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Custom Beverages: The Rise of the Twist
A New Era of Beverage Culture
From bean origin to syrups, alternative milks, and toppings, today’s consumers expect their drinks to reflect their personal preferences with 60% of global consumers now expect tailored drink options across beverages like coffees, smoothies, iced teas, lemonades, smoothies, and milkshakes (Botrista, 2025). Flavour and experience are becoming central to beverage culture.
In a price-conscious climate, the rise of “the little treat culture” is pushing demand for premium beverages that feel indulgent yet accessible. According to the Global Data Consumer Survey, 52% of consumers buy luxury drinks to treat themselves instead of dining out, making beverages not just a refreshment, but an experience. This is especially true for Gen Z, with 84% seeking unique experiences and emotional connections when going out for meals, making beverages a central part of their social identity (Botrista, 2025).
What’s Driving the Customisation Craze?
Evolving consumer expectations, flavour innovation, and social media influence is driving drink customisation. What began as simple syrup choices has expanded into flavour-forward and functional beverage experiences.
Consumers are looking to trade up, seeking more choice, more customisation, and more premium experiences. They’re willing to spend more when a drink looks and feels indulgent, especially when it offers added benefits like supplements. Functional beverages like collagen-infused drinks, added multivitamin shots, and protein-filled drinks are gaining traction for their perceived wellness advantages, such as improved energy, immunity, and skin health. This shift is reflected in market growth with the global functional coffee market at USD 4.48 billion in 2025 (Mordor Intelligence, 2025), highlighting the rising demand for drinks that deliver both flavour and function.
The Emotional Drivers
Sensory appeal and emotional connection play a big role, with over 40% of consumers favouring nostalgic flavours (Innova Market Insights Flavour Trends, 2024) like black forest-inspired milkshakes or tiramisu iced chocolates. Additionally, 28% of global consumers say “mood-enhancing” is the most important aspect of food and drink (Innova Market Insights – Top 10 Trends 2024).
Syrups like blueberry and pumpkin spice have gone viral on TikTok due to their visual appeal with photogenic tones and layered presentations e.g. Frosted Blueberry Matcha and Pumpkin Pie Frappe. These drinks aren’t just tasty, they’re also shareable, helping venues tap into the power of social media storytelling.
Syrups: The Secret Ingredient to Flavour and Flexibility
Flavour is important and syrups offer a fast and accessible way to introduce indulgent and seasonal profiles, with popular options like caramel, vanilla, and hazelnut remaining staples. Emerging favourites like pistachio, matcha, and marshmallow are gaining traction, especially among Gen Z and Millennials. With 75% of those aged 18–34 customising their drink orders with syrups (Lincoln & York 2024), it’s clear that syrups are more than an add-on, they’re a gateway to creativity, indulgence, and brand loyalty.
In addition to flavour, syrups offer flexibility and versatility across venue operations. Their ease of use allows baristas to quickly customise beverages with consistent results, whether it’s a hot chocolate, iced tea, frappe, smoothie, or lemonade. Syrups blend smoothly into both hot and cold drinks, making them a go-to ingredient for year-round menu innovation. Their versatility is a big win for venues looking to tap into fast-growing trends like mocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. In fact, the market for these kinds of sophisticated alternatives is set to grow by 97% in 2028 (Accio, 2025), showing just how much consumer demand is shifting toward flavourful and alcohol-free options.
Introducing SIMPLY Twist: One Syrup, Infinite Possibilities
Delivering the level of creativity consumers now demand in beverage customisation often means added cost, complexity, and equipment for operators. That’s where SIMPLY Twist comes in.
Our new trend-led syrup range – Chilli, Toasted, Salted, and Cookie – is designed to help operators meet this challenge head-on by offering low-cost and high-impact flavour menu innovation that’s easy to implement, by adding a second or third flavour dimension to core drinks.
Kate Ailey, Strategy Director at IBC Simply, shares: “We recognised our customers were telling us the same challenges – that they wanted to reduce SKU count and maximise existing lines while still creating new and exciting menus. Our new Twist range allows people to have these as core lines all year round and add an additional layer of flavour to existing SKUs without adding excessive sweetness or calories.”
That’s why we created SIMPLY Twist, a new range of syrups designed to help venues meet this demand with ease.
Twist Your Menu: Flavour Curiosity Meets Crave-ability
From nostalgic comfort to bold flavour exploration, the SIMPLY Twist range taps into this shift with flavour profiles that are both craveable and commercially smart.
Simply Twist Chilli
Sweet and spicy (swicy) is one of the fastest-growing flavour trends across snacks, desserts, and beverages and with 48% of global consumers say they’re interested in sweet–spicy combinations (Innova, 2024), SIMPLY Twist Chilli adds a spicy kick to drinks like smoothies and coolers, offering a bold twist that feels familiar yet fresh.
Try this Chilli Hot Chocolate to showcase the trend. With 74% of consumers actively seeking exotic taste experiences (Botrista, 2025), it’s the perfect addition to your menu all year-round.
Simply Twist Cookie
Cookie-inspired drinks tap into the emotional side of flavour, bringing comfort, nostalgia, and indulgence to every sip. In fact, 74% of UK consumers enjoy flavours that evoke childhood memories (Mintel, 2024).
With dessert-inspired syrups among the top three global growth drivers in flavour innovation (Innova, 2024), Simply Twist Cookie is perfect for all seasonal menus including frappes, lattes, and more. Try our Gingerbread Cookie Frappe recipe to bring this nostalgic trend to life in a deliciously festive way.
Simply Twist Salted
Salted flavours have become a staple in beverage menus, led by the success of salted caramel – a Top 5 flavour Limited Time Offer in UK cafés (Allegra Project Café, 2025). With 62% of global consumers enjoying sweet-salty combinations (Innova, 2024), this profile offers a balanced, premium twist to indulgent drinks.
Try our Salted Pistachio Latte recipe as an example of how one pump can transform a classic into a premium beverage.
Simply Twist Toasted
Toasted flavours are growing across bakery, chocolate, and beverage menus, driven by a desire for richness and craftsmanship. In fact, 71% of consumers associate roasted/toasted notes with quality (Mintel, 2024) making this an ideal layer to add depth and complexity that elevates everyday drinks.
Simply Twist Toasted adds a roasted and toasted note to matcha, hot chocolate, and more. Try this Toasted Hazelnut Iced Matcha to showcase its versatility and keep your menu exciting all year round.
Twist Your Menu Board:
- Salted Honeycomb Frappe
- White Chocolate Cookie Iced Latte
- Spicy Passion Fruit Smoothie
- Raspberry Heatwave Mocktail
- Toasted Coconut Iced Matcha
The Twist range empowers operators to deliver bold and layered flavour combinations with minimal training and maximum impact. Ready to elevate your drinks menu? For all your Twist recipe inspiration, find all our recipes here:
Operational Wins: Fast, Cost-Effective, and Easy to Upsell
From an operational point, SIMPLY Twist offers a fast and cost-effective way to elevate a drinks menu. Twist lets venues reimagine drinks with a simple way to stand out with no new equipment and no complicated preparation. Twist turns everyday drinks into custom experiences without slowing you down.
Why Twists Work for Your Business
- No more than 6p per serving
- Works with existing and seasonal SKUs to create new drinks with minimal calorie impact
- Drives upsell and increases perceived value per drink
- Flavour innovation in a bottle
- Versatile applications – perfect for coffee, frappes, matcha, hot chocolate, milkshakes, and more
- Inspires creativity for seasonal specials and limited editions
Rolling Out Twist: Training, Marketing & Cross-Selling Made Simple
The Twist range allows for quick transitions between flavour profiles like switching from a caramel hot chocolate to a chilli caramel hot chocolate with just a single 4ml pump. This not only simplifies training for staff and becomes a driver of revenue but also initiates creative opportunities for marketing campaigns.
Marketing plays a key role in syrup success. In-store signage and seasonal menus should emphasise flavour combinations and limited-time offers. Highlighting the ease of use and versatility in promotional materials can encourage customers to experiment with new combinations, helping drive customer engagement.
We provide a range of marketing assets including drink and POS materials, recipe cards, and other promotional tools. These resources help showcase the syrups in creative and appealing ways, making it easier for staff to inspire customers and boost sales.
Conclusion: Customisation is the Key to Beverage Innovation
Drink customisation isn’t just a trend, it’s a strategic opportunity for venues to meet evolving consumer expectations. The Twist range empowers operators to deliver bold and layered flavour combinations with minimal training and maximum impact. Ready to elevate your drinks menu? For all your Twist recipe inspiration, find all our recipes here:
Connect with our sales team below to discover how SIMPLY Twist can transform your beverage offering. Alternatively, call 0800 689 5128 or email sales@ibcsimply.com
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