Couche-tard ‘excited,’ but cautious with controversial Juul pods

Alimentation Couche-tard is keeping an eye on its policies around “lower risk” smoking products after controversial flavoured e-cigarette maker Juul Labs yanked mango, fruit and cucumber flavoured pods from U.S. shelves in a bid to reduce their appeal to minors.

Brian Hannasch, the convenience store chain’s chief executive, said Couche-tard is “excited” by the growth of the market for such tobacco alternatives, but is also watching them closely because products like Juul are “probably too successful” because too many minors have been able to obtain them.

“Couche-tard is focused on making sure we’re not part of the problem, so we’ve gone back and revisited our processes and practices around making sure that we don’t sell to underaged consumers, whether that be alcohol, tobacco or anything else,” Hannasch told a conference call Wednesday to discuss the company’s latest financial results.

“Our next step is collaborating with our partners to understand how we can bring reduced (risk) products into the stores, continuing to offer innovation but make sure those devices only end up in the hands of of-age consumers.”

In making its decision earlier this month, Juul said the Canadian and U.S. markets are different.

Hannasch said he applauds the decision to remove the flavours from the U.S., though they are still available in Canada. He added that he’s feeling “optimistic” about the future of alternative tobacco products because they have triggered a “short-term bump” for the market.