Summer Drinks
Soft Drinks
Ice Cream
BBQ
Sustainable Packaging
Tobacco
42 CATEGORY FOCUS Soft Drinks
Softly refreshing Sales of soft drinks soared during the recession and are set to keep growing steadily due to the level of innovation happening in the market around functional beverages and energy drinks. Fionnuala Carolan reports
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rom mixers to cordials, sparkling offerings and more, when it comes to soft drinks, there’s an abundance of choice for consumers. And last summer, consumers certainly made the most of the expansive range on offer. The staycation boom caused sales of soft drinks to jump by €7.7 million in the twelve weeks to 8 August 2021, research from Kantar found. In line with the industry-wide push towards greener products, sustainability remains a major focus in this category and manufacturers are striving to meet consumers’ concerns by making their packaging more environmentally friendly. According to Bord Bia’s report, the Future of Adult Beverages, globally there is a move to
more functional beverages with a strong influence of sustainability and naturalness. Here in Ireland, in the quest for authentic goodness and natural functionality there is growing interest in wild ingredients. Globally functional foods and beverages are projected to grow by 8.5%. According to a recent Euromonitor report on the performance of soft drinks globally, beverages industry analyst Brian Morgan said carbonates compose 40% of all volume sales
of soft drinks worldwide. Still, the global industry overview found that bottled water surpassed carbonates in 2008 to become the leading category in soft drinks by volume terms. According to Morgan, there are still opportunities for growth in added-value water, specifically sports waters. Young people looking for an energy boost often reach for energy drinks over coffee or soda, he said. ShelfLife looks at the brands you should be stocking for maximum profit in this category.
Wild About was the winner of the Blas na hÉireann Supreme Champion 2021 award
Drink to your health Wild About is an innovative Irish artisan company creating an award-winning range of natural food and drink from native, seasonal and wild ingredients. As the winner of the Blas na hÉireann Supreme Champion 2021 Award, the company is responding to the consumer appetite for functional and healthy food and drink products. Wild About uses simple, sustainable plantbased ingredients with naturally occurring plant compounds, vitamins and minerals to
ShelfLife May 2022 | www.shelflife.ie
promote health and wellbeing. Nettles are one of our greatest native superfoods, a natural source of essential vitamins, minerals and iron. The company started making a nettle syrup a decade ago, to dilute with sparkling water. It has consistently been its product leader, yearon-year. Wild About did some R&D, reformulated the recipe, making it low in sugar and stable (ambient), carbonated, pasteurised in a 330ml glass bottle and its Sparkling Nettle Drink was born. Unfortunately, so was Covid and despite the
social restrictions with no markets, no events or even promotions, Wild About still managed to produce and sell over 20k units in the domestic market. Driven by this, the company developed a second product, a Sparkling Fennel Drink, with similar natural health and wellness benefits. There is no doubt the clear Irish trends, mirrored globally, are heading towards more natural, beneficial, local and sustainable products. Nettle is very popular in Germany, the world’s fourth biggest beverage market worth US$53,662m so the people at Wild About are excited to see where this story goes. For more information on Wild About, contact Fiona Falconer. Mobile: 086 81229525, fiona@wildabout.ie, www.wildabout.ie, Instagram: wild.about, Facebook: Wildabout.ie.
