Soft Drinks Made Easy

Why are Soft Drinks important?

Soft Drinks are important across all occasions. From natural fruit juices to get you going in the morning, thirst-quenching carbonates or fruit drinks to keep you hydrated throughout the day, to sparkling options designed to enhance meals or mixers and energy drinks to keep you going on those late nights.

• Soft Drinks are the number one alternative to alcohol.**
• Soft Drinks are drunk by all ages and across all day-parts.
• Soft Drinks are the number 1 drink consumed with food.* 

Over 1 in 5 people now claim to be teetotal and 1 in 2 people are moderating their alcohol intake.

That's why Soft Drinks have been growing in both volume and cash sales, and this trend set to continue. 

That's handy, because from cost effective draught solutions to premium and speciality packaged lines, Soft Drinks can deliver a great margin opportunity!

* MCA Easting Out Panel Full Year to December 2017

**The Grocer Dec 18

Key things to consider to create the perfect Soft drinks range

Customer is King

Think about your core and occasional customers. Consider who your Soft drinks need to appeal to i.e. Younger/ Older; Male/ Female; Kids/ Teens.

Low and No

Sugar remains the No.1 concern for consumers purchasing Soft Drinks! Ensure your range meets this growing demand by offering a good selection of lower/no sugar Softs.

Tantalising Treats

With 35% of Guests on a treat mission in the licensed channel and 65% stating they would pay more for a Premium Soft drink! Are you catering for that special occasion? 

Seasonal Spend

Seasons and events like Summer, Easter, Christmas, or even the World Cup create increased socialising and anywhere from 20-80% uplift on Soft drinks. Why not consider an aspirational seasonal drinks range or special serve to satisfy guests?

Healthy Heroes

With 1 in 5 adults claiming they are tee-total, and 1 in 2 actively moderating alcohol, Soft Drinks are the No.1 alternative! Consider flexing your Total Drinks range and giving additional space to Softs to tap into this growing trend.

Food for Thought

Although food may only be a small part of your offering, it's worth noting that 1 in 2 eating out occasions feature a Soft Drink! So if you sell food consider drinks that pair well with your menu.

Soft Drinks can be divided into 6 categories:

The importance of each of these are dependent on the style of outlet, your customer base and affluence. 

Core Essentials

Your must have’s in every range; high volume and recognisable brands your guests would expect to see

Perfect Food Partners

Drinks that pair well with food to enhance the occasion

Mixing Must Haves

A must stock to compliment your Spirits range and entice with a signature drink

Premium & Crafted

A selective range to enable guests to trade up

Kids and Teens

An important range catering for Kids of all ages, on all occasions, and permissible by parents

Feel Good

For guests seeking healthier alternatives

Core essentials range

These are the products that your guests expect to see, as you would expect they tend to be the biggest sellers in your range. We recommend stocking at least 8 core essential lines but leaving space to trade guests up to more premium and crafted options.

Draught 

• 2 x Cola
• 1 x Lemonade
  • Pepsi Max
  • Pepsi Regular
  • R.White's Lemonade
• Britvic range suggestions 

Fruit Juice Drinks - Packaged 

• 2 x Fruit Based Drinks
  • J2O Orange & Passion fruit
  • J2O Apple & Raspberry
  • J2O Apple & Mango
•  Britvic range suggestions

Bottled Water & Cordials

• 2 x Still and Sparkling Water
• 3 x Flavoured Cordials 
  • Britvic Cordials Lime
• Britvic range suggestions

Other lines to consider

• Flavoured Carbonated drinks
  • 7up Free 330ml
  • Diet Pepsi 330ml
• Britvic range suggestions 

Tip: Core essentials basics must be covered but being selective  allows space and attention for more premium, new and different products.

Mixing must haves

Mixing offers a great opportunity to showcase the art of the bar tender. From delivering the perfect pre-dinner G&T to constructing exciting cocktails and mocktails, an interesting range of premium mixers, juices and syrups are the start point to delivering sensational drinks experiences.  And don’t forget premium Cordials and Syrups are great flavour enhancers for your seasonal and signature serves.

As a prestige pub or bar we would recommend you stock 10-14 mixers, juices and syrups.

Mixers (200ml)

• 5 x Premium & Flavoured Tonics
• 4 x Soda Water, Ginger Ale and Bitter Lemon
• 1 x Energy Mixer  
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • LEC Classic London Tonic
    • LEC Grapefruit & Rosemary Tonic
    • LEC Bitter Orange & Elderflower Tonic
    • LEC Pomelo & Pink Pepper Tonic
    • Britvic Low Cal Tonic
    • LEC Ginger Beer
    • LEC Ginger Ale
    • LEC Soda Water
    • Britvic Bitter Lemon

Juices (200ml)

• 4x Packaged fruit juices
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • Britvic Orange juice
    • Britvic Cranberry juice
    • Britvic Pineapple juice
    • Britvic Tomato juice

Syrups

• 6 x Cocktail Syrups  
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • Teisseire Syrups
    • Flavour according to your recipe requirements

Tip: Tonic is the lead mixer - make sure you have a Premium offering to match the quality of the outlet, and a range of flavours for excitement

Premium & Crafted

Stocking a range of interesting premium brands that people know and recognise is important. Not only do they offer a great margin opportunity, but they also reinforce the quality of your offering. We recommend a prestige outlet stocks between 7-10 premium and crafted lines.

Premium & Crafted

• 4 x Crafted Sodas
• 3 x Premium Cordials 
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • LEC White Peach & Jasmine Soda
    • LEC Elderberry & Hibiscus Soda
    • LEC Rhubard & Cardoman Soda
    • Thomas & Evans No 1.
    • Robinsons Cordials - Lime and Mint
    • Robinsons Cordials - Rhubarb and Orange blossom

Tip: Over 8 in 10 of your customers would be inspired to order and pay more if they saw a drink served well & made in an interesting way.

Feel Good

As the feel good vibe continues to grow in strength, we recommend a prestige outlet should stock between 2-4 feel good lines.  

Unsweetened Flavoured Waters

• 2 x Unsweetened flavoured waters
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • Aqua Libra Cucumber Mint & Lime
    • Aqua Libra Raspberry & Apple

Natural Energy/Botanicals

• 2 x Natural energy/botanical drinks
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • Purdey's Edge
    • Purdey's Rejuvenate

Pure Fruit Juice

• 2 x Pure fruit juices
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • Britvic 100 Orange Britvic 100 Apple

Tip: Don't forget your Healthy hero's, over 60% of consumers are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Other products to consider

Kids & Teens

If your outlet attracts families we recommend a minimum of 2 products aimed a kids and teens, but add more according to the importance of families to your business.

• 2 x Flavoured fruit juice drinks
  • Britvic range suggestions
    • Fruit Shoot Orange
    • Fruit Shoot Apple & Blackcurrant
  • Other lines to consider   
    • Fruit Shoot Hydro Apple & Raspberry

Tip: Teens are as likely to choose from the core essentials range of fruit drinks, carbonates and cordials.

Perfect Food Partners

As 'to go with my food', is a top driver of soft drink choice, providing a great range of softs to complement your food offer is a must.

• Additional Britvic range suggestions
  • J20 Spritz Pear & Raspberry.
  • J20 Spritz Apple & Watermelon.
  • Aqua Libra Cucumber Mint & Lime
  • Aqua Libra Raspberry & Apple
  • R.White's Raspberry Lemonade
  • R.White's Pear & Elderflower

Tip: It's important to choose brands with ingredients and flavours that pair well with your menu.