NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Fresh and specialized ingredients drive more than just foodservice.
The offering of beverage products on display during CSP’s FARE Conference Food Pavilion Expo this week in Nashville, Tenn., showed beverage makers—both packaged and cold-dispensed—are investing in better ingredients and a wider variety of flavors to reach more consumers and those who are looking for healthier alternatives.
Of course, taste is the ultimate bit of criteria.
Here’s a look at products on the show floor that could make a welcome addition to a convenience-store retailer’s cold vault or dispensed-beverage counter.
Watch for more insight from the FARE Conference on CSPnet.com, and follow CSP’s coverage on Twitter at #FAREconference.
Argo Tea’s new Teappucino brings the popularity of frappe drinks to the tea category. Currently available in 12-oz. bottles in three flavors—chai, earl grey vanilla crème and green tea strawberry crème—and coming soon in matcha vanilla latte, mate late and tea-na colada. Seasonal flavors are also in the works.
Reed’s Inc. featured both its well-known Ginger Brew, now available in seven varieties, and its newer line of Culture Club Kombucha drinks in nine flavors, including the newest: coffee. Creator Chris Reed also plays a mean lead guitar, which FARE Conference attendees learned firsthand during the opening-night reception.
Insight Beverages is courting health-conscious consumers with its fresh, dispensed lemonades, dubbed Yellow Bird Premium Lemonade and Yellow Bird Summinade, a sugar-free variety. The dispensed-beverage company also is working with Curtiss to offer more variety and premium ingredients in its specialty coffee brewers.
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