Demands for premium tastes as well as for competitively priced products helped contribute to growth in the coffee category. The category experienced a 9.1 percent increase in sales for more than $4 billion, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, for the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart.
Consumers continue to turn to coffee as one of their many sources of caffeine. Steady growth could be found in coffee segments such as ground coffee, which posted an increase of 1.2 percent with more than $2.4 billion in sales in food...
