2021 Category Captain for Cold & Frozen Beverages: The ICEE Co.

The ICEE Co.'s c-store partners have created successful frozen beverage programs serving ICEE, Slush Puppie, frozen Nitro coffee and premium frozen lemonade. ICEE provides a full turnkey solution to retailers, a full offering of branded flavor concentrates from leading brands, co-branded flavors, a full-service partnership, marketing support, beverage industry insights, and customer service. The equipment offered by ICEE is more customizable than ever before, allowing retailers to dispense multiple product types and flavors out of one machine.

Despite a challenging year due to the pandemic, many of ICEE’s core customers reported increases last year. The company’s R&D team launched flavors such as "Red, White and Boom," "Baby Narwhal," "Elf" and "Mermaid" to help create whimsical experiences for consumers. ICEE also launched a "100 Days of Summer" campaign to help c-stores capture the attention of consumers taking road trips due to their aversion to air travel during the pandemic.

A few retailer case studies illustrate the creative marketing and merchandising by ICEE that produced great results:

• ICEE and MAPCO executed a First Day of Summer value promotion in June 2020. All 16-ounce drinks were 20 cents all day on June 4. Four thousand ICEE beverages were sold on this single day across the chain.
• ICEE and Huck's held a Movie Night promotion (buy two ICEEs, get free popcorn) that provided value and helped consumers enjoy their movie nights at home during the pandemic. This provided a 3 percent lift in sales during the promotion.
• Hy-Vee and ICEE worked together on a 99-cent any size ICEE and ICEE slush, and a $1.99 Nitro coffee. This resulted in a 24 percent lift in 2020.
• Bolla Oil utilized ICEE's most modern and unique merchandising with video door translite technology, an outstanding display with digital and custom ICEE graphics.
• In the summer of 2020, High's of Baltimore had ICEE machines installed as part of a rebranding. The Maryland-based retailer upgraded to frozen carbonated beverages from its slush programs. Most locations have more than doubled their sales despite the pandemic.