The Profitability of Cold Brew and Cold Foam in Your Shop

Iced beverages are on the up! Recently Starbucks released numbers showing that around 70% of their beverage sales come from selling cold drinks, anytime of year. Cold brew has had a big part to play in this growing trend. The question is, is cold brew profitable?

If you bought a case of Dilworth Cold Brew Filter Packs for $109, you’d get a total of 10 gallons of brewed coffee. This will give you 106.6 (16oz) drinks from a case (12oz of liquid and 4oz of ice). If you sell each 16oz cold brew for $5, you’ll make $533. That’s a 20% food cost and pure profit of $429. You could even raise the price to $6 for the right customers.

Cold brew is a very profitable coffee shop drink, if the time is taken to make it properly and with care.

Prices of Cold Brew and Cold Foam Together

Cold foam has also taken over coffee shop menus. It’s super delicious, easy to make, and extremely versatile. Sometimes baristas will use a milk frothier, some will use a C02 canister, and some will use a metal shaker and shake the cream till it’s thick. Once a flavored syrup or sauce is added, you’ve got yourself a made to order topping that can spice up any coffee drink on your menu. Cold foam pairs particularly well cold brew because of the contrasting flavors. Smooth, bold, chocolatey coffee paired with rich, creamy, indulgent cream. These two components can be modified and paired for seasonal drinks or for everyday favorites.

The cost component should be the most attractive to a business owner. Suddenly a $5 cold brew becomes a $7 seasonal drink just with the addition of 2oz of heavy cream. It takes some layering skills from the barista, but it’s downright crowd pleaser.

Combination of Cold Brew and Flavored Cold Foam

This is an opportunity for you to feel inspired! When it comes to creating a beverage recipe, it’s easy to start with a classic flavor, or a seasonal favorite. Lets take an apple pie. To recreate an apple pie in a cold brew drink you could add white chocolate sauce and apple syrup to the cold brew, and then cinnamon syrup and cinnamon powder to the cold foam, and when combined you have all the flavors for an Apple Pie Cold Brew. Perhaps even add a garnish and top it with a graham cracker or just another sprinkle of cinnamon.

But you can also keep it very simple. For the chocoholics, double up the chocolate sauce in the cold brew and in the cream, and you’ve got a chocolate lovers dream.

Layering and Garnishing Tricks

There are two key layering tricks for keeping the thickened cream on top of the cold brew. The first one may be obvious for an iced drink, but ice! A good full scoop of ice obviously will keep the coffee cold, but also provides a base layer for the cream to sit atop.

The second thing to keep an eye on is shaking the cream for long enough so that it thickens, but not too much. You’re trying to achieve a thick but pourable cream, but it shouldn’t be a yogurt texture. You shouldn’t have to use a spoon to scoop it out of the mixing vessel.

Now it’s up to you to get creative! We’re uploading recipes monthly to inspire your next best seller, but its your job to take it to the next level. Any cold brew drink you make will be a great seller on your menu, and using Dilworth’s Cold Brew Filter Packs, every drink will make you money. As a business owner, what more could you ask for? Keep sippin’!