A&W Canada is working with Labatt Breweries to offer Budweiser brand non-alcoholic beer alongside its burger and fries combos for a limited time.

Budweiser Zero, the sugar-free version of the brand with 0% alcohol, will be available on menus at the A&W restaurants in Ontario throughout the remainder of this year’s MLB season. Canadians will have the option to purchase the Baseball Buds combo (Buddy Burger, fries and Budweiser Zero) or add a can of the drink to their order. The new offering will be amplified through a digital media plan.

A&W Canada manager of offers and Ontario promotions Karina Lukianenko tells strategy that the brand partnered with Budweiser to meet customer demand for a wider range of drinks that complement burgers.

The partnership is a natural fit, as Budweiser and A&W are both official partners of the Toronto Blue Jays, Lukianenko notes. She adds that A&W thought baseball season was the ideal time to offer the combo, because games generally involve gatherings of friends around food and beer.

Labatt also did not hesitate to partner with A&W, says Andrew Oosterhuis, VP of marketing at Labatt. Oosterhuis tells strategy that the new offering expands Labatt’s non-alcohol products portfolio to the QSR sector at a time when non-alcoholic drinks are growing in popularity, he says.

“Our marketing ambition is to lead and grow the category across RTD, beer and non-alcohol,” Oosterhuis says. “This initiative enables us to accelerate the non-alcohol category growth by driving awareness and trial via distribution of a new channel with a compelling offer to enjoy a beer and burger in the occasions where they are looking for the taste of beer without the alcohol.”

Non-alcoholic drinks have been a priority for Labatt since 2015, when they first introduced Budweiser Zero. Oosterhuis says the launch gave Canadians more occasions to enjoy one of Labatt’s best-selling beers and since then, they have also released non-alcoholic extensions of other popular beers, such as Corona Sunbrew.

If the new offering sees success in A&W stores, Labatt plans to expand it to the restaurant chain’s entire network across the country and engage other QSRs to participate in growing the non-alcoholic category with the company’s portfolio, Oosterhuis says.

The NoLo (no and low) alcohol space has been growing, with increased demand leading to new products and campaigns. A report from the IWSR published last year shows that there is a trend toward conscious drinking in Canada, especially among millennial drinkers. The study also revealed that the NoLo alcohol category is forecast to grow globally 6% between 2023 and 2027.