Coffee brands face a menu-development challenge: give guests more reasons to visit without giving baristas more obstacles to overcome. Energy drinks, matcha combinations, and customized beverages can broaden appeal, but additional ingredients and preparation steps can effect transaction speed and throughput.
Nearly 64 percent of consumers sometimes choose a beverage as a snack, rising to 70 percent among 25–34-year-olds, according to Circana’s 2026 beverage evolution report. Capturing those occasions, however, requires more than adding another drink.
At The Human Bean, the solution starts with understanding what guests already want. Janie Page, chief marketing officer, says customers are gravitating toward cold beverages and more adventurous customization. Its Barista Crafted program invites team members to submit creations, turning everyday ordering behavior into development ideas.
“Our guests and baristas are often some of our best sources of inspiration because they’re experimenting with our menu every day,” Page says.
That approach aids in finding something new without introducing an entirely unfamiliar workflow. Many submissions use ingredients already in the stand, recombined into drinks such as Bright Energy paired with matcha or espresso added to Frozen Hot Chocolate.
But customer curiosity does not guarantee a successful beverage. The brand’s Menu Innovation Team, nicknamed the “Notorious M.I.T.,” tests promising combinations to determine whether an ingredient improves the finished drink—not simply whether it is trending.
“The drinking experience wins every time,” Page says.
Bright Energy also remains relevant when a guest does not want coffee. Caffeine sourced from green coffee beans connects the platform to the brand’s foundation, while its clear base supports flavor customization and colorful beverages. Guest requests also prompted a special lime version.
Those visual qualities can help with discovery. According to Datassential, 72 percent of Gen Z consumers look to social media for food and drink focused wellness trends. Still, attracting attention is only the beginning; the beverage must taste good enough to earn another order.
It must also survive the drive-thru test. Before scaling, The Human Bean evaluates preparation steps, equipment, storage, sourcing, distribution, training, and consistency across baristas. Ingredient placement and portioning receive scrutiny alongside the recipe itself.
“If the ingredient preparation or production mechanics of any new beverage test prove to be slow, it isn’t really scalable,” Page says.
The solution is to evaluate the guest experience and operational demands together, rather than leave execution problems for stores to solve after launch.
The brand looks beyond initial sales to distinguish genuine growth from temporary excitement. Trial, repeat purchases, frequency, check averages, daypart performance, and previously uncaptured occasions all inform that assessment.
For The Human Bean, competing beyond coffee does not mean chasing every beverage trend. It means identifying what guests want, making it taste worth returning for, and ensuring baristas can deliver it consistently when the line is longest. That discipline gives menu innovation a clear purpose: creating more occasions to visit without compromising the service that brings customers back.
“The strongest innovation does more than sell a lot of drinks for a few weeks,” Page says. “It expands the occasions when someone thinks, ‘I want The Human Bean today.’”
Explore The Human Bean’s beverage lineup at thehumanbean.com.
