Food & Beverage

Dunkin' offers up a 'bit o' the bubbly' — its twist on a trend whose time has come

Dunkin's latest beverage innovation is not one of the popular boba, or bubble teas, but it sure does capture the sense of fun that such drinks evoke. In fact, a recent look at the bubble tea market itself shows the world -- and specifically the world's millennials -- are smitten with a bit of the bubbly.

Dunkin's latest innovation — Popping Bubbles — speak volumes about the growing popularity of "fun" beverages. (Photo provided)

June 22, 2021 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

This Wednesday, Dunkin' is launching its take on a type of beverage which just keeps floating to the top of menus across foodservice — bubble drinks. No, Dunkin's newest Popping Bubbles drinks are not bubble or boba tea, but they've definitely got the spirit of those popular drinks that first emerged in Taiwan in the 1980s revolving around them.

In the case of Dunkin' though, its Popping Bubbles can be added to its iced and frozen drinks — including its iced teas — beginning nationally on Wednesday. Dunkin' classifies the new menu items as a beverage "experience" that finds the small bubbles that smack of strawberry flavor joining with other menu drinks like Coconut Refreshers or lemonade to perk up a little summer fun because the bubbles actually pop in your mouth.

So no, these drinks aren't those bubble or boba teas in any way, except for the whole idea of using bubbles in beverages to build an "experience." After all, that's what a lot of us want from our QSRs today aside from great food — a great experience. And who can't feel better in a worrisome world when being entertained by bubbles, particularly ones that pop in your mouth?

Bubbling up some beverage business

But beyond that, Dunkin' and other brands that take a foray into bubble-dom, might also be hoping they can get a piece of the explosion in bubble drink popularity globally. For instance, according to data analytics company, Fortune Business Insights, the bubble tea market alone is expected to hit $3.39 billion by 2027 as part of what the company said is the rising popularity of more elaborate drinks — even at the QSR level — among millennials. That would work out to an expected compound annual growth rate of 7.2% worldwide for bubble tea alone, which came in at $2.02 billion worldwide in sales in 2019, according to the company's latest report.

The company said new varieties and creations around bubble teas — which actually typically have small spheres of tapioca floating in them — are helping to drive sales too. As an example, it said its market research showed that the world's largest franchise tea house chain, Chatime, launched a slew of new varieties late in 2020, including a dairy-free bubble tea with oat milks and sugar-level customizations, as well as a cereal-infused bubble tea in a partnership with Kellogg's.

Moreover, the producers in the market have introduced new variants of boba tea to attract millennials and expand their user base. For example, in October 2020, Chatime launched brand new beverage options that provide endless customization options to fulfil the demand of their customers. The refurbished menu included dairy-free bubble tea launch prior this year, which comprises of oat milk. This enabled customers to order popular milk teas in vegan-friendly option or milk-based. They also offer sugar level customization or completely replace sugar with honey as a sweetener. Additionally, they also introduced cereal-infused bubble tea as strategic planning for the partnership with Kellogg's.

And make no mistake about it, with longtime U.S. brands like Kellogg's bouncing into bubble drinks, these drinks are no longer the private domain of Eastern cultures. In fact, the leading players identified by Fortune Business Insights include four U.S. companies and one U.K. business, as you can see in this list of top bubble tea sources:

• Chatime Group (Taiwan).
• Bubble Tea Supply Inc. (Hawaii, United States).
• Gong Cha (Taiwan)
• CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice (Taiwan).
• Quickly (Taiwan).
• Kung Fu Tea (New York City, United States)
• Tiger Sugar Korea (Seoul, South Korea)
• Boba Loca USA Inc. (United States)
• Lollicup USA, Inc. (United States)
• Happy Lemon (United Kingdom)

And while the report finds that Asia-Pacific markets remain the biggest imbibers of bubble tea, North American sales of the stuff are projected to make up the second-largest market into "the foreseeable future," the report said. Leading countries in the North American and European regions are expected to grow their bubble drink steadily as well due to the increasing trend of tea-based fruit-flavored beverages in such markets Additionally, there has been an upsurge in boba cafes in the countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., the report said, which has contributed strongly to the growth of the bubble tea market in those areas.

Back to Dunkin's non-tea bubble beverage

Dunkin's move this week with its Popping Bubbles is significant because it more or less expands the interpretation of a bubble drink. After all, Dunkin' said its bubbles — while not the grain-derived tapioca — do contain a plant-based derivative that gives them their vibrant bubbles. Exactly what the spheres themselves are made of was not disclosed.

Likewise, Dunkin' also appears to be playing up the fun in their Popping Bubbles beverage with both their highly customizable characteristics, as well as the fact that the menu item even comes with its very own tool. That's right, Dunkin' said all the bubble drinks will come adorned with a wide pink-and-orange paper straw, which the company even claims was specifically engineered for the "full bubble-up experience." (Wouldn't you have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that creation process?)

Dunkin' is hoping the drinks will quite literally explode onto the QSR scene with the help of a promotion designed to underscore its bubbly personality. The brand is launching an instant win online game that runs July 2 through July 31, that gives customers the opportunity to have its strawberry popping bubbles every day.

The brand said that when playing the game, customers use their fingers to select a bubble to "pop" on their screens to reveal if they're an instant winner of one of thousands of available Dunkin' gift cards. The brand is also giving away giant bubbles kits, inflatable pool rafts and other appropriately float-y swag. And one person will win the "Break the Bubble" $5,000 cash prize for a future vacation, by following Dunkin' on Instagram, where the link to play will appear.

According to Jill Nelson, Dunkin's vice president, Marketing & Culinary, the bubbles even carry an element of that thing we all covet — coolness.

"With an exciting explosion of strawberry flavor, Popping Bubbles are a new way to make favorite Dunkin' iced or frozen drinks even cooler," she said.

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.