Can Craft Cola Achieve the Popularity of Spiced Curry? Surprising Commonalities Revealed by Keyword Research

First, let's look at the search data for spiced curry. Below is data showing the number of users who searched for "spiced curry" over the past two years.

The graph shows that there were a number of upsurges in the number of searches, but many especially occurred from January to July 2021. The most recent upward trend occurred in May 2022.

Next, let's look at the landing pages for the "spiced curry" searches.

The landing pages shows that many people are searching for recipes. It can be speculated that more people had more time to cook and eat at home due to the remote work lifestyle during the pandemic, and many were looking to cook "spiced curry," which is a relatively easy meal to make.

There is another factor that helped spiced curry gain popularity. It is the "magari," or rental, business style that attracted attention as restaurants struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Until then, the "magari" style of restaurant operation had been slowly growing from around 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a style in which a bar that only operates at night is rented out to other restaurants for lunch hours or bookstore allows a café to operate inside for low rent. This style of restaurant operation is increasingly being used by those looking to start a restaurant to experiment, or try, before fully committing, as it "allows them to lower fixed costs" and "avoid guarantee fees and lower the initial investment."

Curry, in particular, is inexpensive in terms of ingredients and does not require large-scale cooking facilities.

Many of these "magari" curry restaurants have become popular. In addition, now that posting on social media has become an everyday activity, the number of posts on social media of "Instagram-worthy" spiced curry is increasing. When photos are posted, it encourages others to try, who then post their own picture and also encourage their network, creating a cycle of sharing. This is said to be the reason behind the popularity of a spiced curry restaurant in Osaka which has expanded to 80 locations, including Tokyo.

It is "India Curry-ko (pseudonym),” a graduate student at the University of Tokyo and a spice cookery researcher.

While still a university student, India Curry-ko has been involved in a wide range of curry-related activities, such as introducing curry recipes and selling her original spice sets. After entering graduate school at the University of Tokyo, she attracted attention as "a spice cookery researcher who is a graduate student at the prestigious University of Tokyo" and was featured throughout many media outlets.

She advocates the idea that “spiced curry is easy to make as long as you have three spices.” This won people's hearts, and her recipe helped spur the popularity of spiced curry during the pandemic!

She has quashed the common assumption that "cooking spiced curry requires a lot of spices and complicated preparation," and has been popular in various magazines, web media, and TV programs. One of the reasons for this recognition is that India Curry-ko made cooking spiced curry more realistic.

Next, let's look at craft cola. To begin with, what exactly is craft cola? Many may wonder, but there is no clear definition. The definition of cola is strictly defined as "a drink that is flavored with cola nuts," but in reality, only a few cola nuts are used in what is currently sold as cola. The existence of cola is so ambiguous that Mr. Ryosuke Soramizu, editor-in-chief of "Cola-Fan," an informative media specializing in cola, says, "In the end, the only cola is the one that calls itself cola."

However, looking at the trend of craft colas that have been attracting attention in recent years, health-conscious colas that "use a lot of spices," "use (almost) no sugar," and "pursue a unique taste despite being non-alcoholic" are gaining popularity, especially a pioneering craft cola "Ira Cola.”

Let’s take a look at the number of users searching for such craft colas...

The number of searches has increased rapidly since the summer of 2021. Why has there been a sudden increase in attention at this time? To find out the factors, we examine the search term ranking for "craft cola."

The search terms indicate that major manufacturers were all selling craft cola. In fact, starting around June 2021, craft cola was launched one after another by major manufacturers, such as Kaldi Coffee Farm, Seijo Ishii, POKKA SAPPORO Food & Beverage, and Pepsi-Cola.

Furthermore, craft cola was also introduced on "Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai (The World Unknown to Matsuko)," which is known to be tremendously influential in prompting new trends.

The search volume for craft cola increased rapidly when it was launched by Kaldi Coffee Farm, Seijo Ishii, POKKA, and Mitsuya Cider, and with the airing of the craft cola episode on "The World Unknown to Matsuko."

Nevertheless, why has it garnered this much attention? The world over the past few years is also a major factor.

More and more people are choosing to not to drink, not necessarily because they are ill or physically intolerant of alcohol (allergy, etc.). According to a survey conducted by Suntory in 2019, the non-alcoholic beverage market has expanded more than fourfold in the 10 years from 2009 to 2019. These people who mindfully avoid drinking alcohol are described as "sober curious," and the population choosing to opt for non-alcoholic options are increasing.

The numbers of users searching for "sober curious" shows some growth at the time when craft colas were beginning to attract attention. The fact that more and more non-alcoholic beverages like craft cola are being enjoyed as beverages is good news for sober curious people.

Now, can craft cola become as popular as spiced curry? Although it has attracted considerable attention, it is still relatively unknown.

Comparing the number of users searching for "spiced curry" and "craft cola," although "spiced curry" (red) is by far the more popular search, there are moments when the numbers are reversed, with "craft cola" (blue) overtaking popularity (Although it is obviously due to the influence of "The World Unknown to Matsuko...).

The ratio of male to female in user attributes of users searching for "spiced curry" vs. "craft cola" is interesting. There are more male users searching for craft cola.

The popularity of spice curry was actually driven by the fact that it first became popular among men. Many people said that although they do not usually cook, they were hooked on spiced curry and made different variations of it. The fact that it does not require complicated cooking processes and has an experimental element to it is appealing to men.

The overlapping keywords for "craft cola" also suggests that many people (though not as many as spiced curry) want to "make their own" craft colas, in addition to drinking the ones sold on the market.

Therefore, if kits that make it easy to make craft colas at home were sold to meet the demand for homemade products, craft cola can be expected to gain even more popularity.

The aforementioned India Curry-ko also discusses the similarities between craft cola and spiced curry. The use of spices as ingredients and their health benefits are common elements. We hope that various craft cola-related products will appear in the future, and that there will be a synergy between craft cola and spiced curry

▼Dockpit is a web behavior log research tool that uses behavior data that is updated monthly to analyze competitor websites and investigate trends. There is a free version of Dockpit, so if you are interested in using it, please register below.

The data in this investigation is from Dockpit, an analytics tool with online behavior log data and user demographic information under the permission of panelists in Japan presented by VALUES, Inc.

※The numbers of users are estimated by the data in the monitor and the internet population in Japan.