New consumer research is showing that iced coffee, especially frozen-blended beverages are a growing trend in U.S. convenience stores, restaurants and events. Consumer research firm, Mintel reports that cold-served coffee went from a 19-percent share of all coffee on the menus of U.S. restaurants and coffeehouses to a 22-percent share between 2009 and 2012. The research revealed that younger consumers prefer the cold and frozen versions of the caffeinated beverage to hot coffee regardless of the season.
Manufacturers of of high-end blending equipment and beverage dispensing systems, Lancer® and Blendtec, in response to inquiries from customers, have developed an automated, blending, ice beverage station to fill the demand for faster ways to serve iced coffee. The result of the joint effort is an automatic ice beverage blending station for making smoothies, frozen coffee drinks and other beverages using refrigerated bag-in-box (BIB) ingredients. The blending station offers restaurants an automated, faster and more efficient way to make smoothies and frozen beverages.
Hospitality businesses, event caterers and c-stores have found creative ways to serve chilled coffee that you could implement in your beverage station at relatively low cost. The simplest way to serve iced coffee to test the demand at your beverage station is to offer ice over which customers can pour warm coffee to make an iced beverage. A stronger, enhanced iced beverage can be achieved by offering previously frozen coffee cubes.
Are you offering iced coffee at your beverage station? How are you marketing frozen and cold coffee to your customers? Share your ideas and innovations in a comment below.
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