First in a four-part series, FE&S breaks down the newest beverage trends, starting with an overview of where the industry is today and where it might be in the near future. We hope you’ve come thirsty.
Of all the meal dayparts in the restaurant world today, the one that seems to have experienced the biggest changes isn’t even technically a daypart. Rather, it lives somewhere in between all of them. Beverages — whether hot or cold, alcoholic or not, healthy or less so — have blossomed in ways few could have predicted. Even if someone had, many folks (both within and outside of the hospitality industry) would have shaken their heads in disbelief.
It wasn’t that long ago that beverages were seen in neat and tidy categories. Hot coffee came black or with cream. Soft drinks came in regular and diet, and nary a brand crossed over into another’s lane (looking at you, dirty sodas). Juice was mostly limited to orange, the occasional grapefruit and tomato for outliers. Smoothies were making inroads beyond gym juice bars but nowhere near the $20 price tag of Erewhon’s Strawberry Glaze Skin (yes, the one made internet famous by its association with Hailey Bieber). On the bar front, there were only a handful of nonalcoholic beers, and most of them were deemed flavorless (or worse). And a cocktail sans alcohol meant a Shirley Temple, and no self-respecting adult would be seen drinking one.
These days, it’s a much different story. Whether entire operations dedicated to beverages, the amount of restaurant menu real estate they now occupy or the dramatic shift in cocktail culture, drinks have become many things to many people — and they’re more than willing to pay extra for them.
While other menu items may change, hot and iced coffee will remain cornerstone options for operations like Panera.
“I think the biggest trend we see in beverages overall is just how bold, innovative and vibrant the category has become,” says Mike Kostyo, vice president of Menu Matters. “I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that the beverage category has seen the most evolution in terms of sheer innovation in recent years.” While the implications of that trend are yet to be fully realized, operators not paying attention to the daily-changing beverage front will inevitably be left behind.
For Darren Tristano, CEO of Foodservice Results, one of the biggest beverage changes surrounds younger generations drinking less alcohol. “What we’ve seen in terms of a shift is the accelerated growth of mocktails,” he says. “It feels like they’re growing in terms of quality, either house-made or purchased off the shelf. Those are doing great with younger consumers and even older ones who are more lifestyle-focused and looking for alternatives to alcohol.”
The decline in alcoholic beverage consumption is destabilizing the foodservice industry in a variety of ways, says Kostyo, not the least of which is the impact to profits for restaurants and bar operators, in addition to simply questioning what consumers want overall. Currently, he says, “The innovation happening in nonalcoholic beverages has trickled down to the wider category. It has also been a part of the overall move to more health-forward beverages.”
There has been growth in health-centric drinks, whether it be coconut water or a drink with vitamins or probiotics.
Claire Conaghan, trendologist and associate director of publications at Datassential, notes: “Functional beverages are another key category, with probiotic sodas being among the top options, as well as protein sodas, electrolyte coffees and more,” she says. She cites the expansion of energy drinks as one of the biggest trends.
Texture, up until recently, was only thought of in food. That is changing, says Conaghan. Citing Datassential’s State of the Menu 2025 report, she says, “37% of consumers are interested in trying texture in food and beverages, and another 28% have already tried this trend,” she says. She cites menu items with boba (tapioca pearls and popping pearls), as well as multilayered cloud coffee, chocolate crackle on the interior of cups and even jelly.
Recognizing coffee might not be everyone’s first choice, PJ’s Coffee added a variety of energy drinks to cater to different consumer lifestyles.
And we can’t forget the dramatic changes in the caffeinated world.
“When you think about coffee shops a few decades ago, most of the drinks were brown,” says Kostyo. “Today, you go into a coffee shop, and the drinks are purple, green and red, featuring unique flavors that are combined together in ways that rival the cocktail category.”
Along with the buzz surrounding the coffee shop front looms another change. “The shift from hot beverages to cold beverages happened so gradually that I don’t think the industry realizes what a big shift that is,” Kostyo says. Who among us living in cold weather environments has been surprised by those who now insist on consuming their coffee drinks on ice year-round?
Coffee also has earned a well-stamped passport traveling the world for inspiration. “We’ve been keeping an eye on Australian iced coffee (basically an iced coffee ice cream float), Indonesian-style avocado coffee, Vietnamese-style egg coffee and citrus paired with coffee,” says Conaghan.
In that vein, tea is also undergoing changes, some of which are rooted in old traditions. “We definitely have our eye on high tea and general tea experiences as another social occasion beyond happy hour,” adds Conaghan. This also taps into the trend of those who don’t drink alcohol. She is also seeing growth with hot chocolate, with an increasing number of restaurants offering it and more available flavors from those that do.
So, what is the inspiration behind some of these trends? “There are a lot of factors driving the evolution of beverage trends,” says Kostyo. “The third-wave coffee and microbrewery movements paved the way for premiumization in beverages overall. The move toward snacking opened opportunities for consumers to treat themselves with a fun beverage in the middle of the day. The rise of global flavors meant that flavors and ingredients like matcha, horchata and boba could find a place in the market.”
Equipment also plays a role in the expansion of beverages. “Over the years, we’ve certainly seen equipment impacting the beverage category,” says Kostyo, citing that third-wave coffee culture’s influence on importing expensive espresso machines and introducing elaborate drip makers and other high-tech items. “Once an operator has that equipment, they are going to look for ways to utilize it.” He cites brewed tea and drip cocktails as next-up contenders.
Automation is everywhere with everyone trying to reduce labor, says Tristano, so it will find its way into the beverage world too. “That’s more on the horizon in terms of how beverages are made or even served,” he says, noting the rise of automated dispensing equipment where a card is placed against the machine and the consumer gets a beer, cider or wine poured into their glass.
While the experts FE&S spoke with are in the business of analyzing and predicting trends, even they were surprised by some of the ones making inroads today. “I’ve been surprised by how much pickle drinks have taken off at chains and as a retail product,” says Conaghan, herself a fan of the mouth-puckering beverages.
For Kostyo, it was the rise in popularity of matcha that gave him pause. “It can be a polarizing flavor profile for those who aren’t used to it, but it has a more adult, less sweet flavor profile combined with a cultural cachet, ritualistic production method and health halo that resonates,” he says. “When you think about it, coffee is a polarizing flavor profile that takes time to develop a palate for.”
Tristano is still shaking his head at zero-proof drinks. “When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was a joke,” he says. “But ‘zero’ has become such a popular term in the industry around a lot of beverages that we’re seeing and seems to be finding its place in a lot of the bars and restaurants. When you see it being promoted on the sidelines of basketball courts and in other professional sports, you kind of go, ‘Wow, this is really mainstream.’”
As far as which trends they are excited about, Conaghan has her eye on texture and is intrigued by how flavor plays out in beverages, such as tiramisu, which is leaping from dessert to drink, she says.
As a gin lover, Kostyo is invested in recent news of the spirit’s growth surpassing others like vodka and whiskey. “I’m excited personally, but I’m also excited to see where producers take those botanical flavor profiles and how that might trickle down to the wider beverage category overall,” he says. “You already see a lot of botanicals being used in the wider beverage category.”
In this fickle, here-today-gone-tomorrow world, Tristano predicts boba teas will find their way into more full-service markets, while smoothies will give way — sorry, Hailey! — to more freshly squeezed juices. “It’s starting to shift, and if you’re a smoothie shop, you’re probably evolving into juices,” he says.
Kostyo predicts the overlap of beverage and wellness will continue to grow in the future, especially as younger people who seek out health-forward beverages — think gut health sodas, hydrating drinks and spirit-free canned beverages with functional ingredients — start to get older. “Consumers tend to become more health-conscious as they age, so there is a real opportunity for the beverage industry to create products that evolve and meet generational needs through beverages in the future,” he says. With that in mind, he envisions sugary beverages and hyper-specific flavors — looking at you, Dubai chocolate drinks — will fade.
Overall, the future of the beverage sector looks bright. “We will see beverages continue to have significant importance on menus,” says Conaghan. “They have become a standard of the ‘little treat’ culture with no signs of slowing. We may see particular products slow while others rise, but a focus on beverages will remain for a while.”
Einstein Bros. Bagels describes its Morning Mocktails line as “fizzy and flirty.”
On the Rise
In a shift that may reflect the broader trend of alcohol sales declining, energy drinks have made the jump from grocery/c-store aisles to restaurant menus. It’s a segment where energy drinks “have not normally been,” said Helen Jane Hearn, senior director of content at the National Restaurant Association, during a Dec. 3 webcast based on findings from the “2026 What’s Hot Culinary Forecast.”
Additional beverage-connected takeaways from the National Restaurant Association’s webcast and forecast report:
Proteins as add-ons. Protein-forward options have become more mainstream in the beverage segment. Example: Starbucks’ protein cold-foam and lattes with its own Protein-Boosted Milk.
Buzzing beyond NA. Growing non-alcoholic beverage options include mood and mental wellness beverages (with adaptogens and mushroom essences as the stars). Example: the Hot Chagaccino at artisan coffee shop Bonibi Coffee in Westlake Villiage, Calif., described as a health and wellness version of the cafe’s mocha latte “spiked with an effective dose of the planet’s greatest adaptogens.” Ingredients include wild foraged chaga, organic Peruvian cacao, organic Ceylon cinnamon, organic Madagascar vanilla and monk fruit sweeter.
Gut-friendly. Fermented beverages like kombucha, tepache and prebiotic sodas are trending.
More and More
Protein and fiber, and lots of it — those are the two projected superstars of 2026 according to Mintel’s 2026 Global Food and Drink Predictions. Consumers will look to add high amounts of both protein and fiber each day, according to Mintel’s report, which notes “protein and fiber are cutting through the clutter in 2026 and going mainstream as easy to understand,
accessible and essential nutrients.”
Looking further out, Mintel predicts fiber will become “our nutritional armor” and by 2030 will serve as a “nutritional defense against the rising risks microplastics pose to humans.”
Pressed Juicery’s cold-pressed ready-to-drink Vanilla Protein Smoothie includes pea and chia protein and packs 20 grams of protein into a 15.2-ounce bottle. In the chain segment, protein
and fiber options are often available as add-ons. For example, Juice It Up! offers a slew of power-based protein boosters, including soy protein, whey protein, a plant-based protein and more.
Crave More?
Join us on the Beverage Bonanza Webcast
From cocktails to coffee, juice to smoothies, the beverage sector remains one of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving segments of the foodservice industry. Hear from beverage experts and more as they explore the state of the beverage segment from menu items to equipment selection and all points in between.
