Bi-Lo Gains Steam With Liquid Highway

Liquid Highway, a popular handcrafted and micro-brewed coffee company in South Carolina’s Upstate region, will open coffee houses in participating Bi-Lo stores, the Mauldin, S.C.-based grocer said this week. These coffee houses will replace JJ Poloi’s Coffee Shop, Bi-Lo’s in-store signature coffee partner since 2006. The Liquid Highway locations will operate and function in each store as fully independent shops and feature specially trained baristas.

Bi-Lo’s first Liquid Highway location is at the grocer’s store on Woodruff Road in Simpsonville, S.C. Future locations will follow in the next few months, among them Super Bi-Lo stores on Pelham Road and Verdae Boulevard in Greenville, S.C.; Bi-Lo stores on Highway 14 and Fairview Road in Simpsonville; and the Clemson Bi-Lo off Old Greenville Highway.

According to Allen Reavis, Bi-Lo’s director of deli bakery marketing, the partnership additionally affords “a great opportunity for us to extend our mission of giving back to the local community.”

Both companies give extensively to help others, Bi-Lo through its Bi-Lo Charities arm and Liquid Highway by supporting medical clinics, orphanages and schools in over 27 countries, as well as by the donation of every cent after taxes to various philanthropic organizations around the world.

Roasted locally in Greenville, Liquid Highway offers such intriguing blends as Liquid Millennium, a darker roast with molasses and herbs; Mexican French Roast, which offers a sparkling acidity combined with milk chocolate and raspberry; rich, sweet Decaf Medium Roast; and the “classic” Nicaraguan blend.

Bi-Lo operates 207 supermarkets in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, and employs about 15,100 people.