Lemonade and Iced Tea, Year-Round

With iced coffee and cold brew now a year-round favorite, it’s time for lemonade and iced tea to make their 12-month menu debut.

TREND 5: COLD BEVERAGES

Lemonade and Iced Tea, Year-Round

Like iced coffee before them, these once-seasonal refreshers are being enjoyed throughout the year.

REFRESHMENT KNOWS NO SEASON

Iced coffee is gaining in popularity, and not just in the summer months. Now it’s time for lemonade and iced tea to gain a year-round following.

In fact, Datassential reveals that lemonade is now on 66.0% of restaurant menus, the result of 10.8% growth since 2015, particularly in the area of premium applications like cocktails, frosts, and even menu items with a lemonade flavor profile.¹

Lemonade has experienced 21% away-from-home consumption growth over the past four years.¹

As for iced tea, the beverage enjoys 71.1% menu penetration,² with flavors like hibiscus, blackberry, and kiwi, as well as iced chai and kombucha, on the cusp of adoption by trendy restaurants and specialty grocers.³

Clearly, growing sales of these two refreshers depend upon making them more widely available on a year-round basis, as well as offering specialty versions that can’t be replicated at home—and can be menued as premiums.

Lemonade can be turned into a number of craveable signature beverages, such as slushes (lemonade or concentrate, water, and sugar, blended with ice—with or without a flavor such as watermelon or a spirit such as vodka) or frosted lemonade (lemonade and vanilla ice cream). Fizzy lemonade is made with the addition of club soda. And lemonade has long been mixed with iced tea in a 50-50 ratio to create the Arnold Palmer, but variations featuring flavors such as strawberry passionfruit are making news.

Among the most popular nonalcoholic beverages, iced tea is most commonly consumed during mealtimes, rather than as a snack or standalone. That indicates that it could be offered as a unique pairing with food as part of a combo meal. Fried chicken and sweet tea are a time-honored Southern tradition, but there are other possibilities. Partner an Asian-style spring roll with iced ginseng or oolong tea, or pair smoked meat or seafood with a smoky iced organic Lapsang Souchong.

More substantial teas, like bubble milk tea (flavored tea with tapioca boba, or bubbles) or Thai iced tea (black tea, condensed milk, and ice) can be menued as a snack, with or without a food accompaniment.

Iced tea is among the Top 5 beverages at lunch and dinner, enjoyed by 10% of consumers.⁴

How-To: Specialty Lemonade and Iced Tea

Offer these popular refreshers in on-trend flavors like Peach Ginger Tea and Wild Berry Lemonade
Experiment with tea types such as green tea, rooibos, and chamomile, in addition to calling out varieties like Earl Grey
Garnishes like fresh fruit, mint leaves, and even a sugared rim will help boost the appeal of both iced tea and lemonade
Try adding herbal flavors to the lemonade and iced tea mix, such as blueberry basil lemonade or lemon verbena iced tea
Fresh squeezed lemonade is a premium refinement with a hand-crafted image
Thai iced tea, iced chai, bubble tea, kombucha, and cold brew tea are all in the Inception Stage of Datassential’s Menu Adoption Cycle for iced tea, and worth keeping an eye on³
Lemonade and iced tea have become popular mixers in craft cocktails, from the Shandy (lemonade and beer) to Green Tea Mojitos

^{Sources: [1] Datassential SNAP! Lemonade (2019). [2] Datassential SNAP! Iced Tea (2019). [3] Datassential Menu Adoption Cycle, Iced Tea (November 2018). [4] Datassential BUZZ 2018.}