Sangria has been altered to include wines of all types, including sake.

Other Latin cocktails are following in the margarita's footsteps. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based P.F. Chang's has also taken on the mojito, the Cuban cocktail of rum, lime juice, soda and muddled mint, with its Asian Pear Mojito, adding “a hint of pear.” Japanese teppanyaki chain Benihana and its sister concept RA Sushi also menu a version of the mojito. And Ninety-Nine offers a Blueberry Mojito.

Sangria, the Spanish drink of red wine, fruit juices, soda water, fruit and sometimes brandy, has also been the victim of modification. Miami-based Benihana and RA Sushi serve Sake Sangria made with plum wine and sake. Tampa, Fla.-based Italian chain Carrabba's mixes up Italian Sangria with its Italian house wines, both red and white, while its sister concept, Outback Steakhouse, offers New South Wales Sangria with Australian cabernet, brandy, apples, and pineapple, mango and orange juices.

Mojitos—muddled mint in lime juice and soda—also have many new iterations.

Raising the Bar

To differentiate its Mexican menu, Consolidated Restaurant Operations' upscale-casual concept Cantina Laredo allows customers to choose the tequila used from a menu of about 40 premium varieties for a $2 up-charge on the $8 Casa Rita.

The premium tequila menu is arranged by type: Superior, ranging from $22 to $35 a glass, have been aged in oak barrels for more than three years; Añejo, or “aged,” priced $8 to $14, have been aged in oak barrels for more than a year; Reposado, or “rested,” $8 to $11, aged in white oak barrels for at least two months; and Plata, or “silver,” tequilas are fresh from the still and range from $7 to $10.

The 22-unit, Dallas-based chain also offers a tequila flight: the customer's choice of three premium tequilas, except those from the Superior menu, for $20.

Rice-water-based horchatas have not yet caught on, but they could be an opportunity.

Concepts that offer unique sodas or juices can take a cue from Pollo Campero. The Guatemalan quick-service restaurant chain serves aguas frescas, fruit-infused purified waters in flavors such as tamarind, mango, hibiscus and passion-fruit-guava in its 48 units in the United States.

King Taco, with 19 restaurants in the Los Angeles area, also serves a variety of aguas frescas, as well as horchata, a sweetened rice flour beverage, and atole, a thick Mexican drink with masa, water or milk, and fruit or sugar. The chain's atole flavors include vanilla, strawberry, coconut, walnut and cinnamon.

Taco Diner, Irving, Texas-based M Crowd Restaurant Group's five-unit, fast-casual Mexican concept, serves Mexican te dulce, tea heavy with tea and sweeteners. Operators could position te dulce as a Latin twist on chai.