd annual QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank is the largest summertime hot-air balloon and music festival in North America.

QuickChek, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., currently operates 140 convenience stores in New York and New Jersey.