Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. is getting into the bottled iced-coffee market and enlisting bottling giant Coca-Cola Co. to help.

Coca-Cola will be making, distributing and marketing the ready-to-drink beverages to be sold starting in the U.S. early next year, said Dunkin’, which is based in Canton, Mass., in a statement.

The iced coffees will be sold in grocery and convenience stores, as well as Dunkin’ Donuts shops.

“Our customers, especially younger customers, want to have a Dunkin’ ready-to-drink iced coffee,” said Nigel Travis, CEO. “It’s one of the fastest-growing segments of the packaged-goods industry.”

Dunkin’ is the latest company to recognize the potential of bottled beverages. Starbucks Corp. earlier this year enlisted Anheuser-Busch InBev NV to help with a bigger Teavana bottled-tea push. Those drinks also will be available in 2017.

Dunkin’ lately has faced a tough consumer environment in the U.S.; second-quarter same-store sales growth slowed to 0.5 per cent, compared with 2 per cent in the prior period.

Dunkin’ shares fell 0.7 per cent to $50.06 at 12:50 p.m. on Thursday in New York, while Atlanta-based Coca-Cola slipped 0.3 per cent to $42.04.

The products will likely be distributed to “tens of thousands” of stores, said Travis, who declined to give financial details of the arrangement with Coca-Cola.