Gerolsteiner Enters the Cola Beverage Business

Gerolsteiner wants to expand its brand and extend its product range beyond its core mineral water business. To this end, Mineralbrunnen is launching three cola drinks on the market for the first time.

Crate of Gerolsteiner Cola Zero. — Mineralbrunnen enters the cola beverage business.

The mineral water company from the Vulkaneifel region is further expanding its portfolio within the non-alcoholic drinks market, which has a turnover of around 10 billion euros. “We want to play to the strength of the brand this year”, says Gerolsteiner CEO Roel Annega. According to the company, Gerolsteiner has so far been represented in the dozen or so sub-categories of non-alcoholic beverages with mineral water, lemonade, iced tea, spritzer, and flavored water. A sixth category has now been added with cola.

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Right now, Gerolsteiner is the only water brand with a double-digit consumer reach of 12.3 percent, says Head of Marketing Marcus Macioszek. With an awareness level of 89 percent, Gerolsteiner is also well ahead of other mineral water brands, writes the Lebensmittelzeitung. Gerolsteiner also appears on every eighth receipt with branded water, while this figure is twelve and 26 for the next two competitors respectively. Due to these general conditions, the time was now ripe for a cola under the Gerolsteiner umbrella. In the past, almost every consumer expected an apple spritzer or lemonade under the Gerolsteiner umbrella brand, but not necessarily a cola. That has changed, says Macioszek.

Starting February, Gerolsteiner says it will be launching three cola drinks in the 0.33-liter long-neck glass returnable bottle in a 24-bottle crate: a classic cola and Zero Sugar and Cola Mix variants.

Trend Container Longneck

Like the other products in the longneck trend pack, the cola longnecks are primarily intended for the food service industry, but Macioszek believes that they should also be of interest to food retailers and drinks markets. However, listing discussions are still in the early stages. After mineral water, cola drinks are the largest category among non-alcoholic beverages.

The fountain, which belongs to the Bitburger Group, will not publish concrete figures for the 2023 financial year until the beginning of March. However, Annega expects sales to be slightly negative and turnover to remain almost unchanged. In 2022, Gerolsteiner increased its turnover by 11 percent to 317.5 million euros and sales by 9.4 percent to 8.2 million hectoliters. If the forecasts are confirmed, this should be seen as a success. According to market research data, the entire market lost almost 4 percent in volume by October. Mineral water lost almost 7 percent, as did cola, soft drinks, and iced teas. Only energy drinks and sports drinks were able to make strong gains. Gerolsteiner is not active in either category.

New Labels for Gerolsteiner

In the core mineral water business, the labels of the entire range have also been revised after five years and, starting April, the highly mineralized Gerolsteiner “Ursprung” water will also be available in the 1-litre returnable glass bottle in a 6-bottle crate.

“Market research has shown that the previous label design is still very popular with consumers, but we believe it is essential to continuously develop the brand design and keep it up to date,” emphasizes Macioszek. This year, the new design is gradually finding its way into the markets. It will start with the volume containers, followed by the other household containers and, in the second half of the year, the catering equipment. The redesign in collaboration with the Justblue Design agency from Hamburg was accompanied by several market surveys. According to the company, the final label design chosen is more modern in the opinion of those surveyed, shows a clear brand profile, ensures independence at the POS, presents water in an attractive way, and is perceived as invigorating, refreshing and natural, according to the company.