Cold coffee drinks are having a big moment—according to Technomic’s recent Beverage Consumer Trend Report, 30% of consumers are purchasing cold coffee—including iced and blended coffee drinks—more frequently than they were two years ago. For convenience store retailers, the opportunity to profit from this surge in demand is huge—but many retailers may have concerns about needing large, cumbersome equipment they may not have the space for, or adding more labor in order to meet consumers’ needs. Thankfully, there’s options that ensure retailers can serve the coffee drinks their customers want without maxing out labor or needing to buy costly, space-taking equipment.
Cold coffee variety
Today’s consumers are used to having a lot of options to choose from when they want a coffee drink—coffee cafes offer iced coffee, cold brew, nitro coffee and frozen coffee drinks, among others. For c-stores to compete, offering similar variety is key—but offering multiple formats can be tricky, especially in a time when many industries are still struggling with labor retention, rising wages and other operational challenges. Cold brew coffee can take hours to prepare, nitro coffee can require kegs, and frozen coffee needs blenders.
BUNN has an array of options that help c-stores offer the variety they need to compete, without overspending on labor and machinery.
Cold coffee equipment
When it comes to streamlining operations and maximizing efficiency, BUNN produces easy-to-use cold coffee solutions to meet retailers’ needs.
- Iced coffee: For large batches of iced coffee the BUNN’s Infusion Series® IC3 is a high-volume brewer specifically designed for brewing batches of iced coffee using flash chill or concentrate dilution brewing methods.
- Cold brew: The new Cold Brew mode on the BUNN Infusion Series® Platinum Edition® allows stores to brew batches of cold brew in either concentrate or finished-strength formats in minutes reducing labor demand for store staff.
- Nitro coffee: Nitron® dispenses both still and nitro-infused cold brew coffee by the cup without the need for kegs, making it a convenient option for smaller spaces.
- Frozen coffee: Retailers can create frozen coffee beverages in batches and dispense them by the cup using the BUNN Ultra® NX, which is great for flavored and seasonal choices as well as unflavored frozen coffee.
All-day profits
While hot coffee is most popular in the morning hours, c-stores that offer cold coffee options can expand their beverage earnings. According to Technomic’s Beverage report, hot coffee’s popularity drops off for lunch and dinner hours as well as between-meal snack times. Cold coffee options, however, maintain their appeal throughout the day, which can lead to more sales from shoppers who want a pick-me-up but don’t want a hot beverage. Additionally, when choosing where to buy beverages from, consumers cite craving a specific beverage as a top reason for choosing a location. In other words, if c-stores want to draw in more traffic, they will need to offer the types of coffee drinks consumers are craving.
By updating the beverage lineup with BUNN equipment, retailers can cater to the growing demand for specialty cold coffee drinks and capitalize on the trend—all while minimizing labor. To learn more about BUNN cold coffee solutions, visit https://commercial.bunn.com/cold-coffee-solutions.
This post is sponsored by BUNN