Welcome to Operator Notes, a new weekly newsletter written by coffee operators, consultants, creators, and practitioners who spot trends and share insight on what to do about them.
Each week, an expert working in the industry spotlight a learning, a takeaway, or trend they care about to help other operators in coffee learn and grow faster.
This week’s edition is written by Garrett Oden, publisher at Fresh Cup.
✉️ Operator Notes: practical advice from people working in coffee.
👋 Get the newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday—sign up.
The Cold Drink Shift is Kind of Insane
One of the facts we’ve repeated in many stories the past couple of years is that three out of every four drinks sold in U.S. Starbucks locations are cold. And this isn’t limited to Starbucks-like chains—last year, Peter Giuliano, the former co-owner of Counter Culture Coffee and executive director of the Coffee Science Foundation, penned an essay “Why I think Specialty Cold Coffee is the Future“.
The large chains and solo specialty espresso bars are seeing the same trend: people are shifting toward cold coffee beverages.
One of the ways we’re seeing this trend permeate the specialty world is through signature drinks. People are showing more interest in fun flavor combinations and drinks unique to a specific coffee shop or location.
Customers want to be folded into the experience! We think that’s part of the reason why shops like Little Joy in Northfield, Minnesota, have gone viral lately. Little Joy has been doing a series highlighting the shop’s specialty drinks and asking people: Should you make this drink at home, or come to the shop and buy it?
The drinks are incredibly creative, and the video series sort of peels back the onion to show how pros think about putting flavors together. And it’s not about exclusivity: they gave away the recipe for the shop’s raspberry danish latte, and over a hundred shops added it to their menus.
So this week, we decided to pull articles about cold coffee and signature drinks (below). We hope revisiting these pieces can help you think about what customers want and how you can creatively meet their needs.
And remember: you know your customers best, but tastes change and evolve. It’s always fun to try something new.
Fortune Favors The Bold
There was a point when serving black coffee, in its many forms, was considered the ultimate goal of the specialty coffee shop. Baristas would share war stories of getting people off sugary drinks and into pour overs (or cappuccinos, at least).
This crusade may have been well intended, but was it necessary?
Let’s face it, it’s the cold drinks that sell. And couldn’t we all use a little more sales?
I have three suggestions to lean into the cold coffee explosion:
Don’t moralize it. Leaning into cold drinks doesn’t mean you’re failing to convert people to industry-aware, producer-concerned, black coffee drinkers. And it never did.
Think like a mixologist. Syrups are great, use them. But look to the ingredients of bartenders to get outside the box: bitters, fresh herbs, infused oils.
Look beyond coffee. Matcha is having a moment, of course. But so are dirty sodas, fruity refreshers, and smaller mocktail-like drinks.
Go Deeper
Cold Coffee’s Rise Shows No Signs of Slowing, NCA Report Finds
News report from the National Coffee Association showing that cold drinks continue to gain popularity
Beyond Cold Brew: Elevating Your Cold Coffee Menu
Successful coffee shops talk about fun ways they’ve incorporated cold coffee beyond just cold brew
How Specialty Coffee Brands Are Keeping Up With Gen Z Consumers
Co-ferments and cold foam stand in stark contrast to the OG specialty coffee ethos, which prioritized the inherent characteristics of the coffee bean.
Who Is Canned Cold Brew For?
Canned drinks! Who is drinking them, who do they serve, and how RTD has the potential to expand the consumer market
Can Lasers Change The Way We Make Cold Brew?
Maybe? The jury is still out
Stay Flush in a Cold Brew Rush
Originally published in 2018, this article discusses differentiation and how to stand out when every shop is selling cold brew
Cold Coffee for a New Cohort: What Chamberlain Coffee Says About Gen Z Coffee Drinkers
Arguably one of the most comprehensive stories we’ve published on Gen Z and how they’re changing the dialogue on coffee. If you read one story on this list, make it this one.
It’s Autumn, but Cold Coffee Is Here To Stay
Cold drinks aren’t just for summer — the purchasing trends we highlighted tend to hold true all year, so this article covers how to be creative with cold drinks in the off season
