Summer Beverage Trends 2013

If you've started feeling the heat of summer, chances are you've already loaded your fridge or merchandiser with a variety of cooled beverages to please your customers' needs and wants. And if you have your own juice or green restaurant, you probably have a variety of healthy juices, organic teas and refreshing drinks available. As with foods and cuisine, the 'drinkscape' has also been changing from year to year and there is always a variety of new and emerging trends in the field. This summer, apart from all-time favorites such as beer and soft drinks, there is a number of other beverages that are gaining popularity and should be considered if you want to stay on top of things and satisfy customers.

Healthy and Local Alcoholic Drinks

elana's pantry / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Earlier this year, the NRA surveyed chefs and bartenders and devised a list of top trends in foods and beverages. Top trends in beverages (alcoholic) included onsite barrel-aged drinks, culinary cocktails (with fresh ingredients), artisan liquors, locally produced spirits and locally produced beer, etc. Another emerging trend, according to the organizers of the forthcoming Healthy Beverage Expo in Vegas (June 7-9), is the creation of 'healthy' alcohol-based beverages that have ingredients such as goji berries and ginseng (berries also being a top 'ingredient' trend for alcoholic beverages in NRA's list).

Cold Pressed Juice and Homemade Lemonade

Cold pressed juice and smoothies are another popular and fast emerging trend. Though they have by far not created a revolution, they are certainly becoming popular, with more and more juice bars and brands opening doors. Juices are sometimes combined with alcohol, as in some cocktails, but are steadily becoming an everyday option available to more and more people as part of their daily intake. Another all-time favorite and ongoing trend is homemade lemonade or, for example, ginger ale. These are ideal refreshments for hot summer days and are by far more healthy and preferable to, say, soda which only temporarily quenches our thirst while at the same time filling us with huge amounts of sugar. And lemonade need not be made only of lemons, after all. Consider making raspberry, watermelon or pomegrante lemonade to intrigue your guests.

Beverages that Boost Health and Energy

Another key trend identified by Healthy Beverage Expo is the emergence of beverages which aim to provide energy and improve health while at the same time consisting of natural ingredients. Such brands thus try to walk the fine line between what pleases the taste buds and what nurtures our bodies. Furthermore, this trend is also targeted to under-18-year-olds whose parents would like to provide them with 'functional' beverages without boring them with simple juice.

Water

I kid you not, water was recently announced to be the most popular beverage in the U.S., having surpassed soda. Good old water, more than 60% of what we're made of! Americans have begun drinking about 58 gallons of water per year and this tendency seems to be increasing. So stocking up with a variety of mineral waters this summer may not be such a bad decision, though it seems almost counter-intuitive, given the long reign that soda has enjoyed.

With all that said, it may be time to have a look at the mechandiser in your restaurant or store, and consider whether some of the items there have not outlived their time and purpose. Things are moving along and people are increasingly making more conscious and careful choices about what refreshments they would like to drink.