An Energized Mixer Market

By
Daniel Clark
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Walking into a retail convenience store, one can get lost in the beverage isle amongst the innumerable energy drinks available. Monster, Rockstar, Red Bull, 180, Full Throttle . . . the list goes on for miles. On-premise, however, it’s a different story.

Generally, when a customer asks for a mixed energy drink, Red Bull and vodka is the standard order. Unfortunately, the narrow consumer lexicon offers customers little in the way of choice, and leaves bars and nightclubs with less return on the up-charge, lots of recycling, and not much flexibility or novelty in cocktail menus or shot sales.

axelfuelbib.gifJetset Energy offers a line of mixers featuring the same components as any standard energy drink. The brand includes an original and diet original energy formula, as well as a club soda, tonic water, and ginger ale. “We’re giving consumers their classic mixed drinks with functional energy components,” says Wyeth Goodenough, CEO of Jetset Beverages, Inc., San Francisco, California.

Canned mixers can be costly—sometimes at more than a dollar per can—and they take up storage space, as well as create a lot of recycling and trash. The bag-in-the-box (BIB) option from brands such as TURBO Energy and Axel Fuel can save on-premise investors money and space, as well as time spent dealing with hundreds of empty cans that need to be recycled at the end of a the night. “The three-gallon bag-in-the-box option is equal to approximately 18 gallons of energy drink, or 422 8.4 oz cans,” says Al Sampson, president and co-founder of Axel Beverage Group in Hoboken, New Jersey, which manufactures Axel Fuel. TURBO Energy, a trade-only mixer made with pure cane sugar, saves its on-premise accounts around $0.10 per ounce of energy drink, and at four ounces per mixed cocktail, that adds up to a sizeable return on investment.

For a novel approach to offering customers the energy kick they’re after, Neenah, Wisconsin-based Raven Manufacturing LLC’s Aftershoxx Shot Chaser comes in small packets of carbonated crystals, similar to the childhood favorite Pop Rocks® candy, only fortified with functional energy components. (And no, in case you were wondering, it won’t cause your stomach to explode, despite the urban legend of the fate of poor Mikey from the Life Cereal commercial.) Aftershoxx is available in a line of flavors that includes Citrus, Fire, Salty Lime and Citrus. The instructions are simple: take a shot, chase with AfterShoxx, experience the explosion.

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