Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/49395
The BY BRENDA G. RUSSELL K eeping track of the new sweeteners takes more than a color chart. More artifi cial sweeteners are coming on the market, not only in tabletop packets but also in soſt drinks, yogurt, candy and other coff eehouse staples. Defi nitive answers about the new products are hard to come by, but that hasn't stopped customers from sampling them. You and your patrons face more choices with nearly every visit to the prep counter or cooler. Here are some points to consider in addressing their concerns, and your own buying choices. Sugar and sweeteners are an expanding market. Th e Mintel Group market research company estimates U.S. sales will top $5 billion in 2012. Most consumers in Mintel's surveys say they're using sweeteners just as much, but in foods and drinks they're more likely to choose alternatives to sugar. BRIO VIA STEVIA Attracting much of their attention is a South American herb. Products containing stevia are green-packet challengers on a crowded coff ee prep table, with Pure Via, SweetLeaf and Truvia emerging as widely available brands. Th is botanical has been used medically for centuries but has gone mainstream as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun to accept stevia-leaf extracts as safe for food and beverages. But the FDA sends a mixed message: Th e agency approves stevia as an herbal supplement. But to be considered safe for food, brands must submit to an expensive process to show purity and safety. Once confi ned to natural-food stores, stevia has grown marketing muscle. Drink maker Coca-Cola and food producer Cargill developed Truvia, and Cargill is spending millions on TV ads with its ingratiating folk jingle. Pure Via, a familiar brand in coupon circulars, is a PepsiCo creation, with the help of Merisant, the maker of Equal sweetener. New stevia brands have drawn attention to other emerging low-calorie sweeteners such as sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol. Classifi ed as sugar alcohols, they're used both alone or in combination with other sweeteners. Th e category includes 26 | December 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com erythritol, an ingredient in both Pure Via and Truvia. GREEN, YELLOW, RED ... STOP! Th e profusion of choices means that many brands no longer are copycats of Splenda, Equal or Sweet'N Low. Color is no longer a reliable guide to what product comes in a foodservice packet, or even how much of it. Here's a sample of brands widely available for foodservice: • Blue packets: Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), acesulfame (Sunett, Sweet One), Xylitol. • Yellow packets: Sucralose (Splenda), erythritol (Organic Zero), saccharine (Sugar Twin), aspartame (Offi ce Snax). • Pink packets: Saccarine (Sweet'N Low, Sugar Twin), stevia (Xylitol Plus). • Green packets: Stevia (PureVia, SweetLeaf, Truvia), agave (Xagave). Even more new formulations have not yet made it to the tabletop but appear in soſt drinks, yogurt and candy. Th ey include Tagatose, a lactose-based sweetener. PACKET SWITCHING Cost-cutting competitors have cut into the major brands' market share; Mintel reported in late 2010 that sales have been slipping among bar code-scanning mass retailers. McNeil Nutritionals, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that owns Splenda, is fi ghting back with product extensions. Th e new Splenda Essentials are fortifi ed with vitamins, antioxidents or fi ber, and a concentrated brown sugar blend has half the calories for baking uses. In foodservice and baking channels, Splenda is marketed by Hormel Foods' Diamond Crystal Brands division. Equal and PureVia producer Merisant is hedging its bets further with sucralose and saccarine products—packaged in yellow and pink, adding to the packet confusion. Sweet'N Low is licensed for use in candy, syrup, and cake and icing mixes. Its maker, Cumberland Packing Corp., also produces Sugar in the Raw turbinado sugar, and has introduced Stevia in the Raw, a stevia extract not mixed spot Consumers who want to avoid sugar have a bigger than ever selection of artificial sweeteners. Here's a rundown of the latest lineup.