IKEA restaurants no longer serves soda, only water

“Healthier and more sustainable food offer”

“Switching from sodas to fruit water fits Ikea’s new food strategy. We will analyze our entire food offer to make it healthier and more sustainable”, IKEA food manager Merlijn Crébolder said. Its Zaventem store will be the first to make the switch today, with Ghent, Wilrijk, Anderlecht, Hognoul and Arlon to follow suit in the next few days.

Aside from water, customers will only be able to choose sparking water in 5 different flavours: raspberry, pear, apple, lime and elder-flower. It will also add lingonberry-flavoured mineral water, which is a typically Scandinavian red berry. Ikea says these beverages will have half of a soda’s level of sugar and will only contain natural flavours and colorants.

After introducing vegetarian balls two months ago, this new decision is an important step in the company’s future. “80 % of our restaurant customers will choose a beverage from our beverage towers and 40 % will refill for free. If we remove cola and other sodas from those beverage towers and replace them with fruit water, we will introduce a lot of people with a healthier alternative in an affordable way.”