It just might be the case that Gen Z and Millennials are
not as different as their parents. Take
of instance the new trend in adult beverage flavors. Much like their parents
both Gen Z and Millennials are looking back to their childhood favorite flavors
and rekindling them in alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages.
Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based
Foodservice Solutions® stated, “My job is simply fun. Reading, learning, and
sharing information on consumers food twist and turns runs the gamut from unbelievable
to the most logical twist and or evolution within a retail channel or branded
product line.”
Today our team is sharing some new research and analysis
from Datassential; who found that Sunny
D, Lucky Charms and chocolate Easter bunnies are all providing inspiration for
adult beverages in the 2023 spring and summer seasons. Oh yeah this is some of
the fun.
Now
according to Datassential's recent
webinar, "2023 Adult Beverage Trends." Beverage retailers are looking
to tap into millennial and older Gen Z nostalgia, beverage companies are
seeking to provide a familiar experience reminiscent of childhood but suitable
for adult tastes. Here is a report of the webinar:
“Hosts
Colleen McClellan, vice president of
customer experience; Kyle Chamberlin, associate director of customer
experience; and Kelly Dykhuizen, senior
director of customer experience, covered a wide range of alcoholic beverages
and cocktails with a focus on recapturing the feel of childhood experiences
with something appropriate for a grown-up palate.
Simultaneously,
an uptick on nonalcoholic offerings shows how the changing patterns in drinking
behavior, especially among the youngest legal cohort, is causing traditional
brewers and winemakers to expand their offerings to nondrinkers.
Both
trends can be seen in home sales and restaurant offerings. For instance, the
Chocolate Club in London introduced a booze-filled chocolate bunny for Easter
while The City Tap in Boston created a Lucky Charms martini, a pistachio-based
drink garnished with the breakfast cereal staple. For the at-home market, Sunny
D entered into the hard seltzer space with a vodka-infused 12-ounce can.
Adult
Nonalcoholic Options
In
the meantime, according to Chamberlin, the nonalcoholic beer space has seen an
uptick in activity after years of flat or even declining growth. But changes in
drinking preferences after the pandemic seem to have sparked a resurgence.
"Consumers
are … seeing high ABV as an efficient way to drink," Chamberlin said.
"If they're going to spend up for craft, they want it to get the bang for
their buck out of the ABV. And I think increasingly, we're seeing a kind of
bifurcation where people are going for no alcohol at all … or they're going all
the way up to the eight, nine [or] 10 percent imperial IPAs."
McClellan
pointed out that while brewing companies have long worked in the nonalcoholic
space, it's only more recently that wines and spirits have started to more actively
produce low or no-ABV offerings at capacity. This includes some surprisingly
traditional brands and companies, such as Veuve du Verne from France and
Starla.
In
the meantime, companies like Mixoloshe offer nonalcoholic cocktail options,
like blueberry gin and tonics, or nonalcoholic mixers and bases, such as the
no-ABV limoncello from Paulini.
Wine
& Cocktails
Which
isn't to say that the adult beverage industry has decided to teetotal for the
entire spring and summer seasons. Fruit-based and botanical offerings are being
or have been launched for customers interested in lighter flavors in warmer
weather. Chamberlin pointed to brands like Seagram's Escapes, which brought in
flavors like leche to tap into a younger market while also elevating what malt
beverages can offer.
To
add to that trend, McClellan noted that many wines have returned to marketing
themselves with terms like "fruity" or "crisp." She
attributes these product trends to consumers themselves becoming more
adventurous in their palates or simply not having the same negative
connotations with certain types of drinks.
"Seventy-two
percent of consumers are interested in a fruit wine, like blackberry
wine," she said. "Our drinkers today are young enough and new enough
to the category that they don't have [a] preconceived notion of what wine needs
to be or the romance of bottle opening."
Are you looking for a new partnership
to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing
tactics look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the
clue you need to propel your continued success.
