6. Healthy Hydration & Fresh Flavours
Healthy & fresh beverage options, often combined with functional benefits from added vitamins, minerals & ingredients, can expand the appeal of your beverage menu to a broader audience.14
Thirsty for fruit-based and fruit-flavoured beverages that are new, approachable, even a little exotic, consumers look to fresh tastes from Asia and tropical islands.
Consumption patterns and habits often vary among age demographic groups although for beverages viewed as ‘good for you,’ Alphas, Boomers, and everyone in between share the love. Interest in these ‘Here’s to your health’ drinks is expected to continue and so is willingness to pay more for them.
Sure, beverages are chosen to refresh and slake thirst but for a growing body of consumers across all age groups, so-called ‘clean’ formulations and additional nutrient-dense enhancements have heightening appeal. The trend, which plays out in many industry segments, is especially strong on university campuses and in fast casuals, QSRs, and convenience stores where Gen Zs and Alphas are drawn to.
With eye-candy colours, flavour flashes of exoticism, and the underlying suggestion that fruit beverages deliver functional benefits, new drink flavours offer multisensory taste experiences that engage consumer interest.
In terms of business-building opportunity, juice-based beverages are almost in a class by themselves, positioned as strong-margin meal upsells, between-daypart treats, and essential building blocks for mixology.
Source: 14. Consumers Demand Functional Beverages (May 1, 2023)
From fermentation and botanicals, prebiotics and probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, calming ingredients, these enhanced liquid assets are looked to as important players in wellness lifestyles.
Along with the positive physical effects of functional beverages, 45% of consumers use energy drinks to help maintain focus.
They’re reading label claims and ingredient lists, too, with 75% of consumers being more deliberate in assessing products in order to make better choices. Product traits and values they look for include:
Clean label/natural ingredients
Nutritional information on labels
Health claims such as digestive health and mental acuity
Sugar—reduced or no added sugar
No additives or artificial ingredients
Organic
Familiar fruits and berries continue to be reliably strong sellers, with category growth coming via product introductions. Reflective of high interest in global ingredients, these new flavours offer the type of “delicious escapism” that grabs the attention of thrill-seeking consumers.
Menu scanning makes it easy to spot a nearly universal go-to- market strategy: Juice blends proliferate, a partnering of newer, less-familiar offerings with time-proven ingredients; this makes it easier for consumers to make purchasing decisions and also helps moderate higher food costs carried by the newer offerings. A recent lineup at one beverage chain included three lemonades: strawberry acai, pineapple-passion fruit, and mango-dragon fruit, each a balanced blend of classic favs and new sensations.
Plant-based choices are being made in the beverage category, too, with growth projected to continue for alt-milks. Expected to join the lineup: milks from quinoa, hemp, spelt, millet, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, and sunflower seeds.
Source: 75% of Consumers Will Pay More for Clean Label, Natural Claims Despite Inflation (February 21, 2023) | Maximize Brand Value By Formulating for 2023 Consumer Food Preferences (undated) | 2023 Food and Beverage Flavour Trend Report (undated) | Functional Beverages Market Size & Share Analysis, Growth Trends & Forecasts (undated). Top 3 Global Flavor Beverage Trends for 2023 (undated) trackmind.com | Datassential Snap, Juice Trends (data pulled 2023) | Ice Cream Trendspotting (January 25, 2022) | Food and Beverage Flavor Trend Report (undated).
