In this article, you’ll learn:
- Why cafés benefit from rotating their cold coffee menu with the seasons
- How to plan, test, and launch a new seasonal drink
- How cafés can execute a smooth seasonal menu refresh four times a year
Seasonal menus can help coffee shops drive interest, encourage repeat visits, and create opportunities to introduce new drinks. Introducing a warm, spicy drink during the colder months and a bright, citrusy one during the warmer months can improve a coffee shop’s profitability and popularity.
For ate (Altogether Experimental), a coffee and brunch chain across Delhi and Haryana, India, the seasonal menu is always an exquisite experience. I spoke with Mansimrat Kaur, ate’s Brand Manager, about how the team plans, tests, and launches their seasonal drinks. Read on for her insights.
Why should cafés develop a seasonal drink menu?
Cafés should develop a seasonal drink menu because it keeps customers engaged, taps into seasonal cravings, and boosts sales year-round.
Coffee shops originally had simple menus, with a select number of flavours, if any. It was in the early 2000s that specific coffee chains introduced the Pumpkin Spice Latte during the autumn months. This flavoured drink, with its warming cinnamon notes, tasted similar to the American pumpkin pie people eat in autumn and became significantly popular. Now, Pumpkin Spice Lattes appear on café menus worldwide when autumn arrives. And they sell.
Part of the appeal comes from the way familiar aromas and flavours can evoke seasonal associations and memories. The scent of cinnamon and allspice can trigger memories of comfort, family, and warmth for the coffee drinker. This drink potentially sparked the trend of seasonal drinks, leading to Peppermint Mochas in winter or cardamom rose lattes in spring.
Cold foam alone can take on many seasons and is a great tool for cafés introducing seasonal drinks. Seasonal menus can really impact a consumer’s purchasing behaviour, as customers grow eager to taste and feel something nostalgic as the seasons change.
Mansimrat reports that their seasonal menu “starts with ingredients we’re genuinely excited about, not the other way around.” The team calls their seasonal menu ‘Glasshouse Specials,’ which has “outperformed our usual iced menu this season. The more considered builds tend to convert well; people are willing to try something new when it feels intentional,” Mansimrat adds.
Seasonal menus can feature iced drinks alongside hot beverages, offering options to suit different preferences and occasions. Gen Z groups are part of this trend, so cafés should curate their seasonal menus with this generation in mind, adding cold drinks as well as hot.
Refreshing the cold drink offerings often helps a café stay relevant against competitors. Limited-time offers (LTOs) can boost sales by giving customers a reason to feel eager and excited about something available only for a short period.
How do you plan and develop a new seasonal drink?
Planning a new seasonal drink means preparing ingredients and recipes well ahead of the season, then testing, training staff, and marketing before launch.
When seasons change, produce shifts, and consumer demands alter, a café needs to take the necessary steps to prepare its seasonal menu. For instance, a café must prepare its autumn menu during the summer. Getting the spices, the apple cider, and the recipes perfected before launching the menu is vital.
Some cafés have baristas prepare new recipes, then trial, test, and vote on them to select the winners that will perform throughout a season. Once the café selects the drinks, the next step is to prepare the staff on how to make the drink and how to sell it.
Marketing comes next. Naming the beverages is important; keeping it short and sweet can really sell a drink. Incorporating plant-based milks is also appealing, as they are more popular than dairy milk. Cafés can also experiment with functional or ingredient-led drinks to appeal to customers seeking something beyond traditional coffee.
For ate, Mansimrat mentions that “nothing launches without multiple rounds of testing, we taste across different times of day, adjust ratios, and occasionally scrap a drink entirely,” with some drinks going through many versions before approval. Of course, India does not see the same temperature shift as other countries, but seasonal menus still matter and still appeal to the customer base.
When cafés create and then phase out certain seasonal drinks, customers crave them year-round and ask when they’ll return. This interest can help build a seasonal menu that a café can thrive on and that customers love. The aroma of gingerbread evokes Christmas festivities for customers. The taste of rose brings a sense of joy that spring is coming. There is so much room for creativity, utilising local ingredients, and following trends on social media.
How can cafés execute a seasonal menu refresh smoothly, four times a year?
Cafés can execute a smooth seasonal menu refresh by planning early, training staff, marketing consistently, and monitoring performance throughout the season.
Maintaining a beautiful, engaging, tasty seasonal menu takes plenty of planning, trial and error, and creativity. Plus, cafés need an active social media presence, an understanding of customer demands, and a way to turn elaborate drink recipes into profit. It may be important for a café to maintain their brand and identity with their drinks, and give their own spin to seasonal drinks that represent their values.
Customers typically visit their local cafés more than once a week, and know when the menu changes. They follow their local café on social media, and cafés consider them ‘regulars.’ To be more active on social media, a café should turn to stories rather than posts. More people watch short videos than look at posts, making stories a great way to market seasonal beverages.
To attain success, Mansimrat notes that at ate, “we follow the season, not just the numbers. If the ingredient isn’t at its best, the drink goes with it. We’d rather retire something early than serve it past its moment.” So, the ate team carefully curates the seasonal menu, features the drinks on social media, and monitors the drinks’ performance. When ingredients are no longer as fresh and the season begins to shift, it is time to launch a new menu.
Working with Hardtank’s Cold Brew Equipment can help certain cafés brew more iced coffee to meet these seasonal shifts. Having cold brew can make it easier for cafés to develop seasonal drinks, including infused coffees topped with sweetened cold foam.
Hardtank’s equipment can help cafés meet whatever a seasonal menu demands, whether that’s rapid extraction, dispensing, or nitro and CO2 infusion. The Baby Hardtank suits smaller cafés, with recipe storage, fast brewing, and easy cleaning that keeps hygiene simple during busy seasonal launches.
For higher volume, Hardtank 20 scales up production without sacrificing consistency across every batch. Hardtap adds nitro and CO2 dispensing, letting cafés turn a single cold brew base into nitro cold brew, sparkling cold brew, or infused seasonal specials on tap.
Together, these systems can help cafés streamline production, support consistent cleaning processes, and keep up with demand as seasonal menus change.
Seasonal drink development: Key takeaways
- Seasonal drinks, like the Pumpkin Spice Latte, tap into nostalgic aromas and memories that keep customers coming back.
- Developing a new seasonal drink means testing recipes, training staff, and building marketing around the launch.
- Cafés like ate refresh their seasonal menu by following ingredient freshness and monitoring performance, not just the calendar.
Ready to keep your seasonal menu stocked with cold brew? Discover Hardtank’s cold brew equipment here.
Seasonal drink development: FAQ
Why do seasonal drinks perform so well for cafés?
Seasonal drinks tap into nostalgic aromas and memories, like the Pumpkin Spice Latte’s cinnamon notes, which keep customers eager to return each year.
How far in advance should a café prepare a new seasonal drink?
A café should prepare a new seasonal drink during the previous season, testing recipes, training staff, and planning marketing before launch.
How often should cafés refresh their seasonal cold coffee menu?
Cafés typically refresh their seasonal menu four times a year, monitoring ingredient freshness and drink performance to know when it’s time to switch.
Want to learn more about seasonal drinks with cold brew?
- Explore cold brew equipment: Discover Hardtank’s cold brew machines
- See the range in action: Hardtank 20 and Hardtap
- Speak to the team: Contact Hardtank here.
