With 1,500 new beverages being launched each month, this segment is characterised by its relentless demand for novelty.

Ever wondered if your soft drinks could contain fruit chunks?  Or if your juice could be a different colour? Or if you could add probiotics?

When you're working on something new, staff at our Product Development Centres can work alongside you to develop recipes and design production processes.

As every drinks manufacturer knows, it pays to be first! With a processing data-base containing precise information on over 6, 000 products, we can get your production up and running in record time so it reaches the retail shelves ahead of the competition.

The same goes for products aimed at a specific target group – whether it is defined by demographics, geography or special interests such as pregnancy or sport. Experts at Tetra Pak's Product Development Centres can help you can twist your applications to vary taste, texture or appearance, and make sure they appeal to the right consumers.

In order to be really successful, even global brands need to attract local consumers with traditional local products designed to appeal to local tastes. In Sweden it's blueberries; in the US it's cranberries; in China, almond and peanut drinks are firm favourites while in Spain and Mexico, Horchata – a traditional drink based on tiger nuts – is popular enough to merit dedicated cafés.

Although important, such products are often low volume. That's where Tetra Pak's continuous in-line blending technology comes into its own. It enables fast switches from one product to another, while keeping product losses and cleaning times down to a minimum.

One way to ensure shelf impact is to create a product series with different flavour combinations or value-added ingredients. It goes without saying, five branded products lined up beside one another in the chilled cabinet or on the ambient shelf make more impact than one or two. Our blending​ and dosing equipment makes it possible for you to extend your range cost-effectively, since you can easily vary the flavour, colour, or add special ingredients like Omega 3, vitamins or calcium to a product before packaging.

While apple and orange drinks remain perennial favourites, more niched products come and go, as consumers alternately get inspired and tire of the latest craze. Offering reliable, cost-efficient processing solutions, Tetra Pak helps beverage producers maintain margins on both high and low volume products.​

The 'target' is continually moving in terms of trends and lifestyle too. For example, 'healthy' products have long been popular, but the consumer's definition of healthy has changed over time. Once synonymous with low fat, it later came to mean 'fortified' (with e.g. calcium, minerals and Omega 3), and more recently, the focus has shifted again. Nowadays, healthy is more about reducing lactose and adding protein. Our market intelligence experts keep abreast of these global consumption patterns, analysing and applying their learnings to help you satisfy continuously evolving market needs.​​

Moreover, today's health conscious consumers are not only found in the developed markets but are springing up in the developing markets too. Whey protein beverages for the elderly in China? Probiotic milk for colicky babies in North America? There is always room for an innovative product! If you're working on a new idea, the food processing experts at our Product Development Centres​ can work alongside you to develop recipes and design the best production methods. Why not get in touch and book a time in the lab? ​