7 Notable Beverage Trends and Products
By Steve Holtz on Jun. 24, 2016GRAPEVINE, Texas -- Our top beverage trend from the 2016 FARE Conference in Dallas is iced-tea cocktails. These mixed drinks—some with alcohol, some not—present a new alternative for providing flavored beverage syrups—mango, strawberry, chocolate, etc.—on the coffee bar to allow for experimentation by consumers. They showed up in the booths of a number of tea and syrup makers in the Food Pavilion of the conference and were evident in the first-ever Revolution Tea House, in which four different “ice shakers” were made fresh each day of the show.
That was far from the only beverage innovation offered by suppliers. Here’s a look at some others.
Kerry Convenience/Insight Beverages
Kerry Convenience and Insight Beverages displayed their Yellow Bird lemonades and granita products, and introduced many attendees to its Iced Latte product that gives the popular coffee drinks bag-in-box, self-serve convenience.
Blendtec
Blendtec featured its self-serve Real Smooth smoothie program. The initial release offers two flavors of on-demand smoothies: Berry Swirl and Mango Passion.
WhiteWave
WhiteWave launched its new single-serve iced coffees into retail in May. In the FARE Food Pavilion, the company sampled the Black, Mocha and Vanilla flavors, along with its single-serve Silk beverages.
Argo Tea
Argo Tea featured its new Teappuccino packaged drinks in addition to its full line of signature and unsweetened iced teas.
Lyons Magnus
In addition to showcasing its Tetley iced tea brand and a line of Lyons syrups for adding flavor, Fresno, Calif.-based Lyons Magnus introduced potential customers to its line of fountain juices under the familiar Ocean Spray brand. While popular in hotels, the product is beginning to move into the convenience-store channel.
f’real
The newest f’real milkshake flavor—Raffi’s Frosted Cupcakes—was created by a child participating in a Make-a-Wish program during a Flavor Creation Day at f'real's headquarters. It comes to stores in December.
B.W. Cooper’s
B.W. Cooper’s recent expansion into sparkling iced teas takes the next step by offering a fountain program. The tea brewer’s sweet, low-calorie peach, sparkling raspberry and sparkling tropical are now all available on the fountain.