Soft drinks, hard sell

Britons are consuming more soft drinks away from home than ever before, which means bigger and better business for caterers. Over the last year, the on-premise soft drinks trade has grown by 2% in volume and 4% in value, according to Sue Garfitt, director of category planning at Britvic Soft Drinks.

Energy drinks, packaged water, fruit juice and fruit drinks continue to show the strongest growth as consumers opt for healthy and functional drinks. In fact, fruit drinks now account for 81% of the ready-to-drink market, according to AC Nielsen. And in food service, sales of still soft drinks are growing at double the rate of carbonates, according to market analyst Canadean.

Within juices, the UK smoothie market is worth £30m (Mintel), and appeals especially to health-conscious, affluent 18- to 35-year-olds. The juice company(??) has become the largest supplier of smoothies to the UK catering industry in just three years. It says the smoothie market is growing at nearly 50% a year in both value and volume terms, and this year could be worth £50m.

Bottled water also continues to boom. Margaret Johnson, trade and national account manager at Abbey Well, says the growth in bottled water is still increasing at a substantial rate with more customers choosing still water over sparkling.

Juices, water and health drinks may be booming, but favourite carbonates are still strong in pubs and clubs. Cola remains the primary subcategory of soft drink, according to Britvic, with a 48% volume share and 41% value share of the brewers' market.

Those numbers mean that cola sales have increased in value by 8% but in volume by 6%, indicating that caterers are beginning to identify the most profitable soft-drink serves, including premium-packaged drinks and longer 16oz draught serves.

Smoothies: the facts

• The smoothie was first in the spotlight in the 1940s when film stars enjoyed a fruit-rush before going on set.
• The difference between a smoothie and a juice is that a smoothie is created by blending the whole fruit, whereas a juice is just that - the juice extracted from the fruit.
• True smoothies are free of dairy products, preservatives, colourings, additives and sugar.
• A glassful of smoothie contains two of the five daily recommended portions of fruit and veg.

Source: the Juice Company

Water, water everywhere

Total water imports into the UK grew 32% in 2001, with French imports accounting for more than 90% of available supplies. That figure is almost quadruple the recorded volumes that they represented as recently as 1997.

Italy crept into second place as Irish supplies contracted, influenced by the loss of the Britvic agency for Ballygowan in Great Britain. Britvic replaced Ballygowan with Abbey Well last year, but Ballygowan remains a firm favourite in Northern Ireland.

Source: Customs & Excise; Canadean