Oval Coffee Roasters Takes On Conventional Grocery
Specialty coffee has overtaken traditional coffee as the more common American cup. The National Coffee Association's 2026 specialty coffee report, built on a January survey of 1,850 adults, puts past-day specialty consumption at 47% against 42% for traditional, with specialty defined by what drinkers themselves consider premium. The same report finds specialty drinkers are more likely to have that cup prepared away from home, at 36% against 23%.
As of August 24, all six of Oval Coffee Roasters' retail products are on shelves at 45 Lowes Foods locations across North Carolina and South Carolina, in communities that include Raleigh, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Myrtle Beach, Greenville and Charleston. Lowes Foods describes its own footprint as close to 80 stores. The Bronx roaster is in 45 of them, with its entire retail line.
That line is three coffees in two formats each. Bowling Green is a Women-Grown light roast, Riverside is a half caff built from a 50/50 blend of caffeinated coffee and sugarcane process decaf, and The Natural is a fruit-forward natural process roast. Each comes as whole bean and as an 8-pack of single-serve pour-over drip bags that brew with hot water and a mug, no machine or pod required. Oval markets those drip bags for offices, hotel rooms and travel, which is the same territory as that 36%.
How it got on the shelf
The launch ran through the Lowes Foods category management team and KeHE Distributors, which services the chain throughout the Carolinas and provided the distribution and supply-chain support. KeHE moves natural, organic, specialty and fresh products to more than 31,000 retailers across North America through 19 distribution centers, so Oval's placement went in through a distributor already inside the account.
By the announcements on its own press page, this is Oval's fourth retail expansion of 2026. Earth Fare and a 12-count Sprouts Farmers Market shipper program landed in February, and DeCicco & Sons Markets across Westchester and Putnam counties followed in May. Christopher Alspach, Oval's Director of Coffee and Co-Founder, said the rewarding part was seeing the roast profiles resonate with “category management teams in conventional grocery.”
What to watch
On Oval's own site, a 250g bag of whole bean lists at $18 and an 8-pack of single-serves at $22, which works out to $2.75 a cup. Whole bean will tell the Lowes Foods category team whether Carolina shoppers want to grind at home. The drip bags will tell it whether a $2.75 cup that needs only hot water holds a facing in a conventional coffee set. Anyone else building a convenience format for the same aisle should ask Oval about that second number in six months.
Shoppers can find participating stores through the store locator on Oval's site or the one on the Lowes Foods site.
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