From the iconic cherry Icee to 7-Eleven’s parade of Slurpee flavors and Frazil’s myriad of products, frozen beverages have an indelible place in the convenience industry.
The frozen beverage market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of over 4% and grow to over $18 billion by 2030, according to data from For Insights Consultancy. And because so much of the beverage is just air and water, frozen drink margins can be quite high. Coca Cola noted in 2023 that frozen beverages were a growth driver among millennials and Gen Z shoppers.
Slurpees offer a diversity of flavors that appeal to customers in c-stores. 7-Eleven’s traditional wild cherry is one of its most popular varieties, and it recently released a limited-time cotton candy flavor that has sold better than any other flavor the company has released in more than a decade.
At the 2025 NACS Show last month, frozen beverages featured prominently throughout the crowded show floor. Below is a look at some of the top trends that caught our attention.
Dirty frozen drinks?
Dirty soda — a mixed soft drink that consumers make by adding in creamers and flavor shots — is a big trend in carbonated beverages. So big, in fact, that c-store retailers like EG America and Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores are building campaigns around the craze.
Now, that idea is extending to frozen beverages.
A bevy of dirty Icee options were available at multiple booths at the NACS Show. Ferrara offered Nerds candy flavors to mix into a cup of Icee, while J&J Foods had a menu of several recipes.
Customers could try The Classic, which mixed frozen Coca-Cola with cream; Get Nerdy, which mixed a Mango Icee with cream, Nerds and a gummy mango ring; Cherry Sunset, which added cream and pineapple syrup to a cherry Icee; and Shark Bait, which mixed the blue raspberry Icee and blue bursties — popping flavor balls — with cream and a candy shark.
While some QSRs, like Hungry Jacks, have made hay with the bursties trend, there’s plenty of space for c-stores to play.
Bring on the brand names
Popular soda brands like Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper have been sold in frozen form for decades. Frozen Coca Cola is one of the two most popular Slurpee flavors at 7-Eleven, according to a company spokesperson.
Now, more fan favorite soft drinks are finding their way into frozen.
“We continuously tap into emerging flavor trends and let our fans guide us on what’s next for frozen,” said Brad Rakes, vice president of brand marketing at Keurig Dr Pepper, in an email. “We know that flavor variety is especially appealing with Gen Z, engaging younger consumers with the Dr Pepper brand.”
To that end, Dr Pepper launched its frozen blackberry flavor this year, with Dr Pepper Cherry set to join the party next year.
Coca-Cola also showcased a variety of branded flavors, including frozen Sprite + Tea. The flavor, which debuted earlier this year, was born from the same sort of social media mixology that fueled dirty soda — in this case, consumers steeping tea bags in Sprite.
Coca-Cola also highlighted its frozen Fanta sour fruit punch LTO, while 7-Eleven has noted its new Mountain Dew frozen varieties like Major Melon are proving popular.
Technology continues to advance
While it may be tempting to think of frozen beverage machines as massive, old-fashioned contraptions, those on the show floor showed off streamlined designs that held many flavors and required less cleaning time than traditional models.
Frozen beverages are also taking a page out of the soft drink playbook, offering machines that can customize drinks. Texas-based vendor Frozen Beverage Dispensers showed off a machine that provides up to 32 flavor combos in a 17-inch machine, a company spokesperson said. This includes flavor shots like mango, raspberry and hazelnut.
FBD’s machines also use technology that improves the consistency of the drinks for customers while making it easier for employees to clean. While the exact cleaning schedule is dictated by the syrup’s manufacturer, most days employees may only need to clean the machine’s exterior, while older machines might have required weekly deep cleanings.
