Best Signature Drink: ‘Go Viral’ Taylor Swift-Themed Cocktail (2025 Excellence In Concessions Awards)

Talk your talk and go viral / I just need this love spiral” Taylor Swift sings in the 2022 single “Lavender Haze.” Thanks to concoctions dreamed up by the team at concessionaire Sodexo Live!, Swifties at four of the last stops on Swift’s “The Eras Tour” got to enjoy a glass of “Love Spiral” (or the mocktail version, “Go Viral”) along with other Taylor-themed food items.

The Go Viral version of the pale-purple drink features lime sour, blue curacao, strawberry infused syrup and club soda, topped off with an edible strawberry straw. Love Spiral has the same ingredients, along with the 2.5 ounces of vodka.

Sam Stewart, Senior Director of Beverage at the hospitality company, sums up the cocktail/mocktail as “data in a cup.”

“We look at the specific demographic of who’s going to be coming to this event and what’s trending in terms of their consumption behaviors,” says Stewart, who explains that although Swift’s fanbase is roughly a 50/50 split between male and female fans, her concert attendees skew more female.

He adds, “Even the level of carbonation comes into play. We saw a decline in things like seltzers and whatnot that are heavily carbonated, specifically in two demographics that match here – the female demographic and the younger demographic. We wanted it to be balanced between sweet and tart because we’re appealing to all ages.”

Kate Thomson, VP of Marketing, adds that as Sodexo Live! “was looking at the drink development and some of the food offerings, we pulled together what we called the Swifty Council. That was made up of a couple internal folks that we knew to be legit Swifties. It also included some in-market experts where we were hosting shows and so we got some really great firsthand feedback from fans on what they would like to see. We asked them to get creative for us and think through some name ideas.”

Thomson adds, “In addition to all the data that Sam brings in to develop a specific drink, we’ve done a lot of research recently with fans and guests of these live event venues and one of our key findings is that people are really excited about a themed beverage and food option. … Along with our experience with how it went with ‘The Eras Tour’ and that data, we’ve now gone all in wherever we can theming things out because it’s actually not that big of a lift to do it and the impact that we get from it is outsized.”

The special Swift-themed drinks, inspired by her favorite color, were available at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium, New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome, Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium and Vancouver’s BC Place, where the tour wrapped in December.

Overall, Sodexo Live! sold 126,000 of the mocktails and cocktails, with Amy Procaccini, Senior Manager, Brand & Communications, noting that in Miami “concessions were up 41 percent compared to other top selling concerts at Hard Rock Stadium.”