Coconut Cream Dirty Dr Pepper®
“Dirty sodas”—fountain sodas combined with flavored syrups and a splash of cream—are fast migrating from social media feeds to college and corporate dining programs.
Anticipating the demand from its Gen Z guests, Metz Culinary Management has launched a new line of dirty sodas and dirty Red Bull® drinks, along with equally trendy boba teas, across its independent school, higher education, corporate dining, and healthcare accounts — markets where younger consumers increasingly influence offerings. The launch expands a program first tested this summer.
As part of the rollout, Metz chefs developed more than two dozen recipes across the three categories. Examples include Strawberry Boba Milk Tea, Coconut Cream Dirty Dr Pepper®, and Chocolate Salted Caramel Dirty Red Bull.
Boba teas, featuring milk tea with chewy tapioca pearls or popping fruit boba, had already been introduced at several accounts. The newer additions, dirty sodas and dirty Red Bulls (a variation that simply replaces the soda base with the highly caffeinated beverage) have become popular with the TikTok generation and are gaining ground with post-college adults, as well.
Oasis Boba
Testing and launch events proved that the market is ready. “The response confirmed that these drinks are cultural currency for younger guests,” said Alexis Kwon, Associate Director of Marketing at Metz. “It told us that when something shows up repeatedly in their social feeds, this age group expects to see it in their everyday food environment, at school and in the workplace.”
Recipe development was led by Corporate Executive Chef Ed Knacke and Evan Rotman, Chef at Earlham College. “We built the program to be both trend-forward and operationally sensible,” said Chef Knacke. “We engineered flavors to stretch across multiple recipes and relied on a neutral creamer with syrups to drive profile. That gives operators variety on the menu without carrying unnecessary inventory.”
“Beverage expectations have shifted,” Ms. Kwon added. “Whether students are on campus or at work, they still want the kind of customizable, Instagrammable drinks they buy elsewhere. This is us meeting them there, intentionally.”