Riverina Fresh is broadening its product portfolio as signature drinks – fuelled by social media and customer curiosity – reshape the modern beverage menu.

When customers walk into a café today, the menu board tells a different story to the one that dominated a decade ago. Alongside flat whites and cappuccinos are colourful matchas, cold foam creations, and indulgent signature drinks designed to stand out – both in-store and on social media.

For café owners, these drinks have become more than a novelty. Promoted prominently at the point-of-sale, they offer a way to capture attention, create new revenue streams, and give customers a reason to come back for something new.

It’s a shift that suppliers are increasingly responding to as well. 

At Riverina Fresh, Head of Sales Luke Hobbs lives and breathes this reality – whether he’s visiting cafés in a personal or professional capacity. 

“The drinks offered in cafés are shifting, and our team can now see this reflected in point-of-sale displays highlighting a creamy offer, a non-milk offer, and other specialty options,” he says. 

“Biscoff creations are standing out across the market, pistachio is on the rise, and I recently tried a chai-based syrup elixir mixed with pistachio that was sensational – a mix of flavours tends to work well. For matcha, we’re seeing blueberry gaining popularity alongside traditional strawberry.”

It’s why Riverina Fresh – long known as a staple milk supplier to cafés – is expanding its range and partnerships to help venues build those signature beverage offers, with milk still forming the foundation of many of the drinks customers now hope to see on the menu.

In the three years since Luke has led the Riverina Fresh sales team, it has grown to now supply roughly 3,000 cafés across metro and regional markets.

“We started humbly, primarily as a milk supplier, which remains the cornerstone of our relationship with our customers. But we want to be more than that,” says Luke. 

“We are constantly looking at our range and how we can optimise it. Beyond our core items like milk, cheese, butter, bacon, and small goods, we’re seeing rising trends in syrups, alternative milks, pastes, spreads, and other products. My role is to lead the field sales team and guide them in having valuable, commercial conversations with our customers, so they can grow their own businesses.”

The expanding depth and breadth of Riverina Fresh’s product portfolio can be seen in the number of items it now offers across its main markets of NSW and Victoria. 

Around 300 SKUs are available to NSW customers – and in Victoria this has grown from 160 to around 200 SKUs.

“We've gone through a process of looking at all the categories working well in the Sydney market that make sense to be incorporated into our Melbourne warehouse, which we will continue to bring into line with our Sydney offering.

“This includes coconut waters, syrups, juices, spreads, and more. Our range has evolved significantly over the last three years, accelerating in the past six months. Tea syrups and similar categories, for example, are growing exponentially month-on-month, both in customer numbers and volume.”

Understanding the needs of modern day cafés – without jumping onto a passing fad – has come through the tried and trusted method of face-to-face meetings between hospitality venues and the Riverina sales team, with insights fed back to head office.

“We learn the most from cafés themselves – the baristas and frontline staff,” Luke says. “They’re always ideating and trying new things, and the regions we operate in – Sydney, Melbourne, and the Riverina region – are key markets influencing trends across the country.”

A lot of this trust hinges on the quality milk Riverina Fresh has provided its café partners for years. The company has been a 100% Australian-owned, independent dairy manufacturer since 1922, setting the foundation to broader conversations about trends and new products.

“But we also continue to challenge ourselves, especially with how milk interacts with other beverage ingredients,” Luke says.  

“For example, our lactose-free milk, named Grand Champion Dairy Product at the recent Australian Grand Dairy Awards, has a sweeter profile due to how the lactose process works, which presents opportunities to educate cafés on signature drinks and drive repeat purchases.”

Where Riverina doesn’t manufacture a product in-house, it looks to partner with leaders in their category – “emerging brands doing exciting things”, Luke says. 

“These supply partners [that Riverina distributes on behalf of] who help us add value to our customers – both commercially and in terms of café staff being able to deliver better drinks – are the ones we prioritise,” he says. 

“The food service industry is realising Riverina Fresh is more than just a milk supplier, and brands are keen for their products to be available through our warehouse.”

He says the current state of the food service channel provides opportunities for supply partners and cafés to collaborate beyond what’s traditionally done. 

“For example, we’re talking with juice suppliers not just about selling juice, but how that juice could be incorporated into signature drinks,” Luke says.  

“We’re exploring options like canning machines to support cafés in bringing these products to market. These are the types of partnerships and innovations we’re starting to focus on that can drive real value for our customers.”

Signature on social 

Traditionally, the creativity and experimentation happening in cafés would be confined to local communities. If it was big and popular enough, it would be drip-fed across the national industry, taking months, if not years, to gain traction. 

But platforms like Instagram and TikTok have turned colourful lattes, layered cold foams, and indulgent milk-based creations into shareable content that is driving foot traffic – and seeing signature drinks explode on to the scene. 

Rohan Cooke, whose Melbourne coffee brand Golden Brown has amassed around 1.7 million followers globally thanks to its educational content, says it’s been incredible to witness how quickly trends can emerge and, in several cases, gain a foothold. 

“Not long ago, ideas could take years to travel internationally, maybe appearing at trade shows first. Now, trends spread instantly. Every day we see what’s happening all over the world,” he says. 

“Social media acts as real-time, free market research – you can see what people like, what engages them, and what excites them. As a cafe owner, it's important to be aware of, even if you're not going to implement those exact ideas. But I don't think you should just blindly follow trends. I still think you should stay true to who you are and use these platforms to help tell that story.”

Rohan believes the visual nature of signature drinks – converging with the popularity of  and image-based social media platforms – has driven this new and exciting era. 

“A picture or video of a standard espresso is no longer very exciting,” he says. 

“Signature drinks are different – they’re big, beautiful and intriguing. It uses fascinating ingredients. That’s just so much more enticing in the world of social media, and it's so much more shareable.

“It's also approachable because we're often using flavours that are nostalgic, that are inspiring, and weird. Drinks like tiramisu lattes are instantly shareable to your friend that loves those indulgent desserts, and it creates a reason to share.”

The Coconut Cloud was an “amazing” drink he recently tried. It’s 50 per cent coconut water, 50 per cent lightly whipped cream, and espresso. 

“It’s both refreshing and indulgent,” he says. 

“But if you start with the basics, the Mont Blanc was really one of the catalysts. Somehow the cream top has almost become the standard for what people think of as a signature drink.

“I always laugh because Morgan Eckroth from Morgan Drinks Coffee said on our podcast that whoever rebranded whipped cream on coffee to ‘cold foam’ or a ‘cream top’ is a genius – and I think that’s so true. If you were out with a friend a few years ago and they ordered whipped cream on their coffee, you’d probably say, ‘What are you doing?’ But now it’s cool to have liquid cream layered on top of a drink.”

Another trend Rohan has noticed is that layered drinks tend to go viral. 

“When people see a layered drink – especially with a cream top – they lose their minds,” he says.

“The other thing is that the best-performing drinks are usually approachable and a bit nostalgic or comforting. There’s something familiar about them – like a Mont Blanc giving you Terry’s Chocolate Orange dessert vibes, or the Biscoff flavours people already know and love.”