While pomegranate is good for the heart and easy on the waistline, quick-service operators do not necessarily need buy a barrel of the fruit or stock the fridge with juice concentrate. As a recent QSR magazine survey pointed out, consumers don’t always buy as healthy as they say will. But experts note that pomegranate is not necessarily just a healthy offering; it’s darn tasty in a juice form.

“In terms of all the superfruits—including mango, pomegranate, goji, and sahi—consumers are very open to them in liquid form,” Shadix says. “Consumers like the idea of having something healthy in a format they can handle. We’ll see [pomegranate] in the whole movement of specialized drinks, where you mix a main brand, like Coke or Pepsi, and add specialized products or juices to it.”

But will fickle consumers eventually forget about pomegranate?

“Pomegranate juice consumption is no longer a trend; it has become a staple ingredient for healthier living, much like orange, cranberry, and grape juices before it,” says Mark Saur, president and founder of Old Orchard Brands, which bottles 62 varieties of 100-percent juices.

Just to name a few quick-service brands using the fruit: Fazoli’s added pomegranate to its Italian Ice flavors in April 2007; MaggieMoo’s boasts a Triple Berry Pomegranate smoothie; Jamba Juice launched a pomegranate smoothie that it recently said accounted for 7 percent of total sales; and although it took pomegranate off the menuboard, Starbucks says the fruit juice continues to be offered in select stores. But there has yet to be a national product announcement from a large non-beverage–focused quick-service brand. And the amount of pomegranate on quick-serve menus is so small that major research firms are not even tracking it.

“I expect the trend to move into quick-service chain restaurants soon, with the flavor appearing in beverages, sauces, and salad dressings,” says Maria Caranfa, Mintel Menu Insights analyst.

Taco Cabana and Pollo Tropical have been analyzing the fruit’s progress since POM Wonderful invaded grocery stores.

“It’s invading the marketplace since POM made that really neat curvy bottle,” says Lewis Shaye, chief concept officer for the two Fresh-Mex brands. “We haven’t used [pomegranate] in our restaurants yet, but we’re definitely watching its growth.”