2023 Britvic Soft Drinks Review Licensed - Flipbook - Page 26
WELCOME
SUSTAINABILITY
CATEGORY OVERVIEW
COCKTAIL
CULTURE
Growing numbers may be drinking less, but alcohol is still
the lifeblood of the licensed sector (after all, you wouldn’t
need a licence without it). Still, current trends in the
alcoholic drinks that people are choosing when they do
visit pubs, clubs and bars – combined with the pressures
operators are facing around labour and profitability – offer
further opportunities for soft drinks.
For licensed operators, selling more spirit/mixer drinks
such as gin & tonic or whisky & cola, can raise both the
top and bottom lines. That’s because spirits & mixers hold
the highest average price at British bars, selling for £5.30
a drink.28 As we’ve seen, they are also highly profitable,
offering an average margin per typical outlet of more than
80%.29 As we will explore, encouraging drinkers to trade up
to more premium mixers can push those margins higher.
132%
On-trade cocktail sales
are booming, having risen
by 132% to £686m in the
past year.31
Products such as London Essence Company’s Original
Indian, warming Pomelo & Pink Peppercorn and zesty
Blood Orange & Elderflower Tonics are on hand to help
licensed operators realise this opportunity. So too are
Britvic’s 14-strong range of Mixers & Juices – including
Tomato Juice for the perfect Bloody Mary and Cranberry
for Sex On the Beach – and Mathieu Teisseire’s flavoured
syrups, which include Mojito and Piña Colada lines.
Indeed, many people are looking for more than a dash
of their favourite spirit and a splash of tonic when they
are on a night out these days. Despite the cost-of-living
crisis, 32% of consumers have increased their overall
spend on cocktails.30 And quality remains key for these
drinkers: 92% say they are now choosing cocktails that
are better quality, or of the same quality, when they go
out for a drink.30
On-trade cocktail sales are booming, having risen by
132% to £686m in the past year.31 With more drinkers
expecting the venues they visit to offer a compelling
range of cocktails (62% say it’s important that pubs
offer them), more operators are obliging and serving
up cocktails, either mixed to order, part pre-mixed or
through dispense systems.30
Visit mathieuteisseire.com/
inspiration/recipes/ for more than
100 recipe ideas
28 Rethink Drink P2/CGA, 12 w/e 18 June 2022
29 CGA, Cost of Living Consumer Pulse December 2022, UK & Ireland – P7
30 CGA, mixed drinks report ,Q3 2022
31 CGA, mixed drinks report P5; CGA Mixed Drinks Q3 2021-2022 – Volumetric sales data
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LICENSED CATEGORY OVERVIEW