While many fast food chains are struggling to attract diners, Dutch Bros is seeing explosive growth. In Q1 FY2026, the coffee chain reported a 30% increase in revenues year-over-year.
That’s lightyears beyond competitors like Starbucks, which reported a 9% increase in revenue over the same period.
“Our focus on speed to market with best-in-class innovation, a hyper-customizable menu, and unmatched customer service play a critical role in delighting customers and building an everyday routine,” Dutch Bros CEO Christine Barone told investors during the company’s most recent earnings call. “It’s clear we are poised to continue shaping and commanding a leadership position in the large and growing beverage category.”
While Dutch Bros ever-expanding menu and top-notch customer service certainly play a big role in the company’s outsized success, its biggest advantage has little to do with coffee.
Dutch Bros biggest sellers may not be coffee
Dutch Bros may have started as a small coffee cart, but in recent years, the drive-thru chain has shifted its offerings to include more energy drinks.
In 2012, the company launched an exclusive, proprietary energy drink called Rebel. With about 80mg of caffeine per serving, the canned beverages could be purchased straight up or mixed with a variety of syrups for a bespoke pick-me-up.
“After hours of testing and tasting, we landed on a flavor profile that beats every other energy drink on the market, perfect for both our infused energy drink recipes and, most importantly, our fans’ enjoyment,” Dutch Bros co-founder Travis Boersma said in a statement at the time.
Rebel drinks have proven so popular over the last 14 years that the company launched a follow-up in May 2026.
The new Myst Energy Refreshers are a little lighter in caffeine, but their inclusion of functional ingredients (electrolytes and antioxidants) and fewer calories has already established them as a popular coffee alternative.
The drinks are also as endlessly customizable as Rebels.
With Rebel decades-long success and a strong launch for Myst, Barone says Dutch Bros has “never been stronger in the energy category.”
“If you look at what we’re doing, it’s actually quite different than what else is out there,” she told investors on the company’s Q1 FY2026 earnings call. “We are the category creator of customized energy.”
“What we are doing is quite different, having it blended, having it iced, the number of different flavor combinations,” she continued. “We actually see, particularly within energy, that customers are actually building their own beverages. That importance of customization and being able to customize with speed is incredibly important in that market. We feel really, really great about where we’re sitting on the energy market.”
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Dutch Bros has tapped into Gen Z’s “little treat” culture
What Dutch Bros has done with Rebel and Myst is establish a clear foothold in a rapidly expanding energy market.
In 2025, the global energy drink market was estimated to be $85.25 billion. By 2033, it is expected to top $158.53 billion, with a CAGR of 8.1%, according to Grand View Research.
Younger consumers, between the ages of 18 and 34, are the largest drivers behind the growth of the market. More than two in five Gen Zers regularly drink energy drinks, compared to just 13% of millennials and 7% of Gen Xers, according to Circana.
With more disposable income than any generation before them, it’s important that quick service chains like Dutch Bros find a way to attract those Gen Z diners.
To that end, Dutch Bros has done two major things right when it comes to their generationally-appealing energy drinks — given customers complete customization control and priced them appropriately.
More retail:
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Some 38% of fast food diners value the ability to customize fast food menu items, according to data from YouGov. The feature ranks fourth behind value meals, clean dining areas, and daily/weekly specials.
Both Myst and Rebel-based drinks can be fully customized. There are currently upwards of 75 “standard” Myst and Rebel recipes on Dutch Bros menu. But customers are free to mix and match flavors and add-ins to their hearts’ content, making the true number of options nearly limitless.
The price point for Myst and Rebel beverages has also played a key role in their success. Dutch Bros has positioned the drinks as “little treats,” something nearly a quarter of consumers (73%) told Circana are important to their quality of life.
Large versions of the standard recipes never exceed $7, and smalls dip as low as $3.50, putting them right in the $5 range that Circana has identified as the median for a daily “little treat” spend.
With the success of its energy drink lines, Dutch Bros may represent where the broader beverage industry is heading: less traditional coffee culture, more functional, personalized energy consumption.
Dutch Bros Summer 2026 Menu
This season, Dutch Bros released a number of new tropical flavored Myst & Rebel recipes to beat the heat, including:
- Passion Water Myst
- Cherry Lime Myst
- Firestorm Myst
- Tropical Myst
- OG Gummy Bear Myst
- Strawberry Colada Rebel
Source: Dutch Bros
