I wasn't planning to write about drinks. I went to the National Restaurant Show in Chicago last month because Southern Pride had a presence there, and I wanted to see what the competition was doing with their equipment lines. But somewhere between the third smoker demo and the fourth conversation about rotisserie bearings, I ended up spending most of day two wandering the beverage pavilions with a colleague who runs a BBQ joint outside of Houston.
Here's the thing about trade shows — you walk about fourteen miles a day, you're dehydrated, and every booth wants to hand you something to drink. Most of it's forgettable. Sweet tea that tastes like it came from a powder mix. Energy drinks that make your teeth feel fuzzy. But a handful of things stopped me mid-stride, and a few of them got me thinking about what actually works behind a service counter when you're pushing smoked meats five days a week.
These aren't ranked. I'm not a beverage expert. But after 22 years fixing commercial smokers and another few hanging around the people who operate them, I've got opinions about what belongs on a menu next to pulled pork.
The Sparkling Water That Didn't Taste Like Desperation
There's a Texas-based company — I won't name them because I don't remember the name, which tells you something about their marketing — making a grapefruit sparkling water with actual grapefruit oil, not just "natural flavors." I know this because I asked, and the guy working the booth showed me the spec sheet.
Most sparkling waters taste like someone whispered the name of a fruit near the bottling line. This one had actual bitterness. Real grapefruit bitterness, the kind that cuts through fatty brisket the way a good pickle does. My Houston friend ordered a case on the spot for his restaurant. Said he was tired of LaCroix complaints from customers who wanted something that tasted like more than television static.
Cost was reasonable — somewhere around $1.40 per can at volume. That's markup-friendly for a BBQ operation where your average ticket is already $18-22.
Cold Brew Concentrate That Could Survive a Rush
I'm not a coffee snob. I drink whatever's in the pot at 5 AM when I'm heading to a service call. But one booth had a cold brew concentrate designed specifically for high-volume operations, and the pitch was smart: you're not brewing, you're diluting. Consistent every time, no equipment maintenance beyond a dispenser.
The sample was strong — almost too strong for my taste, but that's the point. You cut it with water or milk to spec, and every cup comes out the same. The rep mentioned they'd done pilots with several BBQ chains in the Southeast, and the feedback was that ticket times dropped because staff weren't babysitting a drip machine during lunch rush.
I've seen operators fight with commercial coffee equipment for years. Heating elements fail. Carafes break. Someone forgets to descale for six months and suddenly you're replacing a $2,400 machine. (Sound familiar? Same thing happens with smokers when people skip maintenance. I've pulled calcium deposits out of water pans that looked like cave formations.)
This concentrate system sidesteps most of that. Not sure about the per-cup economics — I didn't dig into their pricing tier — but the operational simplicity was appealing.
A Hibiscus Tea That Wasn't Trying Too Hard
Every third booth had some version of hibiscus tea, usually with lavender or elderflower or some other ingredient that sounds like it belongs in a candle. One company kept it simple: hibiscus, water, a little cane sugar. That's it.
The color was that deep magenta that photographs well (matters more than it should these days), and the flavor was tart without being aggressive. It reminded me of agua fresca from a taqueria in Beaumont that closed years ago. The kind of drink that doesn't fight with smoke flavor — it just sits next to it and minds its own business.
They were marketing it as a fountain syrup, which is smart. Fountain systems are already in most restaurants, and adding a new flavor line is cheaper than buying standalone dispensing equipment.
Craft Soda From Someone Who Understood Sweetness
Most craft sodas are too sweet. I know that's the point for some customers, but when you're eating smoked meat that already has a sweet rub or a molasses-based sauce, the last thing you want is a drink that compounds it.
One booth — a small outfit from somewhere in the Midwest, maybe Missouri — had a root beer with about 30% less sugar than standard. The rep called it "pitmaster-friendly," which felt like pandering until I tried it with a sample of their smoked sausage. (They'd partnered with a meat vendor a few booths down. Smart cross-promotion.)
It worked. The root beer had that herbal backbone — sassafras, wintergreen, whatever else goes into root beer — without the syrupy finish. I could see ordering a second one, which isn't something I say about most sodas after age 35.
The Lemonade That Was Actually Sour
Real lemonade should make your mouth pucker a little. Most commercial lemonade is basically sugar water with lemon-adjacent flavoring. There was a frozen concentrate at the show — designed for those granita-style slush machines — that actually used lemon juice as a primary ingredient instead of an afterthought.
The rep admitted their margins were tighter than competitors because real citrus costs more than citric acid powder. But she made a point I hadn't considered: customers notice. Especially customers who grew up making lemonade from actual lemons. The authenticity argument lands differently when your whole brand is about authenticity. You're smoking meat over real wood for 14 hours — why serve fake lemonade?
I don't know if the economics work for every operation, but it's worth running the numbers.
Horchata From a Company That Got the Texture Right
Horchata is tricky in a commercial setting. Make it fresh and it separates. Buy it pre-made and it usually tastes like rice-flavored milk, which isn't the same thing at all.
One vendor had a shelf-stable concentrate that you mixed with milk on-site. The texture was close to scratch-made — that slightly grainy, slightly creamy consistency that real horchata has. Cinnamon was present but not overwhelming.
The application that interested me: dessert pairings. One of the guys I was walking with mentioned he'd been looking for something to serve alongside smoked pecan pie. Horchata might be it. The rice base doesn't compete with the smoke the way chocolate or coffee drinks can.
An Iced Tea That Didn't Apologize for Being Strong
Southern sweet tea gets a lot of attention, but most commercial versions are weak. Watered down because ice is going to dilute them anyway. The logic makes sense until you realize your tea tastes like slightly brown water by the time someone's halfway through their brisket plate.
A Georgia company was showing a concentrate designed to be brewed strong and served over ice without losing flavor. Their demo had it at about 1.5x normal strength before dilution. After a full cup of ice melted? Still tasted like tea.
Simple idea. I'm surprised more companies haven't figured this out.
The Ginger Beer That Had Actual Ginger
Ginger beer is having a moment, mostly because of the Moscow Mule thing, but also because ginger cuts through rich food in a way that cola doesn't. The problem is most commercial ginger beers are just spicy soda — they burn your throat but don't have that earthy ginger flavor underneath.
One Australian import (I think — the rep had an accent) used fresh ginger root in their process, and you could taste the difference. It was almost savory. Weird to say about a soda, but there it was.
The price point was high — something like $2.80 per bottle wholesale — so this isn't a house ginger beer for most operations. But as a premium option? Maybe paired with a specialty sandwich or a combo plate? There's room.
A Drinking Vinegar That I'm Still Thinking About
I'll be honest — I almost walked past the shrub booth. Drinking vinegars feel like something a Brooklyn restaurant invented to confuse people. But my colleague insisted, and the apple cider version they poured was legitimately good.
Tart, obviously. A little sweet. But there was this depth underneath, almost like a very mild hot sauce without the heat. The rep suggested mixing it with sparkling water as a non-alcoholic option for customers who want something more interesting than soda but don't want another sweet tea.
I bought a bottle. Haven't decided if it belongs on a BBQ menu or if it's just something I'll drink at home when I'm feeling experimental. But it stuck with me, which is more than I can say for most of what I tasted over two days.
What Any of This Has to Do With Smokers
Not much, directly. But here's the connection I kept coming back to: the same operators who care about smoke ring depth and bark texture and internal temp consistency are starting to care about what goes in the cup next to the plate. The beverage program isn't an afterthought anymore — it's part of the experience.
And when you're running a Southern Pride unit — whether it's an SPK-700 for a smaller operation or an SP-1500 for high-volume production — you've already committed to doing things right. The equipment holds temp. The rotisserie system distributes heat evenly. The build quality means you're not replacing parts every eighteen months like you would with some of the imported alternatives I've seen fail.
That same mindset should extend to everything you serve. The drinks. The sides. The way your staff explains the menu.
If you're sourcing parts or thinking about your next smoker, Southern Pride of Texas is where I'd point you. Real product knowledge, manufacturer relationships, and people who understand what commercial operators actually need — not just what's easiest to ship.
But also maybe think about your lemonade. Just a thought.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas | Southern Pride | National Barbecue & Grilling Association
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Photo by Los Muertos Crew on Pexels.
About the Author: Ray is a retired authorized Southern Pride service technician with 22 years of field experience on commercial BBQ equipment across the Gulf Coast and Southeast.