Beacon urges bars to expand sophisticated soft drinks offerings
Purchasing firm Beacon has urged restaurant and bar businesses to boost profitability by expanding their soft drinks offerings.
According to data from Coca-Cola, soft drinks sales in the on-trade, accounting for 15% of wet sales, eclipse those of certain popular alcoholic preferences such as cider and wine.
With Scotland's reduced drink-drive limit expected to be replicated in England, Beacon is urging business owners to consider how to maximise revenue through their soft drinks offering to avoid taking a financial hit if alcohol sales do slump.
Coca-Cola, Fentimans and Beacon have pulled together advice for businesses to refresh their soft drinks offering:
Be bold with flavours
Mintel's Attitudes to Premium Soft Drinks report highlighted that one of the main things consumers wanted from soft drinks was high quality ingredients and a clear difference in taste. Experiment with flavours in the same way as you would with alcoholic drinks menus, matching flavours that complement each other well to develop fresh and exciting beverages.
Cater to the health-conscious
With the ever-growing popularity for health foods and the recent announcement of a sugar tax, businesses and consumers alike are becoming increasingly conscious of making healthier choices.
Communicating the healthy aspects of your soft drinks, such as low sugar or zero artificial colours, will help to tap into this market and drive sales.
Develop a mocktail menu
Spend time developing a non-alcoholic cocktail menu that is equally as exciting as the standard cocktail menu, in order to maximise profits on soft drinks.
Kelley Walker, category manager for drinks at Beacon, said: "When the new legislation was introduced in Scotland, some of our customers saw a drop in sales of up to 90%. Should a similar legislation come into force in England, we want to ensure that businesses are prepared for the changes and able to easily adapt in order to thrive."
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