How Torani Captures the Next 'Hit' Flavor in the Wave of Diversified Home Beverages

Generation Z is reshaping the beverage industry, influenced by TikTok trends, increasingly making drinks at home, trying to imitate the craft of café baristas or bartenders. As a long-standing benchmark company in the beverage syrup category, Torani is always looking for the next popular flavor and closely monitoring consumers' creative concoctions at home—from nutty-flavored coffees to energy drinks with added vanilla.

Andrea Ramirez, Torani's consumer market insights manager, who has been with the company since 2001, has observed significant changes in beverage consumption trends. In the past, Torani's main business was flavoring hot coffee drinks, which were typically paired with cream, sugar, and flavors like vanilla or caramel. But around 2016, Ramirez noticed a shift as cold drinks became more dominant among consumers.

"We strive to position ourselves in personalized beverage experiences, bringing novelty and excitement to consumers with more layers of flavor," Ramirez said.

The company sells over 150 flavored syrups, both through retail channels and to foodservice establishments like cafés, aiming to add unique tastes to drinks, with products available in sugared and sugar-free versions. Some flavors include: vanilla, caramel, coconut, raspberry, peanut butter cup, Belgian cookie, macadamia nut, and Irish cream.

Its latest launch,the dragonfruit syrup, hit the market in April, developed in collaboration with a Vietnamese café in Kansas City. Torani's food scientists identified the growing popularity of this flavor and tested several lightly sweetened syrup formulations suitable for flavored water, cocktails, and coffee.

Ramirez noted that technological trends in the foodservice sector, such as Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, have allowed consumers to experiment with novel flavors. In the southwestern United States, especially Utah,custom soda shops making "dirty" drinks—mixing cola or Sprite with flavors like coconut lime and cream—have also achieved viral success. Torani has observed that its more diverse flavors are gaining popularity with this shift.

Torani told Food Dive that the company recently surpassed $500 million in annual revenue for the first time. Its current success can be traced back to the early days of the pandemic in 2020, when the cafés and drive-thrus it typically relied on were forced to close.

"Our business truly grew because we are a professional product accessible to consumers, allowing them to make café-quality drinks at home," Ramirez said.

Seizing the moment

According to Ramirez, formulators in the flavor space are always looking for the "next pumpkin spice"—a flavor that dominates the food and beverage landscape.

"Its window is short, but consumer enthusiasm is extremely high," Ramirez said.

This love for fall flavors led the company, through consumer research, to launch popcorn ball syrup.

One of Torani's methods for innovating flavors is to review major news events and how they fit into the zeitgeist. Its 2022 and 2023 flavors of the year—salted egg yolk and roasted black sesame—stemmed from Gen Z's love of "shareable" experiences and the growth of bubble tea in Asian-flavored beverages, respectively.

Torani's2024 Flavor of the Year, "Galaxy" syrup,features notes of raspberry, dark rum, and a "subtle minerality," with a striking purple hue, suitable for stirring into matcha, energy drinks, and cold brew coffee. The company consulted Dr. Robin T. Garrod, an astronomy professor at the University of Virginia, to model the flavor on compounds in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud—which Torani says impart raspberry's distinctive taste.

The "Galaxy" flavor was inspired by the solar eclipse in April of this year and the multiple space launches planned this year. The company also observed that more young people identify with zodiac signs and astrology.

"There are always occasions that happen cyclically, but there are also one-time events like the eclipse, and we want to find ways to help bring an extra sensory experience," Ramirez said. "Predicting the next step is always interesting, filtering down from over 100 ideas to the final one."

The energy and functional beverage boom

While the company is always on the lookout for the latest exotic flavor, a structural shift is occurring in the beverage space that Torani wants to address.

In the coming years, the company predicts energy drinks and functional beverages will continue to surge. Ramirez cited data from BevNet Magazine and Circana showing that energy drink sales have grown to $21 billion since 2021, an increase of 51%. The sports drink category has also grown 49% in sales over the past three years, now with a market size of about $4 billion.

Two other trends driven by young consumers are pointing the way for the beverage industry: the surge in sales ofhydration drinks with electrolytes—from Unilever's Liquid I.V. packets to Prime soft drinks—and the growing popularity of reusable water bottles from brands like Stanley and Owala.

Major beverage trends largely play out on social media. "WaterTok"—a portmanteau of water and TikTok—is a phenomenon where influencers mix hydration packets and flavored syrups with water to create new drink combinations.

Beyond the retail consumer segment, Torani has observed these mixing trends emerging in regional foodservice establishments across the country and believes they will translate into retail opportunities. Some restaurants in Spokane, Washington, are making flavor-infused sports drinks. In the South, nutrition clubs are selling "loaded teas" with added functional ingredients.

"There are certainly still some custom drinks in their infancy that will have opportunities to ferment over the next three to four years, including the flavor-infused energy drink category," Ramirez said.

Although Torani experiments with unique flavor combinations, Ramirez said its best-selling products remain rooted in traditional pairings designed to enhance a cup of coffee.

"You want them to be cooler, sexier, but look at our best-selling flavors—they're all variations of caramel, vanilla, and chocolate," Ramirez said. "But sometimes new innovations come from foodservice reinterpretations of these classics, like sea salt vanilla."