Overview

After 2008's 4% decline, soft drinks rebounded in 2009,
with sales value up 3% to £2.4bn. They overtook spirits to become the licensed trade's second best performing
category behind beer.

OVERVIEW
Although volume was still down by 1% this was a vast improvement on the previous year's 6% decline.

The big success story of 2009 was Pepsi Cola, which beat its rival Coke to first place in the cola sub-category, with sales up 10% to £475m. Lemonade, flavoured carbonates and squash performed well, while sales of juice drinks, energy drinks and water lost ground.

Soft drinks has been the best performing category within Whitbread over the last year, showing strong growth. Value for money has become increasingly important to our customers but the quality of the offer is also very important
– it’s not always about price. The importance of soft drinks within our business has grown significantly over the last few years and we anticipate that it will continue to do so.
Paul Clutton, Head of Procurement – drinks, supplies and services, Whitbread

Generally it was another tough year for the on-trade − overall sales of beers, wines and spirits were down 8% by volume and 5% by value. Pubs continued to close at a rapid rate as the recession bit. Some commentators suggest the fall in property prices has placed a question mark over the major pub companies' lease/tenanted model as some pubco’s were forced into selling parts of their estates to pay-off debt.

With less disposable income available, consumers were more inclined to stay in. Licensed outlets quickly caught on to the idea that "staying in is the new going out" and targeted the leisure pound more aggressively with attractively priced meal deals and drinks to combat heavily-marketed supermarket take-home deals.

Many of the high street managed chains have made food an increasingly important part of their trading mix, seeing profits rise in this sector of their business. Focusing on the quality and value of their food offering has attracted more customers, especially families and mixed groups. In turn, the growth in family-friendly establishments has increased the market for soft drinks − which may help to explain the category's resilience.