Magnums, fruit lager, and the shandy revival — three trends rewriting what’s selling at the bar. The question is whether your fridges can keep up.

After a weekend of national press coverage putting these trends front and centre, the drinks industry is clearly shifting. New trends are rewriting what customers order, how they drink, and how much chilled storage you actually need. Here’s what’s happening right now — and what it means for your operation.

Fruit Lager: Gen Z’s Drink of the Moment

If you haven’t noticed the fruit lager boom, you haven’t been behind a bar lately. Younger drinkers are driving real growth in flavoured and fruit-infused lagers — mango, raspberry, passion fruit, grapefruit. The variety is expanding as fast as the demand.

For bar and pub operators, this creates a stock challenge. Fruit lagers typically carry a better margin than standard draught, but they need dedicated bar fridge space to hold the volume. A well-stocked, properly chilled bottle cooler pays for itself fast when the margins are this good.

The Shandy Revival: Back with a Twist

Shandy is back — but not as you remember it. The current grip of 1980s nostalgia has brought it in from the cold, but the drink itself has moved on. Gone is the old 50/50 lager and lemonade split; the new shandy comes in craft citrus variants — blood orange, yuzu, ginger — with better margins and a customer base that’s genuinely excited about it. The hook is retro. The drink isn’t.

A properly chilled shandy is hard to beat. Inconsistent commercial refrigeration kills the experience before the glass reaches the customer.

Magnum Bottles: Why Bigger Really is Better

Premium wine and champagne are being reshaped by the growing appetite for large-format bottles. What started in fine dining has moved well beyond it — magnums are now a fixture on mid-market restaurant menus, in private dining rooms, and across event catering. A magnum on the table is theatre — it signals occasion and spend.

The problem? Standard bar fridges and wine coolers aren’t built for them. Magnums need height, depth, and shelf configuration that most units don’t accommodate. If your commercial refrigeration isn’t set up for large-format bottles, you’re either turning away margin or serving warm fizz.

What This Means for Your Setup

Three trends, one common thread — chilled storage capacity and flexibility matter more than ever. Whether you’re stocking a rotating range of fruit lagers, committing to the perfect shandy serve, or building a large-format wine list, your bottle coolers and bar fridges need to be up to the job.

At Anglia Catering Equipment, commercial refrigeration is one of our strongest categories — new and graded units suited to exactly the kind of demand these trends are generating. Back-bar bottle coolers, large-format wine fridges, multi-door commercial bar fridges — we supply the equipment that keeps your drinks range at its best.

Fast free UK mainland delivery. Flexible finance options. Browse our refrigeration range here.