How Torani evidenced demand for new drink flavors & boosted sales 55%

Challenge

Torani produces flavored syrups for the foodservice industry across the United States and globally. Despite their operators regularly requesting new flavors, Torani didn’t always feel confident prioritizing them for Research & Development because they were unsure of the opportunity size – especially in a niche segment like energy drinks.

Infused energy drinks is one of those niche segments that we have had business in for quite some time, but never really understood what the scope of it was. There isn’t any syndicated data that even tracks that within food service. 

Andrea Ramirez, Consumer & Customer Market Insight Manager at Torani

Solution

Torani worked with Attest to set up a survey around attitudes and usage of infused energy drinks. The research showed that ‘infused energy drink consumers’ love fun flavors and customization. And questions about flavor types confirmed that Torani should respond to their operators’ requests.

What was really fascinating is we found out how high volume, high use the category was; people who are using the category are typically coming once a day or more often. They’re spending a lot of money on it and it wasn’t necessarily the consumer we thought.

Andrea Ramirez, Consumer & Customer Market Insight Manager at Torani

Impact

Three new flavors were launched, including cantaloupe, prickly pear, and cranberry (a flavor that had been discontinued 15+ years before). Operators have combined these with other flavors to make their own bespoke drinks. In addition to providing operators with new menu options, Torani has been able to supply them with previously unavailable consumer data.

Operators have really valued understanding the category more. There hasn’t been any kind of research that has looked into how people use the category frequency. So we’ve felt really successful and excited that we actually have something to react to.

Andrea Ramirez, Consumer & Customer Market Insight Manager at Torani