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Convenience Store News Names Winners of 2023 Best New Products Awards

Snack items dominate this year’s collection of 33 honorees.
8/31/2023
Best New Products 2023

CHICAGO Consumers are redefining convenience, making snacking on the go an all-day affair, and convenience store suppliers in turn are filling the innovation pipeline with new products that meet the evolving eating and drinking habits of today’s consumers.

The winners of this year’s Convenience Store News Best New Products Awards skew heavily towards snacks, both center-store and foodservice category items. Many of them can be consumed during any daypart or even used as a substitute for a full meal. The snack categories received the largest number of entries in this year’s competition.

Beverages and foodservice items also make a strong showing in this year’s crop of honorees. In the beverage categories, alcoholic and fruit-flavored seltzers and malt beverages seize the day while in foodservice, the emphasis among the winning entries is on taste and flavor.

Another notable trend this year is related to the economy. Many of the winning entries focus on value as consumers are cutting back on spending in today’s uncertain economic climate.

Overall, the 27th annual Best New Products Awards program places the spotlight on 33 innovative products introduced into the convenience channel in the past year. Products brought to the market between May 31, 2022 and June 1, 2023 were eligible for entry.

A panel of consumers judged the submitted products on value, convenience, appearance and packaging, along with attributes such as taste and ingredients for edible items. Judging was supervised and tallied by Past Times Marketing, a New York-based consumer research and product-testing firm. 

The winners are:

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: CHELADAS

Bud Light Chelada Tajin Chile Limon, Anheuser-Busch

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: FLAVORED MALT

Twisted Tea Pineapple, Boston Beer Co.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: HARD SODA

Cantaritos By Jarritos – Hard Soda Variety Pack, Anheuser-Busch

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: SELTZER

High Noon Tequila Variety Pack, E&J Gallo Winery

ALTERNATIVE SNACKS: BARS

Chex Mix Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars, General Mills

ALTERNATIVE SNACKS: FRUIT

Cranberry Sweeties, Oh Snap! Pickling LLC

CANDY

Twizzlers Gummies, The Hershey Co.

CBD

Buck'A Buzz, J And A Consumable Products

EDIBLE GROCERY

Cucumber Chili Lime Beer Salt, Twang Partners LLC

FOODSERVICE: BREAKFAST

Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg & Cheese Roll-Up, Tyson Foods

FOODSERVICE: LUNCH

Chester’s New Everything Fried Chicken Sandwich, Chester’s Chicken

FOODSERVICE: SNACK

Cheesy Pull Apart Flatbread, Rich Products Corp.

FOODSERVICE: PACKAGING

Anchorware Reusables, Anchor Packaging

FROZEN NOVELTIES

M&M’S Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich, Mars Wrigley

GENERAL MERCHANDISE

BIC Djeep Lighter, BIC USA Inc. 

HEALTH & BEAUTY CARE

Vitamin Energy Shot, Vitamin Energy

HEALTHY SNACKS

Rockit Apples, Rockit Global Limited

LIQUOR

Twisted Tea Whiskey, Beam Suntory

OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS: CIGARS

Game Leaf Dark Rum, Swedish Match

OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS: SMOKELESS

Mojo Balanced Energy Pouch, E-Alternative Solutions

PACKAGED BEVERAGES: ENHANCED WATER

Vitaminwater Zero Sugar With Love, The Coca-Cola Co.

PACKAGED BEVERAGES: CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS

Coca-Cola Move/Zero Sugar Move, The Coca-Cola Co.

PACKAGED BEVERAGES: ENERGY DRINKS

Gym Weed Adaptogen Energy, Gym Weed

PACKAGED BEVERAGES: RTD COFFEE DRINKS

Split Shift Swift Kick Blend Cold Brew Unsweetened, Harbor Foods

PACKAGED SWEET SNACKS: DONUTS

Lemon Cheese Cake Donuts, Bon Appetit

PACKAGED SWEET SNACKS: COOKIES

Dunkaroos Cinnamon Toast Crunch, General Mills

PACKAGED SWEET SNACKS: OVERALL

Kazbars, Hostess Brands

SALTY SNACKS: READY-TO-EAT POPCORN

Pop Crunch, Big Dipper Food Co.

SALTY SNACKS: PORK RINDS

Old-Timey Butterscotch Flavor Pork Rinds, Pork King Good

SALTY SNACKS: TORTILLA CHIPS

Chipoys Spicy Ranch, Chipoys

SALTY SNACKS: OVERALL

Old El Paso Fiesta Twists Queso, General Mills

WINE

Sunshine Bliss Wine, Circle K Stores Inc.

OVERALL INNOVATION

Reese’s Dipped Animal Crackers, The Hershey Co. 

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