In this article, you’ll learn:
- Which drinks and flavours perform best in cafés and RTD formats during the holiday season
- How to decide between fresh service and ready-to-drink holiday beverages
- How the best RTD drinks can expand your brand’s reach beyond the café
For coffee shops and roasters, the holiday season is an incredibly valuable time. It’s a chance to launch limited-edition seasonal products that rotate throughout the year, tapping into trending flavours to drive up demand and increase sales.
However, determining which drinks to offer during the holiday season – and which formats to serve them in – can be challenging. It’s an operational decision that influences how customers enjoy your drinks and which market segments you appeal to. Therefore, choosing the best RTD drinks and fresh service models is very important.
To learn more about the kinds of drinks to serve around Christmas, including the best RTD drinks for the season, I spoke to Cydney Mitchell. She is the Café Manager at Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate, a craft chocolate company and café based in California, USA. Read on for her insight.
What are the best RTD drinks and fresh menu items for the holiday season?
During the holiday season, the best RTD drinks and fresh beverages include gingerbread lattes, pumpkin spice lattes, and hot chocolate. The Christmas period is often associated with warmth and spices like cinnamon and ginger, so targeting these flavour profiles is a worthwhile strategy.
“During the months of November and December, our café sees a significant increase in demand for seasonal beverages,” Cydney tells me. “They include pumpkin spice lattes, peppermint hot chocolate, peppermint mocha, eggnog lattes, and gingerbread lattes.”
Studies show that warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg are all strongly linked to Christmas – and accordingly, to seasonal drinks. By offering these flavours and clearly marking them as limited-edition holiday treats on your café menu or RTD packaging, you can tap into these trends.
Households also spend up to 29% more in December, so these new products can attract highly engaged customers and drive revenue for your business. Similarly, seasonal beverages have a higher average transaction value – around 17% more than standard drinks. This represents an important value proposition for businesses.
At its California café, Cydney has observed how these flavours appeal to customers during the winter. “These drinks capture the festive spirit of the season and create a sense of warmth and comfort for our guests,” she says. “Their popularity reflects how much customers enjoy flavours that evoke the holidays.”
Evidently, coffee shops, cafés, and drinks brands have a lot of options for their festive product range. The key takeaway is that flavours associated with spices, sweetness, and warmth are the most effective. It’s these tasting notes that make for the best RTD drinks and fresh menu items during the Christmas season.
Why are gingerbread lattes one of the best RTD drinks for the festive period?
Gingerbread lattes in particular are one of the best RTD drinks and menu items for the Christmas period. Popular chains like Starbucks and Costa offer them every year in a variety of formats. While fresh service is the predominant consumption method, brands also sell individual sachets of gingerbread latte powder and RTD cans, too.
Combining one or two shots of espresso with milk and spices like ginger and cinnamon, gingerbread lattes are known for their sweetness and warmth. Coffee shops can also offer iced versions made using cold brew or iced lattes – suitable for canning to become one of the best RTD drinks for the winter season.
As one of Dick Taylor’s most popular seasonal products, Cydney understands why consumers gravitate towards gingerbread lattes. “They’re especially popular because their warm, spicy flavours remind customers of the holiday season and the comforting traditions that come with it,” she says.
“The nostalgic taste of gingerbread cookies translates beautifully into a drink that people look forward to every year,” Cydney explains. “It becomes more than just a beverage – it’s an experience that connects flavour with fond memories.”
In this sense, regardless of your format for gingerbread lattes, they should be the backbone of your festive drinks menu.
The best RTD drinks also offer strong retail potential during the holiday season. Gift packs, limited-edition cans, and cross-merchandising with pastries or holiday bundles can significantly lift average revenue per customer.
Do customers prefer holiday drinks that are freshly made or RTD formats?
The next step is determining how to offer them to customers: freshly made or in RTD formats. Both have their own benefits: while fresh service is generally a more visually appealing format, the convenience and shelf stability of the best RTD drinks make them useful for retail and on-demand settings.
For Cydney, fresh service is the primary option for Dick Taylor’s café. “When it comes to seasonal drinks, I think customers appreciate beverages that are made to order. Serving drinks this way ensures quality and allows the natural flavours and aromas to shine through.”
She also believes that the craft behind fresh service makes it appealing for limited-edition drinks. “It demonstrates a commitment to care and craftsmanship that our customers really value,” she says.
However, it’s important to note that for many coffee shops and cafés, fresh service can present an operational bottleneck. Especially for drinks like gingerbread lattes, which require precise ingredients and spices, service times may increase. Systems like the Baby Hardtank present a solution, particularly for cold seasonal drinks like iced pumpkin spice lattes, since you can pre-prepare iced coffee to use as a base for these drinks.
When it comes to selling seasonal drinks outside of your coffee shop – or as a grab-and-go product for customers in a hurry – RTD formats can be especially useful. By launching a limited-season RTD and displaying it on shelves, it incentivises customers to try it before it disappears – and means they can open and drink it at their own leisure.
However, there are a few factors to consider when launching your own RTD gingerbread latte and other seasonal drinks. “Although they can taste great, some manufacturers include added ingredients or preservatives to maintain shelf stability,” Cydney says. “They can compromise the overall quality compared to freshly prepared options.”
To address this, you can work with private label RTD manufacturers to streamline the process and ensure shelf stability and quality without added preservatives. For example, Hardtank offers three rounds of feedback for custom formulations, ensuring your drinks contain the ingredients you expect. We also pasteurise our RTD drinks after canning to preserve their flavour and quality. This process maintains clean-label formulations – increasingly important as 58% of consumers actively avoid artificial additives in beverages.
Therefore, you have two options for your seasonal drinks strategy. Businesses like Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate use fresh service to create each drink to order, giving customers a memorable experience. The best RTD drinks allow you to sell your drinks across more consumer touchpoints – but working with the right partner is crucial for upholding quality.
Key takeaways
- Holiday flavours like gingerbread, pumpkin spice, and peppermint drive strong seasonal demand.
- Fresh service maximises in-store experience; RTD formats unlock retail & grab-and-go sales.
- Limited-edition RTDs can increase brand visibility and create urgency to purchase.
Want to launch your own RTD gingerbread lattes? Visit our private label services page or speak with a member of the team to learn more.
FAQ
What are the best RTD drinks for the holiday season?
The most popular drinks with consumers around Christmas are gingerbread lattes, pumpkin spice lattes, and peppermint hot chocolate. Gingerbread lattes are especially popular because their hot, soothing spices replicate the comforting flavour of gingerbread cookies.
Should cafés prioritise fresh service or RTD drinks for festive beverages?
It mostly depends on your strategy and operational size. Fresh service promotes the in-store experience, while RTD formats are more convenient for customers to quickly grab and can be sold in a range of customer-facing environments.
How can the best RTD drinks stay fresh without preservatives?
Working with private label drinks manufacturers can help you avoid freshness concerns. Choose partners that offer natural pasteurisation to maintain flavour without preservatives.
Want to launch your own seasonal drinks?
- Learn more: Discover our private label process.
- Choose your products: Browse our flavours and formats.
- Book a session with an RTD expert: Contact our team here.
