Should Your Kitchen Serve Energy Drinks
Should Your Kitchen Serve Energy Drinks
The Surge And The Choice
Restaurant floors crack at dawn when prep crews pull long shifts. Guests slide into booths with sunken eyes. They want a hit of energy. The global energy-drink market is on fire. Prophecy Market Insights pegs it at 114.7 billion dollars by 2030². The question is, will those cans in your cooler fill your till or just drain it
The Math Behind The Markup
Bottles and cans carry cost. Case prices from distributors often exceed those of soda. The U.S. Energy Drink Industry Report shows profit margins average 14.1 percent¹. A few tokens of energy will sell, but will they spin the top line or float the bottom line
The Shrink And The Staff
Beverage shrink can kill a margin. Bottled goods move slow, so staff helpings add up. Managers and line cooks know where the stash lives. Only 11.07 percent of restaurants list energy drinks³. That tells you that pros have nerve pain. They have seen more cans vanish than dollars earned
Small Wins With Big Names
Chains chase the craze. “This category in general will grow exponentially over the next couple of years,” said Amy Soltis, product development and innovation manager at Biggby Coffee². Dutch Bros says Blue Rebel covers 24 percent of its sales². Sonic tosses Red Bull slush into the mix when the sun burns too hot². Panera sells energy in charged lemonades². Custom dispensers let operators drop fresh blends for folks in the mood for clean fuel⁴
The Gritty Verdict And Next Steps
Running a kitchen is midnight math and sweat equity. Energy drinks can fill a hole when your crew and your crowd beg for a spark. But if you pay full freight and lose half your stock to free spins, you chase a ghost. Slot some cans for a week only if you track the case count every night. Dig into your data, price to protect the margin, lock up the stock, and brand it like the hero it can be.
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Footnotes
¹ U S Energy Drink Industry Report, University of Oregon, Winter 2022, p. 2, average profit margin 14.1 percent
² Reyna Estrada, “Energy drinks are finding their place in the restaurant space,” Restaurant Business Online, Oct. 6, 2023
³ Tajammul Pangarkar, “Energy Drink Statistics and Facts (2025),” Sci-Tech Today, Mar. 27, 2025
⁴ “Using Beverage Dispensers to Profit from Energy Drink Craze,” Botrista blog