Scotland’s smoking ban presents a huge opportunity for pubs and bars to grow their soft drinks sales, according to a new report.
With the rest of the UK set to follow Scotland’s example, the importance of soft drinks to the on-trade can’t be overstated, according to report author Britvic.
The Soft Drinks Category Report 2006, which has been published each year for the past decade, shows soft drinks grew 5% in value in 2005 with sales of almost £2.4b.
Britvic sales director Andrew Richards said of the smoking ban: “I see it as an opportunity as it will create an environment where soft drinks play more of a role in the overall offering.”
Soft drinks sales grew faster than beer or spirits last year and are now worth more than wine in terms of revenue.
Pepsi and Coca-Cola remained the leading non-alcoholic brands in pubs and clubs with just less than £900m of sales.
Within the soft drinks category, fruit drinks enjoyed the strongest growth, up 20% year-on-year to £196m.
R White’s remained the top performing lemonade with sales of £192m and Britvic’s J2O saw strong growth with sales up 17% year-on-year to £166m.
Soft drinks report highlights
- Value of soft drinks jumped 5% in pubs and clubs
- Soft drinks now worth more than wine in revenue
- Cola and lemonade remain biggest selling soft drinks
- Juices and mineral waters are the fastest growing soft drinks
By Chris Druce
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