Alcoholic frozen beverages are becoming more popular with each passing year, and convenience stores are helping to pave the way for the drink with new innovations and flavors.
York, Pa.-based Rutter’s, for instance, has been offering alcoholic frozen dispensed beverages — called Spiked Slushies — since 2018, according to Adam Long, category manager for Rutter’s.
“Innovation is part of our identity at Rutter’s, and we developed our Spiked Slushies offering to be on the forefront of innovation and in our ongoing efforts to give our customers new and exciting products,” Long explained.
Among a selection of 13 foodservice venues (from restaurants to bars and cruise ships) covered by Datassential’s annual SIP reports on alcohol at foodservice venues updated in October, consumers are most interested in purchasing frozen alcoholic beverages at quick-service and casual restaurants, hotels and resorts, movie theaters and cruise ships.
Despite this, convenience stores are well poised to offer this adult beverage to customers, and for retailers who already found a place for the drink in their stores, sales are steadily coming in.
“Spiked Slushies are an important part of our alcohol category product mix and add incremental sales to our offering,” Long continued.
In most of Rutter’s locations, customers can choose from 10 flavors, with some stores offering as many as 14. Most popular are tropical flavors (Jamaican Me Happy and Peach Mango), Blue Raspberry and Long Island Iced Tea, he pointed out.
The spirited libations are served by store team members. Long pointed out that adhering to regulatory requirements and the company’s own imperative as a responsible operator mean customers are carded before they are served alcoholic beverages.
Rutter’s operates 85 stores across three states: Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. Currently, only the Pennsylvania stores are able to carry the Spiked Slushies.
Giant Eagle’s GetGo Café + Market c-stores, additionally, have been offering frozen dispensed alcoholic beverages, also branded Spiked Slushies, since early 2020, according to Jenni Yappel, leader of the category at GetGo Café + Market, which operates 72 locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Sales have been steady, Yappel said, with increased interest during the summer season.
The stores feature up to six flavors in each location. Core flavors include High Voltage Long Island Iced Tea — at 12% alcohol by volume (ABV) — Strawberry Daiquiri, Orange Cream Pop, Hawaiian Ice, Blue Slush and Banana.
The Spiked Slushies are all served from behind the counter and follow state alcoholic beverage requirements for purchase and consumption, including carding customers, Yappel noted.
Sales of these beverages mostly begin later in the afternoon and continue through late night.
7-Eleven, in an alternative method of catering to this trend, provides do-it-yourself recipes combining its iconic Slurpees and spirits on its website. The recipes, named The Party Hard Slurpee Cocktail, Poolside Colada Hard Slurpee Cocktail and Sunday Funday Hard Slurpee Cocktail, each combine two flavors of the frozen drink with vodka or rum.
LTO Opportunity
An effective way to maintain consumer engagement with the category is through offering limited-time flavors. Rutter’s is continuously evaluating options to maintain a fresh and exciting program.
“Quarterly rotating limited-time-offer (LTO), seasonal flavors are a great way to add some buzz to our Spiked Slushies,” Long noted.
GetGo, too, offers LTOs to entice customers and get them excited about trying the chain’s Spiked Slushies.
Sales of the core flavors are reevaluated annually at GetGo, and LTOs are introduced seasonally. In September and October, the LTO was Sour Caramel Apple (12% ABV); for November through mid-December, it is Cranberry Sauce; and in mid-December through January, the LTO is Mimosa.
Gauging Consumer Interest
In Datassential’s 2022 Future of Drink study, researchers found that 60% of consumers were aware of frozen wine and wine slushies, and 67% said they were interested in trying them.
Datassential’s 2023 study on wine preferences revealed that between 8% and 14% of consumers typically prefer to drink wine as frozen slushies. Among major wine types, frozen rosé was the most popular at 14%.
During the consumers’ last occasion at a limited-service restaurant, nearly a quarter purchased a frozen cocktail.
Furthermore, consumer interest in purchasing frozen alcoholic beverages has increased across every single foodservice venue surveyed.
“All in all, it’s clear that consumer awareness of — and affinity for — frozen alcoholic beverages have seen solid growth over the past few years, and I predict this trend will continue to gain popularity in the years to come,” concluded Huy Do, research and insights manager/content at Datassential.
