Expanding Beverage Options

· "New-age" nutritional beverages that combine caffeine with juice and added nutrients or juice with added nutrients and yogurt;

· Chai teas combined with alcohol or served at quick-service restaurants in milk shakes;

· Tropical juices targeted to specific ethnic groups that also have vast appeal to other groups;

· Water fortified with nutrients and boosted with caffeine;

· A vast array of coffee beverages, both hot and cold, that really have more milk in them than coffee;

· Carbonated dairy beverages;

· Carbonated tea beverages;

· Juices with added nutrients that become wellness/new-age beverages.

It's more important than ever for foodservice operators to look at their customer bases to determine what beverages fit their menu and demographic and to work with suppliers to figure out what flavors, sizes and varieties make sense.

Coffee and tea

The coffee and tea category is enormous today. The advent of the upscale coffee house in the '80s, especially the now-giant Seattle-based Starbucks (which just opened its first unit in Paris, France, where the independent coffeehouse is legend) took coffee, and then tea, to a level never imagined. First there was strong, premium, "gourmet" coffee, then lattés and cappuccinos became popular, and then it was iced and frozen coffee, lattés and cappuccinos. (Without planning it, consumers are now drinking more milk because of these milk-based coffee drinks.) Ready-to-drink coffee beverages came next and, according to Beverage Marketing Corporation, New York, are one of the fastest growing sectors fitting into the "new age" beverage category, which grew 23.1% in just one year from 2001 to 2002.

Chai came next, a traditional Indian drink composed of black tea and aromatic spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and pepper). It is now served hot or cold in such places as Dunkin' Donuts, Atlanta Bread and Panera Bread in addition to coffeehouses everywhere, both independent and chain. One small, quick-service chain in Vancouver, WA, Burgerville, created the Oregon Chai milk shake. Chai is especially popular with the college and university crowd.

Tea companies have also begun to take tea in new directions with flavor, packaging and added nutrients. Tea flavors run the gamut from traditional black and green teas to every herb, fruit, edible flower and spice imaginable, not to mention so-called functional ingredients to boost the immune system and help with insomnia, stomach problems and menopausal symptoms. Revolution Tea, Tempe, AZ, offers, for example, Earl Grey Lavender Tea, White Tangerine Tea and Honeybush Caramel Tea made with the African herb rooibos and caramel flavoring. The company created the Single Serving Box that holds a nylon Infuser Tea Bag(TM) and just recently came out with two-pack samplers marketed especially to hotels for in-room dining.

Celestial Seasonings, Boulder, CO, started out in funky, natural-foods cafés several decades ago. Now it's the leader in variety, offering its most popular herbal teas, along with black and green teas, chai teas, and Maté (made with yerba maté, a South American "super-antioxidant" herb). Some of the company's newest flavors include True Blueberry Herb Tea and Perfectly Pear White Tea. One of its newest lines features wellness teas, including Metabo(TM) Partner, Mood Mender and Menopause Day and Night teas.

Bottled tea companies sprang up almost a decade ago with sweetened bottled tea beverages in a wide variety of flavors. Now some of those companies have come up with new, sweetened teas that are free from carbs and calories to appeal to the current low-carb diets. In May 2003, the Republic of Tea, Novato, CA, introduced large-sized bottled tea for the upscale restaurant market to be presented at the table like wine. Bottled tea may be a way for restaurants to boost profits by offering it as an alternative to brewed tea or for those desiring a nonalcoholic beverage alternative when others are drinking wine.

Sparkling choices

Carbonated beverage companies have had to find a way to combat the flight to other forms of refreshment. One response companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, and PepsiCo, Purchase, NY, have had is to introduce new lines of products. Coca-Cola introduced a dairy-based Choglit® drink (which has since been replaced by a similar drink, Swerve) and expanded its water line. PepsiCo took SoBe noncarbonated drinks into the carbonated arena with Mr. Green.

Cadbury Schweppes, London, added dnL, a fruit-flavored, green, caffeinated beverage similar to 7 Up and Red Fusion, a bright-red, cherry-flavored version of Dr Pepper.