It wasn’t that long ago that, for many Americans, caffeine was the only functional part of whatever beverage they might be drinking. People weren’t looking for their soda to provide probiotics, prebiotics, or protein.
Consumers might have looked to their beverage for an energy spike or to help them through a long ride, but that was pretty much it.
The rise of functional beverages, including a growing number of soda brands looking to take on Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
“The problems consumers expect to solve with a beverage are multiplying,” Howard Telford, head of soft drinks with market research firm Euromonitor International, told NACS Magazine. “As consumer priorities diversify and scientific narratives evolve, functional is becoming an umbrella term — not just a performance drink, but a portable, format-flexible solution to a growing list of lifestyle concerns.”
It’s a trend that has spread to coffee, and Walmart’s Sam’s Club has jumped on the bandwagon.
Sam’s Club adds functional coffee brand
Sam’s Club has added Everyday Dose, a product that’s in the functional beverage category.
The company’s flagship Coffee+ combines coffee with collagen peptides, Lion’s Mane, Chaga and L-theanine. In addition, Everyday Dose recently introduced Protein Coffee+ in response to growing consumer demand for convenient ways to incorporate protein into their day.
“We started Everyday Dose because we believe coffee should do more than wake you up. As one of the most universal daily rituals, we saw an opportunity to upgrade the formula with thoughtfully selected ingredients to help people get more benefits from their morning cup,” Chairman Jack Savage said in a press release.
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Everyday Dose is made from mushrooms, and it’s a mix, not a ready-to-drink beverage. The company has distribution now that it has added Sam’s Club, in over 5,000 retail stores, according to the company.x
Costco does not sell Everyday Dose, but it does carry a rival mushroom coffee, MUDWTR.
Some Americans want more out of their coffee than just caffeine.Shutterstock
Functional and wellness beverages are growing
The growth of functional beverages includes Pepsi adding a prebiotic version of its signature brand. Starbucks has also added protein coffees to its in-store and ready-to-drink lineups.
The chain has also added a line of Energy Refreshers.
As a regular Starbucks customer, I keep my fridge stocked with the chain’s RTD protein drinks, and in the afternoons I often have an energy refresher. In the case of the protein drink, I’m consuming it because, as someone on a GLP-1 weight-loss drug, I’m worried about protein consumption.
As for the Energy Refreshers, I’m not sure how the various ingredients benefit me, but it feels healthier than just ordering my typical black tea lemonade.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino notes that the functional beverages trend has been growing.
“Look, Sam’s Club stocking Everyday Dose isn’t about coffee. It’s about how wellness products scale today. Functional coffee used to be an expensive, direct-to-consumer niche you only bought through targeted social media ads,” he told TheStreet.
Warehouse clubs adding these products feeds into that trend.
“Sam’s Club taking it nationwide is classic warehouse math. Grab a trendy, high-margin online hit, throw it in a bulk box, and make it an impulse buy for middle America.Everyday Dose gets immediate scale and physical distribution, while Sam’s Club shows younger, health-conscious members they’re ahead of the curve,” he added.
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Functional beverages are growing overall
Functional beverage sales increased by 8.8% in 2025, according to NielsenIQ.
“People are trying to maximize their consumption of things that are good and minimize their consumption of things that are harmful,” Huy Do, research and insights manager at Datassential told NACS Magazine. Functional beverages, he explained, “give people a simple and easy-to-understand source of what they want.”
These drinks are broadly popular, but younger drinkers are fueling the trend.
While functional drinks appeal to everyone, they do skew younger, said Chris Costagli, vice president, food and beverage insights, NielsenIQ. Gen Z and Millennials are driving 55% of the functional beverage spend, he told NACS.
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