Keep your customers hydrated with the coolest beverage trends.
There’s no better time for refreshment than summer when temperatures are high and cooling off is essential. It’s also a great time for businesses to innovate and promote their various beverage offerings as consumers are looking for innovative ways to quench their thirst. By offering the trending products detailed below, your business can turn cool drinks into cold hard cash.
Tea Time
Many consumers are shifting away from carbonated beverages and redirecting their taste preferences to drinks that contain less sugar such as iced tea. Iced tea is projected to reach $21.33 billion in sales in 2024 up from $14.45 billion in 2016. Consumers are particularly attracted to teas that provide a physical benefit such as antioxidants, anti-inflammatory qualities or the ability to energize the body. Whether you’re brewing your own iced tea in your business or selling it packaged through brands such as Pure Leaf® iced tea, Brisk®, which offer countless flavor choices, consumers crave this beverage and all the options it provides.
Water with a Purpose
When dining out, consumers are willing to pay a premium for bottled water over tap. However, not all waters are created equal, and many brands are carving out a unique niche. PepsiCo’s LIFEWTR® is a purified water that is pH balanced with electrolytes for taste. With its pure taste and packaging featuring original designs from up-and-coming artists, it’s an attractive product for artfully-minded millennials seeking premium water. It’s also important to look at the rise of sparkling water. Many Americans still enjoy effervescence in their drinks but without the extra sugar and calories. Sparkling water sales have increased rapidly, growing 11 percent between 2013 and 2018. Consider adding options such as bubly™ to your store or restaurant to give people a calorie-free, flavorful alternative.
Bottle Up Your Coffee
Ready to Drink (RTD) coffee is the fastest growing segment of the retail coffee market. And cold or iced coffee is now the second most consumed coffee or tea variety, trailing only hot coffee.1 This is becoming more evident in foodservice with 37 percent of consumers ordering cold or iced coffee at restaurants more often than they were two years ago.1 Some of the most popular cold or iced RTD items from the industry leader, Starbucks®, include:
Frappuccino Bottled Coffee Drink: These drinks are creamy and delicious with the finest, perfectly roasted Arabica beans for a rich coffee flavor like no other
Cold Brew: This category has grown by 460 percent from 2015 to 2017. Especially with millennial men, this strong beverage is one of Starbucks most popular ready-to-drink beverages and offers an “unsweetened coffee with a smooth taste and subtle chocolate notes.”
Doubleshot & Tripleshot: For those who want their shot of caffeine with bold, rich flavor, these are the ideal mid-day boost.
Plant Power
Craft Sodas
There’s a new movement toward beverages featuring natural ingredients. In fact, 61 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase beverages that are naturally sweetened.1 Sodas with Fair Trade Certified sugar and authentic flavors—such as Stubborn Soda—are a tasty way to indulge without imbibing a laundry list of artificial ingredients. Stubborn Soda®, for example, contains no artificial sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup, and has natural flavors in tempting, unique flavors like Agave Vanilla Cream Soda, Classic Root Beer, Lemon Berry Açaì, Black Cherry with Tarragon, and Orange Hibiscus.
Health, hydration, and carefully brewed flavors are the priorities for U.S. consumers right now. By carrying teas, premium bottled water, cold brew, craft sodas, and vegetable-based juices, your business can position itself as innovative and on trend.
