Glanbia Performance Nutrition continues c-store expansion with new Kum & Go partnership
The announcement came less than a month after Glanbia Performance Nutrition announced at the National Association of Convenience Store (NACS) Expo its plan to expand into the convenience store channel.
Starting last week, 344 stores of convenience retailer Kum & Go, primarily in Midwestern states like Iowa and Missouri, started stocking protein cake bites under Glanbia’s Optimum Nutrition brand, specifically the Chocolate Frosted Donut and Berry Cheesecake flavors.
Convenience retailer Speedway was Glanbia’s first partner in the category, being the first to carry Optimum Nutrition’s Cake Bites in 1,200 of its stores earlier this year.
“As the company continues to expand its brands into the convenience store channel, we are very proud to have Kum & Go as a high-profile retail partner," said Jean Terminiello, GPN's national director of immediate consumption sales.
The Des Moines, IA-based Kum & Go has a footprint in 11 states—Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minneosta, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Terminiello told NutraIngredients-USA in a previous interview that her company wants to meet demand of today’s c-store shopper who not only looks for convenience, but also wants nutritious, functional options.
“We’ve traditionally only had our products at GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, and gyms,” she told NutraIngredients-USA. The foray into convenience came from “the health and wellness trend, which is now mainstream…[yet] the consumer really wants both snacks and drinks in a grab-and-go, very convenient format.”
Glanbia Performance Nutrition expects to have a substantially larger convenience store and mass retailer footprint by the end of Q4, Terminiello said.
