Hispanic Adult Millennials’ Changing Drink Preferences

By Insight Tr3s

Recently in our blog, we’ve been taking a closer look at Hispanic Adult Millennials, their views on nutrition, and their eating habits. We’ve shown that making smart food choices is important to them, even though in everyday life their busy schedules and preference for convenience often lead them toward fast food and unhealthy snacks.

This week, we’ll focus on new insights regarding their beverage consumption. Taken from Tr3s’s 2012 research study, Hispanic Adult Millennials Living the Next Normal: Age of Uncertainty, here are some key findings on the subject of non-alcoholic drinks:

Organic is important to many. Among Hispanic Adult Millennials, 1 in 6 buy organic meat, fruit, vegetables, or dairy.

Hispanic Adult Millennials want to reduce their fat intake – and they’re accomplishing that by purchasing reduced-fat milk. Two-thirds are interested in consuming less fat. The most common method is by choosing 2%, 1%, or skim milk.

They are also trying to reduce their sugar intake, mostly by cutting down or bypassing high-sugar drinks. Nearly 60% claim to be consuming less sugar, mostly through limiting or not drinking regular soda and juice, or by choosing sugar-free juices.

Drinks with less flavor boldness and fewer ingredients are trending down. Single-fruit juices (apple, orange, grape) are declining in popularity among Hispanic Adult Millennials, as well as colas like Coke/Diet Coke and Pepsi. Perrier and regular Gatorade are also not as popular.

Beverages with more flavor and more fruit/vegetable combinations are trending up, as are caffeinated drinks. Fruit juices with a mix of flavors (V8, V8 Fusion, Capri Sun Super V), Dr. Pepper (“23 bold flavors”), Sierra Mist, Sprite, and Gatorade fruit punch are on the rise. So are canned energy drinks and bottled Starbucks Frappuccino.

When it comes to non-alcoholic beverages, Hispanic Adult Millennials 18 to 29 are heavy drinkers. On a daily basis, they average 5.9 glasses of day of milk, 5.8 glasses of thirst quenchers, 3.5 glasses of orange juice, and 2.4 glasses of vegetable juice. For each of these drink types, they consume more on average than non-Hispanics 18 to 29 and foreign-born Hispanics in their thirties.

Coffee is cool. On the Hispanic Adult Millennial “cool list,” Starbucks ranked third and Dunkin Donuts was tenth. Starbucks is also the #3 fast food restaurant among this group. Coffee venues are popular because so many Hispanic Adult Millennials live with their parents and are strapped for money, so these places give them a place to socialize with friends inexpensively.

Source: Tr3s 2012 “Hispanic Adult Millennials Living the Next Normal: Age of Uncertainty”; Experian Simmons Summer 2012 NHCS Adult Survey 12-month