Why the drinks of tomorrow will have embraced ‘big flavour energy’ – Comment

Ongoing concerns about the health of the economy are impacting consumers in many ways — confidence, disposable income and spending priorities, to name just three.

And now there’s another: a growing desire for food and drinks with ‘big flavour energy’.

Let’s consider the evidence. In food, demand for flavours and textures with maximum kick is rising, and fast. Spicy product launches are soaring, while table sauces are becoming hotter than ever. Chilli-infused liquid sugar drizzled across everything from pizza to fried chicken is all the rage. There’s now even Hot Honey Jaffa Cakes – that’s right, UK biscuit manufacturer McVitie’s has spiced up the jelly layer of its chocolate-covered classic treat.

In confectionery, freeze drying is helping brand owners reimagine sweets with bold new flavours and textures. By 2023, Grand View Research has forecast, the freeze-dried candy market will almost double from US$1.36bn to $2.4bn, its growth driven by a strong social media presence – notably on TikTok, where as of March, the hashtag #freezedriedcandy had received 4.7bn views.

The mouth-puckering sour candy market is also experiencing strong growth. IndustryARC forecasts the sector will reach $2.7bn worldwide by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.3% from 2023 to 2030.

In drinks, meanwhile, high flavour, sugar and alcohol content is fuelling innovation and driving sales.

Take the US ‘dirty soda’ trend for flavoured syrups, cream and other ingredients added to a soda base, kicked off by Utah-based chain Swig Drinks in 2010. TikTok videos and reality TV show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives helped spread the trend far and wide, and it’s now widely embraced by big restaurant chains, such as McDonald’s and Taco Bell.

Beverage producers are getting in on the act too. Earlier this year, PepsiCo launched its dirty soda-inspired line-up with Pepsi Wild Cherry & Cream and will add to this with Dirty Mountain Dew Cream Soda Dew and Mug Floats Vanilla Howler in the coming weeks.

It’s not just the US either. Dirty soda stores have opened in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The UK has seen pop-ups and cafés embrace the trend, while its first dedicated retail space recently opened in Birmingham.

Then, there’s BuzzBallz with its range of 13.5%-ABV cocktails and chillers, with bold flavours such as Choc Tease and Chili Mango. Invented by a cash-strapped teacher from Texas in 2009, the brand – instantly recognisable by its gaudy, grenade-shaped packaging – was snapped up by Sazerac Co last year in an estimated $500m deal. It’s now the biggest-selling single-serve premix cocktail in the US and the fastest-growing RTD brand in terms of volume sales in the UK, where The Guardian newspaper recently proclaimed it ‘the drink of the summer’.

All of which takes me back around 15 years, to a period I spent working on a project for Danone in Ukraine when the French F&B giant was expanding into new dairy-based product opportunities in response to a surplus supply of milk. One option was a high-fat yoghurt product. When we spoke to Ukrainian consumers, it was evident that they saw ‘high fat’ as synonymous with ‘high quality’.

This struck me as interesting for two reasons. Firstly, because back then, health-conscious consumers in the UK equated ‘high fat’ with ‘unhealthy’. Secondly, because Ukrainian consumers’ perception was shaped by economic experience. When questioned, these consumers said they associated ‘high fat’ with ‘premium’ because they remember ‘low fat’ as having been the standard in tough economic times when they were poor.

It was a powerful demonstration of how taste preferences and value perceptions can be shaped by economic pressures – as they are, again, today.

Just think of the different economic factors that have been at play recently. Inflation, for example. Shrinkflation too. And, as more consumers in more countries feel their financial position is at best stagnating, there’s a growing feeling we’re getting less while paying more.

Which, in part, explains the recent and rapid uplift in demand that the products people do choose to spend on need to deliver a bigger kick. The mentality is: “If I’m going to spend my hard-earned money on your product, you’d better impress me”.

‘Impress me’, meaning a bigger sugar rush, sour burst or alcoholic kick.

For drinks brands, the upshot is that it may no longer be a question of no/low alcohol, sweet or sugar-free. Brand stories might also take a back seat as consumers search out products with big flavour energy that add both impact and impetus to their world.

The winners over the next few years may very well be those brands that put taste first and prioritise a punchy flavour profile.