Spring is in the air and beverage menus are featuring fruity additions to celebrate the season. Lemonade seems to be the top choice for restaurants adding to their spring roster, mixing and matching with other fruit varieties for new, refreshing options. Beverage LTOs allow operators to feature limited-time seasonal flavours, in this case likely looking to get guests excited about the warmer weather approaching.
Here are some of the restaurants with lemonade on their menus this season:
Chick-fil-A recently launched its spring menu, adding a dragon fruit lineup to the offerings, including Pineapple Dragonfruit Lemonade, available for a limited time only. The drink combines the tart taste of lemonade with dragonfruit and pineapple for a refreshing tropical beverage.
Wendy’s in the U.S. has a variety of lemonades on their current menu, including all-natural, strawberry, blueberry pomegranate and pineapple mango. In Canada, strawberry lemonade remains the only flavour on the menu so far.
Shake Shack, recently launching in Canada, has introduced a new lineup of lemonades, including Tropical Kiwi, Berry Cherry Pomegranate, and Sunset, a blend of strawberry, Meyer lemon and orange zest. They also offer 50/50 lemonades, which include a choice of lemonade flavour combined with organic iced tea.
While not all new, Starbucks has a wide range in the lemonade realm. Although only Blended Strawberry and Original appear on the menu, the options to customize with fruit inclusions and syrups allow for a multitude of combinations.
Some convenience stores are also hopping on the lemonade trend, with 7-Eleven offering a Brisk Lemonade Slurpee as a refreshing option in their lineup.
As we head into the warmer weather, more spring and summer LTOs will pop up on restaurant menus. Studies have found that about 25 per cent of consumers’ product choices are affected by seasonal or limited-edition flavours, and 41 per cent are likely to make impulse purchases when it comes to food or beverage LTOs. Restaurants that pay attention to the trends and take advantage of the interest in LTOs may see more sales this season.
