gotbeer
Tue, Jan-20-04, 11:32
Retailers cash in on low-carb
This is your burger on the Atkins diet. Any questions? Retailers are hungry to cash in on the low-carb craze
BY JEFFREY G. KELLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 20, 2004
link to article (http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031773194304&path=%21business&s=1045855934855)
A banner on the front of a 7-Eleven store on West Broad street touting its alliance with Atkins products.
Local gyms aren't the only places to go to lose weight and get in shape these days. Just try a local grocery or convenience-store aisle.
Stores and restaurants all over the country are carrying and serving foods and snacks that cater to an estimated 25 million to 30 million Americans on low-carbohydrate diets.
The Atkins diet - developed in 1972 by Dr. Richard Atkins, now deceased - is one of the most popular in the country. It advocates a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet, so it's actually better for participants to eat pork rinds than a slice of bread.
To capitalize on the diet's popularity, Atkins Nutritionals Inc. has released Atkins-brand foods at retailers nationwide. The brand features a variety of low-carb foods, snacks and drinks.
On Jan. 5, Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. began carrying nearly 50 Atkins-brand products at its stores. They are all in a single section, known as the "Better Choices, Better Year" display, dedicated to the weight-management program.
Kenneth Fries, 7-Eleven category manager for snacks, said the company has an array of low-carb items, not just the typical junk foods and "on-the-go" snacks that most convenience stores carry.
"That's what we're trying to get across to people" with the addition of low-carb foods, he said. "We're more than just hot dogs and burritos."
Pennsylvania-based Sheetz Inc. is working on a line of breads and bagels to cater to consumers on controlled-carb diets.
Bill Reilly, vice president of sales and marketing, said the breads should hit test stores in the coming months. Reilly said he has been on the Atkins diet since Oct. 1.
He said he would not have directed the research and development department to begin making low-carb breads had he thought Atkins was a fad. He said he has lost 20 pounds on the diet.
Sheetz will also carry Atkins-brand health bars.
Lori Bruce, a spokeswoman for Wawa Inc., said the convenience-store chain has been devoting more space to low-carb snacks.
Richmond-based Good Foods Grocery carries more than 100 Atkins-brand products.
The only hesitation Good Foods had with carrying the Atkins label was bringing sucralose into his stores, said owner Donnie Caffery. The artificial sweetener - under the trademark name Splenda and found in many Atkins products - is uncommon in natural-food stores, such as Good Foods.
"It was a tough decision for us," he said.
Caffery estimates that sales of low-carb foods have boosted nationwide natural-food store sales by about 10 percent in the past year.
"It's a huge boon to the natural foods industry now," he said.
Good Foods, founded in 1985, operates stores at Stony Point Shopping Center and Gayton Crossing.
Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. also carries low-carb foods.
Dana Forsman, business manager for natural, organic and specialty foods at the supermarket chain, said mainstream brands, such as Kellogg's Special K cereal and Breyers ice cream, are plugging low-carb products.
Food and beverage makers and restaurants are releasing low-carb products and menu items on a near-daily basis.
"I think what we're going to find is that over the next six months we're going to see low-carb products throughout the grocery store," not just in special sections, Forsman said.
Forsman said the company has seen "triple-digit increases [in sales] over last year" with low-carb brands.
T.G.I. Friday's introduced its "Atkins-approved menu" on Dec. 9, and Subway Restaurants rolled out its "Atkins-friendly wraps" on Dec. 29.
Friday's offers bunless burgers. Burger King Corp. began offering a bunless Whopper sandwich in all 8,000 of its restaurants on Jan. 13. CKE Restaurants Inc.'s Hardee's restaurants carry a burger wrapped in lettuce to help cut carbs.
Though McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's International Inc. restaurants don't carry any competing products yet, they have posted ways in their restaurants and on Web sites for customers to cut carbs by modifying food orders.
Even beer is subject to the phenomenon. Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. came out with a low-carb beer, Michelob Ultra, in 2002.
"We brought it in, and it did very well," said Kevin Murphy, manager of Village Wine & Beer on Three Chopt Road in Richmond.
Murphy said mainly "stay-at-home and soccer moms" buy low-carb beers at his store.
David Garrett of Carytown Wine & Beer said many breweries are beginning to jump on the low-carb-beer trend.
"It's becoming a niche market," he said. "Everyone is trying to get their dollar in there."
Contact Jeffrey G. Kelley at (804) 649-6495 or jkelley~timesdispatch.com
This is your burger on the Atkins diet. Any questions? Retailers are hungry to cash in on the low-carb craze
BY JEFFREY G. KELLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 20, 2004
link to article (http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031773194304&path=%21business&s=1045855934855)
A banner on the front of a 7-Eleven store on West Broad street touting its alliance with Atkins products.
Local gyms aren't the only places to go to lose weight and get in shape these days. Just try a local grocery or convenience-store aisle.
Stores and restaurants all over the country are carrying and serving foods and snacks that cater to an estimated 25 million to 30 million Americans on low-carbohydrate diets.
The Atkins diet - developed in 1972 by Dr. Richard Atkins, now deceased - is one of the most popular in the country. It advocates a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet, so it's actually better for participants to eat pork rinds than a slice of bread.
To capitalize on the diet's popularity, Atkins Nutritionals Inc. has released Atkins-brand foods at retailers nationwide. The brand features a variety of low-carb foods, snacks and drinks.
On Jan. 5, Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. began carrying nearly 50 Atkins-brand products at its stores. They are all in a single section, known as the "Better Choices, Better Year" display, dedicated to the weight-management program.
Kenneth Fries, 7-Eleven category manager for snacks, said the company has an array of low-carb items, not just the typical junk foods and "on-the-go" snacks that most convenience stores carry.
"That's what we're trying to get across to people" with the addition of low-carb foods, he said. "We're more than just hot dogs and burritos."
Pennsylvania-based Sheetz Inc. is working on a line of breads and bagels to cater to consumers on controlled-carb diets.
Bill Reilly, vice president of sales and marketing, said the breads should hit test stores in the coming months. Reilly said he has been on the Atkins diet since Oct. 1.
He said he would not have directed the research and development department to begin making low-carb breads had he thought Atkins was a fad. He said he has lost 20 pounds on the diet.
Sheetz will also carry Atkins-brand health bars.
Lori Bruce, a spokeswoman for Wawa Inc., said the convenience-store chain has been devoting more space to low-carb snacks.
Richmond-based Good Foods Grocery carries more than 100 Atkins-brand products.
The only hesitation Good Foods had with carrying the Atkins label was bringing sucralose into his stores, said owner Donnie Caffery. The artificial sweetener - under the trademark name Splenda and found in many Atkins products - is uncommon in natural-food stores, such as Good Foods.
"It was a tough decision for us," he said.
Caffery estimates that sales of low-carb foods have boosted nationwide natural-food store sales by about 10 percent in the past year.
"It's a huge boon to the natural foods industry now," he said.
Good Foods, founded in 1985, operates stores at Stony Point Shopping Center and Gayton Crossing.
Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. also carries low-carb foods.
Dana Forsman, business manager for natural, organic and specialty foods at the supermarket chain, said mainstream brands, such as Kellogg's Special K cereal and Breyers ice cream, are plugging low-carb products.
Food and beverage makers and restaurants are releasing low-carb products and menu items on a near-daily basis.
"I think what we're going to find is that over the next six months we're going to see low-carb products throughout the grocery store," not just in special sections, Forsman said.
Forsman said the company has seen "triple-digit increases [in sales] over last year" with low-carb brands.
T.G.I. Friday's introduced its "Atkins-approved menu" on Dec. 9, and Subway Restaurants rolled out its "Atkins-friendly wraps" on Dec. 29.
Friday's offers bunless burgers. Burger King Corp. began offering a bunless Whopper sandwich in all 8,000 of its restaurants on Jan. 13. CKE Restaurants Inc.'s Hardee's restaurants carry a burger wrapped in lettuce to help cut carbs.
Though McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's International Inc. restaurants don't carry any competing products yet, they have posted ways in their restaurants and on Web sites for customers to cut carbs by modifying food orders.
Even beer is subject to the phenomenon. Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. came out with a low-carb beer, Michelob Ultra, in 2002.
"We brought it in, and it did very well," said Kevin Murphy, manager of Village Wine & Beer on Three Chopt Road in Richmond.
Murphy said mainly "stay-at-home and soccer moms" buy low-carb beers at his store.
David Garrett of Carytown Wine & Beer said many breweries are beginning to jump on the low-carb-beer trend.
"It's becoming a niche market," he said. "Everyone is trying to get their dollar in there."
Contact Jeffrey G. Kelley at (804) 649-6495 or jkelley~timesdispatch.com