The new fridepack 12oz pet hits the market Monday July 7. Consolidated told their employees that this new package is the biggest thing since we launched the fridgepack 12pk can. It is replacing the 3ltrs on our shelves. Some stores will keep 3ltrs for now but they will be gone company wide by the end of the year. Since CCE is in the process of launching fridgepack 12pk cans, I wonder if they will have the 12oz pet fridgepack.

Originally posted by sundrop:
The new fridepack 12oz pet hits the market Monday July 7. Consolidated told their employees that this new package is the biggest thing since we launched the fridgepack 12pk can. It is replacing the 3ltrs on our shelves. Some stores will keep 3ltrs for now but they will be gone company wide by the end of the year. Since CCE is in the process of launching fridgepack 12pk cans, I wonder if they will have the 12oz pet fridgepack.

Not right away. CCE generally sees what Consolidated does with a product before they launch it themselves. Remember, Fridge Packs were tested in Consolidated first, and CCE waited about a year to launch them in Atlanta and Chicago. From there, they took them company wide (a process still going on)

Although, I can see the Dasani FP hitting shelves immediately though. I can almost see, though, this process working out well for small indie bottlers like Middlesboro and Ozarks Coke.

Ozarks Coke could *in theory* drop cans entirely and do everything in house. A 12 pack PET is a LOT more viable and profitable than cans are. Coke-Ozarks would have to spend at the most the cost of the boxing equipment (since they do not run a can line), and they could bottle everything they sell in FP and do it ALL in house.

Some of the smaller coke bottlers who currently buy from CCE I could see doing this as long as they have the room to run them.

In general, bottles have a better taste, and are more profitable for the bottler to run.

The biggest question I have about the 12oz PET packaging is if it will be priced on par with the cans they currently sell. I'm assuming it will be relatively similar simply because they're not that much more costly to run (if none at all)

For Consolidated, this move is a no-lose proposition. 3 liter bottles aren't overly practical, and 12 oz PET is. (Also, Consolidated has already mastered the packaging since they invented it 2 years ago!)

I believe pricing will be similar to 12pk cans. I have seen shelf tags for them at Food Lion for $3.99.

I wonder if this marks the end of the aluminum can as we know it...making it a novelty like glass..

Originally posted by teamtitan512:
I wonder if this marks the end of the aluminum can as we know it...making it a novelty like glass..

I'd say yes. Which would be ironic, considering Alcoa was the one who pitched Fridge Packs as a way to sell more cans!

As I said though in my earlier post, bottlers like OZ could start looking at the new FP as a way to remain independent and keep the capacity going.

The jury is still out on how well PET FP is going to do, but I think it *will* catch on.

I also suspect that we'll see bottlers try 12 oz FP as a way to multipack lesser selling brands as well (OZ for example sells stuff like Squirt and Cactus Cooler but can't easily source the cans, so they just sell them in 20 oz)

The other plus to this is that it may stop the defection of brands to the third tier. In the case of OZ, they had to dump A&W and Welch's due to the fact they couldn't get cans any longer.

Take the indies who still have 7up. There was the one in MD who couldn't get cans, and if they had the FP of PET, they'd still be selling it. (I lend a lot of faith to the indie bottlers being the ones who will do this and do it well)

Last time I looked at production cost, a PET bottle runs far, far less than any other form to package and sell.

There's also some talk that the Airline industry is anxious to get this packaging on their flights because the bottles can't be used as a weapon, and are easier to dispose of.

My only concern in this is the date code issues. It's tough sometimes to keep some flavors in code, because of large permanent displays, poor rotation, etc.

I know that 16.9 bottles only have a two month date code, while 20,24,33.8, 67.6 have a 3 month date on them. What type of dates are we looking at for these 12oz?

I think they could revolutionize the whole industry. People love to be able to reseal packages, and you can't do that with cans.

The 12oz pet are dated 70 days(2 monthes just like the 16.9oz). The first Shipment we received were dated Sept 1.

Digging up an old thread..

I just wanted to say that this package has got to be the biggest thing since the 12 pack was introduced. It sells great, even at $4.99. People love it.

Apparently CCE only has two facilities producing it right now. Silver Spring MD (SS) renovated part of their facility to install the necesssary equipment.

For CCBCC, I've seen the from Charlotte NC (SY) and Mobile AL (MB). We sourced some from them for the launch, since SS couldn't produce enough.

We also received some from NW. But I thought Nashville was NS....

Anyone know of the other CCE facility that's making these?

fusion, i saw dasani water ones up here in michigan, but there was no code on the package. could they be repacks? i've heard of bigger repackaging jobs. for instance, labatt switched to fridgepacks for three months this summer (until august 20th). they are all being handglued and stuffed in trays! thefunny thing is, is that the canadians can't seem to put the cans in the right way. so if you laid it down like they should roll out of the box, they might be standing up. or some might be rolling out, and others would be standing up. makes for great displays! but anyweay, back on topic. when i go to my meijer's today, i'll investigate these 12pks of pet

Fusion, has CCE mentioned any flavor expansion for the PET FP? CCBCC has not done anything yet. Since the PET FP does so well, I would not be surprised if C2 was put into this package as maybe a 8pk.