6 Beverage Innovation Trends That Will Define the Future of QSRs
By Michelle Thomson, General Manager, Kerry Australia & New Zealand, and Lisa Curran, Commercial Director, Foodservice, Kerry Australia & New Zealand
Across Australia and New Zealand, the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry is evolving fast. But this new phase of growth isn’t being driven by menu hacks or limited-edition burgers; it’s being led by beverages.
Once considered an optional add-on, drinks have emerged as one of the most powerful tools for brand differentiation, profitability, and customer engagement. From health-boosting concoctions to social-media sensations, beverages are now shaping not just what customers order, but where they choose to go.
1. Beverages Are the New Brand Builders
No longer the sidekick, beverages have become central to brand storytelling. Signature drinks create “marketing in a cup”: distinctive products that reinforce a brand’s identity while lifting margins and loyalty.
The Coffee Club’s pistachio beverage range is a perfect example: operationally simple, yet visually and sensorially exciting. These drinks turn everyday transactions into experiences worth sharing.
2. Healthy Sips Take the Spotlight
A new generation of consumers, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, expects more from their beverages. Refreshment alone isn’t enough. They want functionality, too.
Across Asia, 42% of consumers are interested in drinks with health benefits like collagen, prebiotics, or immunity boosters. That demand is now taking off in Australia and New Zealand. From gut-friendly kombucha to protein-boosted shakes, QSR menus are beginning to feature beverages that blend nutrition, flavour, and lifestyle needs.
3. Texture Is the New Taste
Modern consumers want beverages they can feel and not just taste. Texture is becoming the next frontier in drink innovation.
Pearls, sprinkles, layered foams, and chewable inclusions turn every drink into a multi-sensory experience. These tactile elements don’t just enhance enjoyment, they also encourage shareability. Drinks have become as much a part of lifestyle expression as fashion or technology, with visual appeal and shareability often determining what makes it into a customer’s hand, and onto their social feed.
4. The TikTok Effect: Drinks That Go Viral
The social media generation has redefined what makes a beverage successful. Drinks that photograph well and surprise consumers are the new word-of-mouth marketing.
Bold colours, dramatic layers, and nostalgic twists dominate the “TikTokable” drink scene. Younger audiences are drawn to drinks that are bold, colourful, and creative, be it Asian-inspired citrus flavours, indulgent dessert-style shakes, or nostalgic twists, like retro ice cream floats, that spark emotion and conversation. Texture inclusions such as pearls, sprinkles, and foams add a playful dimension, transforming beverages into social currency.
5. Balancing Creative Complexity with Operational Simplicity
Innovation is exciting but execution is everything. To scale beverage success, QSRs must design drinks that are both visually stunning and operationally simple.
“You need to design drinks that not only look and taste great but are easy to execute at pace,” says Jared Chapman, Head of McCafé at McDonald’s Australia. “Consistency is essential, particularly as iced coffee and cold beverages continue to outpace traditional hot drinks, extending consumption well beyond the morning ritual. Neglecting this growing category is a business risk towards stagnation and consumers going elsewhere for a memorable beverage experience.”
6. Building Ownable Beverage Platforms
The next evolution in beverage strategy is about platforms, not products. By creating flexible beverage series, like a “Sparkling Refresh Range” or a “Seasonal Frappe Series”, QSRs can rotate flavours while maintaining brand cohesion. This approach builds equity and excitement, ensuring beverages become a sustainable part of the brand’s DNA, not just a passing trend.
Yet for many operators, execution remains the greatest hurdle. Creative drinks can be complex to produce, requiring multiple ingredients, tools, or staff training. Kerry helps QSRs bridge creativity and consistency by turning global beverage trends into locally relevant, easy-to-execute solutions. Whether it’s creating a product that’s new to customer, new to market, or new to the world, through a portfolio of flavour systems, syrups, inclusions, and functional ingredients, Kerry enables operators to create drinks that are innovative yet practical.
One example is our partnership with a leading beverage brand to develop a new range of functional powdered drinks. Combining our expertise in flavour creation, proactive health solutions, and regulatory guidance, the team helped shape concepts around key need states while ensuring a clean sensory profile, harnessing Kerry’s Tastesense™ technologies, which enabled balanced sweetness, mouthfeel enhancement, and flavour masking -- all common challenges in powdered formats. Through collaborative co-creation workshops and accelerated prototyping at our innovation centre in Murarrie, Queensland, the range transitioned efficiently from concept to ready for range within six months.
With as many as 60% of QSR operators identifying beverages as critical to attracting Gen Z, the message is clear: brands that innovate in drinks will own the future, bringing high margins, inspiring loyalty, and keeping customers coming back for more.
