People’s palates change like the seasons. Consumers are constantly looking to try out the latest trends – especially when it comes to frozen drinks – so it is essential to keep your company’s menu up to date so your customers remain satisfied. To help, we summed up five trends currently growing in the beverage industry that your restaurant should consider featuring in their Spaceman frozen beverage machines to maximize profits and attract more customers.
Passion Fruit
According to Monin, a beverage and flavoring company, the flavor of the year for 2022 is passion fruit. There are reasons to believe why this sweet and exotic fruit was projected to be on 15% of menus across the United States this year. Not only is the passion fruit market size expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.67% in the forecast period 2021-2028, but a study done by Monin concluded that around 67% of consumers were interested in trying a beverage that featured a passion fruit flavor. The rapidly expanding nature of passion fruit in the beverage industry could be largely due to White Claw introducing their new passion fruit flavored hard seltzer in February 2022. Passion fruit provides people with a refreshing and tropical flavor, which is why we will be sure to see more of it across menus in the coming months. To incorporate passion fruit into your frozen beverage machine, we recommend adding drinks such as a Frozen Passion Fruit Rum Punch, a Mango Passion Fruit Wine Slushie, or a Frozen Passion Fruit Daiquiri to your menu.
Margaritas
It goes without saying that margaritas are one of the most popular summertime cocktails.
According to a study done by Nielsen, margaritas are the go-to drink for 60% of Americans. While the drink may not be necessarily trending right now, they’re sort of on-trend constantly. Lime margaritas, which are considered the traditional flavor, tend to be the most popular margarita flavor. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t spice up a traditional margarita with some new tastes. Creating elevated versions of your typical margarita may be just what your restaurant needs to amplify its menu. Per an article on kerryfoodservice.com, spicy margaritas are becoming increasingly popular, with ingredients such as jalapeño or habanero drawing the attention of consumers. Herbal flavors and garnishes are also becoming a common choice to include in beverages. Herbs like mint, thyme, basil, and rosemary are great options for garnishes that can be incorporated into your frozen beverages to enhance the flavor, as well as the appearance.
Non-Alcoholic Cocktails
It doesn’t come as a surprise that non-alcoholic cocktails are on the rise across the country, with more and more people prioritizing their health. Some consumers love the taste of alcohol, but don’t enjoy the calories and sugar that come with it. The non-alcoholic beverage industry has skyrocketed over the past two years, and consumers are willing to pay the price. According to NeilsenIQ, sales of non-alcoholic beverages rose 33.2% during 2021, totaling $331 million in sales. Non-alcoholic beer and cider sales grew by 31.7%, while non-alcoholic spirits grew by 113.4%. CleanCo is an example of one company that produces non-alcoholic spirits that have zero sugar and 10 calories per serving, but still taste like the real-deal. Incorporating non-alcoholic frozen beverages into your restaurant’s menu may help target a new sector of health-conscious consumers, who yearn for the taste of alcohol, without the negative side-effects.
Aperol Spritz
As mentioned earlier, there is a shift currently happening within drinking culture; people are starting to care more about their health. However, consumers still want to go out for a drink with their friends without having to feel guilty about it. The perfect beverage to solve that issue is the Aperol Spritz. The average Aperol Spritz only has about 125 calories in it, and has an alcohol content of about 11%, which is low compared to the 40% alcohol content of standard spirits. An Aperol Spritz is the perfect beverage for social drinking without experiencing over-the-top intoxication. Not only has the term “Aperol Spritz” been on the rise on trends.google.com over the past six months, but it is also becoming popular amongst millennials on apps such as TikTok, where the term “Aperol Spritz” has over 77.9 million total views. To spice up your typical Aperol Spritz, we recommend adding an Aperol Spritz Slushie to your menu. This would serve as a tasty, refreshing drink for the summertime, and would also mimic the beloved Frosé.
Lemonade
Last on our list of 2022 beverage trends comes lemonade. Many people believe that spiked lemonade is making a comeback, and there’s plenty of ways to incorporate lemonade into your company’s frozen beverage machines. Not only did White Claw just come out with a line called “REFRSHR” that consists of four different lemonade flavored spiked seltzers, but Coca Cola just released their Simply Spiked Lemonades earlier this month. While some customers are now searching for a lighter, healthier choice of alcoholic beverages, there will always be those who prefer something a little sweeter and tastier. We believe that frozen lemonade is not only on trend and delicious, but restaurants can take advantage of the versatility of lemonade by creating different flavors that everyone enjoys.
By keeping up with the trends in the beverage industry, you are giving yourself the opportunity to stay ahead of the competition. Incorporating any of the above trends into your frozen drink machines this summer will lead to satisfied customers, more profitability for your restaurant, and more growth overall for your company. And with that, cheers!
