Turning Drink Trends Into Repeat Visits Instead of Drive-Thru Delays

Coffee brands face a menu-development challenge: give guests more reasons to visit without giving baristas more obstacles to overcome.

咖啡品牌面临着菜单开发的挑战：为客人提供更多光顾的理由，同时又不给咖啡师带来更多需要克服的障碍。

Energy drinks, matcha combinations, and customized beverages can broaden appeal, but additional ingredients and preparation steps can effect transaction speed and throughput.

能量饮料、抹茶组合和定制饮料可以扩大吸引力，但额外的成分和准备步骤可能会影响交易速度和吞吐量。

Nearly 64 percent of consumers sometimes choose a beverage as a snack, rising to 70 percent among 25–34-year-olds, according to Circana’s 2026 beverage evolution report.

根据 Circana 的 2026 年饮料演变报告，近 64% 的消费者有时会选择饮料作为零食，在 25-34 岁的消费者中这一比例上升至 70%。

Capturing those occasions, however, requires more than adding another drink.

然而，捕捉这些场合需要的不仅仅是再喝一杯。

At The Human Bean, the solution starts with understanding what guests already want.

在 The Human Bean，解决方案首先要了解客人的需求。

Janie Page, chief marketing officer, says customers are gravitating toward cold beverages and more adventurous customization.

首席营销官珍妮·佩奇 (Janie Page) 表示，顾客越来越倾向于冷饮和更具冒险精神的定制服务。

Its Barista Crafted program invites team members to submit creations, turning everyday ordering behavior into development ideas.

其 Barista Crafted 计划邀请团队成员提交创作，将日常点餐行为转化为开发想法。

“Our guests and baristas are often some of our best sources of inspiration because they’re experimenting with our menu every day,” Page says.

“我们的客人和咖啡师往往是我们最好的灵感来源，因为他们每天都在尝试我们的菜单，”佩奇说。

That approach aids in finding something new without introducing an entirely unfamiliar workflow.

这种方法有助于发现新的东西，而无需引入完全不熟悉的工作流程。

Many submissions use ingredients already in the stand, recombined into drinks such as Bright Energy paired with matcha or espresso added to Frozen Hot Chocolate.

许多提交的材料使用摊位上已有的成分，重新组合成饮料，例如在冷冻热巧克力中添加抹茶或浓缩咖啡的 Bright Energy。

But customer curiosity does not guarantee a successful beverage.

但顾客的好奇心并不能保证饮料的成功。

The brand’s Menu Innovation Team, nicknamed the “Notorious M.I.T.,” tests promising combinations to determine whether an ingredient improves the finished drink—not simply whether it is trending.

该品牌的菜单创新团队绰号“臭名昭著的麻省理工学院”，他们测试有前景的组合，以确定某种成分是否可以改善成品饮料，而不仅仅是它是否流行。

Bright Energy also remains relevant when a guest does not want coffee.

当客人不想喝咖啡时，Bright Energy 也仍然具有相关性。

Caffeine sourced from green coffee beans connects the platform to the brand’s foundation, while its clear base supports flavor customization and colorful beverages.

源自生咖啡豆的咖啡因将平台与品牌基础连接起来，而其清晰的基础则支持风味定制和色彩缤纷的饮料。

Guest requests also prompted a special lime version.

客人的要求也促使了特殊的石灰版本。

Those visual qualities can help with discovery.

这些视觉品质可以帮助发现。

According to Datassential, 72 percent of Gen Z consumers look to social media for food and drink focused wellness trends.

据 Datassential 称，72% 的 Z 世代消费者通过社交媒体了解以食品和饮料为中心的健康趋势。

Still, attracting attention is only the beginning; the beverage must taste good enough to earn another order.

然而，吸引注意力仅仅是一个开始。该饮料的味道必须足够好才能赢得下一次订单。

It must also survive the drive-thru test.

它还必须能够通过得来速测试。

Before scaling, The Human Bean evaluates preparation steps, equipment, storage, sourcing, distribution, training, and consistency across baristas.

在扩大规模之前，The Human Bean 会评估咖啡师的准备步骤、设备、存储、采购、分销、培训和一致性。

Ingredient placement and portioning receive scrutiny alongside the recipe itself.

配料的放置和分配与食谱本身一样受到严格审查。

“If the ingredient preparation or production mechanics of any new beverage test prove to be slow, it isn’t really scalable,” Page says.

“如果任何新饮料测试的原料制备或生产机制被证明很慢，那么它就无法真正扩展，”佩奇说。

The solution is to evaluate the guest experience and operational demands together, rather than leave execution problems for stores to solve after launch.

解决方案是把顾客体验和运营需求一起评估，而不是将执行问题留给商店在上线后解决。

The brand looks beyond initial sales to distinguish genuine growth from temporary excitement.

该品牌不仅仅着眼于最初的销售，还区分真正的增长和暂时的兴奋。

Trial, repeat purchases, frequency, check averages, daypart performance, and previously uncaptured occasions all inform that assessment.

试用、重复购买、频率、检查平均值、时段表现以及之前未捕获的事件都会影响该评估。

For The Human Bean, competing beyond coffee does not mean chasing every beverage trend.

对于 The Human Bean 来说，超越咖啡的竞争并不意味着追逐每一种饮料趋势。

It means identifying what guests want, making it taste worth returning for, and ensuring baristas can deliver it consistently when the line is longest.

这意味着确定客人想要什么，使其味道值得再次光顾，并确保咖啡师能够在队伍最长的情况下始终如一地提供服务。

That discipline gives menu innovation a clear purpose: creating more occasions to visit without compromising the service that brings customers back.

这一原则为菜单创新提供了明确的目标：创造更多的光顾机会，同时又不影响吸引顾客回头的服务。

“The strongest innovation does more than sell a lot of drinks for a few weeks,” Page says.

“最强大的创新不仅仅是在几周内卖出大量饮料，”佩奇说。

“It expands the occasions when someone thinks, ‘I want The Human Bean today.’”

“它扩大了人们思考‘我今天想要人豆’的机会。”