Concept Explained: “Energy Everything”
Did you know three-fourths of American adults consume caffeine daily? Whether it’s drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, turning to an energy drink midday to stay sharp at work, or mixing up a pre-workout powder before hitting the gym, caffeinated products have become an integral part of daily life.
It’s that proliferation of caffeine-containing products and them being well-entrenched into the lives of most Americans that's causing the “energy everything” movement…
What is “Energy Everything”?
There are more options in every consumer category than any other time in history. We live in the Age of the Endless Aisle. As life choices become more complicated, humans will naturally consolidate cognitively to make things easier. So, “energy everything” is basically the simplification of the consumer interest in caffeine to get a boost of energy.
Categories of “energy everything”:
Coffee at Home (Brewed)
Coffee Away from Home
Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Coffee
Energy Drinks
RTM Caffeine-Containing Powders
Note: Soft Drinks, Confections, or Desserts are not included in the “energy everything” concept.
“Energy Everything” U.S. Market Leaders
Coffee at Home (Brewed)
While the aggregate of various standard drip coffee makers still lead the market, the most powerful name in the coffee at home portion of “energy everything” is Keurig Dr Pepper. It’s estimated that over four out of every ten American households own a Keurig coffee machine. The "Coffee Systems” segment of Keurig Dr Pepper will do close to $6 billion in 2022 annualized revenue.
Coffee Away from Home
Starbucks’ U.S. market share in 2022 is above 37%. As of December 2022, there are 15,836 Starbucks locations in the United States.
Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Coffee
More than 20 years ago, Starbucks and PepsiCo started the RTD coffee category with the launch of the iconic Frappuccino coffee drink. Through the North American Coffee Partnership (NACP), Starbucks and PepsiCo continue to bring category-leading products to customers looking for coffee products while on-the-go. Starbucks is the leading RTD coffee brand in the United States, with a ~40% market share.
Energy Drinks
Red Bull had been the U.S. market leader since it created the energy drinks category, but that changed in 2022. The current U.S. market leader is Monster Beverage Corporation with just over 31% share of the category. The Monster Energy segment will reach close to $6 billion in 2022 annualized revenue.
RTM Caffeine-Containing Powders
While there’s many different caffeine-containing powdered products, I want to focus on the pre-workout category. Since its launch in 2011, C4 (owned by Nutrabolt) has become the undisputed pre-workout powder champion, with over 2 billion servings sold, retail sales approaching half a billion, and dominant category share exceeding 50%.
Too Much Caffeine
The biggest caffeinated category of coffee saw consumption soar to a two-decade high in 2022. Moreover, the U.S. energy drinks market grew over 10% YoY to over $17.5 billion in retail dollar sales. The fact is, Americans are drinking more and more coffee and consuming more and more caffeine. It could be because they like the taste of that “energy everything” product, its functionality, or it just became another autopilot decision.
Does this strong growth in caffeine consumption create incremental risks for the “energy everything” business landscape? USDA thinks these trends may be grounds for concern…or maybe it’s all a farce!?! In the near-term, I believe the external threats to “energy everything” is low, especially when you consider that most Americans underestimate the safe amounts of caffeine that a healthy adult could consume on a daily basis (it’s up to 400mg BTW).