Every summer, our team heads to the Javits Center in New York City for the Summer Fancy Food Show — one of our favorite trendspotting stops of the year. With thousands of exhibitors spanning sweet, savory, beverage, dairy, bakery, snacks, and wellness, the show is a firsthand look at where flavor, nutrition, packaging, and product innovation are heading next. It's also where we start connecting the dots between culture, changing consumer needs, and the products that might inspire what we bring back to our own customers. Here are the ten trends that stood out to us this year!

1. Passport to the Pantry

Global flavor has been trending for years, but this year's shift was about format. Heritage flavors are showing up in easy, familiar packaging — chips, frozen desserts, ready-to-drink beverages, sauces, and meal shortcuts — making them far more approachable for everyday shopping and snacking.

• Keya's Potato Chips brought South Asian seasoning cues like Bombay Spice and Black Salt into a classic salty snack.
• Heritage Kulfi turned South Asian dessert flavors — mango, pistachio, cardamom, coconut sweet milk — into a premium frozen treat.
• Purple Drop Chicha Morada RTD reimagined the traditional Peruvian purple corn drink as a grab-and-go beverage with fruit, spice, and citrus.

2. Mind, Mood & Glow

Wellness is getting more specific. Rather than generic "healthy" claims, brands are targeting focus, mood, stress resilience, and beauty-from-within — wrapped in flavors people already love, like berry, citrus, tea, and tropical fruit.

• Journée is a functional energy drink built around focus and better energy, using fruit-forward flavors to keep the benefit approachable.
• Brainfood offers a lighter, non-caffeinated nootropic sparkling water for cognitive support.
• Skinergy blends blackberry, collagen, caffeine, and peptides — a sign that beauty claims are moving squarely into functional beverages.

3. Sober, But Make It Sophisticated

Zero-proof drinks are growing up. Instead of simple mocktails, the standout products leaned into complex, bar-inspired flavor profiles — bitter, briny, herbal, and cocktail-led.

• The Still Bar Cherry Negroni delivers a recognizable bitter cocktail cue with a fruity twist.
• The Still Bar Roasted Blueberry + Basil Margarita pairs roasted fruit with herbal basil for a more culinary take.
• Quincy Dirty Martini Brine & Olive Mix taps directly into the ritual of a classic dirty martini.

4. Big Condiment Energy

"Spicy" is out; specific is in. Bold, culinary-driven flavors like pickle, chili crisp, salsa macha, jalapeño lime, and sesame hot honey are showing up across snacks, sauces, condiments, and frozen foods — bringing heat, acid, and salt together in a way that travels across categories.

• Miller's Banana Pepper Sauce offers a distinct heat-and-acid profile suited for dips, chips, and toppings.
• ONOIN's chopped onion blends (Jalapeño Lime, Garlic & Herb, Ginger & Lemongrass) act as flavor-building shortcuts for home cooks.
• Mimi Cheng's Chili Crisp Honey Chicken Dumplings bring sweet heat into a premium frozen comfort-food format.

Related: What's in the Glass This Summer: The Drink Trends Reshaping the Beverage Industry in 2026

5. Sweet Without the Sugar Spiral

Sweetness is being reframed through more credible ingredients — dates, honey, fruit, and nuts — without sacrificing indulgence. These products still deliver on creamy, chewy, or crunchy cravings, just with a more permissible story behind them.

• Date Better stuffs Medjool dates with nut butters and pistachio, cashew, and almond cues for an indulgent, better-for-you sweet.
• Hello Honey uses honey as both sweetener and flavor centerpiece.
• Drumroll connects donut-style indulgence with protein and lower-sugar positioning.

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6. Crunch, Chew, Cream, Repeat

Texture emerged as one of the clearest ways products differentiated themselves — crispy, creamy, chewy, filled, or mochi-like. In many cases, texture did as much work as flavor to make a product feel craveable at first glance.

• Little Latke turns the crispy potato latke into a snackable chip format.
• Aiko Garden uses 3D fruit and ice-cream-style novelty shapes to make texture part of the experience.
• Pistakio brings a rich, creamy pistachio spread to a premium nut category.

7. Café Goes Global

Matcha and hojicha opened the door, but the fresher story is how Asian café flavors are becoming richer and more dessert-like — think ube, Dubai mocha, cardamom latte, and baklava latte.

• Nature's Charm Ube Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk brings a colorful, dairy-free dessert cue to the pantry.
• Shinzo Matcha Mocha, Honey, and Vanilla Matcha layer matcha with coffeehouse-style sweetness.
• Farmer's café-inspired flavors — cardamom latte, baklava latte, Dubai mocha — point to a broader, more indulgent global coffee trend.

8. Pantry Glow-Up

Everyday pantry staples are getting a premium upgrade through olive oil, balsamic, truffle, and specialty condiments — often anchored by a strong sense of origin and ingredient quality.

• Mazzetti Balsamic leans on its Modena origin for a clear, premium flavor story.
• Partanna and A'Siciliana highlight Sicilian citrus and olive oil.
• Sabatino Truffle Products keep truffle firmly established as a go-to premium savory cue.

9. Protein Gets Out of the Gym

Protein is showing up in places beyond bars and shakes — donuts, beverages, bone broth, and beauty products. The focus has shifted from purely functional to genuinely enjoyable and lifestyle-friendly.

• Drumroll brings protein into a sweet, donut-style snack.
• Boostcous positions protein for everyday eating occasions, not just post-workout.
• Butcher's Bone Broth and Singing Pastures show protein expanding into savory, sippable formats.

10. Color With a Cause

Naturally colorful ingredients — purple corn, aronia berry, citrus, and tropical fruit — are doing double duty, signaling wellness benefits like antioxidants and hydration at a glance.

• Purple Drop Chicha Morada uses purple corn and fruit for both color and antioxidant appeal.
• Farmwell ties bright, fruit-forward beverages to hydration.
• SunBerry Fit connects citrus, berry, and tropical fruit cues to functional, better-for-you positioning.

The Big Picture...

A few themes tied the whole show together:

• Global flavor works best in familiar formats. The strongest products didn't just borrow a regional ingredient — they made it easy to reach for.
• Functional benefits are getting specific. Focus, mood, and beauty are outpacing generic wellness claims.
• Zero-proof is growing up, leaning into bitter, briny, herbal, and cocktail-inspired territory.
• Bold, specific flavors like chili crisp, salsa macha, and banana pepper are winning over generic "spicy."
• Indulgence isn't going away — it's just getting a more credible ingredient story via dates, honey, and fruit.
• Texture is a concept, not an afterthought, especially for snacks and frozen treats.
• Asian café culture is maturing beyond matcha into richer, dessert-forward flavors.
• Protein is becoming everyday, not just for the gym.
• Color is doing storytelling work, signaling function and freshness at a glance.

We're excited to bring the inspiration from this year's show back into our own product thinking — stay tuned for how these trends might shape what's next.

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