The New SKU

Ghost is rolling out GHOST® Energy x A&W® Root Beer at select retailers nationwide, marking the brand's second licensed energy drink flavor developed with Keurig Dr Pepper in 2026. The SKU follows GHOST® Energy x 7UP®, which launched earlier this year, and lands in the cooler doors at Casey's, Circle K, CVS, Publix, Kroger, Target, and Walmart, among other accounts.

The flavor is built around the root beer float archetype — sweet, creamy, and immediately recognizable — positioned to pull nostalgia-driven shoppers into the energy drink set. Ghost describes the finish as smooth and indulgent, a deliberate contrast to the citrus-forward and sour profiles that dominate the energy aisle.

The Partnership Logic

Ghost's licensing playbook leans heavily on brand equity that c-store shoppers already trust. Previous collaborations have pulled from Oreo, Sour Patch Kids, Cinnabon, and Sonic Drive-In — names that register instantly at the cooler door and reduce trial friction. Folding A&W into that roster gives the brand one of the most durable QSR and fountain-drink identities in American food culture.

"A&W has such a strong legacy — it's instantly recognizable and gives us the chance to do something completely unexpected in energy," said Dan Lourenco, Founder and CEO of Ghost. The brand's strategy is to keep the Keurig Dr Pepper pipeline active: two licensed drops in a single calendar year signals a cadence, not a one-off.

Justin Whitmore, President of Energy, Juice, Sauce, and Drink Mix Brands at Keurig Dr Pepper, framed the deal as an occasion-extension play for the A&W trademark. Keurig Dr Pepper's portfolio spans legacy carbonated soft drinks that have historically been underrepresented in the functional and energy segments, and the Ghost partnership gives those marks a foothold in one of convenience retail's fastest-turning cooler categories.

C-Store Context

Licensed-flavor energy drinks have become a reliable traffic driver in the forecourt-to-cooler journey. As dispensed beverage programs face margin pressure and single-serve energy competes for the same impulse dollar, brands that arrive with built-in name recognition can command premium facings without heavy in-store promotional spend. For operators at chains like Casey's — which has invested aggressively in its proprietary foodservice program — stocking recognized licensed energy SKUs complements the broader inside-sales strategy without requiring back-of-house investment.

The energy drink category remains one of the highest-velocity cold-vault segments in convenience, with major industry data consistently ranking it among the top inside-sales contributors on a per-door basis. Ghost's expanding retail footprint, now reaching over 40 countries across channels, gives it the supply-chain depth to execute national c-store resets without constraining independent or single-store operators who stock through regional distributors like ABSCO.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.