Make Room For Non-Alcoholic Beverages
Culinary, Industry Trends, Serving Solutions
2023.04.27
Non-alcoholic beverages continue to play an incrementally profitable role for restaurants. In fact, 45% of operators have seen an increase in sales of non-alcoholic beverages overall in the past year and 74% of operators agree that the non-alcoholic beverages they offer help increase check averages.1 Catering to this growing demographic of consumers is essential to your business. By innovating with flavors and formats and refreshing your NA beverage menu often, you can entice repeat visits and generate additional profits.
Leverage these key NA beverage trends and discover how Server Essentials® equipment can help streamline front and back-of-house operations:
Satisfy Coffee Cravings
One of the most popular categories today and perhaps the easiest to innovate is coffee. Servings of cold brew coffee ordered at QSRs climbed 27%, amounting to 373 million servings, according to QSR! 2 While iced coffee leads the way, consumers are also extremely interested in frozen/slushy varieties and hot coffee innovations. Elevate your offerings with alternative dairy options, indulgent toppings, and fruity embellishments.
Score with Seasonal and Signature
Make sure to add a few signature non-alcoholic drinks guests cannot find elsewhere, and integrate seasonal flavors to boost trial. 56% of Gen Z and 50% of millennials look forward to getting a signature NA beverage from a particular restaurant and 46% of consumers are interested in trying a seasonal beverage at a foodservice location.3 Satisfy consumers’ thirst for both by adding local, seasonal flavors and muddling unique ingredients into your NA drinks.
Fun and Functional
As interest in non-alcoholic beverage flavors inspired by cocktails and beverages with functional health benefits increase, beverage innovation, and renovation should focus on hydrating consumers, sugar and calorie reduction, and infusing natural flavors to appeal to consumers.3 Call-out functional ingredients and claims on your menu to increase awareness of benefits and encourage orders.
Drive Efficiency
Need help reducing labor and waste? Looking for solutions to increase speed and consistency BOH while adding simplicity to your operation? Server Essentials® equipment can help you succeed. Our Stations keep syrups, toppings, and ingredients organized and seamlessly integrated into one convenient location within your service line. Stations save labor by holding prepped ingredients until they’re ready to use, increasing speed of service, and providing consistency in recipes. Pumps and Dispensers bring versatility to your menu and allow you to control costs with precise portions of today’s hottest flavors and classic favorites. Add crunchy textures, candy toppings, and indulgent add-ons with Dry Food Dispensers.
For additional culinary inspiration read Serving Solutions to Enhance Beverage Offerings and Making Summer LTOs Easier.
1, 3 Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Keynote Report, Datassential, December 2022
2 “Cold Coffee Gets Hot for Restaurant Sales,” QSR, Aug. 1, 2022
3 Trending Flavors and Ingredients, Non-alcoholic Beverages, T. Hasegawa, May 2022