Menu Immunity: Functional Ingredients for Your Café

Why Cafés Can Benefits from Functional Ingredients

Consumers are seeking added functionality through everyday food and beverages. In Kerry’s 2019 Proactive Health research, they found that 78% of consumers want restaurants to offer more menu items with functional benefits. This is even more true now in the wake of COVID-19. More consumers are searching for health-oriented options, especially those that can boost their immune system.

Cafés can leverage this ongoing trend through the use of ingredients with functional benefits such as immunity support, mood support and gut health. Baristas can easily play with these new ingredients and make taste drinks that customers can feel good about, expanding on what they already do.

Which Functional Ingredients to Use

The whole idea of eating is for nutrition and enjoyment and functional ingredients can help with both. They can offer a visual element such as vibrant purple from beet juice or a golden hue from turmeric, creating an Instagrammable moment for customers while still providing perceived health benefits.

If your café has a blender, that’s also a powerful way to play with these ingredients. You can create boosted smoothies that customers can easily take to go, especially as consumers are more prone to ordering food and beverages to go right now.

These are just a few examples of functional ingredients and their perceived benefits, which you can easily add to your existing menu:

  • Apple cider vinegar: reducing cholesterol, lowering blood sugar
  • Beets: fiber, B9, manganese, potassium, iron
  • Blueberries: iron, phosphorus, calcium, zinc
  • Carrots: beta carotene, fiber, K1
  • Chai seeds: fiber, omega 3s
  • Dark chocolate/Cocoa nibs: fiber, magnesium, antioxidants
  • Ginseng: antioxidants and inflammation
  • Granny Smith apples: fiber, vitamin C, inflammation
  • Greek yogurt: prebiotics and probiotics
  • Green tea/matcha: cognitive, antioxidants
  • Kombucha: probiotics
  • Lemons and limes: vitamin C
  • Nettles: skin, inflammation, lower blood pressure
  • Vanilla and other florals: for mood support
  • Yerba mate: focus, energy, nutrients

Spices:

  • Cardamom: gut health
  • Cayenne: immune system, inflammation, metabolism
  • Cinnamon: blood sugar reducer, inflammation
  • Ginger: nausea, inflammation and muscle pain, digestion
  • Turmeric: antioxidant, inflammation

This fall, we’re launching our DaVinci Gourmet Beverage Boost syrup  which provides immunity support and can easily be added to everyday food and beverages such as smoothies, juices, coffee and other health-oriented drinks. Just two pumps of syrup delivers the recommended daily amount of Wellmune for clinically supported benefits.

Cafés looking to add immunity-boosting drinks can build their menu around these ingredients. We’ve put together some great recipes to help you get started.

Immunity-Boosting Recipes

Car-OAT-Chai

When you want a fall drink that isn’t pumpkin or peppermint, reach for this chai made with carrot juice. In this application carrots aren’t just a gimmick, they complete the flavor profile and elevate the drink to a new level. Is it a chai? Is it liquid carrot cake? You decide.

Golden Milk

For when you want to have a coffee but maybe don’t need the caffeine because it’s getting closer to night time.

  • 1 oz DaVinci Gourmet Honey Syrup
  • 6 oz oat milk
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • Directions: Steam together, top with lemon zest and dash of cayenne powder

Beet Root Mocha

Too bizarre? You tell us.

Green Monster

If your café has a blender, that’s a powerful way to add in a meal replacement smoothie or to create something easy to take to go with an immunity boost.

  • 0.5 oz DaVinci Gourmet Beverage Boost with Wellmune
  • 2 oz spinach
  • ½  green apple chopped
  • 1 kiwi chopped
  • 3 oz frozen pineapple
  • 3 oz coconut water
  • 1 cup ice
  • Directions: Blend and serve.

Chai Summer Switchel

A riff on the North American "Haymaker" drink. Consider this a mocktail.

Cold Brew Booster

Add a boost of immune support to a coffeehouse staple.

  • 0.5 oz DaVinci Gourmet Beverage Boost with Wellmune
  • 10 oz cold brew coffee
  • 2 oz half & half
  • 1 cup ice
  • Directions: Pour Beverage Boost and cold brew into a glass filled with ice, top with half & half. Finish with a light dusting of cinnamon.