Soft & Hot Drinks

Company deal: A.G. Barr acquires Rio from Hall & Woodhouse

Hall & Woodhouse offloads Rio

By MCA

Independent brewer and pub company Hall and Woodhouse has sold soft drinks brand Rio to A.G. Barr for £12.3m.

Go soft or go home: there are plenty of options available to licensees in non-alcoholic drinks (credit: Getty/damircudic)

Feature – Soft Drinks

FEATURE: Soft drink sales on the rise

By Emma Eversham

According to CGA by NIQ’s Drinks Recovery Tracker, soft drinks sales in managed venues have risen during the past three months compared to the same period last year.

Enhanced experiences: soft drinks provide operators with a big opportunity to boost margins (Credit: Getty/Alessandro Biascioli)

INTERVIEW

Impact of cost-of-living crisis on soft drinks category

By Rebecca Weller

Habits towards soft drinks in the on-trade are changing as consumers increasingly "seek out" value for money and healthier options amid the cost-of-living crisis and a surge in wellness trends.

MONIN competition to £1,000 a week over 9 weeks

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Win £1,000 every week this summer with MONIN

By MONIN

MONIN, the global beverage flavour expert, has launched an exciting competition offering outlets the opportunity to win £1,000 wholesale credit, every week for 9 weeks throughout June and July!

New products: this week's round-up features Old Mout, Luscombe and Theakston

NEW PRODUCTS ROUND-UP

Luscombe launches new Raspberry Crush variant

By Rebecca Weller

This week's round-up features new products from Luscombe, Old Mout, Camden Town Brewery, ICB, Theakston, DropWorks and Lancaster Spirits Company.

Reconsider your offer: soft drinks can reap huge rewards (credit: Getty/LeoPatrizi)

£170m booty waiting from soft drinks trade-up says Britvic

By Gary Lloyd

Operators could ease the ongoing financial pain by boosting sales by £170m by encouraging 10% of customers to trade up from tap water to a soft drink, according to the Britvic’s Licensed Soft Drinks Review 2023.

Java juice: London Coffee Festival kicked off at the Truman Brewery last week (credit: Getty/ nastasic)

How can pubs boost their coffee offering?

By Amelie Maurice-Jones

Coffee culture has taken the UK by storm, so we caught up with roasters at the London Coffee Festival as to how pubs can crack the market.

Spring Into Summer: CCEP launches new campaign to support on-trade customers

CCEP offers chance to win share of £50k worth of soft drinks

By Rebecca Weller

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has announced the launch of its latest initiative to support on-trade customers, Spring Into Summer, offering independent pub operators a chance to win a share of £50,000 worth of soft drinks.

The Morning Advertiser Lock In Podcast 56

Pubs and the coffee conundrum

By Ed Bedington

Mushroom coffee anyone? The Lock In team get to grips with coffee and ask why pubs have failed to maximise the opportunities open to them when it comes to java juice.

Year-on-year growth: drinks sales up but comparisons difficult due to disrupted trading during the pandemic in January 2022 (Credit: Getty/pjohnson1)

Soft drinks powering sales in January

By Rebecca Weller

Soft drinks were the driving force behind sales at managed venues in the seven days to Saturday 21 January, the latest Drinks Recovery Tracker from CGA by NielsenIQ has revealed.

Drinks Recovery Tracker: latest data shows drinks sales in pubs were 1% behind pre-pandemic levels in seven days to Saturday 14 January (Credit: Getty/Henrik Sorensen)

Drinks sales 1% down vs pre-pandemic levels

By Rebecca Weller

Average drinks sales in Britain’s managed venues in the week to Saturday 14 January were 1% down vs 2020, the latest Drinks Recovery Tracker from CGA by NielsenIQ has revealed.

Get down the pub: some 85% of UK pubs serve low or no alcohol beers

BBPA urges alcohol-free visits to pubs

By Gary Lloyd

The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has urged customers who are abstaining from alcohol to visit their local this month because 85% of pubs now serve alcohol-free beers.

New and old faces: There are plenty of newcomers in this year's mixer category (Getty/ invizbk)

DRINKS LIST 2023

Fever Tree headlines mixer category

By Amelie Maurice-Jones

The mixers division has made way for a whopping five new entries in this year's Drink's List, but Fever Tree still reigns supreme in top spot.

Refreshing data: Coca-Cola tops soft drinks division (Getty/ pjohnson1)

DRINKS LIST 2023

Coca-Cola shines bright on soft drinks division

By Amelie Maurice-Jones

Coca-Cola, once again, pioneers in the soft drinks category with its products bagging first and second place, but there’s a reshuffling of other positions in the list.

What are the best selling drinks brands of 2022

Drinks List 2023

The Drinks List – top brands to stock in 2023

By The Morning Advertiser

This year’s Drinks List has seen great strides forward in terms of volume and value sales versus last year because the on-trade has been operating on a much better basis than during the heavily restrictive phases of the pandemic.

New products round up: this week features new serves from London Essence and Freixenet Copestick alongside three new cask ales

NEW PRODUCTS ROUND UP

London Essence launches new mixer

By Rebecca Weller

This weeks new products round up includes new serves from London Essence and Freixenet Copestick as well as three new cask ales from Salcombe Brewery, Bruha and Hogs back.

How to improve your range of soft drinks and sell more

Soft drinks feature

FEATURE: Go hard on capturing soft drinks sales

By Phil Mellows

It’s an old conundrum for the publican. You’d like to sell more soft drinks. You’d like to stock a bigger range. You’d like to offer your non-drinking customers something a little more interesting. In an ideal world. But as you may have noticed lately,...

Low and no alcohol feature from beer to cider to spirits to wine

Low to no drinks feature

FEATURE: Why low and no alcohol is not a compromise

By Michelle Perrett

The summer is coming with outside drinking and eating set to drive customers into the pub. And while many will reach for their usual tipple in the summer months some people for whatever reason will be looking at not drinking or reducing their alcohol...

New research: premium softs and cocktails are expected to improve on-trade sales (credit: Getty/Dean Mitchell)

Premium softs to drive on-trade sales says Britvic

By Gary Lloyd

Soft drinks are set to drive on-trade sales during 2022 with customers more likely to upgrade to a premium choice than ever before, according to Britvic's latest Soft Drinks Review.

One unit cocktail advice from Britvic

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How to make a ‘one unit’ cocktail

By Britvic

Last month, we asked our Sensational Drink users what they wanted to know about low and no options on drinks menus.

Energy drinks see growth at a faster rate than the other soft drinks: category grew 42% by value compared to the same period two years ago (Credit: Getty/ Andrey_A)

Energy drinks category sees 42% growth in value

By Rebecca Weller

The energy drinks category has grown at a much faster rate than the wider soft drinks market in the past two years, according to the latest CGA On Premise Measurement data.

The Morning Advertiser Lock In Podcast episode 36

The Lock In Podcast

The low and no revolution

By Ed Bedington

The Lock In team take a trip to an innovative alcohol-free off licence and realise the trade needs to stop saying no to low and no. We hear from special guests including Laura Willoughby of Club Soda, James Kindred of award winning brewers Big Drop Brewing...

Just the tonic: Fever-Tree’s two variants were followed by two from Schweppes (credit: Getty/asbe)

The Drinks List

Tonics division title taken by Fever-Tree

By Amelie Maurice-Jones

There was little movement in the tonic water list and Fever-Tree continued to dominate the market with mixers claiming first and second place.

Drivers are the heroes: designated drivers can take advantage of Coca-Cola's free drink scheme

Promotional content

Coca-Cola's free drink campaign is returning for Christmas

By Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

Coca-Cola’s Hero the Driver campaign is returning to support the hospitality sector over the Christmas period and will be in operation in up to 9,500 venues across Great Britain.

Category perception: ‘For too long the no and low category has been marred by the stigma that ‘not drinking’ is dull,’ Ellie Webb, founder of non-alcoholic spirit Caleño, says.

‘Low and no isn’t about compromise’

By Stuart Stone

With the help of category experts, The Morning Advertiser pours over some of the ways in which low and no drink producers are raising the bar.

Exhibition time: the Low2NoBev show is taking place next month (June) at London's Truman's Brewery

Low2NoBev show line-up revealed

By The Morning Advertiser

A number of speakers and panel sessions at the Low2NoBev Quench Live Theatre have been unveiled.

How can operators up their soft drink offer?

In association with Britvic

Premiumise for success on reopening

By The Morning Advertiser

With the hospitality sector starting the long slow process towards reopening their businesses this week, it’s time for operators to reassess their offer and think about premiumisation.

Soft sell: Some 59% of people state that they are now making decisions with more consideration of their health which has made a considerable impact on the soft drinks category

Content provided by Britvic

How to get your business ready for reopening

By Adam Russell, director of leisure & licensed, Britvic

Britvic’s director of leisure & licensed, Adam Russell, gives his view on the impact Covid has had on the soft drinks category and how you can get ready for reopening this spring.

Dry run: 'This is not about giving up on alcohol and pubs but keeping them going and evolving for a future after Covid'

Opinion

‘Dry January not about giving up on pubs’

By Debbie Baisden, the Rayleigh Arms, Terling, Essex

The start of 2021 saw me take on the challenge of Dry January, to be totally honest it is not the first year I’ve completed this journey.

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