The cold and frozen dispensed beverage sections at c-stores have been making great strides in sales so far in 2023.
In fact, according to Datassential’s “2023 C-Store Keynote,” 79% of c-store retailers offer some type of fountain soft drink, and 8% of retailers are considering adding these beverages to their stores.
However, as consumers get ready for the spring and summer months, they are wanting more variety and the ability to customize drinks to make them their own, especially now that consumers are wanting healthier options when it comes to foods and beverages.
Personalized Beverages
Curby’s Express Market, which operates one location in Lubbock, Texas, is one c-store seeing the trend of customers wanting more options to customize their cold and frozen beverages to fit their lifestyle.
“We are seeing customers wanting healthier options when it comes to sodas and other drinks. They are reducing their sugar intake and going for our other beverage options like tea,” said Tony Sparks, head of customer wow at Curby’s Express Market. “We are also seeing more craft sodas being bought and new dispensers that allow for more customization in flavors and beverage brands.”
Curby’s also noticed a demand for made-to-order (MTO) energy drinks and fresh condiments such as limes, lemons and berries.
Curby’s is able to meet these trends and demands head-on by offering customers 20 self-serve fountain drinks, 40 self-serve iced tea dispensers, MTO energy drinks and craft sodas.
Another c-store noticing the high demand for customization in the dispensed beverage category is Cliff’s, which operates 19 c-stores in New York.
“We are starting to notice customers wanting more unique bold flavors and a variety of flavor enhancement options to allow customers to create a beverage they can call their own,” said Derek Thurston, director of foodservice operations at Cliff’s. “Customers are even wanting more c-stores that are clean, accessible and affordable.”
Cliff’s offers customers a variety of dispensed beverages, including frozen options to keep customers intrigued and keep them coming back into the store.
“We offer a variety of fountain beverages along with a Pure Craft Bubbler Program,” said Thurston. “We route the offerings in the bubbler to keep customers interested. The bubbler flavors also tend to be a bit unique in flavor profiles.”
Thurston also stated that Cliff’s offers a raspberry hibiscus tea, blackberry lemonade, ginger pear and orange passionfruit. On top of that, most of Cliff’s locations carry between four to six heads of frozen dispensed beverages. Cliff’s even partners with Sunny Sky and uses its Jolly Rancher-branded slush program.
Cliff’s and Curby’s are both adding more cold and frozen dispensed beverage options to meet the needs of customers.
“We are adding the fresh condiments customers are demanding with an iced tea program,” said Sparks.
“We added the new Frazil Energy program to four locations to gauge customers’ interest in a frozen-dispensed energy option,” added Thurston. “We brought in the Smash Berry and Piña Colada. We have also added our cold-brew program to a couple additional locations, and we continue to offer seasonal flavor shots to accommodate customers’ tastes and preferences.”
Looking Ahead
Even though some c-stores are having trouble convincing iced coffee drinkers to purchase cold and frozen dispensed beverages, the category is set to continue to do well in the years to come.
“Our biggest challenge is pulling in the customers that love iced coffee and cold brew,” said Thurston. “However, I expect both our cold and frozen dispensed beverage categories to be up over 20% for the year. For the first two months of this year, both our cold and frozen dispensed beverages were up over 30% in both sales dollars and units sold.”
Curby’s even expects its MTO beverage program to be up 200% in the next 12 to 18 months.
Altogether, the cold and frozen dispensed beverage category will continue to increase in sales and units sold as long as c-stores keep meeting customers’ needs when it comes to offering beverages that work best for them and their lifestyles.
