Beverage

By now, you’ve probably heard the news: Drinking isn’t as cool as it used to be.

Compared to millennials at the same age, Gen Z consumers are drinking over 20% less per capita, a groundbreaking report from Berenberg Research revealed. Conscious of their health and image, they instead opt for low-alcohol or nonalcoholic beverages. (This is not true in every nation, of course; alcohol consumption is rising overall in countries like Vietnam, India and China.)

As demand for alcohol dries up, culinary innovators are trying something new. “Juices and other interesting beverage pairings will take another leap again to the main stage,” Justin Cogley, chef of Aubergine in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, predicted in Food & Wine.

Juice pairings aren’t brand-new. The concept is credited to Rene Redzepi, founder of world-famous Noma restaurant in Denmark, who began serving sophisticated blends to non-drinking customers more than a decade ago. At the time, other chefs doubted the idea would go mainstream. Now, however, juice pairings are proving popular with customers who don’t drink, who are drinking less, or who just want to experience something new. Here are some tips for trying it yourself.

The fresh-juice market never stops evolving. What was popular five years ago (detox cleanses, charcoal) has become less so. Customers chase ever more novel flavors: pomelo and yuzu, hyssop and beetroot. Around the world, trends flare and either catch fire or fade. 

But one thing’s for sure: Customers are still thirsty for fresh juice. Here's a look at three major juicing trends that will shape the market in 2020 and beyond.

The grocery business is facing an identity crisis. As the rising popularity of pick-up/delivery services and limited-selection format stores makes clear, customers prefer to spend as little time as possible shopping for groceries. The Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen now predict that within five to seven years, 70 percent of shoppers will buy their groceries online. 

This trend is countered by fresh-format stores, which have transformed the once-mundane grocery run into an enjoyable exploration. They offer prepared foods, wine bars, samples, cooking demonstrations, classes, and other upgrades tailored to individual shoppers’ tastes. One profitable example is the in-house juice bar — but is it right for your store? First, consider these four questions.

Hamilton Beach Commercial has been in the juicing business since 1932, when we first introduced the iconic 932 manual citrus juicer. So when we began designing otto™ the Juice Extractor, the newest addition to the FreshMark™ family of commercial juicers, we had a lofty goal: to build the best centrifugal juicer out there.

Achieving the ideal balance of speed, durability, flavor and yield was a formidable challenge. Based on feedback from our partners in the field, our engineers have spent more than two years fine-tuning components of otto. “This is the most testing we’ve ever done on a product,” observes Karen Williams-Roman, Global Commercial Product Manager for Hamilton Beach Commercial. Here’s what we looked at — and what you should consider when you’re investing in a commercial juice extractor.