For decades, the foodservice beverage category just sort of bumped along. Although its mainstay status has long contributed significantly to profit margins, the category remained resolutely predictable. That status quo started to shift about 25 years ago when Starbucks began saturating markets like no other coffee purveyor had previously achieved. It eventually ignited a coffee revolution that continues to blossom across the country. The coffee giant also led the way in proving that beverage innovation encompasses so much more than just lattes and mochas.

The breadth of operator enthusiasm is in the numbers: Chicago-based consultancy Kinetic12’s Q3 2024 Emerging Chain Report reveals that 58 percent of operators named expanded beverage platforms as their No. 1 most important new revenue stream. Similarly, Datassential reported that nonalcoholic beverages spawned the most limited-time offers in the first half of this year.

Aided and abetted by TikTok, beverages have become an unlikely culinary blank slate, a starting point for flavor creativity and format innovation that was unthinkable a decade ago.

Coffee Is a Confection

Photo Credit: Dutch Bros / Dunkin’

Dutch Bros’ Hazelnut Truffle Mocha (left) and Dunkin’s Holiday Cookie Signature Latte sport indulgent dessert influences.

Worn down by ongoing inflation woes and general anxiety, consumers view coffee as an affordable indulgence, and beverage specialists are borrowing liberally from the dessert menu in response. Dutch Bros’ Hazelnut Truffle Mocha, for example, features hazelnut and chocolate flavors accented by an aerated dairy “soft top,” while Dunkin’s Holiday Cookie Signature Latte is finished with whipped cream, caramel and cookie-butter crumbles. Both score bonus points for tapping into the current rediscovery of Viennese einspänner, a crowning layer of sweetened cream that’s been turning up in coffee cups from coast to coast.

On the subject of cookie butter, the flavor has been doing a slow burn on menus for the past couple of decades. The gently spiced gingerbread of the traditional Belgian speculoos cookies migrated from airline trays to pastries and ice cream before becoming the flavor du jour on coffee menus, as with the Cookie Butter Iced Capp from Tim Hortons: signature iced cappuccino blended with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, vanilla and caramel.

Coffee can be cause for celebration, too. The Southern Wedding Cake Velvet Ice from PJ’s Coffee, which is sweetened with vanilla and almond syrups, debuted in May, just in time to toast the spring bridal season. The whipped cream topping was billed as “ensuring a lifetime of happiness.”

Sodas Goes Dirty

Photo Credit: Fizz / Sonic Drive-In

“Dirty soda” opens the door to seasonal spins on soft drinks, including Fiiz Drinks’ Smashing Pumpkin (left) and Sonic Drive-In’s Buttery Brew.

Swig, a soft-drink chain based in Utah, is credited with unleashing the original “dirty soda” (a term the brand even trademarked) into the broader marketplace. One of those we-didn’t-know-we-needed-it-until-we-saw-it items, a dirty soda typically consists of a soft drink mixed with a dairy or non-dairy milk component and flavored syrup or fruit juice. Swig’s current menu includes quaffs like Just Peachy (Coke Zero Sugar, pineapple, peach purée, lime and coconut cream) and the holiday-themed Jolly Elf: Mountain Dew with strawberry purée, passion fruit and orange.

Competitor Fiiz Drinks taps into fall flavor trends with the Smashing Pumpkin (a blend of Dr. Pepper, vanilla, cream and pumpkin spice) and a Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate with a caramel drizzle. Meanwhile, Sonic Drive-In, the true beverage OG in limited service, has jumped into the dirty soda fray with offerings like the Buttery Brew—made with root beer, caramel and sweet cream—and the Sparkling Sugar Cookie Dr Pepper, featuring the titular soft drink, caramel, sugar-cookie syrup and sweet cream.

Tea Is Bubbling

Photo Credit: Krak Boba

Krak Boba is pushing flavor boundaries with its selection of bubble and milk teas, including the King Brûlée, Taro Twist and Guerilla Thai (left to right).

According to recent findings from the Tea Association of the U.S.A., 75 to 80 percent of domestic tea consumption is iced. Arguably, this consumer preference has opened the door to the rise of boba, also called bubble tea, the Taiwanese import noted for its distinctive tapioca pearls.

Southern California-based Krak Boba pushes boundaries with innovations like King Brȗlée, which features boba plus three varieties of caramelized brown sugar. The menu also includes milk tea, a variation that features a tea-dairy combo but not necessarily tapioca pearls. Krak serves its milk teas cold, with options like Winter Melon Black Milk Tea and Brown Sugar Milk Tea. As an aside, the latter indulgent ingredient is enjoying raging popularity on tea menus of all stripes.

Chains know a good opportunity when they see it, leading the likes of Dunkin’, Sonic, Caribou Coffee and even Del Taco (which has also hopped aboard the dirty soda wagon) to float boba offerings of their own. Last spring, for instance, Caribou promoted a Frozen Lavender Matcha with Bubbles, featuring coconut-coffee flavored boba.

But not all tea is boba-filled; Taco Bell’s Aguas Refrescas line comprises fruit-flavored drinks with green tea, which is said to boost energy. And Atlanta-based McAlister’s Deli has upped the ante on iced tea, selling its own varieties by the gallon—literally. The Gallons to Go program includes special flavors, like Sugar Plum Sweet Tea for the holidays.

What’s Upstream?

Photo Credit: Juice It Up!

Beverages like Juice It Up’s Strawberry Horchata Smoothie check both wellness and flavor-forward boxes, both of which are trending with consumers.

The sizzling-hot category isn’t going to cool down anytime soon, but some interesting questions have arisen. First off, will the pendulum ever swing back to hot beverages amid a sea of cold brews? The National Restaurant Association’s 2025 What’s Hot Culinary Forecast predicts cold brew as the No. 1 trend in the category. Starbucks’ third-quarter affirms this prediction, with cold drinks accounting for a whopping 76 percent of its domestic beverage sales.

The association also anticipates wellness drinks with vitamins, supplements or fiber as formidable players in the year ahead. Of course, wellness waves have come and gone many times in the past, so it will be interesting to see what consumers choose once New Year’s resolutions begin to fall by the wayside.

Better beverages will need to lead with flavor appeal, like, say, the Strawberry Horchata Smoothie from Juice It Up. With a mélange of fruits, almond milk, nonfat yogurt, and chia seeds, the drink gets a boost from an apple-strawberry juice blend.

Finally, it’s worth keeping an eye on McDonald’s. While the brand is not known for out-of-the-box menu creativity, its fledgling CosMc’s concept is way, way out there with uber-trendy options like Churro Cold Brew Frappé, Iced French Toast Galaxy Latte, Sea Salted Caramelactic Shaken Espresso and Popping Pear Slush.

If CosMc’s is rolled out on a broad basis and/or if these edgy items make the leap to McDonald’s menus, the stage will be set for a truly titanic battle of the beverages with fellow multinational giant Starbucks.