Refresher Buying Splinters Further Across Channels

As a growing number of operators storm into the red-hot refresher category, consumers are spreading their buying across a widening set of restaurant segments, according to Datassential’s BUZZ Refreshers & Functional Beverages Topical report. 

After jockeying back and forth over the previous two years, coffee shops and bakery cafés are now tied with grocery stores at 25% each of consumers’ last purchases. Convenience stores, meanwhile, took 14%, down from 19% a year ago and 16% in 2024. 

The shifts come as refreshers are “increasingly purchased across a wider variety of segments,” the report found.

Quick-service restaurants rebounded to 10% of refresher purchases after dipping to 7% in 2025, casual dining rose to 6% from 5%, and fast casual climbed to 6% from 4%.

That spread lines up with stronger LTO activity across chain types. Dunkin’ has run 21 refresher LTOs so far this year, according to Launches & Ratings data, including a Cherry Protein Daydream Refresher. Starbucks has launched 19, including a Sparkling Strawberry Açaí Lemonade Energy Refresher, and Dutch Bros Coffee has 12, including a Stardust Myst Energy Refresher.

McDonald’s joined in May with three, including a Blackberry Passion Fruit Refresher; and Panera Bread added an Island Mango Energy Refresher in June. Other launches this year include a Blackberry Refresher from Outback and Red, White & Berry Sh’parkler Refresher from Sheetz.

Format preference is splitting too. Pre-packaged ready-to-drink accounted for 49% of last purchases and fresh-prepared 45%, after packaged led 55% to 40% in 2025 and trailed by 41% to 53% in 2024.

Consumption patterns are shifting underneath. Daily refresher consumption fell to 11% in 2026 from 21% a year earlier, while 36% of consumers expect to buy more refreshers in the next year, up from 30% in 2025.

For supermarkets, half of operators offering refreshers or functional beverages reported increased sales over the last year, trailing only iced coffee (59%), fresh-squeezed juices (53%), and iced specialty coffee (53%), according to Datassential’s Supermarket Prepared report.