This week, our team headed to the Fancy Food Show in New York City. We spent valuable time with our retailers and vendors, and scoured the show floor for new and exciting products. We were also able to check out the “Trend Spotter” panel and get a pulse on the trends and themes coming out of the show. There were quite a few, but here are some of the trends we were most excited about:
Reduce not Replace
Consumers are looking to reduce, rather than replace. This pops up across many categories including beverages (with lower alcohol content) and sugars. Rather than the strict no alcohol or no sugar trends we have seen previously, consumers are now looking to take a more flexitarian approach. Rather than replacing sugar with alternative sweeteners, they are looking for low sugar options instead.
Beverage Flavors Flow Across New Categories
We are seeing flavor profiles traditionally aligned with beverages, now making their way into new categories like snacking and cheese. Think mojito flavored chips, coffee shop flavored chocolates, boba tea flavored jelly beans, bloody mary peanuts, or cappuccino cheddar.
Springboards for the at-home chef
Post-covid, people have started to return to the workplace, and their lives have become busier. Although they may have enjoyed the experience of cooking at home, they are short on time and are not always able to commit to starting from scratch. We are seeing a lot of shortcut items to offer convenient options with the same home cooked feel. Items like shelf stable brown butter, sauce starters, etc. are emerging across lots of categories.
Venturing into Interesting Food Vehicles
Perhaps one of the most innovative trends we saw was in taking a familiar food “vehicle” and putting a surprising item inside. Innovations like tea bags with cocktail infusions inside, whipped cream cans filled with fluff, spray bottles containing duck fat, and broth in a soda can, were standouts for our team.
Pushing Palomas
As the trend spotters noted, “Margaritas ran so Palomas could fly”. Grapefruit flavor profiles such as palomas are definitely having a moment. Building on the widely loved citrus of the margarita, consumers are branching out to include other citrus items in the mix- and grapefruit is at the top. We think you will see a lot of this trend throughout the beverage category in 2024.
Other interesting trends of note include Low Food Map & Gut Health, making food fun through bright packaging and celebratory flavors, and offering accessible international items that incorporate familiar flavors. What did you see on the show floor?