Ready to drink and craft beers, single-serve cocktails or on tap: how drinking outside the home is changing

Out-of-home consumption in Italia has recovered to pre-pandemic levels. According toCrest data from Circana - which collects out-of-home consumption in restaurants, bars and fast food outlets - visits have returned to 9.7 billion in August 2025, close to the 10.2 of the same period in 2019. total purchases of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages stabilised at 2.2 billion, exactly the same as six years ago. But it is in the composition of this consumption that the most significant transformations of the beverage market emerge, which will be the focus of Beer&Food Attraction, scheduled at the Rimini Exhibition Centre from 15 to 17 February.

The Horeca panel, also from Circana, which monitors the beverages sold by wholesalers, confirms value growth of 39% from 2019 to 2024. In the first six months of 2025, total sales reached EUR 2.3 billion. The market was mainly driven by carbon dioxide-free soft drinks, with an increase of 24%. But the most remarkable figure concerns alcoholic cocktails, whose purchases rose from 69 million to 91 million (+32%). Liquor and spirits also recorded significant growth, risingfrom 58 million in 2019 to 76 million last August (+30%), with a further acceleration of 23% over the past year.

The beer sector, which according to Assobirra is now worth EUR 10.2 billion, is experiencing a double evolution. On the one hand, craft beers recorded 183 million purchase transactions (+15% compared to pre-Covid). On the other hand, the non-alcoholic beers segment is emerging strongly, which has seen purchases soar from 28 million to 49 million (+79%), an increase of 18% in the last year alone. It is no longer a niche: Assobirra points out that 25% of Gen Z always choose non-alcoholic beverages and 53% of the total value them according to the occasion. This occurs in a context of more conscious consumption, where 89% of Italians declare responsible behaviour, in particular avoiding drinking before driving or working.

The no-alcohol trend cuts across the entire beverage. For example, Fonte Margherita 1845 brings to Rimini the Mojito Zero, which has just received the Innovation Award at the BarAwards 2025 in the non-alcoholic Ready to Drink category. The line comprises five non-alcoholic aperitifs - Mojito Zero, Spritz Zero, Bellini Zero, G+Tonica Zero, Limoncello Zero Spritz - made with mineral water from the Piccole Dolomiti and natural flavourings, without artificial colourings.

On the mixology front, the ready-to-drink (Rtd) cocktail segment is emerging as one of the most dynamic. The market grew by 2% in volume last year.Jas, a Roman artisan liquor company founded in 2021, presents the 2026 List with ready-to-drink cocktails in 10 and 20 litre kegs and single-serving formats, from interpretations of the Spritz to the Gin Tonic, from the Mojito to the Americano, and aromatic variants such as Mandarin, Bergamot and Pomegranate. The company is targeting a market that, according to Iswr, will grow by a further 12% by 2027, reaching a value of $40 billion in the ten key countries. Approximately one in four Italians has consumed a ready-to-drink in the last six months and more than half say they are interested in trying them in the future.