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| A Cure For The Summertime Blues. |
Summer is high season for beverage sales. Customers dehydrate in the summer heat and eagerly seek refreshment wherever they can find it.
And with consumer attitudes bending toward favoring drinks perceived as fresh, healthful and exotic, onsite operators have a chance to boost profitability by offering drinks with high perceived value that can command premium price points.
Freshness is almost a must these days in all sorts of foodservice environments, and summer is a great time for leveraging the bounty of fruits that come to harvest over the hot months in your specialty drink menu.
An extra bonus: if your operation can secure produce from nearby farms, you can tap into the hot new trend for locally produced, sustainable ingredients.
Though probably not produced locally except in a few select areas, exotic juice ingredients like pomegranate or acai in drinks and smoothies offer another promising marketing draw, especially among young trend followers and health-conscious baby boomers.
The highly successful Jamba Juice smoothie concept for example touts an offering called the Acai Supercharger that blends acai juice, soymilk, raspberry sherbet, strawberries, blueberries and ice into a drink marketed for its powerful antioxidant content (acai and the various berries are all very high in antioxidants, regarded by some as effective cancer fighters).
Avocado Mango CoolerYIELD: 8 servings 4 avocados 12 cups mango nectar 4 cups crushed ice > Puree ingredients together in a blender. Serve garnished with a mint sprig. Recipe by California Avocado Commission. Twisted LemonadeYIELD: 1 serving 1 oz. Island Oasis Strawberry, Raspberry, Wildberry, Guava, Mango or Peach Mix 5 oz. Island Oasis Lemonade Mix > Blend Lemonade and pour over fruit mix of choice. Recipe : Island Oasis Blueberry Cantaloupe SmoothieYIELD: 1 two-cup serving 1 cup Plain Yogurt > Place all ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. Pour into glass and serve immediately. Recipe by Dannon Co. Pomegranate Pink JadeYIELD: 6 servings 2 cups pomegranate juice* > Mix pomegranate juice and remaining ingredients. Add ice cubes and portion to serve. Optional: Add 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of vodka for an alcoholic cocktail version. *One medium pomegranate (about 9 oz.) yields about half a cup of juice. Iced Green Tea DelightYIELD: 1 serving 1 cup Pearl Green Tea Organic Soymilk, chilled > Measure soymilk, honey and almond extract into blender container. Cover and process on medium speed until smooth. Recipe by Kikkoman Torani Sugar-Free Raspberry SodaYIELD: 1 16-oz. serving 3 Tbsps. Torani Sugar-Free Raspberry Syrup Strawberry Grapefruit Cooler YIELD: 1 serving 4 oz. frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, partially thawed 4 oz. pink grapefruit juice 4 sugar cubes 1 scoop ice splash lemon-lime soda 1 whole fresh strawberry > In a blender combine all ingredients except the soda and whole strawberry. Add soda and garnish with the whole strawberry. Recipe by California Strawberry Commission |
