Dive Brief:
- Nestle Waters North America and Polar Beverage Co., 20-year partners, have signed a distribution agreement, entitled Polar Strategic Ventures. The agreement entails Polar Beverage manufacturing and co-packing NWNA's Nestea and Poland Spring brands of iced tea and water in cans and then distributing the products along the East Coast. The arrangement begins July 15.
- "While Polar has helped co-pack some NWNA products in the past, this gives the company the opportunity to utilize extensive can manufacturing capacity owned by Polar; that wholesaler has been working to grow in recent years, expanding the presence of its own brands in New York and also buying a manufacturing facility in Georgia," BevNet.com reported.
- "This agreement allows us to combine our strong premium brands with one of the premiere can manufacturers and distributors in the United States. It will advance our goal of having our products available for immediate consumption in all formats, at anytime and anywhere," NWNA CEO and chairman Tim Brown said.
Dive Insight:
Nestea and Poland Spring join NWNA's other canned brands, including San Pellegrino, some varieties of which come in cans, and NWNA-owned Perrier, which recently launched a series of canned multi-packs for retail.
Other companies have embraced the canning packaging strategy industry, particularly in the sparkling beverage category. This includes Sparkling Ice, the sparkling beverage market leader, which debuted 8-ounce "slimcans" for several of its varieties.
Beverage companies are also looking to various methods of packaging beyond traditional plastic bottles and cans, and are instead focusing on recyclable bottles to reduce the impact the packaging has on the environment. NWNA's Resource brand recently released a 100% recyclable rPET bottle, and Coca-Cola Co. revealed a bottle made with 100% plant-based materials earlier this year.