Hot beverages, including their iced, flavoured and alternative milk counterparts, continue to hold sway across the UK’s Out-Of-Home (OOH) sector. 83% of soft beverage drinkers now choose tea, coffee, hot chocolate, iced coffee or iced tea when visiting hospitality venues (+5pp vs a year ago).
It is therefore vital for suppliers and operators to understand these evolving behaviours to future-proof beverage strategies, capture incremental sales, and strengthen brand loyalty across generations.
Younger consumers accelerate change
Hot drinks have long held cultural significance across Britain’s café and hospitality circuit, and 18- 34-year-olds are now reshaping the category. These consumers are ordering all beverage types more frequently than the British average, including driving the strongest growth in iced coffee, iced tea and hot chocolate. They are more likely to experiment with flavours, formats and alternative milks, and are highly responsive to trends that surface on social media.
These behavioural pivots among younger On Premise visitors today can translate into decades of loyalty. For this reason, Gen Z and Millennials are especially valuable for long term category strategies.
Drink to food-led shifts offer big opportunities
One of the most impactful shifts is how customers are ordering hot drinks alongside food. This creates clear opportunities to increase spend through smart menu architecture, unique specials including food and drink combos, and leveraging innovation as an indulgent upsell moment.
Therefore, suppliers who can support operators with pairings, formats, training and merchandising are well placed to earn category growth. This also applies to the prominent health and wellness trend.
Touchpoints to influence decisions along the Path to Purchase
While most consumers decide what to order when they’re in a venue or at the till, a significant proportion will choose before arriving. This emphasises the need to influence decisions across every touchpoint, including:
- Pre-visit – Loyalty perks, digital menus, trending serves and social first visuals
- In the venue – Clear menu design, flavour descriptors, and visibility of alternative milk options
- At the till – Meaningful recommendations and signage
- Staff recommendations – Particularly influential for iced tea and speciality beverages
The value added by these factors cannot be overstated when consumers define value primarily by quality and experience, not simply price.
Understand the need states, win the occasion
Ultimately, every beverage category meets different emotional, functional and experiential needs. This is why suppliers and operators who understand what matters most to their customers, by age, category and need state, are equipped to design resonant propositions.
Moving forwards, there is enormous opportunity to innovate, refine and premiumise hot beverage strategies.
CGA by NIQ’s Foodservice client director James Ashurst noted: “Long gone are the days when hot beverages were treated as an add-on to the OOH experience. Now, they’re key to engagement, loyalty and spend. For these reasons, understanding why consumers choose what they choose empowers suppliers and operators to design better, more profitable options.”
The Hot Beverages Spotlight Report, part of the Food Insight Series, gathers the hot drink habits of out-of-home consumers across Great Britain. It provides an understanding of who the hot drink consumer is, what their preferences are, plus threats to be aware of and opportunities to help inform and shape a successful hot beverage strategy.
Contact the CGA team to discover how CGA by NIQ’s On Premise sales measurement and consumer insights can support winning brand strategies and opportunities.
