Should Restaurants Even Offer Soda? The Gritty Truth, The Hard Numbers, The Next Giant Step
Should Restaurants Even Offer Soda? The Gritty Truth, The Hard Numbers, The Next Giant Step
Picture this. It’s a Saturday night. There is a neighborhood steakhouse with fire in its bones. The GM wants to know why the restaurant feels flat. The menu shines, service hums like a well-oiled grill, but revenue’s stuck. A server delivers six sodas to a family of four. Each glass sweats with syrup and ice, the fizz catching the neon. The mother takes a slow sip. She glances at her children, who crunch on ice cubes. Laughter bounces off the varnished walls. The table glows with comfort and calories.
Everyone in this business knows that soda pop is profit. Margins sky-high. No mise-en-place, no spoilage, no angry sous-chef cursing over wasted product. But we all know what lies behind the shine. Soda’s grip on menus has always been about convenience and cash, not care.
The Real Cost of Soda Pop
Now for the number that haunts me. Americans remaining loyal to soda, more than half drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention¹. The rub is that each sip is a slow poison. Sugar-sweetened drinks are directly linked to higher rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and yes, early death². In a European study following over 450,000 adults for 16 years, drinking just two soft drinks a day raised all-cause mortality by 17%³.
You may think that a single glass means nothing, that a little fizz cannot harm. You would be wrong. Soda, in any form, brings trouble for your guests. It erodes teeth, damages bones, harms kidneys, and stirs up cravings, leading to an avalanche of bad choices⁴. Diet sodas, hailed as harmless, only replace one risk with another, more acid, more gut disruption, more heart strain⁴.
Fortify that with American Diabetes Association guidance, and you’ll see the line moving on the balance sheet, from the guest’s health to the future of your brand.
The Winds of Change
Look around. Applebee’s and IHOP stripped soda off kids’ menus nationwide last year⁵. The Harvard School of Public Health found that children who drink sugary drinks are at higher risk for obesity and less healthy future outcomes⁵. It’s not just the chains, either. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway, and Panera have done the same. Pressure is mounting from shareholders and health advocates. Once known as family safe havens, these places bet on a different story, that menus can lead, not follow.
Menu Overhaul, Revenue Reborn
But what about the numbers? Restaurants push through menu overhauls with one hard truth. Menu engineering raises profits. Not in theory. In bricks, in payroll, and it’s not wishful thinking. With a focused menu redesign, profit increases of 10% to 15% are typical⁶. Remove sabotaged, low-value items. Elevate your best sellers, your value-adds, your unique flavor signatures. Substitute specialty, health-forward drinks that cost pennies and wow the crowd. Kombucha, cold-brew teas, and house-made sodas with fruit and herb infusions. The future is small-batch, craft, clean.
Modern industry surveys show 80% of restaurant customers now order specialty drinks multiple times per week. Price is less important than the experience or the story behind the glass⁷. Millennials and Gen Z want house-made, want unique, want the health angle more than ever⁷. Coffee remains king, but the quickest growth is in crafted, alcohol-free beverages⁷.
Drop soda, and you make a bold first cut. You instantly signal that the old rules are gone. Guest satisfaction scores rebound. Parents return. Word spreads. Your restaurant and bar stand taller.
Case Study: From Sodas to Sparkle, A Shift Toward Health-Conscious Beverage Programs
In recent years, a growing number of independent and fast-casual restaurants across the U.S. have made bold operational shifts by eliminating conventional soda offerings in favor of more innovative, health-forward beverage programs⁸. One example, a chef-driven burger joint, followed this trend by removing all corn syrup soda products from its menu. While initial feedback from regulars was mixed, the restaurant quickly found success with a refreshed beverage lineup featuring cold-pressed juices, house-made shrubs, zero-proof cocktails, and sparkling mineral waters infused with herbs like rosemary and thyme.
This pivot aligns with a broader national movement away from sugary drinks and toward wellness-oriented dining, a shift that has been embraced by both independent restaurants and major chains⁹.
Real-World Examples
Several notable restaurants and chains have undertaken similar changes:
Lyra (Chicago, IL): This upscale Greek restaurant offers a full nonalcoholic beverage menu featuring zero-proof cocktails, tea infusions, and fresh juices, emphasizing wellness and creativity in drink pairings¹⁰.
Pineapple and Pearls (Washington, D.C.): The now-closed Michelin-starred restaurant pioneered thoughtful pairings of nonalcoholic drinks with tasting menus, replacing soda service entirely with house-made juice blends and fermented drinks¹¹.
Tender Greens (Multiple Locations): This California-based fast-casual chain eliminated traditional soda fountains years ago, instead offering house-made agua frescas and brewed teas. “We wanted better-for-you options that still taste great,” said CEO Erik Oberholtzer in a 2018 interview¹².
Roti Modern Mediterranean (Nationwide): Roti removed mainstream sodas in favor of fresh juices and flavored sparkling waters that align with its health-centric brand. Sales of these beverages outperformed previous soda revenue, especially when paired creatively with food offerings¹³.
Operational Benefits & Financial Performance
According to industry data from the National Restaurant Association and Technomic, restaurants offering healthier and house-made beverage programs report positive outcomes, including higher margins due to lower production costs, reduced waste from eliminating syrup bags and single-use cups, and increased customer engagement and loyalty¹⁴. Health-first beverage programs are frequently cited in 4- and 5-star guest reviews. According to Yelp data, beverage quality is among the top five most mentioned attributes in positive restaurant feedback¹⁵.
Conclusion and Challenge
In the end, this is more than a drink. It’s who we are. It’s the shape of our tables and the stories we tell. Soda pop is an anchor of the past, not a promise for the future. Guests are asking for life. Your numbers will thank you. Your brand will stand for something honest.
So, here’s my call. Be the first in your market to pull soda from the menu. Replace it with something built for today. Watch the dialogue surge. Let your restaurant become a leader in health and taste. Drive profits not through shortcuts, but by caring for your guests in every glass you offer.
Let’s rewrite the story of dining out. Let’s break the chain. You set the pace. Now run with it.
#MenuEngineering #RestaurantInnovation #HealthyHospitality #FutureOfDining #SodaFree #HospitalityLeadership
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Fast Facts: Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Get the Facts: Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Consumption.”
Mullee, A., Romaguera, D., Pearson-Stuttard, J., et al. “Association Between Soft Drink Consumption and Mortality in 10 European Countries.” JAMA, 2019.
Delta Dental. “The Negative Effects of Soda.”
Salud America. “Applebee's & IHOP Remove Soda From Kids' Menus.”
“How Menu Engineering Will Increase Your Restaurant Profits.”
Modern Restaurant Management. “May 2024 Industry Survey.”
National Restaurant Association, "Healthy Menus and Beverage Trends," 2023.
Technomic, “2023 Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report.”
Chicago Tribune, “How Chicago Restaurants Craft Nonalcoholic Cocktails,” 2023.
The Washington Post, "How Pineapple and Pearls Elevates Nonalcoholic Pairings," 2022.
Fast Company, “How Tender Greens Ditched Soda and Won Over Health-Minded Diners,” 2018.
QSR Magazine, “Roti’s Beverage Overhaul Sparks Sales Growth,” 2019.
National Restaurant Association and Technomic, “Operational Impacts of Better Beverage Programs,” 2023.
Yelp, “2023 Local Economic Data Report: Beverage Trends,” 2023.